Buen Provecho

One of the best customs that I love down here is the simple buy lovely buen provecho while you are eating (might be translated into "eat well" in English). It is so nice while I am eating in a small cafe to have someone enter and say Buenas tardes Buen procecho! Sometimes stranges will then proceed to begin asking you questions, complete strangers!

Taxi!

I spent this past week down in San Miguel, where I had the chance to get reacquainted with an old friend: the taxi colectivo.The taxi colectivo is a form of public transportation that works in many ways like a bus. It follows a set route and charges a set fee like a bus, except that it's not a bus, it's a taxi cab, and in most cases a small Nissan or Toyota sedan. It also doesn't have set stops, except at its starting and finishing points, so you can hail one down at any point along its route.The seating capacity for a colectivo is six, including the driver. That means that up to three passengers fill the back seat and two cram into the passenger's seat. It can get quite cozy, that's for sure.

When I lived in Cueranava in June 2003, I rode a colectivo back and forth to school every day and there was always a mad scramble to get those three back seats since nobody likes to share the front seat. Since I wasn't all that agressive about it, I usually ended up squeezed in front, event though I was often the biggest person in the vehicle.Like taxi drivers everywhere, colectivo chauffers are not much for safe driving. So it can be a little terrifying to be crammed into a front seat with another adult, no safety belt for either, as the driver tailgates at 60 m.p.h. or swerves in and out of traffic.But what you lose in safety with the collectivo, you gain in economy.

One day this last week, I had to go to a location on the outskirts of Queretaro. To get a taxi to bring me out there, I paid 60 pesos, or a little more than 5 dollars. But on the way back I grabbed a colectivo and paid 6 pesos, or a little more than 50 cents. Plus I got to know rather well a very plump middle-aged woman who shared the passenger seat with me. We had a very pleasant chat during those moments when I was able to pry my face off of the inside of the windshield glass.

My Spanish Prasebook

Attention tourists:

If you’re coming to Mexico, you’re going to need a good phrasebook, right? I’ve just been glancing through the new Lonely Planet Mexican Spanish phrasebook and I think this is the one you want to get. Not only does it offer translations of useful everyday phrases such as: “I want to make a reverse-charge call to Singapore,” “Shave it all off!” and “My dentures are broken;” it also provides you with expressions that will allow you to participate in some of the eccentricities of the local culture.

For example, “I’m sorry, officer, but can we pay an on-the-spot fine?”My favorite section of the book is the “Meeting People” chapter, where they’ve even included translations of pick-up lines like: “What star sign are you?” “Shall we get some fresh air?” and “You musn’t come here much because I would have noticed you sooner.”

Thoughtfully enough, they don’t just give you totally lame material like this and then leave you out to dry: on the very next page they’ve got a handy list of rejections so you’ll understand exactly what someone means when they respond to your tired clichés with: Mira, no me interesa hablar contigo (“Look, I’m not interested in talking to you”), Dejame en paz (“Leave me alone”), or ¡Vete a la mierda! (“Go to $&%!”).

But if, by some miracle, you do manage to get to the next level, you’ll want to have your phrasebook within easy reach and turned to the “In the bedroom” section where you can quickly find translations for “Oh yeah!” and “Easy tiger!” And if things go wrong, Lonely Planet’s bedroom talk recommends you try the phrase: Ayuda tener sentido de humor, or “It helps to have a sense of humor.”

black shirt craze

The newest craze in Mexico is the black shirt with the white letters that usually reads something funny: for example Busco una novia con coche (I am looking for a girlfriend with a car). That is just one example of about 50 shirts that exist.

v.p. free

This just occurred to me the other day: Mexico has a president, but it does not have a vice president.I guess when they were just operating under a one-party system, there really wasn't any great need to have a VP. If something happened to the president, well, the party could just just hand-pick his replacement, just as it had hand-picked the prez himself.But now that multi-party politics are here, you'd think the party who won would want to have a VP ready, just in case.

I was asking a few people here what would happen if President Fox were to die, and they seemed to think that the Interior Minister (Secretaria de Gobernacion) would take over on an inteim basis until the Congress chose a new president. But Fox is from the PAN party and the Congress is controlled by the PRI - the guys who had the presidency for 71 years under the old system.It seems to me that this might be a little too much temptation to lay before the eyes of the PRI, a party that has never shown itself averse to political assasinations. If I were the PAN (not to mention Fox himself), I'd want some mechanism in place to make it less tempting for an opposition Congress to get rid of the president.

Happy Belated Mail Man Day!

Wow, can you believe than another Dia del Cartero ("Day of the Mailman") has already come and gone? It seems like forever that you're counting down the days for it to arrive as you put up your Mailman Day decorations, arrange your Mailman Day party, send out the appropriate cards, and all that fun stuff. Then suddenly, wham! and it's over, just like that, and it's time to deal with the post-Mailman Day blues.

Now, for those of you who feel might be feeling guilty about not having properly celebrated Day of the Mailman this past Novermber 12, take heart: here in Mexico, there's a day to celebrate special people practically every other week. I do have hope for May 15, or Dia del Maestro, was always a good time. The students will have a special song they'd sing for the teacher, and some (usually the ones with poor grades and/or attendance) will even bring me little treats.

Not long after Dia del Maestro comes another fun one: Dia del Economista, or Day of the Economist. I believe that one is a floater, always falling on the last Friday of the month, which also just happens to always be payday.January has a couple of special days, including Dia del Policia (Day of the Cops) and then Dia de la Enfermera (Nurse Day). And August is another month loaded with good times, for that's when we all celebrate Day of the Taxi Driver (12th), Neighbor's Day (15th), Day of the Fireman (22nd) and Old People's Day (28th).

I had the honor of witnessing some of these great events, but by far was the day of the taxi drive in Oaxaca, Mexico in August 2003 during my first trip to Mexico. All the taxi cab drivers dressed up their car with ribbons and paraded down the center of town, tossing candy to everyone and screaming: Taxi! Taxi! It was quite a show that I will never forget. Unfortunately, I did not react quick enough to grab the candy, so i lost out.

Well, I'd go on, but I think that the store down the street has its After-Mailman Day sale going on right now and I don't want to miss out on the savings!

julieta venegas

I had the oportunity run a marathon in Guadalajara last weekend. I heard this song around the 29th km. I will never get the melody, as it is etched in my mind. The race was precious and the people of Guadalajara were unbelievable.

Andar conmigo
por Julieta Venegas (cantautora)

Hay tanto que quiero contarte,

Hay tanto que quiero saber de ti,

Ya podemos empezar poco a poco,

Cuentame que te trae por aqui,

No te asustes en decirme la verdad,

Eso nunca puede estar así tan mal,

Yo tambien tengo secretos para darte,

Y que sepas que ya no me sirven más,

Hay tantos caminos por andar,

Dime si tu quisieras andar conmigo,

Cuentame si quisieras andar conmigo,

Dime si tu quisieras andar conmigo,

Cuentame si quisieras andar conmigo

Estoy anciosa por soltarlo todo,

Desde el principio hasta llegar al día de hoy,

Una historia tengo en mi para entregarte,

Una historia todavia sin final,

Podriamos decirnos cualquier cosa,

Incluso darnos para siempre un siempre no,

Pero ahora frente a frente aqui sentados,

Festejemos que la vida nos cruzó ,

Hay tantos caminos por andar,

Dime si tu quisieras andar conmigo,

Cuentame si tu quisieras andar conmigo,

Dime si tu quisieras andar conmigo,

Cuentame si tu quisieras andar conmigo,

Si quisieras anadar conmigo

Si quisieras andar conmigo

SI quisieras andaar conmigo

Si quisieras andar conmigo