New Mexican 100 peso note

I found one of these from the ATM yesterday. All front sides are not the same.

The Banco de México reportedly issued a new 100 Peso note on February 5, 2017 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the enactment of the Mexican Constitution.

Mexican government headache

I am the default caretaker of Canadians construction site.They emailed me and said a friend had seen a notice on their house. I walked up with Juan and we both found nothing. Hugo went up later and found the notice crumpled up on the ground.

The first was from Obras Publicos in Cihua saying there was no construction permission. They also said the water and property tax had not been paid which only the Ejido has jurisdiction over. The next day we found a notice from Seguro giving the only contact info was in Vallarta. 

Time to visit Many, a realtor and kind of lawyer that takes care of their Seguro for the workers. He assured us that the IMSS clinic in Aguacate could take care of the Seguro. He was also going to Cihua the next day and would straighten out Obras Publicos. What a relief to have nothing more to do except check with Manny on Monday for the results.

Multiple departments not communicating is all I can figure.

Christmas in Mexico

Rosca de Reyes 

I've been finding lots of ideas about Mexican Christmas. Lorena says it's the 24th when they eat pozole and open presents. I'm looking forward to the pozole. One knowledgeable site even suggested they eat a Rosca de Reyes but I thought that was only for Three Kings Day in January. I'm going to check in town later today and see if anyone is selling them.

On the 24th or “La Nochebuena” many families attend Misa de Gallo or midnight Mass, and enjoy the last day of “Las Posadas” and “Las Pastorelas.” On Christmas Eve, the families gather to eat “La cena de Nochebuena” and to share in the opening of the presents.

Get ready to be confused

Get ready to be confused between this and ten peso coin. I assume they will be similar in size like the last twenty peso coin.

Les presentamos la nueva moneda de 20 pesos que conmemora el centenario de la Fuerza Aérea Mexicana y que pronto estará en circulación. 

Banco de México

We introduce the new currency of 20 pesos commemorating the centennial of the Mexican Air Force and will soon be in circulation. 

Banco de Mexico

Calling up spirits

Mexican children treated for nervous breakdowns is hard to believe but has been reported in Oaxaca. A priest there is also warning about calling up spirits or demons. A silly little game that has gone viral in social media and kids play in school. The poor man's Ouija board game has a long history and why it's suddenly popular is anyone's guess.

How to play ....

Step 1: Draw an X on a piece of paper.

Step 2: Label two of the resulting quadrants "no," and the other two "yes."

Step 3: Place two overlapping pencils on each axis of your grid, crossing them in the middle.

Step 4: Say "Charlie, Charlie, are you there?" and ask a question. 

Step 5: Scream at the answer probably.

Also called Charly, Charly and Lapicera

Some more sensible versions of the game

Why should I care? (Should I even care?!)

I mean, you should definitely care if you're seeking supernatural answers to your life questions. (Excepting questions about love, death and money, which - per certain versions of the legend - Charlie will not answer.)

Even if that doesn't exactly describe you, though, Charlie makes a killer case study in virality and how things move in and out of languages and cultures online. You'll notice, for instance, a lot of players and reporters talking about the game as if it were new, when it's actually - and more interestingly, I think - an old game that has just recently crossed the language divide.

This is also, pretty notably, yet another example of the power of the teenage Internet. Write off their little games as silly, sure - but we never trended Bloody Mary or Ouija board.

The story of Charlie Charlie, the 'demonic' teen game overtaking the internet

This should be fun

Not sure where I got the idea to try this except that the fresh Ginger (jengibre in Spanish) (hen-hebrey) I buy at Parisani has little "eyes" similar to potatoes. I had not read about the plant (annual or perennial), flowers or not, climate, soil, ornamental only or amount of sun.

Turns out it is a hardy plant that likes heat, humidity, water and fertilizer. I'll see how it does in the pot but  it may end up in the garden because plants with rhizomes spread (put it where it can be controlled I read). Interesting to read about the history and origin of Ginger and how it got to the Americas. Haven't yet figured out the difference between common and ornamental. Ginger in Mexican cooking -- I heard in a certain Mole but nothing more. A continuing story I'm sure.

Tropical gingers, whether common or ornamental, require at least one year of undisturbed growth to bloom. Generally, the flower stems grow directly from a mature rhizome, although shell ginger's flowers grow directly from leaf stems. When growing new ginger plants from seeds or transplanted plantlets, they may require up to three years of growth before producing flowers. Planting ginger in a large, wide flowerpot and taking it indoors during winter gives the rhizome time to fully mature.

Sprouts from both ends of tuber

From Köhler's Medicinal Plants

Think it's in a number of gardens around here

Wikipedia on Ginger

Better planning for my tomatoes

I don't know if I didn't remember last year when my Cherry tomatoes grew to over 12 feet or if I doubt they will even come up. Whatever it is I'm going to have to plan better for the next crop because tomatoes go crazy here and they probably will all year. I had so many come up I transplanted a few into buckets and they will use the chain link fence on my driveway for support

The biggest issue is supporting them so I'll build some sort of cage in the planter for the next crop.  Also move my herbs out of that planter and put them in pots As well need some mulch to slow the soil from drying out. The Coco Coir plant near Cihuatlan throws fiber out by the highway and I'm going to ask if it's free. They also sell a Coir powder that is a lot like Peat Moss. A place over toward Barra has cow manure very cheap and I haven't been over there for awhile because of their road. For now we'll just keep tying them up and in a few months redesign their space. 

Planted in January and got our first red tomatoes yesterday

Here's some and I've been pruning the non fruiting branches

This is supposedly the typical Mexican Roma tomato

So may Cherries came up I transplanted a few in buckets

Coir fiber for mulch

Counterfeit $100 US here in Melaque

A taxi driver took it but banks wouldn't. He might have even given some change from it. Good quality but looked like it had gone through the wash 20 times. Frayed around the edges. My neighbor bought it for 100 pesos with hopes I could help. All I could do is send it to Seattle to have it checked out. Sent registered mail on the 9th of November and it just arrived on the 24th of December. Sister took it to a bank and sure enough it was fake. I thought Mexican mail was slow but it took 15 days to get from LAX to Seattle.

La Princesa Market - Woodinville

My sister told me this was a new store in town so I stopped by to check it out. Not that Latin American restaurants and stores are rare around here but this is new and the only one I know of in Woodenville. The woman owner greeted me in Spanish as if no big deal.  I told her I was just checking it out in Spanish ... and her attention was quickly taken by 6-8 customers that came in. Very much like a Mini Super in Mexico except brands found mostly in the US. There's a farmers market here this weekend and I'm told a Mexican from Yakima shows up so looking forward to that.

La Princesa Market

Pinatas and Pan

Veggies

La Raza and other Spanish language papers

They (Wash. State) have reduced the number of drivers licence places dramatically and when looking online for the closest location there was a link to a "Renew On Line" page. A little info and $54 later I was renewed and told they would mail it in a few weeks.  Another thing to cross off my to do list.

All my Amazon stuff arrived including the "good enough" Sony Cyber-Shot camera I used above. Nice cute little camera about the same size as my IPhone but takes better pictures. Shopping at second hand stores is going well with lots of sheets and a few clothes. Between a senior discount and the discount colored tag of the day prices are reasonable.

Another Jova or two ??

With 5 hurricanes expected to affect Mexico's Pacific Coast this year, Secretary General Arturo Zamora Jimenez recently met with Jalisco emergency services representatives to discuss preventive operations.

Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico - Towns all along the Mexican Pacific Coast are 'battening down the hatches' in preparation for this year's hurricane season, which is predicted to be rather stormy.

Since 2014 will be unique in terms of maritime phenomena, with five high intensity hurricanes expected to affect the Mexican Pacific Coast this year, Mexico's Secretary General Arturo Zamora Jimenez recently met with Jalisco State security and emergency representatives to discuss preventive alerts and operations to be undertaken by all municipalities along the coast.

"...above all, we must prepare for the heavy rains that will result from the five Mexican Pacific cyclones that the State Water Commission has predicted will impact our coastal towns," Zamora Jimenez said.

Puerto Vallarta Prepares for 2014 Hurricane Season

Conagua

The new Chav Rub juicer

I couldn't resist when I saw this in my neighbors yard for-sale.  I have a thing for dawn of the industrial revolution but still pre-electric mechanics.   First thought the brand was Chay Rub but with a closer look it's Chav Rub made somewhere in Guadalajara.   With the correct name I was able to find the second foto and see I am missing a return spring.   Mine is also a #6 and the 2nd foto is a #4 which means I can do oranges and small grapefruit and theirs just oranges.

I once bought an aluminum lime juicer because it looked stronger .... the small hand squeeze kind.   I was eventually told to get rid of it and buy plastic.   The acid of especially limes reacts with the aluminum and can give a fowl taste to the juice after awhile. My new one is aluminum but the cone and cup are stainless and oranges are a whole lot less acidic than limes.

So this one cost me 150 pesos and list new for about 500 for this large size.  Chrome it and advertise it as a "Bar Juicer" in the US and ask $194 dollars.   Maybe both companies using Mayan names .... Chav Rub and Ra Chand?

Chav Rub #6

Chav Rub #4

Ra Chand Artimetal Bar Juicer

"Mexican Manual Juicer"

Model # J500 - $194.00

Amazing Mexican attitude

If you don't know one person in Mexico with a similar attitude then you are missing out on alot.

German Manuel Loza, better known as Larry Donas ("Larry Donuts" in English). From selling donuts on the streets in Mexicali to talk shows and signing a contract with Universal Music.

"I sold three donuts for 10 pesos or one for 4 pesos. For six donuts, a ballad was included,"

The songs were a mix of covers and originals penned by Loza, and were a huge hit with customers.

Some of them recorded the donut vendor's heartfelt performances with their smartphones and posted the videos on YouTube.

Those recordings became the catalyst for Loza's dramatic change of fortune.

The videos went viral, receiving hundreds of thousands of hits. Eventually his soaring popularity on social media networks attracted the attention of the local media and catapulted Larry Donas onto the national stage.

Loco de Amor

Coastal Avocado

Off and on I've been trying to find info about what the nursery guy told me was a "coastal avocado". My little tree is not yet a meter high so I haven't been real excited about it but it seems to be doing better with the rains. I also didn't include a foto but probably posted one in the past.

My interest peaked again when a neighbor said someone has a tree full and we're invited to pick a bunch. In the foto below of the tree you can't see an Avo but it is really full. We used what locals call a gancho to pull the fruit down. It's a long bamboo pole with a basket on the end, same tool that is used to pick mangoes. So we got about 10 with 4 for me. I've been using a gancho to get fruit from my roof off the two large mango trees in the lot next door.

So with all my Internet searching I find there are three basic avocado families; Mexican, Guatemalan and Antillean (West Indian). Antillean, which probably originated along the Pacific coast in Central America, yields well in lowland tropical situations and warm subtropical areas such as southern Florida. The Antillean also has smooth skin and is more pear shaped than round. The Mexican-Guatemalan hybrids originated around Atlixco in Puebla State where avocados have been traced back 7-8000 years. The Atlixco avocado was the one introduced into California as a 'Fuerte'.   Sounds to me like it's highlands vs. lowlands avocados.

Avocado tree

Our avocados

Many types of avocados

Gancho for mangoes and avocados

No work but gardening

I've been learning what works, what things are, what the bugs like to ruin, what stops the bugs and what plants do during different seasons.

As you can barely see I have a new pineapple. The plant is about a year old, I bought one, cut the top off and planted it. Wasn't sure it would do well in partial shade but it looks healthy.

Tomatoes are everywhere. My cherry tomato is huge, tired around the edges, turning brown but still cranking out lots of tomatoes every day. It probably will be finished in about a week. The Mexican or Italian tomatoes are popping up all over my compost pile. The largest has 5 big green ones.

The neem tree had a bunch of babies from it's dropped seeds and just waiting until they get big enough to transplant. Neighbor and I are thinking on one side of the jardin/playfield but there's no water there right now. If not, I'll look further.

The corn is only an experiment. I had no luck with some sweet corn seeds I brought down from Seattle .. so a neighbor gave me a couple ears of dry Mexican corn and that's what you see below. The only problem has been either my cat or the neighbors chickens like to get into them.

New pineapple

Volunteer tomatoes

Tomatoes in the compost pile

The largest new Neem

Corn experiment

My first Mexican Drivers Licence

I asked about getting a drivers licence on a local message board and later I got a PM from a friend that had not completed the process some time before. He knew where to go and wanted to do it again so we went together. Mine would have probably taken 30 minutes but he lacked proof of residence so we tried the municipio office for a Constancia. For a Constancia in Cihuatlan they now need birth certificate and fotos and he had no birth certificate.

Anyway the finance office is on the side street a block towards the plaza from Coppel, uphill. $495 pesos. Take that receipt, visa, passport and proof of residence (Constancia or CFE Bill in your name) ... with copies of the last three to the Validad office. You also need to know your blood type and have a name and number of someone to contact in case of emergency. Validad is about a block towards the plaza from Farmacia Guadalajara.

First a simple eye test on the computer and then a 20 question quiz. The terminology was a little strange but with a little help from the overseeing officer I got 95%. No driving test was required. I suggest knowing quite a bit of Spanish or take an interpreter. I think they are more receptive to people who can hold a conversation but not necessarily get the test terminology. I now have a very professional credit card style licence. Bike licences are different

Finance department where you pay

Validad where you get the licence

Mexican Ivy

This is my favorite plant but I still don't know the name. A friend had this almost covering his house and he said it's part of the Boston Ivy family. Why Boston I have no idea but it does look similar with more delicate leaves.

I had it half way around my property in Villa Obregon supported by a chain-link fence. The landlord cut it back to almost nothing and his wife was furious. I was pulling out the dead branches for weeks but within six months it was all back. I have another on my chain-link fence and am thinking of one in the back corner of the garden. It will eventually cover those bare brick walls. I don't plan to let it near the house because I've seen what ivy can do to a house up north.

Mexican Ivy (cissus)

The Villa Obregon house - Mia 2 year birthday

The rest of the garden - as it is

Which way home (documentary)

Too good not to post!! A movie about Central American and Mexican children traveling by train across Mexico to the United States

Which way home, de la directora Rebecca Camissa, es un documental que narra la historia en tiempo real de varios niños centroamericanos y mexicanos que viajan rumbo al norte en el techo de los trenes, en busca del sueño americano. Varios de ellos desaparecen en el trayecto, algunos son regresados a sus países, y solo uno llega a los Estados Unidos para ser deportado después.

Filmado bajo auspicios de HBO ahora Which way home ha sido nominado a los Oscares, y la importancia de esto es, más allá de que lo gane o no, el llevar la historia de los inmigrantes niños que cruzan territorio nacional enfrentando toda clase de peligros en la ignorancia total del mundo.

Les deseamos suerte!

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Mexican style

Blanca nieves y los enanos rancheros = Snow White and the midget ranchers

Military giving out Mexican flags

Thursday the military were all over the area giving out Mexican flags but they missed our place. The workers found a couple extras and mounted this one on my tinaco yesterday morning. They found one for Jimmy's place so we both proudly fly the green, white and red.

Making a large throw net

Back in Melaque a little more than two weeks and just finished a full two weeks work on the house. Stefan, my neighbor across the street is a fisherman and has been working everyday on this throw net. It's a large one that can only be thrown from a boat and it takes him a month to finish. He's close to finish with this one. He made a small one for my Canadian neighbor but I was under the impression only Mexicans can use throw nets which are considered commercial ??

Stefan also plays guitar and sings and he was over last night serenading us while while the work crew, I and a few more neighbors finished off 3 cubetas of Coronitas (small beers - 24 per bucket). The buckets of beer is a sometimes thing at the end of a week or job.