Nov 5, 2001 ... With our new Honda Element (aptly ... full of our stuff, our dreams, and our
ambitions, we're .... coming from 250 or 300 yards away…” ..... Marlboro 100s and
nursed Negro Modelo out ..... in the May 22, 1964 edition of Time.
InsideOut
8
Last Hurrah: Catherine Dunn goes to the Zócalo and takes us inside
in the center of coyoacán
the final
days of Camp
Peje
How many presidents should a country have?
“Uno. Just one please!” Storm Trooper, Mexican, promoting a Star Wars convention
Taste
Arts & Culture
Phil Kelly
Why are all swimming pools blue?
Terrible student Alejandro Heredia‘s chance encounter with a life‘s work.
22 The scoop on how WE got here.
5. Invoices Stan Gotlieb on foreign participants in Mexican politics.
7. News&Notes X Factor The world’s busiest border by the numbers.
11. InsideOut CloseUp Joe Nash arrived in 1938 on a bike.
[ ] InsideMéxico
11. InsideOut Lingo for Gringos Puzzled by a political acronym?
12. Taste A salsa for every meal. Celia Marín presents a hot list of recipes and offers a primer on the essential Mexican condiment.
16. Cover Who are we? A look at the millions of North Americans choosing México.
Marie, Musician, Canadian
Top chef
Artist Phil Kelly examines life… and life in México.
4. Inbox From the editors
“Politics?! No!”
14 23. Arts&Culture Insight
Driving without a doubt in México.
29. RealEstate CloseUp Inside the Buen Tono building.
30. Green Guide HSBC banks on environmental sustainability.
omar arroyo, Vendor, Sinaloa
“None. We should all be presidents.”
A new son band on the rise.
28. Transitions The Fixer
“One president, but the power resides with the people. The president works for the people.”
24
The Guide & The Calendar
What’s happenin’ in Colonia Condesa and around the city this month?
Vladimir Diana, Student, México City
“One president, but they should be in for 8 years so they have a chance to do something.” Memry Roessler Teacher, American (photos by Luz Montero) November • 2006
Do people tell you you’re over the hill? What if you were? Over the hill, over a stream and over an ocean. To another continent. Thousands of miles from your own. Where elders are looked to as leaders. Where the process of improving the lives of others improves your own. What if you’re over the hill? What’s over that hill anyway?
Peace Corps. Life is calling. How far will you go?
Call 800.424.8580 | Visit peacecorps.gov
Who we are
[email protected]
“I
t’s Monday, November 14th, 2005, and we’re four days away from starting a trip that’s been a year in the making.
With our new Honda Element (aptly named “Ant”...short for Rocinante, the name of Don Quixote’s horse) packed full of our stuff, our dreams, and our ambitions, we’re getting on the road that will take us to Oaxaca, México where we will launch an English language, alternative newspaper, The Mexican Sun.” These are the words we wrote on our blog eleven months ago, just before setting out on the adventure of a lifetime. We believed we had spotted an underserved group of readers: English speakers living in and visiting México, and we hoped to combine our editorial and business experience to create a periodical that would bridge the gap between English-speaking residents and their adopted home. Of course, things have turned out a little differently than we expected. The blog hasn’t happened (not yet, anyway). The name of the paper has changed…well…more than once (The Mexican Sun, The Meridian, and Heliotrope were among the pretenders). It took us seven months to get our working papers. And we have moved the launch from Oaxaca to México City. Getting to this point has been the most exhausting, intense and fulfilling year of our lives. Now we are ready, tilting at our windmill. Our mission is to create a bridge between México’s diverse cultures and the English speakers from the United States, Canada and around the world who are now living here.
We have built a team of exceptionally talented and hardworking Mexicans and Americans with journalism experience in both countries. With Inside México and insidemex.com, we plan to create a first-rate, English language periodical for the more than 1 million English speakers who have made their homes in México. Inside México aims to reflect, celebrate, question and demystify México for the river of migrants flowing from North to South. In short, it will try to make México more accessible to our readers. Perhaps just as important, however, Inside México will also examine us, México’s English speaking residents. What are our interests, needs, biases and blind spots? What practical information do we need to build a new life in our new country? How do we fit here in this land of cactus and salsa? To make this work, we will need your help. What do you love about México? What are your pet peeves? What do you find confusing or incomprehensible? What do we get right? Wrong? Let us know. Send us letters. Write us e-mails. Ultimately, we want to help you get the most out of your life in México.
Aran and Margot Shetterly N U M B E R 1 • no v ember 2 0 0 6
Aran Shetterly E ditor - in -C hief
[email protected]
Emilio Deheza
Alejandro Xolalpa
M anaging E ditor
Creative Consultant
C omercial D irector
Catherine Dunn
Art & Photography Contributors
Margot Lee Shetterly
M éxico C ity E ditor
Luz Montero S taff P hotographer Editorial Contributors
Stan Gotlieb Rúben Hernández Frank Kosa Ron Mader Celia Marin Eugenia Montalván Colon Jamie Rosen
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Fermín García Bertha Herrera Gail Page Diana Ricci Robert Shetterly Víctor Solís
PR Maya Harris
DESIGN Marcela Rivas Marcela Méndez Emilio Deheza Diseño
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Printed by SPI: Servicios Profesionales de Impresión, S.A. de C.V. Derechos reservados © Editorial Manda S.A. de C.V., Corregio No. 14, Colonia Noche Buena, C.P. 03720, México D.F., México 2006. Se prohíbe la reproducción, total o parcial, del contenido de esta publicación, así como también se prohíbe cualquier utilización pública del contenido, como por ejemplo, actos de distribución, transformación y comunicación pública (incluyendo la transmisión pública). Certificado de reservas al uso exclusivo del título: en trámite. Certificado de licitud de título y de contenido: en trámite. Los artículos aquí contenidos reflejan únicamente la postura de su respectivo autor, y no necesariamente la de Editorial Manda S.A. de C.V., por lo que dicha empresa no se responsabiliza por lo afirmado por los respectivos autores aquí publicados.
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[email protected] November • 2006
Is this a private fight or can anyone get involved? Stan Gotlieb As you probably know by now, there is a great deal of social unrest in Oaxaca, where I live. As you probably know by now, there is a great deal of social unrest in Oaxaca, where I live. Inevitably, expatriates like me are affected by the tension and the uncertainty. The question, then, is how should we relate to the situation? These are some musings which I hope may prove useful to others: When you are deciding what to bring with you for your new life in México, leave your political activism at home. If you want to be a political activist, there’s plenty to be done wherever you came from. Regardless of whether you are a “radical,” a “liberal,” or a “conservative,” you don’t have a place in the struggles that engulf your new country. There are many reasons for this. The simplest, and perhaps the most compelling, is that it’s against the law for foreigners to get involved in domestic political struggles. When the Migración (Migration Secretariat) agents come for you, you will be detained and, within 24 hours, according to Mexican deportation practices, you will find yourself back in your country of origin. Other reasons are more subtle, but to my mind, equally compelling. It’s crazy to get involved in a situation where (and this is true for most of us) you do not speak or read the language beyond, as our friend Susanna says, “enough Spanish to buy things.” Even if your command of Spanish is top-notch, what about your understanding of Mexican history? If you don’t know where you have been, how can you know where you are going? And, even if your command of the language and the history is excellent, people passionately involved in a struggle may lie to you, either deliberately or by repeating false rumors that support the cause. Ask a journalist friend of ours who writes for a
Mexican-based website. She is supportive of the teachers’ strike here in Oaxaca, but admits in print that her “friends,” sources among the strikers, manipulate her reporting by distorting or fabricating. “Truth” is very difficult to come by. I’m not saying it’s wrong for us foreigner residents to have an opinion: I’m saying our opinion doesn’t matter. We are, as long as we hold a non-Mexican passport (yes, you can become a “citizen” here without giving up your citizenship there), visitors. We are free to go at any time, leaving behind whatever mess we may have created. Unless we renounce our foreign citizenship and subject ourselves to all the same rules and conditions as native Mexicans, becoming active in Mexican politics is, to my mind, incredibly arrogant. That’s assuming, of course, that we understand the language and know the history. Otherwise, it is both arrogant and stupid. In my opinion, “witnessing” what is going on as a way to protect vulnerable people from violence is a truly noble deed that is desperately needed here in Oaxaca and in most places, including the United States. Helping to construct schools, clinics, and other facilities in areas with few resources and lots of political oppression is likewise laudable. But the people who do that humanitarian work understand the risks, and consciously put themselves in the line of fire. Vote in your own country by absentee ballot if you can. Use your email to write letters to the editor. Try to influence your representatives back home for the sides you favor both there and here, and let them work through official channels. That’s your right, your duty, and your privilege. México is undergoing a series of social convulsions that are likely to continue for some time to come. If you are a foreigner in México, you need to think about how you will relate to Mexican politics and events while you are here. Understand the risks. Should you decide to get involved, don’t be surprised if the Migración comes for you. At that moment, you may believe you are a victim, but you are also a participant. © 2006 by Stan Gotlieb
Stan is a regular contributor to INSIDE México. His work has appeared in“Doing business in México,” “Small Business Magazine,” MexConnect.com, and numerous other publications. He has been a resident of México for almost 13 years, and writes from his “hometown” of Oaxaca. With his partner, the photographer Diana Ricci, Stan publishes an insider Newsletter available on the Internet to subscribers. Samples of their work can be seen at www.realoaxaca.com. His email is
[email protected] November • 2006
Víctor Solís
Inside México Listens In
Former US President Jimmy Carter
“I…have visited more than 120 countries and what I’ve seen recently is a dramatic decline in America’s reputation around the globe. Nobody is better placed to realize this than Americans… living abroad.“
US Senator and Presidential Candidate, Hilary Clinton against “dumb walls” and for “smart fencing” Mexican President Elect, Felipe Calderon comments on the wall “It seems to me that it’s an obligation and something truly obvious and necessary to demonstrate our rejection…of the wall on the border.”
“A physical structure is obviously important… There is technology that would be in the fence that could spot people coming from 250 or 300 yards away…”
Express yourself:
[email protected] InsideMéxico [ ]
México City
Elevation: 7,400 feet
(2,250 meters) Latitude: 19.26 N Longitude: 99.7 W
November Average Rainfall: 0.6 inches November Average Temp Hi/Lo: 72 F./ 47 F.
Full Moon: November 5 November 2
Day of the Dead (México): “The Mexican is familiar with death, jokes about it, caresses it, sleeps with it, celebrates it; it is one of his toys and his most steadfast love.” Octavio Paz, Nobel Laureate, 1914-1998
November 7
Melbourne Cup Day (Australia)
and mid-term elections (United States of America): Down under, everyone stops work for three-and-a-half minutes to watch one of the world’s most important horse races. In the US, voters will elect 435 members of Congress, 33 Senators, and 36 state governors.
November 11
Remembrance Day (Canada)
and Veterans Day (United States) mark the end of World War I: “’Why do we wear a poppy today?” The lady smiled in her wistful way/And answered, “This
[ ] InsideMéxico
is Remembrance Day /And the poppy there is a symbol for/The gallant men who died in the war/ And because they did, you and I are free/ That’s why we wear a poppy you see.’” Don Crawford
November 20
Start of the Mexican Revolution of 1910: When Porfirio Díaz proclaimed himself president again after serving for 34 consecutive years, Francisco I. Madero issued a seven point plan from prison, calling for national insurrection. He wrote in the San Luis Potosí Plan, “One cannot recognize the present government of General Díaz … the electoral fraud [that brought him the presidency] is the most scandalous in Mexican history.”
November 23
Thanksgiving Day (United States):
Ah! on Thanksgiving day, when from East and from West/From North and from South, come the pilgrim and guest…/ The old broken links of affection restored/When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more.../What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye?/What calls back the past, like the rich Pumpkin pie? John Greenleaf Whittier, 18071892
November • 2006
Preparing for México–bound baby boomers At the end of September, INSIDE MÉXICO had the opportunity to speak with one of México’s leading public intellectuals about the phenomenon of “baby boomers” retiring to México. Dr. Jorge Castañeda, who served for three years as Foreign Minister of México under President Vicente Fox, believes that the largest ever out-migration of Americans will benefit both México and its neighbor to the north. inside méxico: Do you think the Mex-
ican government should encourage Americans and Canadians to choose México as a place to retire? jorge castañeda: It’s a very important trend for the three countries. Americans and Canadians from the ‘baby-boomer’ generation are in different circumstances than their parents were at the same age. They have more disposable income. They have more open minds about where to live. And, they are retiring with a different sense of what retirement means. They will continue writing, reading, playing sports and contributing to causes that matter to them. When they come to México, technology, and their comfort with it, allows them to stay connected to their family and friends back home. Retirement centers in the United States are filling up. It’s very important for Americans and Canadians to have somewhere comfortable to go. For México, it’s a very important opportunity. We are one of the few countries in the world positioned to take advantage of this phenomenon, mainly for geographic reasons. Most American and Canadian cities are within a two to three hour plane ride of México. México should do what it can to encourage baby-boomers to retire here. im: What do you see as the benefits to México of having these people retire here? jc: They have high disposable incomes. They bring in hard currency. They will demand services that will create jobs. They are mature and they
Jorge Castañeda
understand that they are in a different country. im: What does México need to do to prepare for this influx? jc: There are several things México needs to do. The first is that American health insurance companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield and about four or five of the other big ones (including, perhaps, Medicare) should cover at least first and second level medical services here in México. This insurance needs to be made available to Americans who live here. After 65, there are many typical health-related problems that arise, but most of them are easy to fix. Second, there need to be airports sufficiently close to where the Americans and Canadians are settling. This will enable these retirees to get home, and for their children and grandchildren to visit them easily. Finally, México needs to provide the types of facilities that these people will want: golf courses, movie theaters, satellite television, good phone services, etc. Also, the facilities need to be in place to offer them medical support. There is no sense in the insurance companies reaching agreements to cover the retirees in México if there are no clinics and airports to service them. im: What about the resources this group will consume? For example, there is not an abundance of water in some parts of México. jc: It depends on the area. Some parts of México are hard pressed for water. In other parts, it’s quite functional. Americans do consume more
’s interests include Latin American politics, comparative politics and U.S.-Latin American relations. Dr.Castañeda’s work as Foreign Minister for three years under President Fox focused on diverse issues in U.S.-Mexican relations including migration, trade, security, and narcotics control; joint diplomatic initiatives on the part of Latin American nations; and the promotion of Mexican economic and trade relations globally. Since 1997, Dr. Castañeda has been Global Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Latin American Studies, New York University. He has been Member of the Board of Human RightsWatch since 2003. November • 2006
water than Mexicans but they are also used to paying for water. I wouldn’t emphasize this as a problem that needs to be addressed. im: What about the perception of security problems? Do you think that this has an impact on whether or not people choose México as a place to retire? jc: I hope that the new government will address these security questions because, first and foremost, they affect Mexicans. Some of the events you read about are bloody and spectacular but they don’t affect Americans. I don’t think many tourists want to go to Nuevo Laredo. The places most tourists go are very safe. Take Mérida. It’s a beautiful city with wonderful weather (although it’s a bit hot in the summer). You’re within two hours of the beaches of the Maya Riviera. You are within an hour or so of ecological reserves with flamingoes and other wildlife. You can walk down the Paseo de Montejo at midnight and not worry about your safety. There are no security concerns there. There are no security concerns in Puerto Peñasco either. The security issues create an atmosphere that is not conducive to tourism, but they should not be a deterrent. im: Do you think that the flow of Americans south and of Mexicans north will have an impact on border politics? jc: There will be some issues in places where there have never been many crossings and now there will be more. Like Nogales, for example. Most people who drive into México are Mexicans coming home for the holidays and Mexican-Americans visiting family. For the most part, Americans fly into México. Will it impact the interior? The more Americans that come, the more issues will arise, just as when more Mexicans go to the United States, more issues arise there. Both countries are reluctant to deal with issues of immigration, but they are going to have to. México has been hospitable to Americans for more than half-a-century when tourists started going to Acapulco in the 1950s. Mexicans understand the benefits of Americans visiting our country. There will be a cultural impact, certainly, as there has been in the United States with all the Mexicans living there. However, I think this will be in the best interests of both countries.
Border Crossings
I
mmigrants crossing the US-México border without visas are a hot issue on both sides of the border. The 21 (legal) entry and exit points along the 1,951 mile (3,141 km) frontier are the busiest border crossings in the world. Here are a few statistics:
350,000,000 Approximate annual number of people who cross legally between the US and México (both directions).
4,238,045 Annual truck crossings from México into the US.*
7,774 Annual train crossings from México into the US.*
88,068,391 Annual personal vehicle crossings from México into US.*
48,663,773 Annual pedestrian crossings (legal) from México into the US.*
1,000,000 Approximate number of Mexicans who cross into the US illegally each year.
473 Number of migrant deaths at the border in 2005.
700 Projected length in miles of the wall the US plans to build along its border with México.
$1.5-3 billion The estimated cost of building this wall. Sources: International Boundary and Water Commission, the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics, US Customs and Border Protection Public Affairs Office, The Christian Science Monitor * numbers for 2003 InsideMéxico [ ]
Insideout A hot summer
❙ By the end of July the political thermometer reached its boiling point with the occupation of Reforma and the Zócalo
july 2 Mexican presidential elec-
tion too close to call july 8 amlo Zócalo Rally #1 july 10 amlo demands recount july 16 amlo calls for civil resis-
tance at Zócalo Rally # 2 july 30 Rally #3, plantón begins aug 5 trife denies a full recount sept 1 President Fox blocked from giving state of the union
PejeCountry 48 days at camp – a look under the tent the final hours of the summer’s longest election protest by C at h e r i n e D u n n p h oto g r a p h y : L u z M o n t e ro
W
ednesday, sept. 13, 2 a.m.
– The white, pitch-roofed tents huddle under a cloudswaddled moon, like a fleet of sailboats docked for the night. A television hums in the darkened Guanajuato state tent, and a light burns in the clinic. Five people sit chatting in front of Sinaloa. Ángel Cardona carries a walky-talky in his vest pocket. This night is brisk, but quiet. No drunks or troublemakers on the horizon when we return from the bathrooms in the city government building and slip back into camp. Ángel, tall, his curly hair capped with a sombrero, is manning a security shift until 3. “What I’m going to miss the most is the revolutionary moment,” says the 19-year-old from Monterrey, pausing in front of the flag pole. “After that, living in the Zócalo with people from the whole country.” Here, he says, you walk three steps and you’re in another state. An industrial chemistry student at the University of Nuevo León, Ángel hopped a prd bus for Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s (amlo’s) second major protest assembly in mid-July, following the July 2 presidential election. He came with a backpack and three changes of clothes, thinking he’d be in Mexico City for a weekend. When López Obrador asked, “Do we stay, or do we go?” Ángel thought, “Well, I’ll stay.” Now, 45 days after amlo supporters first hammered stakes into pavement, camp was winding down. Known to everyone in Mexico City simply as the Zócalo, the Plaza de la Constitución is one of the three largest public [ ] InsideMéxico
squares in the world. On the night of July 30 it became a country within a country. In protest of López Obrador’s 240,000 vote loss to Felipe Calderón, tents representing every state in the republic formed the hub of a system of street camps that coursed three of the city’s primary arteries, Reforma, Juárez and Madero. Many believed that their candidate, with his platform combating poverty and inequality, had won and that they had been swindled out of a president. López Obrador contested the results in court, and lost. But his National Democratic Convention would launch the next phase of action, the nueva etapa, on Independence Day, when amlo planned to take his argument on the road. Camp would close to clear the way.
*
*
*
wednesday evening – Through a stop-and-
start drizzle, López Obrador commands his stage in khakis and a brown suede jacket. Umbrellas open and close like windshield wipers. Throughout the duration of the plantón, López Obrador’s sermons drew crowds of people who donated to the cause. Little buckets – botecitos – are used to collect coins from visitors. López Obrador’s Sunday morning sessions usually netted each state about $1,500 pesos; they tallied $4,500 a week in total. “308 … 328 … 338 … 348 … 352. Did you see? $352 pesos,” announces the man counting for Nuevo León. Groceries from a store of donated goods feed the protesters; the money from the botecitos pays for soap, razors, toilet paper, shampoo, water and gasoline to go protest in front of the Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación – the federal electoral court. The Nuevo León camp squatted on a 10by-30 meter patch of paving stones. Seven tents and 10 cots made for sleeping quarters. About 30 people lived in the camp at any one time. Some stayed from Day 1 through Day 48 (a number touted as a badge of honor), while others rotated out. Ángel shared the camp with a mayoral candidate who was contesting his loss in court, a clothing factory supervisor,
The plantón, as amlo’s protest camp was known, stemmed from the Zócalo and blockaded the streets Madero, Juárez and Reforma. The November • 2006
sept 5 trife announces Calderón
will be president sept 13 pfp forces near Zócalo, creating tension within the camp sept 14 mid-afternoon Fox
to give Grito in Dolores, Hidalgo instead of Palacio Nacional. sept 14 evening amlo will not give Grito in Zócalo, Mexico City Mayor Encinas will.
López Obrador’s devoted followers believed their candidate’s plans would improve their lives.
sept 15 Plantón ends sept 16 mexican independence day amlo convenes National
Democratic Convention, 1 million attendees “elect” him president
Despite the hail, rain and other discomforts of urban camping, many protesters would miss the “revolutionary moment” when it ended.
Ángel Cardona (right), a 19-yearold from Monterrey, lived in the Zócalo from Day 1 of the plantón. Left, this Peje hat was a fixture around the square. El Peje, a popular López Obrador nickname, refers to a gar fish found in the candidate’s home state of Tabasco.
the prd’s Nuevo León youth coordinator and a family with an 8-month-old baby. His tent mate, Juan José Mena, 25, was also from Monterrey. His 16-year-old brother, Alexander, was not interested in politics at all, but needed a place to crash (“It’s a long story, compañera,” Ángel said), and was bunking in their tent the last few nights of the camp. Around 10:45 p.m., Claudia Ojeda Quintero, one of the camp organizers, appears at the dining table. No sleeping, she says. Stay alert. Gather your things. Be ready to evacuate the camp just in case. “Está caliente la situación,” she says. The situation is hot. When she’s done speaking, I ask Ángel if Claudia is nervous. “Yes,” and shakes his hand, as if to say “more or less.” “In this country we have a history of repression.” While members of the plantón blockaded the street entrances to the Zócalo, the Policía Federal Preventiva – gray-uniformed federal police forces – have appeared unexpectedly behind the Palacio Nacional. Suddenly the camp feels claustrophobic. I decide to leave.
*
*
*
thursday afternoon , sept . 14 – “You
plantón made its last stand the night before the Independence Day Grito (top) and by the next day, the square was nearly clear (bottom). November • 2006
shouldn’t have left,” Ángel says the next day. It was a sunny, breezy afternoon with flags kicking and snapping. The night before there had been no confrontation with the pfp and the Zócalo broke into a big party, Ángel tells me. Bottle rockets, dancing, mariachis, a soccer game in the street. No rules, no schedule. “Most of us slept where we fell,” he says. Jesusa Rodríguez, a well-known performer and the plantón’s emcee, announces that to-
morrow President Fox will give the celebratory Independence Day Grito in Dolores, Hidalgo. Protesters will have the Zócalo for themselves. “Viva la resistencia civil pacífica!” she shouts. “Hear that, compañera?” Ángel asks me. During the afternoon, people fold tents, bundle blankets. The white sheet walls come down and the world peeks through. The plaza is buzzing. A man hands out flyers promoting amlo’s candidacy for the Nobel Peace Prize. Inside the Chiapas tent-turned-party-salon, guests at a wedding reception sip agua de tamarindo and dance to the notes of a marimba. Earlier, a couple from Durango were married here, and Irma Amezquita Rodríguez renewed her vows with her husband of 31 years. Their anniversary passed on Aug. 31, “but because of the movement,” Irma says, “we couldn’t do anything.”
*
*
*
friday morning, sept. 15 – The huge tents
are gone. Sweepers in orange and yellow uniforms, some listening to headphones, neaten the square. A man wearing a Jalisco camp badge comes up to me. He seems lost. “Good morning, joven,” he says. “Did they already take down the Oaxaca camp?” I look around the vacant stretch. “Yes, everything,” I say. He looks blank. I see Ángel, Juan José and Alexander ambling through the plaza. Ángel, a red-whiteand-green jester hat perched on his head, says, “I was living there.” He points to empty space. “It’s like it’s missing something,” Ángel says. We find shelter from the sun in the thick shadow of the flag pole cast against the bare stones. ❚ InsideMéxico [ ]
Rumbo a...
Tepoztlán A valley, a mountain, an energy
B y M aya H a r r i s P h oto L u z M o n t e ro
R
ound the bend of a mountain-hugging stretch of the Mexico-Cuernavaca highway, and there it is: Tepozteco Mountain rising from the Tepoztlán Valley. Craggy cliffs jut from the basin like cubist monoliths. The town of Tepoztlán is tucked, still out of sight, down in the rambling foothills of the Popocatépetl volcano. It is believed that an undercurrent of curative powers exists in Tepoztlán and this has drawn followers of New Age, holistic and esoteric philosophies to this quaint, traditional pueblo. The beauty and the mysticism that surround Tepoztlán enticed me to visit; including that first time, I’ve made the hour-long trip from the D.F. nine times. Locals claim that Tepoztlán is in a sacred valley where energies converge, and that these are concentrated in the pyramid built atop Tepozteco Mountain. The hike up is difficult, but the impressive view from the peak and the strenuous journey itself are completely fulfilling. The journey to the Tepozteco summit begins on the main street, 5 de Mayo, which is lined by brightly painted artisan shops, holistic centers, restaurants and Zen bookstores, and punctuated by bursts of color from draping bougainvilleas. Pedestrians and stray dogs weave between passing cars and beverages
[ 10 ] InsideMéxico
5 de Mayo is lined with colorful artisan shops. stands offering cold micheladas. Aromas of incense, honey and fresh tortillas blend into a delicious combination. Hand-made itacates (blue cornmeal pancakes with your choice of topping) and quesadillas make a great pre-hike snack. 5 de Mayo leads to the “Camino del Tepozteco” at the base of the mountain. As the incline rises the people renting hammocks and selling tie-dye fall out of sight. A path of natural and built steps parallels a stream and is almost entirely shaded by arching trees and towering cliffs. I’ve shared the path with political pilgrims, ladies from Dallas on retreat, Nike-clad chilangos, and a motley assortment of robed New Age monks. Some go slower than others, but everyone is vying for the same prize at the end.
The pyramid at the top of the mountain is dedicated to Tepoztecatl, god of pulque – fermented maguey plant – and fertility.
November • 2006
Where to eat El Ciruelo Restaurant Bar Mexican cuisine. Zaragoza 17. 73-9395-1203. Top recommendation, beautiful view of the mountains. Restaurant Axitla Mexican cuisine. Av. del Tepozteco on the path to the mountain. 73-9395-0519 What to see El Ex-Convento de la Natividad A U.N. World Heritage Site with a great museum on Tepoztlán inside The bean-and-rice mosaic entrance to La Parroquia de la Natividad, adjacent to the exconvento Remember The market is open on Wednesdays and Sundays. The hike is strenuous. Wear proper shoes and allow yourself a couple hours to get to the top. To learn more http://e-municipios.e-morelos. gob.mx/tepoztlan.htm www.tepoz.com.mx gives good directions for how to get there If I weren’t already winded from the climb, I would lose my breath each time I arrived at the pyramid and looked out on the vast valley accentuated by jagged peaks. Tepoztlán is at the center of it all, cradled by the surrounding mountains. Up there, gazing, resting, hours pass like minutes. Returning to town in an exhausted euphoria, I like to visit the weekend craft market. Vendors sell sickles, poultry and legumes alongside incense, herbal remedies and tarot cards. Turn the corner and an accordion player squeezes out “Bésame Mucho” and vies for patronage with a flutist dressed as an Aztec warrior. How does the trip end? Like any good story in Mexico – with a tequila and a cold michelada at my favorite restaurant, El Ciruelo. ❚
P olitical edition
SEGOB Secretaria de Gober-
nación, Mexico’s Secretary of the Interior. Part of the executive branch, segob is charged with “security and democracy, and the just enforcement of the law.” APPO La Asamblea Popular del Pueblo de Oaxaca. The Oaxaca-based organization represents Section 22 of the Oaxaca teacher’s union and other community groups calling for the resignation of the state’s governor. November • 2006
PFP Policia Federal Preventiva,
Mexico’s federal police force. GDF Gobierno del Distrito Federal. Alejandro Encinas holds the office of chief executive of the Mexico City government. IFE Instituto Federal Electoral. Created in 1990, it administers and supervises Mexico’s federal elections (President, Senators, and Deputies). Its stated principles are “certainty, legality, independence, impartiality and objectivity.”
J o e
N a s h
One hell of a ride by Catherine Dunn / Photo by Luz Montero
J
oe Nash has an ivy plant that is 45- or 46-years-old. It hangs by a window in his house in the Colonia Guerrero, where he lives just down the street from the National Library and everyone in the neighborhood calls him Señor Nash. Over lunch at an Italian restaurant on Balderas, Joe (“Mr. Nash was my father”) smoked Marlboro 100s and nursed Negro Modelo out of a mug. He mentioned that the “bingo gals” from the American Benevolent Society come to his house every three months to play the game. Joe is 93. He moved to Mexico in 1938 and he arrived on a bicycle. The Rockford, Illinois native pedaled against headwinds from Chicago to San Antonio, Texas, then took a week to rest. He convinced the Mexican Automobile Association to sell him a membership in case of an accident before he biked the rest of the way to Mexico City. He left Mexico when he enlisted in the us military in December, 1941, and returned in 1948 to study anthropology at Mexico City College. In 1951 he started working for the English-language daily The News, where he worked until 1990. In 1952 he co-founded Democrats Abroad, which now exists in more than 70 countries. Joe set a precedent for the Society of American Travel Writers conventions when the head of Mexican tourism offered him carte blanche to organize the group’s 1962 gathering in Mexico.
He arranged a meeting between the president of Mexico and a convention delegation, along with 19 days of travel and conferences for 268 writers. The provinces had never hosted groups of writers that big before, he said. “We had the front page of the Chicago Tribune travel section for four weeks in a row,” he added. Joe also won a major award from the Mexican Association of Travel Agencies. John F. Kennedy was the recipient the year before. Before moving to Mexico, Joe worked as an assistant cook in Yellowstone National Park, wrote a Hollywood column from Los Angeles that appeared in Catholic diocesan newspapers, and researched the Galena, Illinois guide for the Federal Writers Project. One of Joe’s latest missions has been editing the 680-page, two volume memoirs of the Mexican diplomat Dr. Luis Weckman, an effort hampered by an accident in a Vips restaurant in June 2005, when a busgirl ran into the back of his head with a deep tub full of dishes. He will wear a neck brace for the rest of his life, his throat is crooked and sitting at a computer irritates his muscles. Still, he makes his rounds. “I play bingo on Saturday because it keeps me alert,” Joe said, getting ready to hail a cab home before the afternoon cloudburst. “Otherwise you don’t win.” ❚ InsideMéxico [ 11 ]
thetip Capsaicin (
cap - say - e - sin )
The alkaloid that makes chilli peppers hot. It contains at least five chemical components: three are HOT and burn the throat and back of the palate; two create the slow burn on the tongue.
¡ By Celia Marín Photography: Bertha Herrera
“S
alsas are a fundamental part not only of gastronomy, but also of religion, a part which was lost over the course of time,” explains Gerardo Chapa, author of the book One Hundred Salsas. “They were so important that the calzontzin, chiefs of the purépecha [an indigenous group from Michoacán], always had a female servant called a yamati, whose sole duty was to serve salsas to her master bare-breasted – a blend of eroticism and culinary refinement.” When passing through Cholula on the way to Tenochtitlan in the 16th century, Bernal Diaz del Castillo claimed to have escaped having his own flesh cooked and doused with salsa. The locals, he wrote, “wanted to kill us and eat our meat” and “they already had the pots boiling with salt and garlic and tomatoes.” Despite the threat, he kept his cool and described a salsa called chimole that was made of chili peppers, tomato and salt – the same basic ingredients found in contemporary Mexican salsa.
All over the country Salsas are particular to the regional cuisines of Mexico. In northern Mexico, they add a bit of melted cheese; in the middle of the country they prepare salsa with pasilla – a dark green chili that turns black when it’s dried – accompanied by queso cotija – a hard, Parmesan-like cheese. Hidalgo’s xoconostle salsa is made with the morita chili and goes perfectly with barbacoa. In the south, you’ll often find salsas seasoned with pepper and achiote, or annatto, seeds that create a yellow hue. Ingenious new twists pop up all the time. Salsa innovators use guava with mint, red chinicuile worms and jumiles – a grasshopperlike insect, mango with apple, and habanero chili with pineapple and basil. When you sit down to eat, remember that there’s no such thing as a good taco or quesadilla without a spicy salsa. ❚ [ 12 ] InsideMéxico
Molcajetes Red, mexicana or salsa verde. The taste of Mexico is always in the salsas.
November • 2006
Entomofagous?
Well, if you’ve eaten chapulines, chicatanas, or escamole you are. Entomofagia is the Spanish word for insectivore.
achiote
Spiny pods from the or annatto tree are cracked open to harvest scarlet seeds rich in vitamin A. These have been used to color Mexican salsas, Jamaican codcakes, and Cheshire cheese in England.
¡es la salsa! Red Salsa (15 servings)
Jalapeño Chili and Cilantro Salsa (15 servings)
ingredients
1/2 kilo of tomatoes 3 jalapeño chilis 2 garlic cloves 1 small onion Salt to taste preparation
Roast the jalapeño chilis and tomatoes in a comal (a clay griddle) or anything else. Grind them with the onion and garlic in a blender. Season with salt to taste. For a different version you may use smoked árbol chilis instead of the jalapeños. Recipe courtesy of El Bajío.
Serrano Chili and Avocado Leaf Salsa (15 servings)
ingredients
5 jalapeño chilis 1 bunch of cilantro 3 garlic cloves 1 small onion 3/4 cup of water 1/3 cup of olive oil Thyme, oregano and bay leaf to taste Salt to taste
ingredients ingredients
1 slightly roasted avocado leaf 3 seeded serrano chilis 1 small, peeled garlic clove 10 tomatillos (small green tomatoes) Corn oil as necessary 1/4 cup of finely chopped onion Salt to taste
preparation
Chop the chilis, onion and garlic in a food processor or molcajete (stone mortar) and add water. Put the mixture in a salsa dish, add salt and the chopped cilantro. Transfer the mixture to a glass jar. Season with thyme, bay leaf, salt and fresh oregano. Stir slowly and gently pour in the olive oil. Recipe courtesy of El Bajío.
Jalapeño Chili Salsa with Guava and Mint (15 servings) 2 tablespoons of olive oil 1/2 kilo of jalapeño chilis, de-veined, seeded and finely chopped 1/4 cup of white wine vinegar 1/4 cup of water 150 grams of ripe guavas, seeded and finely chopped 15 mint leaves, cut in julienne style Salt to taste
preparation
Blend the avocado leaf with the chilis, garlic and tomatoes in a blender. Fry the mixture for 5 minutes in a pan with preheated oil. Remove the salsa from the stove, add the onion and salt. Cool and serve.
preparation
Heat the oil over low heat and add the chilis. Add the vinegar, water and guavas. Boil over low heat for 20 minutes. Remove the sauce from the stove, add the mint and salt.
a good meal demands a good wine for so many good reasons
oscar wilde 9 col. polanco, méxico, d.f. 5282 1066 5280 1834
[email protected] November • 2006
InsideMéxico [ 13 ]
One of Mexico’s culinary masters talks about the prominence that Mexican cuisine has achieved over the last decades By Rubén Hernández P h oto g r a p h y : B e rt h a H e r r e r a
‘‘I
don’t really believe in these titles like ‘Best Mexican Chef of the 20th Century’. There are chefs out there much more talented than I am. Working here puts me in a unique and privileged position, but the job has its demands and comes with great responsibility. Here at Hacienda de Los Morales, the standard is high; there’s room for tremendous creativity, but I also have to be very precise in the work I do.”
An Unexpected Vocation As is the case with many famous chefs, Alejandro Heredia, Executive Chef of Mexico City’s La Hacienda de Los Morales, came to the profession by accident, and though he fondly recalls his mother’s delicious cooking, he says this was never an influence in his culinary development. “I wanted to be an architect, but one of my neighbors told my parents that I’d never make a living at it. I enrolled in a trade school, but it turned out I was a terrible student. I was in a crisis, when another neighbor, a chef, told my parents that one of his relatives just turned down a job offer at the Hotel Presidente. So they decided that I should take advantage of the situation,” remembers Heredia. “It was 1963,” he adds, “and I didn’t have the least interest, but I imagined myself working as a bellboy or office boy or something that ended in boy. What a surprise when the next day they took me to a kitchen and ordered me to wash the greasy pans. I was annoyed and disillusioned, and the first thing I told my parents was that I was never going back. But they were de[ 14 ] InsideMéxico
and Mexican Cuisine’s Great Adventure termined: they didn’t want put themselves into a difficult situation with the neighbor.” “For me, the chef, Joaquin Guzman, was a horrible person, completely flawed. Now I can see that he was a great boss. Slowly I discovered the magic of earning money. I focused on work and put in overtime until one day I had the best salary in the whole group. I was hungry to make money, and colleagues were jealous of me, but no one worked like I did,” he says. “In 1965,” Heredia continues, “I went to the Continental Hilton and discovered a fantastic world. I was still very ambitious, but at the Hilton, coming into contact with talented foreign chefs, with their ice sculptures and chocolate and butter, opened a window to a different universe. I was working in the Belvedere, a luxurious cabaret with great bands, an elegant crowd, champagne and a comida that was the pinnacle of glamour. The Hilton changed my life, I even learned about hamburgers, which until then I’d never seen.” During this time, Heredia met people like Chef Jacques Bergerault, with whom he’d work at the Camino Real, and who became his great friend. “He was a top chef, an impressive man,” he says of Bergerault. “When I first went to work at the Hilton, Bergerault came to the street to greet me. He didn’t know me, but he was so down to
A Person of Prestige
A
lejandro Heredia Resendiz was named Mexican Chef of the 20th Century during the First International Congress of Chefs, and an honorary member of the National Academy of French Cuisine. • He’s cooked for England’s Queen Isabel, Spain’s royal family, the first astronauts to go to the moon, and former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. • He has represented Mexico in international food festivals in Switzerland, Italy, India, Japan and France • Heredia has been juried at the Bocuse d’Or, in France, perhaps the world’s most prestigious cuisine competition. • He received the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences’ Diamond Five Star Award.
earth—no posturing, no attitude, no superiority. With him, as with other chefs, I learned many wonderful things. By now, work was more than just a way of making money; I was absorbed in learning new dishes, and would lose all track of time. I felt like I could eat the entire world! One time I worked three consecutive days, non-stop. “It’s a shame…we are not used to working. Then we start complaining about the hours and want more money, but we don’t think about working more. I think that one should have aspirations, and even more, to be willing to pursue them. In sync with the times, Heredia got involved with French, Italian and other European cuisines. Mexican cooking was just a footnote in his repertoire. In 1968, he joined a project at the Camino Real to create a dynamic Mexican cuisine, the impact of which is still being felt today. By 1982 Heredia had risen through the ranks to the position of Executive Chef; along the way, his perception of Mexican cuisine had evolved. “It was at the Camino Real where the revolution in Mexican cuisine finally started to take shape. Along with Chef Philippe Seguin, we started to immerse ourselves in new techniques, and to change the sense of salsa, the size of the portions and to use gentler chiles. It was then that [Mexican chef] Alicia de Angeli started to incorporate products like nopales and huanzontles, and also to work with what you might call fusion cuisine. “Now young people are more prepared, and have greater ambitions for success in the restaurant business. Just look at the growing number of Mexican chefs who are working in countries like the United States. “Personally, it’s been a privilege to participate in the training of young people who are now chefs and have branched off into their own businesses. I think it’s very important to leave a legacy. Our time here is short, but one way to transcend that is to support and nurture future generations. I’m very proud to be a part of this process, it doesn’t matter if they end up thinking you’re a disgrace or the best in the world. “The only thing keeping us from realizing our dreams is the fear of setting off on the adventure. We work for money and for stability, but I think that it’s also important that we don’t limit ourselves in what we think we can achieve.” November • 2006
Celia Marin’s November Selection of Mexican restaurants and house specialties. Note: we have not translated the dishes so that you will be able to find them on the menu.
Zona Norte Izote Masaryk 513 local 3, Polanco Tel. 5280-1671 Specialties: sopa tarasca, crema de elote, pollito de leche rostizado con pasilla a la nata y nopalitos. Entremar Hegel 307 letra B, Polanco Tel. 5531-2031 Specialties: tostadas de atún, pescado a la talla, tarta de higo y pastel de merengue
Celia Marín Chiunti
El Lago Lago Mayor, 2a. Sección Bosque de Chapultepec Tel. 5515-9585 to 88 Specialties: aguachile ligero de mariscos, crema poblana con camarones y tarta crujiente de higos con crema de limón
One of Mexico’s top food editors and critics. Each month Celia will recommend you some of the country’s best menus
María Bonita Hotel Camino Real Mariano Escobedo 700, Polanco Tel. 5263-8888 ext 8451 Specialties: tradicional mexicana, abulón al chipotle al chile nayarita, flor de calabaza con rebozo y ensalada Frida de flor de calabaza Hacienda de los Morales Vázquez de Mella 525, Polanco Tel. 5096-3054, 3055 Specialties: queso de cabra en hojaldres, crema de queso con uvas y pastel de tres leches Villa María Homero 704, Polanco Tel. 5203-0306 Specialties: sopecitos clásicos, sopa de tortilla Malitzin, carnitas y medallones al tequila Los Arcos Torcuato Tasso 330, Polanco Tel. 5254-5624 y 5531-9696 Specialties: langostinos y camarones culichi, camarones aguachile verdes y rojos, y gelatina de guayaba Pujol Petrarca 254, Polanco Tel. 5545-4111/3507 Specialties: lomo de cordero con demi glase de mole Xico y plátanos con crema November • 2006
La Pigua Alejandro Dumas 16, Polanco Tel. 5281-2437 & 5281-1302 Specialties: pan de cazón, chile xcatic, pulpo alcalparrado y camarones
Jacarandas Euler 11, Polanco Tel. 5531-8936 / 0996 Specialties: mole poblano, cerdo con verdolagas, arrachera y tampiqueñas La Tecla Moliere 56, Polanco Tel. 5282-0010 Specialties: magret de pato en salsa de tamarindo y mango, tostadas de perejil frito con queso de cabra y guacamole Águila y Sol Moliere 42, Polanco Tel. 5281- 8354 Specialties: guacamole tricolor con requesón y granada, huazontle con queso de cabra y chayote gratinado El Bajío Av Cuitláhuac 2709, Col. Clavería Tel. 5234 -3763 Specialties: carnitas, mole de olla, pastel de cajeta y nieve de zapote Mi Ciudad Paseo de las Palmas 275 L-F Lomas de Chapultepec Tel. 5520-9084 / 1749 Specialties: chamorro a la cerveza, pozole, mole poblano y crepas poblanas InsideMéxico [ 15 ]
[ 16 ] InsideMéxico
November • 2006
The Migration South
More than a million English speaking comstrong México’s munity has grown dramatically over the last decade. But the story behind the numbers is that this population is as diverse as it is large.
México City residents From left to right: Renee Harris, Tyler Harris, Mary Lynn Gatschet-León, Sarah Bender and Jimm Budd
B y M a rg ot L e e S h e t t e r ly Additional Reporting by C at h e r i n e D u n n
P h oto g r a p h y : L u z M o n t e ro & sta f f Where can a man go to get some real living out of a pension check—a place where it’s a sunny 70° all year round, where a five-room house can be had for $40 a month and a live-in maid for $16, where the family food bill may be measured in pennies per day, with beer at 80¢ a bottle and gin at 98¢ a quart? The answer to this daydreaming question is not nowhere; it’s Mexico. –From“Down Mexico Way” in the May 22, 1964 edition of Time Magazine, on North Americans in México’s Lake Chapala area
November • 2006
I
t’s 10 a.m. on a balmy September Saturday, and every table at Salvador’s, a big American-style diner on the main drag in Ajijic, is taken. Dogs of all sizes are playfully pawing each other and nosing under their masters’ tables, eagerly hoping for a stray morsel of chorizo. The parking lot is jammed with cars with North American plates: Texas, California, Florida, Ontario. Almost every snippet of overheard conversation is in English: What time is the horse show today, I haven’t seen you and your dog in obedience classes lately, Number ten comes with juice or fruit, No thanks, just the check. InsideMéxico [ 17 ]
The Migration South
“We received a warm welcome from people here. People here open their lives up to you“. This is ground zero: the villages around Lake Chapala are home to the largest population of North Americans living in México. There’s a temptation to run it down as being inauthentic, not nearly Mexican enough for one’s adventurous gringo soul. But you’re forced to admit: the place is beautiful, and yes, the famed climate is delightful. It’s charming, with its narrow cobblestone streets and lush green gardens. Today like most days, Bob Carpenter is in the Ajijic plaza, sitting on a bench and reading Mexican comic books to improve his Spanish. He’s lived in Lake Chapala for 11 years, but his relationship with México goes back much further. “I made up my mind when I was in my 20s that I was going to retire in México,” says Carpenter, 74, a Toledo, Ohio native. Carpenter had traveled to México while stationed with the U.S. Army in El Paso, Texas, in the 50s. “You know, México had a lot of attractions for a young man.” According to the U.S. State Department’s website, there are now “more than a half-million American citizens” living in México, but an October 2005 study by Mexican cement giant Cemex puts the number at more than a million. By some estimates, as many as 500,000 Canadians are thought to be living in México full- or part-time, plus thousands of Brits, Irish, Australians and New Zealanders, as well as Germans, Japanese and others speaking English as a second language. Though many expatriates come to México to work, particularly in urban centers like México City and Monterrey, most choose smaller colonial cities and beach towns, for their beauty and traditions, their slower pace and simpler lifestyle. Caren Cross, 60, a painter and retired psychotherapist living in San Miguel, has just completed a documentary on the life of Americans living in the colonial city, called “Lost and Found in México”. She and her husband came to San Miguel on vacation and in 1998 decided to move here, for reasons, she says, that “weren’t conscious.” Only in retrospect did she realize that México provided a freedom that she was missing back in the United States. “I found that I could be more present, less harried, more attentive to whatever I’m doing rather than living in the past or the future,” says Cross. “And I think Mexicans are really good at that.” Ellen Fields, 51, and her husband James, 50, [ 18 ] InsideMéxico
The story behind
Ellen & James Fields
Barbara Kastelein
Merida The Fields turned years of experience in the software industry into a new business and a new life. “We didn’t come here to get rich,” says Ellen. “We came here to learn a lot, and we have.”
decided to move abroad after being laid off at a software company in 2001. They settled in Mérida and now run YucatanLiving.com, a website for people living in or considering a move to the area. “We’re from California, and our knowledge of México was really limited to the border. But when we got here, we realized we didn’t know it at all. We drove here from California and were just blown away by the beauty of México.” Barbara Kastelein, 40, born in Holland and raised in England, is a México City based journalist, currently working on a book about the Acapulco cliff divers. She traveled extensively through México as a college student in the 1980s, then moved to México in July 1995 when she fell in love with her now-husband Luis. “It wasn’t just for him by any means,” she says of the move. “I fell in love with México first. I hold by that. I’m still in love with México.”
Room for political ideals Despite México’s internal history of political repression, many outsiders have found it fertile soil for their political and social ideals. Father Glyn Jemmott, originally from Trinidad, had lived in the México College while study-
México City Barbara, who has lived in México for 11 years, used to buy her roundtrip plane tickets from England to México. Three years ago she switched. “When you always know you’re going… home it’s quite different than when you’ve decided not to.”
ing for the priesthood in Rome, and knew about the Afro-Mestizo population living along the coasts of Oaxaca and Guerrero. In 1985, after spending a year in México City, time in Oaxaca’s capital city and seven months in Pinotepa National, Jemmott became the parish priest in the coastal village of El Ciruelo. The economic and social development of the “pueblos negros” has become his life’s work. “It was the first time ever that they’d seen a black priest. I knew from the beginning that our common past would be a big part of my religious mission.” Artist Michele Gibbs and writer George Colman were active in the civil rights movement and with other progressive organizations in the United States. They left the country in 1980 when Ronald Reagan was being nominated for President in Detroit, and lived in Grenada, Greece and Jamaica before ending up in Oaxaca. “We were looking for a culturally diverse place to live outside the United States…we were in Cuernavaca for the summer and heard some things about Oaxaca,” says Colman, 78. “Things went right immediately in Oaxaca. We had a good feeling about the place. We received a warm November • 2006
the numbers
México’s English-speaking community is growing both in numbers and diversity
Caren Cross Father Glyn Jemmot Oaxaca Trinidadian Father Glyn has been the parish priest for Oaxaca’s Afro-Mexican communities for 21 years. “We have a moral obligation to ensure that people can make a living here without having to migrate.”
Lance & Jane Bird Baja California Jane Bird has collected Mexican popular art for 35 years, and next year is planning to use her collection to open a folk art museum in Ensenada. “We love México so much; we’d like to leave something for México.”
welcome from people here. People here open their lives up to you.”
A large and diverse population México has long been a draw for artists and writers, romantics and swells, adventurers, outlaws and opportunists. Turn of the 20th century American, English, German and French entrepreneurs prospered under the rule of President Porfirio Diaz, and 1920s and 30s México captured the imagination of the world’s creative class, including photographers Edward Weston and Tina Modotti, and writers like Graham Greene (The Lawless Roads), Malcolm Lowry (Under the Volcano) and Tennessee Williams (Night of the Iguana). After World War II, many American soldiers moved to San Miguel de Allende to attend the Instituto Allende, an art school, on GI Bill scholarships. Much of the recent increase in México’s expat population has been fueled by the 76 million North American baby boomers who are now entering their “segunda juventud”, as the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) puts it. The owners of the website SolutionsAbroad. com, a resource for foreigners moving to and living November • 2006
San Miguel Caren’s daughter Carly, moved to San Miguel, and Caren’s mom visits from Philadelphia once a year. The family always celebrates Christmas in San Miguel with their son, Jordan, who lives in Virginia. “I feel totally like I live in México,” Cross says.
in México have noticed the trend. “We have seen— especially in the last year—a tremendous shift in the demographics of our users,” says founder and President Agustin Barrios Gomez. “31% of our site’s current users are retirees, compared to 15 – 17 % in our first four years of operation.” But the story behind the numbers is that this population is as diverse as it is large. Though a lower cost of living is part of the appeal for North American emigrants, it’s clear that for most, the search for richer, more varied lives is just as important. “I don’t feel retired,” says Caren Cross. “No one I know feels retired. I feel more alive than I’ve ever felt.” She talks of 80-year olds learning Spanish. “The old people here feel really young to me.” Irma Trommlitz, 59, came to Puerto Vallarta on vacation three years ago after years as a caregiver for her parents. In her life, she’s studied for the ministry, worked as a general contractor and was a successful stockbroker. She’s now a real estate agent living and working in Puerto Vallarta. “People who are willing to pick up and leave their country and build a life in a new place— even if they’re outlaws—are pretty exceptional,” she says.
A complex mix of identities México’s North American residents express their mix of nationality, culture and ethnicity in ways that defy simple definition. Michele Gibbs, 60, says, “I knew it was a mistake when I was born in Chicago; it was a very hostile environment…I was an individual in three diasporas: Jewish, black and communist. My orientation was always international.” Oaxaca is home, she says. Ron Lavender moved to Acapulco in June of 1954 and “never looked back.” His company, Ron Lavender y Asociados, is the oldest real estate firm in the area. “I don’t think I’ve ever really considered going back,” he says, though he feels “considerable loyalty” to the United States. Mexican-Americans are perhaps the fastest growing subset of Americans moving to México. In some real estate agencies in Baja California, second- and third- generation Mexican-Americans account for 25% of new home sales, and an increasing number of the Social Security checks that are sent to México each month are destined for Mexicans who have moved home after spending their working lives in the U.S. The social issues facing this group can be InsideMéxico [ 19 ]
The Migration South
Bill Wolf Age: 59
Elizabeth Villa Age: 26
Lucille Alaka Age: 79
Bob Carpenter Age: 74
Maggie Goldberg José María Pezal Age: 56 Age: 29
Sandra Thomson Michele Gibbs Age: 56 Age: 60
George Colman Age: 78
Renee Harris Age: 50
Lives in: Oaxaca From: San Francisco Years in México: 16
Lives in: México City From: Los Angeles Years in México: 17 years off and on
Lives in: Oaxaca From: Chicago Years in México: 5
Lives in: Lake Chapala From: Toledo, OH Years in México: 11
Lives in: Isla Holbox From: Canada/New Zealand
From: Mallorca, Spain Lives in: Isla Holbox Years in México: 11 months
Lives in: Isla Holbox From: New York Years in México: 2
Lives in: Oaxaca From: Pennsylvania Years in México: 18
Lives in: México City From: Wisconsin Years in México: 2
Adriana Slemko Age: 40
Natalie Vohnout Age: 30
Dan McGrath and Darryla Green Age: 53 and 64
Diana Ricci Age: 82
David Boyle Age: 37
David Sandler and Cathey Lopez Age: 56 and 62
Jane Poindexter Age: 69
Patrick Wiering Age: 26
Lives in: Puerto Vallarta From: Puerto Vallarta and Toronto Years in México: 40 off and on
Lives in: Puerto Vallarta From: Canada/ Czechoslovakia Years in México: 3
Live in: Oaxaca From: Oregon Years in México: 10 months
Lives in: Oaxaca From: California Years in México: 17
Lives in: Mérida From: New York Years in México: 10
Lives in: Oaxaca From: Guatemala Years in México: 4 ½
Lives in: Oaxaca From: Philadelphia, PA Years in México: 7
From: Holland Lives in: Isla Holbox Years in México: 2
particularly complex. Some feel like outsiders in the U.S. and Canada, and find that they’re still between cultures when they’re in México. Elizabeth Villa is a 26-year old student at UCLA, majoring in Latin American studies and minoring in English. Her parents are from near Guadalajara and migrated to Los Angeles, where Elizabeth was born. She is now an exchange student at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) in México City. “We come here and we’re looked at as kind of gringos,” she says. “If our Spanish isn’t great, we’re totally criticized for it.” However, she says she’s energized by the level of political activism that she finds here in México, something she feels is lacking in the U.S. She’s considering staying on in México City beyond her year of study, maybe to pursue a Master’s degree, perhaps to live. Adriana Slemko, 40, was born in Puerto Vallarta to a Canadian mother and a Mexican father. Since age 2, she has lived her life equally split between Canada and México, and now works as a real estate agent in Puerto Vallarta. “When I’m in Canada, I’m Canadian,” she says. “When I’m in México, I’m Mexican. I have a dual mentality.” “I think it’s a gross simplification to talk about an expat community,” says John Gardner, the head of Mexpat, a México City-based social networking group. “There are expats who identify with specific neighborhoods, or by profession: business people, artists, parents, students, teachers, journalists.” Lance and Jane Bird have been coming to México since 1976, and split their time between Pasadena and their house in Bajamar, a residential development 25 miles north of Ensenada, in Baja California. “We are in a community that’s largely Ameri[ 20 ] InsideMéxico
can, but we spend most of our time with Mexicans,” says Lance, 66. “Our Mexican friends speak very good English, and there’s a very lively social scene here.” “For us, the most critical overlaps with the expat community have to do with work,” says Michele Gibbs. “The center of our social life is not in the extranjero community.” Still, there is no question that most expats draw some support from their compatriots. Jane Poindexter, 69, toured México in 1999 looking for a place to retire. She rejected San Miguel as having “too many Americans,” but chose Oaxaca over other locations with fewer foreigners. “Having a common language and common points of reference is a wonderful thing,” says Poindexter. “You don’t have to spend a lot of extra time explaining yourself. I’ve found that I have more in common with the gringo community than I expected.”
Community and change As the English speaking enclaves grow larger, divergent lifestyles and strains on infrastructure complicate the social dynamics. “They should just put some kind of cap on development,” says an affable bespectacled Texan waiting for a friend to join him for breakfast at Salvador’s. He bought a house in a gated community in Ajijic four years ago. “They keep building, but the infrastructure just can’t support it. There’s not enough electricity, there’s not enough water. There’s just going to be gridlock.” Bob Carpenter has enjoyed his time in Chapala but laments the changes. “There’s so much more traffic here than there was before. I don’t know how they’re going to handle it.” “There is a whole big group of people in San Miguel who don’t feel changed, and they pretty
Lives in: Oaxaca From: Detroit, MI Years in México: 18
much stick together in a cocktail circuit,” says Caren Cross. “They see San Miguel more as a retirement community.” Cross says she doesn’t want to sound judgmental, but feels many come to San Miguel “because they can have a maid and a gardener and a big house and not spend a fortune...they kind of see it as a playground.” Oaxaca’s George Colman echoes the sentiment. “The character of the community has changed. It’s been exploded and changed in character. In the late ’80s we knew most everyone. We have no idea now.” With some predicting as many as 10 million North Americans to be moving to México over the next 30 years, it’s unclear how the country will deal with such a large and resource-hungry influx of new residents. The Baja Peninsula is the epicenter of the Mexican real estate boom. Now that foreigners can buy coastal properties through trusts called fideicomisos, and with finance companies like GMAC and GE Capital providing mortgage loans on Mexican properties at U.S. rates, Baja is being developed at a dizzying pace. Los Cabos, a decade ago a fishing village of 10,000, is now a boom town with 160,000 residents. The Yucatan Peninsula is another hotspot. Sandra Thomson, 54, has lived on Holbox Island, a relatively undeveloped sandbar located 40 miles northwest of Cancun, for two years. She owns Artesanía Las Chicas, a store that sells yucateco clothing and handcrafts, and she’s also a real estate agent. She says, “I have 15 clients now looking to buy here, all of them American.” Environmental damage and resource consumption are two big issues México faces in accommodating retiring North Americans. Redefining Progress, an Oakland California-based think tank publishes a survey of a country’s resource use, November • 2006
Alexito Age: 1 Lives in: México City From: México City
Mariana Gómez-Pimienta de Rosen Age: 32 Tyler Harris Age: 17
Lives in: México City From: México City
Max Uhler Age: 64
Mitra Age: 50
Tom Olberg Age: 62
Anouschka and Yan Monroy Age: 33 and 35
From: Italy Lives in: Isla Holbox Years in México: 4
Lives in: Oaxaca From:Minneapolis,mn Years in México: 9 months
Lives in: Holbox From: Canada/Iran Years in México: More than ten
Lives in: La Manzanilla From: Minnesota Years in México: 1
Live in: Guadalajara From: Guadalajara and Madrid Years in México: 14 and 1
Larry Bouchner Age: 80
Ruth Gonzales Age: 87
Irma Trommlitz Age: 59
Sabine Persicke Age: 38
Tom Law Age: 73
Stan Gotlieb Age: 69
Sue-Ellen Mason Marga Shubart Age: 37 Age: 80
Mary Lynn Gatschet-León
Marie Claire Baud de Trey
Lives in: Lake Chapala From: Fairfield, CT Years in México: Moving this fall
Lives in: Oaxaca From: Chicago Years in México: 55 years
Lives in: Puerto Vallarta From: Oregon Years in México: 3
Lives in: Oaxaca From: Germany Years in México: 20
Lives in: Lake Chapala From: New York Years in México: 3
Lives in: Oaxaca From: Minneapolis, MN Years in México: 13
Lives in: México City From: New York Years in México: 4
Lives in: México City Years in México: 10
Lives in: Isla Holbox From: Belgium
Lives in: México City From: Virginia Years in México: 2
Francesca Golinelli Age: 29
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