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ALEX GRAY BARRELING THROUGH PUERTO ESCONDIDO

By Justin Cote
Thu, Aug 9 2012 10:12 am | 0 Comments

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Alex Gray and friends bob and weave through some tubos grandes at the “Mexican Pipeline” aka Playa Zicatela, Puerto Escondido. For more Al Gray go to turkeymelt.com.

CATEGORIZED: Press Releases
TAGS: Alex Gray, Best Of Web, Mexico, Puerto Escondido, Timmy Reyes, Volcom

Viva Veracruz & Viva Puerto Escondido

Musings from and about living in Mexico

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Monthly archives for August, 2012

Mata A Mis Demonios

AUG09
20124 COMMENTS AND 0 REACTIONSWRITTEN BY JOHN CALYPSO

Mata a mis demonios, y mis ángeles morirán también.

Or in English: Kill my demons and my angels will die too. A misquoted quote from Tennessee Williams.

An expat with his soul in Mexico is not one to cast disparaging words on his adopted country. Cautionary tales on being in Mexico are ubiquitous these days.  After all there are plenty of ungrounded, and otherwise, more than willing to do that. The truth is Mexico is not perfect – no place is. It might even be said Mexico is far from it.

Precarious Security

Our story begins with the meeting of new friends. It can be said the Xalapa area is not a popular destination for foreigners. A short while ago we received a comment and then began emailing with a fellow 60’s music maker. With that in common we discovered still more common ground at lunch the other day. This parallel life traveller and his wife had embarked on a life changing commitment to sell their house and possessions and move to Mexico – coincidentally just seven tenths of a mile south of us here in Xico. Even selling their house and moving from Colorado like we had seven years past. In conversation coincidences abounded.

The excited couple are temporarily living in Xalapa preparing to establish their new life here in Xico. We created a SKYPE connection between us; talked of the possibility of sharing an Internet connection because of our close proximity and the fact they would be out of the area for a connection at their rental. We talked about wires, and modems, and satellite dishes, and Internet radios and more.

We were excited to have new friends and to offer up some pearls of wisdom. One of thosepearls was how safe we have found it here in our little part of Mexico; about how we do not lock our doors or fear for our possessions or person. Indeed, “We feel safer here in Mexico than we ever did in the United States”, we said.

Some pearls are best left in the jewelry box; as if to simply speak them will tarnish their sparkle.

Yesterday morning Anita mentioned in passing how our friend’s location was a bit isolated and perhaps vulnerable. No more conversation or thought given to that. Everything and everyone was at peace on that sunny August day in Mexico. And then in the afternoon we received this email from our new friends….

“Went up to the house to drop off some stuff and since we dropped off stuff and bought two gas tanks yesterday, we have been burglarized, copper pipe ripped out, tanks and propane that we just bought gone, landlord’s bookcases and light fixtures gone, all our stuff gone, water not functioning any more, door broken in…..we are on hold as to whether we will move there…welcome to Mexico….thank you both so much for sharing so much information with us, we don’t know where we will land now, we have paid 6 months rent in advance but don’t know if we should risk living there, only to lose everything we brought with us–they took everything, including the toilet paper…..back to square one….”

We SKYPED to hear total disappointment – the wind had left the sails. There was talk of heading back north of the border – the sadness of it all.

This morning it is raining here. Things do not seem as bright. We are going to start locking our doors and paying more attention to security. Just a little of the glow has left the building.

Stay Tuned!

Posted in Friends, Frugal Travelers, In The News, Mexico, Mexico-Travel, Opinion, Shock & Dismay,Ursulo Galvan, Xalapa, Xico

Chavela Vargas 1919-2012

AUG07
20125 COMMENTS AND 0 REACTIONSWRITTEN BY JOHN CALYPSO

Sad to report that Chavela Vargas passed away Sunday (born April 17 1919, died August 5 2012). Vargas was an amazing talent. Friends with Diego and Frida, Chavela thumbed her nose at convention being out-of-the-closet when this was not popular or even legal.  She performed wearing men’s clothes.

Her causes and proclivities aside, she was a great talent still recording into her 90’s. She will be missed. We were lucky to have her for so many years.

Get this 2-CD set – 1994 – Does not get any better than this!

If you are not familiar with her work, many will recall her haunting deep-voiced performance of La Llorna in the film Frida.

We salute Chavela Vargas  for her tenacious spirit and incredible artistry.

Stay Tuned!

Posted in Around Mexico, FACTOID, Friends, In The News, Mexico, Music Review, Opinion

From Our Mexican Backyard

AUG06
20124 COMMENTS AND 0 REACTIONSWRITTEN BY JOHN CALYPSO

August has ushered in summertime. We are accustomed to summer starting in May around our part of Veracruz – but not this year. It had rained every day since our arrival in early May until last night. A full 24 hours without rain. And it has been several degrees cooler than this time of year normally offers up.

Mind you much of the rain occurs in the late afternoon or still later in the night.  The locals treat rain like bright sunshine – it may call for an umbrella but it is so much a part of the fiber of life, one hardly notices.

Yesterday we did some yard work with the help of a neighbor. Truth is he did most of the work; an 18 year old new father; and a hard worker. This is a good thing because he has started a family early in life – very much a treatment of our Poor Man’s Shangri La.

New Teenage Parents (and Our Gardener).

We lowered a ladder down the side of our 11foot wall that keeps the soil from being swept away by the river at lots edge. He thinned out some bamboo to improve our neighbors view and avoid our culms from breaching the imaginary property line. The stalks were more than 30 feet long. With machetes we removed the foliage and stacked the yellow shafts with green stripes along our compost bin. It was a good day’s work improving the yard.

This morning while waiting for the coffee water to heat we enjoyed the backyard.  It is large by Mexican standards, beautifully primitive, replete with a water fall which we now have but a glimpse of as our neighbors have let their yard turn into a tall jungle.

There is a lime tree, a huge elephant ears plant, some limes on the trees and bananas ripening, several varieties of bamboo stretching skyward. There is a lot happening in a quiet Mother Nature way.

We sometime forget just how beautiful it is here. Pictures do not do it justice – but here we submit a few taken earlier this morning – all from the backyard:

Mother Nature has put us through a few trials this year – with hurricane season still coming. But this morning all is well. Poor Man’s Shangra La is a destination.  Stay Tuned!

Posted in Around Mexico, FACTOID, Frugal Travelers, Mexico Moment, Mexico-Travel, Ursulo Galvan,Xico

Mexican Pride

AUG02
20128 COMMENTS AND 0 REACTIONSWRITTEN BY JOHN CALYPSO

Where have we been?  Watching a LOT of Olympic events. We have not had cable television service since the 90’s (as in 1990’s). We were forced to have it with our Internet connection. For a 10 mb per second connection we bit the bullet. But, now we are getting 3-5 channels of live Olympic coverage from 4 AM to 3:30 in the afternoon (it may start earlier – 4 AM is early enough for us).

We got so excited we went out to look at BIG television sets. 32” upwards to 46” behemoths. Last time we had cable we had a huge projection style television. Now with HD and LED a new generation of quality is upon us.

As mentioned many times electronics are costlier here in Mexico – we looked anyway. While browsing around the electronics department at Chedraui Supermarket we spotted a cute Acer netbook on sale with 15% discount. Of course this was the last day of a three day sale – we had to make a decision now.

We wanted to replace Anita’s broken HP laptop. She has needed her own computer!

We checked the specifications; had them fire one up (you would think with 25 boxes of units and a splash sale that would have been happening – but no).  We waited while a salesperson found five keys to open five separate locks protecting one glass display. Then find the cords etc. Finally a hands on test. We got more and more impressed and went for it.

Buying a new computer  – the fun just begins. Loading bunches of software follows – often for days. We are on day two. Add to the complication that we replaced Windows Starter (in Spanish) with Windows 7 Home Premium (in English). We had to go on the Internet and find all the device drivers – quite a project.

The Calypso Conputer Lab

This little computer has a 10.1” screen. We connected it to a larger HP monitor. It also will play into our VIZIO HD television via an HDMI cable – playing 1081 HD quite well. A 320 GB hard drive, 2 GB RAM, card reader for my camera, 3- USB ports, VGA and HDMI video out, Ethernet, built-in camera and microphone – for less than $250 USD in Mexico – color us happy!

Today was a very good day for Mexico in Olympic terms. Before today we had two silver diving medals. Then today a bronze and a silver in the same women’s archery event – wow! To see two Mexican athletes on the three medalists podium made us proud.

Our Girls – Silver and Bronze!

It has been an easy fit to change our sports allegiance to Mexico.  This occurred a few years back. Of course the power house U.S. has a bus load of medalists and medals already (Day Five); more than even China as we write this. Mexico has 4 medals and we are darn proud of our athletes!  Stay Tuned!

Posted in Around Mexico, FACTOID, Frugal Travelers, In The News, Mexico, Mexico Moment

Barking Kitten Prank

Tropical Storm Ernesto nearing 2nd landfall By the CNN Wire Staff updated 4:15 PM EDT, Thu August 9, 2012

Tropical Storm Ernesto nearing 2nd landfall

By the CNN Wire Staff

updated 4:15 PM EDT, Thu August 9, 2012

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Ernesto is 5 miles from Mexico's Gulf coast
• NEW: It is expected to weaken as it moves over land
• NEW: A tropical storm warning is in effect for the region
• The storm surge could reach 3 feet, forecasters say

Are you preparing for Tropical Storm Ernesto? Share your story withCNN iReport.

Mexico City (CNN) -- Tropical storm Ernesto skirted the Mexican coast Thursday with top winds of 60 miles an hour, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

As of 2 p.m. ET, the storm was about 5 miles north of Coatzacoalcos, which is southeast of Mexico City along the Gulf of Mexico, the Hurricane Center said. A tropical storm warning was in effect from Veracruz to Chiltepec, about 60 miles inland.

Ernesto is expected to move slowly over southern Mexico later Thursday and on Friday and weaken as the center of the storm moves over the high terrain of Mexico, the Hurricane Center said.

NASA study links extreme weather, climate change

Hurricane Ernesto

The storm could bring as much as 10 inches of rain to the state of Veracruz and neighboring Tabasco, Puebla, and Oaxaca through Friday, and may produce life-threatening flash floods or mudslides over high terrain, the hurricane center said.

It also warned of a storm surge of 1 to 3 feet above normal along the coast, along with large and dangerous waves.

Ernesto made initial landfall Tuesday night as a Category 1 hurricane in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, on the Yucatan Peninsula, before moving back into the Gulf.

Complete coverage of weather