Tropical Storm Barry Death Toll Rises To 3 In Mexico
Huffington Post-7 hours agoShareAn eight-year-old child and his mother were killed in southern Mexico after being swept away in a river during Tropical Storm Barry, bringing ...Tropical Storm Barry makes landfall in Mexico
VERACRUZ, Mexico (AP) — Tropical Storm Barry hit Mexico's Gulf Coast on Thursday morning as civil defense workers readied emergency ...Show moreTropical Storm Barry Heads Toward Mexico, Forecasters Say
The National Hurricane Center has issued coastal warnings in the Gulf of Mexico regarding Tropical Storm Barry. The second named storm of ...Tropical Storm Barry Makes Landfall In Eastern Mexico
The National Hurricane Center says Tropical Storm Barry washed ashore just north of Veracruz, Mexico, at about 8 a.m. Central Time.Tropical Storm Barry weakens to depression; still dumping torrential ...
VERACRUZ, Mexico — Tropical Storm Barry weakened to a depression after hitting Mexico's Gulf Coast on Thursday and forcing the ...
Monday, June 24, 2013
Tropical Storm Barry Links
Tropical Storm Barry Death Toll Rises To 3 In Mexico Agence France Presse | By Posted: 06/24/2013
Tropical Storm Barry Death Toll Rises To 3 In Mexico
Agence France Presse | ByPosted: 06/24/2013 3:42 am EDT | Updated: 06/24/2013 9:44 am EDT
An eight-year-old child and his mother were killed in southern Mexico after being swept away in a river during Tropical Storm Barry, bringing the death toll from the storm to three, authorities said.
"After more than 24 hours, we were able to rescue the bodies of a woman and her child," Oaxaca Civil Protection director Manuel Maza Sanchez told AFP.
The pair were among a group traveling in a van that was swept away by the swollen river in a town in Oaxaca state, 660 kilometers (410 miles) from Mexico City the official said.
The third fatality occurred in the eastern state of Veracruz, where the storm made landfall on Thursday. A man died while trying to cross a river on horseback and was dragged by the force of the current, state authorities said.
Three more people were wounded and about 1,200 were evacuated preventively in the state.
The US National Hurricane Center in Miami said Barry hit land in Veracruz at about 1300 GMT on Thursday, packing maximum sustained winds of 65 kilometers (40 miles) per hour. The storm lost steam as it moved inland.
Earlier this month, the first tropical storm of the Atlantic season, Andrea, caused severe crop damage in Cuba and damaged more than 1,900 homes.
The Atlantic hurricane season started June 1 and runs through November 30.
Scientists at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have predicted that the six-month Atlantic season will see 13 to 20 named storms, seven to 11 hurricanes and three to six major hurricanes.
Hundreds of Mexicans in U.S. Get New Birth Certificates
Hundreds of Mexicans in U.S. Get New Birth Certificates
Imagine what life would be like if you had no form of documentation. No birth certificate. No driver's license. No Social Security number. No official proof that you even exist (to a government, at least).
This is the reality faced by many natives of the southwestern Mexican state of Oaxaca. Divided into 571 municipalities, Oaxaca is a mountainous state with many indigenous communities that have remained isolated from Mexican society. At least one-third of Oaxacans speak one of 16 native languages in the region; many women give birth in their isolated communities and never obtain birth certificates from the government for their children.
"You have to go to the head of municipal government, and you have to travel [long distances] sometimes without roads," said Carlos Sada, the New York-based Consul General of Mexico. "So what people do is they do not register their kids, so they go around their lives without their birth certificate."
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At Sunday market, Zapotec Indians from the... View Full Size
Inaccuracies, inconsistencies, and typos in birth certificates are also common in the region, because birth certificates were all once written out by hand. Any error in a birth certificate makes obtaining an official passport or identification nearly impossible. Because of all of these barriers, some Oaxacans resort to buying counterfeit birth certificates for hundreds of dollars on the black market.
An estimated 300,000 Oaxacans reside in the greater New York City area, according to Sada, and hundreds lack any real documentation from Mexico or the United States. Due to the unique birth certificate dilemma in the region, the Mexican government last week arranged a week-long visit by the Oaxacan Civil Registry to the United States to fix errors and provide birth certificates to people who can prove they are from the region.
More than 500 Oaxacans registered and received new birth certificates this year in Mexico's second annual drive in its Philadelphia and New York City consulates. Last year, 420 Oaxacans gained documentation through the program.
Abelado Rojas, a 47-year-old construction worker from Oaxaca, has been living in New York City for 22 years. But an error in his original birth certificate has prevented him from obtaining any form of official Mexican identification his entire life.
Last Thursday, Rojas received his first accurate birth certificate. Smiling with the document in hand, Rojas said that piece of paper would give him peace of mind.
"It's a very good service, I'm very thankful," Rojas said in Spanish. "I'm very happy to have this worry gone in my life. To finally know I have this, it's a blessing."
Mazunte Center Events | Hridaya Yoga This Calendar lists all activities at our primary center in Mazunte, Mexico. Please note that you may join Agama's First Level Intensive Course at any time, ... hridaya-yoga.com/calendar/mazunte-center-events/
Mazunte Center Events | Hridaya Yoga
This Calendar lists all activities at our primary center in Mazunte, Mexico. Please note that you may join Agama's First Level Intensive Course at any time, ...
hridaya-yoga.com/calendar/
This Calendar lists all activities at our primary center in Mazunte, Mexico. Please note that you may join Agama's First Level Intensive Course at any time, ...
hridaya-yoga.com/calendar/
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Huatulco – A Fishing Village Turned Resort Posted on June 18, 2013
Huatulco – A Fishing Village Turned Resort
A hazy sunrise at Punta Fandango, Bay of Santa Cruz, Huatulco
On Tuesday, April 30, we woke up in port on NCL’s Pearl. It was our ninth day on the cruise, so we must be in Huatulco (Wa-tul-co), our second stop in Mexico. The area, after being plundered by pirates in the 17th century, survived as a fishing village. In the 1980s, the Mexican Tourist Agency, (FONATUR) decided that the area’s pristine beaches and natural beauty would make an attractive tourist area.
The rugged coastline of Bahia de Santa Cruz, Huatulco
Though not as popular as Ixtapa, Cabo San Lucas and Cancun, other resorts developed by the same agency, Huatulco holds its own as a beautiful place to visit. There are lots of tourist options, from simply hanging on the beach to renting a bicycle, boat or taking a tour bus to visit the area.
One of the beach resorts near the cruise ship terminal and marina
Our choice for a shore excursion was titled, “Old Huatulco & Mexico Traditions,” which turned out to be a very popular venue for the tourists on the Pearl and her sister ship, the Sun. As it turned out, we were some of the last people to be herded onto a bus, the last bus and apparently the backup and overflow bus.
The excursion would wind its way through the local shopping and hotel areas into the countryside. We would visit the town of Santa Maria, tour a facility that makes Mezcal, and walk through a herbal medicinal garden. As it turns out, the bus we were given had no functional audio system. The poor tour guide had to resort to delivering his story twice, once at the front of the bus, and once toward the rear.
My wife, Lynn, and I ended up near the very back of the bus. We couldn’t even sit in the seats directly behind the people in front of us as the window in that seat was, shall we say, less than perfect.
View from the window in the seat in front of us. Sitting one more row back, made it that much harder for us to hear the tour guide, even when he was speaking to the group in the rear of the bus.
Our tour inland to Santa Maria was a pretty drive, but we only heard part of the narration. Fortunately once we got to our destination and left the bus, our tour guide became much more easily heard. The small town we visited featured a town square, and a Catholic Church. The church is the only one in the village, which should come as no surprise to anyone as Catholocism is the religion of 85% of the Mexican population.
The Plaza at Santa Maria. The closest bust is the likeness of General Vicente Guerrero Saldaña, second President of Mexico and revolutionary war hero in Mexico. The building in the background is the Catholic Church.
Ceiling of the Church at Santa Maria Huatulco.
The church, our first stop on our walking tour, is a typical example of the beauty of Mexican churches. The ceiling in this church is what struck me as most beautiful. One of the more recently built churches, it was constructed in 1908. Inside the church was a plaque documenting the legend of Quetzalcoatl, a bearded white man who wore a white robe, a Christian who arrived long before the Spaniards.
From there, we visited Ciudad Centro, the government building. Except for a mural painted on an inside wall, there was really not much to see there. Continuing our walk, we visited a local blacksmith shop where we saw a demonstration of smithing.
The blacksmith heats the metal to be worked while his son in the background pumps the manual air bellows to stoke the fire.
A young girl approaches a residence to knock at the door. The children were delivering vegetables to customers along their route.
Soon we boarded the bus to head our next stop, an artisanal mezcal factory. Mezcal, like tequila, is a product of the Agave plant. Actually, tequila is produced only from the blue agave. Mezcal, on the other hand, is made from any of many varieties of agave plant. I was disappointed that we would not actually see any production. Instead, we were shown the round pits where large round stones were pulled by mules, crushing the agave cores to create the Mezcal.
We were given various samples of Mezcal, some of which were very flavorful. We were also given a small snack. Neither Lynn nor I could actually eat the grasshopper laying on the chip, all dead and all. I’m sure, though, that after removing the offending bug, we still probably consumed some insect parts. We were not impressed.
Our snack consisted of a tortilla chip with a spoonful of chocolate sauce, some cheese, a spice, and a spoonful of grasshopper.
After leaving the Mezcal sampling area, it was back on our bus, headed for a medicinal garden. The garden was a beautiful and peaceful place to visit. Prior to entering the garden, we were given a demonstration of tortilla making as it is still done today, from scratch, on a tortilla press and cooked on a wood fired oven.
To make a tortilla start with a corn or flour based mix. The clay-like mix is worked, rolled into a ball and flattened on a tortilla press. A few moments on the wood fired oven, and the tortilla is warm and ready to eat.
Once inside the garden, the guide pointed out many plants used for medicinal purposes, able to cure everything from gout to cancer, so they said, anyway. If this medicine is as good as he described, it’s a wonder there is any illness or disease left in the world. In other words, I was skeptical. I was most interested in the flora found in the garden, especially several types of plants that appear to be similar to pitcher plants. Unfortunately our guide didn’t know anything about these specific plants. When I searched for photos of pitcher plants, I could find none that look like these. If you know what any of these specimens are called, please leave a comment. I am interested in knowing. A small gallery of these plants will close this blog post.
Leaving the garden, we headed back to the cruise ship dock. When we arrived at the dock, we wandered through some souvenir shops. On our way back to the ship, we rounded a corner near the dock entrance and noticed several people from the cruise ship, smart phones out, iPads and laptops open. Apparently hungry for free Wi-Fi, someone had found a free access point and a cluster of “geeks” were getting their Internet fix.
All in all, the tour was interesting, and except for the condition of our tour bus, we had an enjoyable tour. We headed up the gangway toward our room to get ready for a well deserved dinner. One gets hungry when all there is to eat is a shared tortilla snack. Of course, it was our fault that we didn’t eat our only source of protein for the day.
Our next stop on the cruise is Puerto Vallarta.
John Steiner
What follows is a gallery of unusual plant photos taken in the medicinal garden.
Vive Latino, Mexico’s Biggest Rock Festival (2012)
Vive Latino, Mexico’s Biggest Rock Festival (2012)
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