From Xico

DIF: Integrated Family Development in Mexico, and Swine Flu Especially Here in Our Area

You can see the bright pink and lime green offices of DIF http://www.difver.gob.mx in most pueblos of any size at all.  The acronm stands for Sistema Nacional para e Desarrollo Integral de la Familia, or the Comprehensive Development of the Family.  It offers all kinds of services from food, more in hard times, to mammograms to activities for us old people to issuing cards for seniors to get discounts, to sports, to psychological counseling and health education, some devoted to specific problems like leukemia and assistance for people without state insurance who need heart surgery.  It offers programs for kids and teenagers.  It’s kind of like a community center in the US, except this is a government organization. It’s very visible. It doesn’t seem to suffer for its government connection, and it is tied closely to local communities.  This is the place in Coatepec where citizens are supposed to bring their cooking oil. 

DIF is also a dispenser of sage advice on A/H1N1 prevention measures.  Here’s a poster they share from the Ministry of Health on hand washing:

 

We haven't heard of anyone in our area yet who has had swine flu.  In the country at large, 2431 new cases have been reported in the last 48 hours.  Thus far, altogether 41,920 people have been infected and 260 have died from it.  Mexico has a population of roughly 106 million people. 

In looking at the epidemiology of those who've died in Mexico, it's reported in (I thik the October 1 issue of El Processo that 22.5% of the 193 people who'd died as of October 1 in Guadalajara, 22.5% were cigarette addicts. It's a bit hard to find a quantitative definition of addiction, but the Mayo Clinic says that you can tell if you are dependent if quitting causes withdrawal symptoms.  In Mexico, somewhere between 12% and 15% of the population are considered addicts, less than the mortality rate from the A/H1N1 flu, at least in Guadalajara, indicating perhaps a link between lungs compromised by smoking in particular and the severe pulmonary complications of the flu.  The article pointed out that most people who died had serious secondary problems from heart disease to other pulmonary disorders.

Bad News in our Neighborhood

Late the night before last (in the madrugada) a neighbor's house exploded, probably because of a gas leak.  It was a house that was one part wood and one part concrete.  Nobody was hurt, but the wood part burned to the ground and while the concrete part retained its walls, even the metal roof warped from the heat.  A glass decoration on a wall hung completely melted.  Everything was destroyed.  

The house sits away from the street.  There are little clusters of houses in back of the main streets, often very poor.  On this tiny alley, some people live in little more than bamboo sheds.  I think everyone is family.  The lady whose house burned was better off than most in that little cul-de-sac.  She had a gas stove which may have been the problem and a television set and electricity.  The fire knocked out the electricity in the whole Colonia, by the way.

Our neighbors across our street told us that they heard the explosion and that everyone ran out in to the street to see the flames leaping into the sky.  People from near the burning house rescued their burros and their horses as fast as they could.  Fortunately, really fortunately, the flames were confined to the lady's house, probably because the fire department came. 

We didn't hear the explosion probably because our bedroom is far from the street and we are behind a wall (and just maybe because we don't hear as well as we used to). We realized our dogs did.  They woke us up barking in response to neighbor dogs barking, but the barking lasted a surprisingly short time.

If anyone in our area would like to donate clothes or chairs or a table or pots and pans or whatever, please write to me.

Coatepec, Not Just a Quaint Colonial City: Activities on Behalf of the Environment

Coatepec is an active participant in Agenda 21, a program of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division of Sustainable Development. You can read about this world-wide program in English here.  Coatepec has a web page in Spanish devoted to describing aspects of its participation here.

The focus for Coatepec is on the development of sustainable tourism, but the ramifications spread beyond tourism.  As the official Coatepec webpage says, 

"Agenda 21 is the action plan for putting into practice the principles contained in the Carta de la Tierra, [Earth Charter in English].  It involves planning for the future with short, medium and long term actions outined in a clear plan with goals, resources and responsibilities clearly defined.  That is to say, Agenda 21 is a broad global program to propel a sustainable future for the planet."

In Mexico and Coatepec, efforts are focused on developing sustainable tourism:

"The objective is to be a program which guides the actions and means to enhance sustainable development in tourism, increasing the well-being of human beings, respecting the environment and optimizing the economic and social benefits for communities.

• It is an international program dedicated to promoting sustainable tourism.
• It promotes integrated action by the government, businesses and organized civil societies.
• It helps to develop resources for productive projects in urban, economic, social, and environmental areas.
• It is endorsed by the World Organization of Tourism and the United Nations.

So far efforts in Coatepec have included:

• The development of an earthworm composting project,
• An ongoing used battery collection project at local schools,
• A tire-recycling project for materials for spaces at the Coatepec fairgrounds,
• River rescue projects -- Coatepec is cleaning its waterways and developing sewage treatment plans,
• Many tree-planting projects,
• Educational efforts throughout the schools."

Today, Coatepec announced a new project: "a permanent campaign for the collection and stockpiling of edible oils to contribute to the preservation of the environment and in particular our water tables."  

The article continues:

Last year, a permanent program of collection and stockpiig batteries and used tires was begun which citizens, schools and private businesses supported enthusiastically. Now we would like to make make people aware of how important it is that edible oils not arrive in our water systems.  At present, when used oil goes down the drain, it makes it water treatment more difficult and raises its costs. Furthermore, if this oil arrives in water tables, it alters the life cycles of aquatic life.

"The idea is to collect edible oils from homes and restaurants in Coatepec to to containers which the business Bio-Oil will provide.  It is recommended that housewives and restaurant owners collect used oil in PET bottles [I am not sure what these are] to bring to designated collection points. The first collection point will be installed at the DIF offices in Coatepec, located on Zaragoza at the corner of Terán.

"From here, the oil will be taken to a business authoried by SEMARNAT [Mexico's Department of the Environment and Natural Resources] to be processed into bio-diesel fuel."

"

Mexico: Electric Company Strike and Government Take-over

Here  a the Americas Program blog is a very good summary of the electric workers' strike and the government takeover of the Central Light and Energy Company which provides electricity for Mexico City and much of the surrounding area.  The company is government owned.  (We get our electricity from CFE, another government-owned electric company.)  The government's actions have caused quite a bit of turbulence across the country.  Rumors of privatization have added to this.  Calderón is a neo-liberal.  In Mexico, privatization tends not to be regarded favorably as you will see in the post at the Americas Program blog.  Calderón's government is indeed finding itself in murky waters.  Americas Program is the group I do some Spanish-to-English translation for.

Hill of Snakes (Cerro de las Culebras) a Can of Worms for Coatepec?

I'm sorry.  I couldn't resist naming this post as I did

This post is indeed about Cerro de las Culebras and a little more. It is not about snakes (I've never seen one on Cerro de las Culebras), but it may be about a can of worms. I am writing about some confict over its future so you can perhaps get a glimpse of issues and activities involving people who live here and how they react (publicly, at least) to them: so you can see some of the everyday life here, not just tourist destinations.

This hill, at the north end of town, is iconic.  The town's name  itsef in Nahuatl, Coatl tepetl, signifies Hill of Snakes, so the town was named after the hill, one of a chain of five small volcanic cones (small considering the size of the mountains around here) that marks our area, incuding our own Acamalín and Xalapa's Macuitepetl. 

Here is a view looking south over Coatepec's mercado from the slope of Cerro de las Culebras.  This was taken on a birding walk.  Jim and I sometimes walk our dogs up the old stone road to the top.

 

In this shot you can see Xalapa nestled around its own volcanic cone, Macuiteptl, now a park.

Coatepec's official name is San Jerónimo Coatepec. As was the habit at the time it was formally setted in 1702, it received the name of a Spanish saint and kept the name it had been given before the Spanish ever turned up.  The architecture of Coatepec is a mix of baroque, neoclassical and what one writer calls "eclectic" elements depending on when a building was built.  This same writer notes that "in spite of the aberrant mutilations and constructions made by a poor understanding of the idea of what signifies progress, the city shows singular architectural characteristics." As you may have gathered from previous posts, Coatepec and our area in general is rich in mountains and forests and waterfalls and rivers which flow from Cofre de Perote and whose "fertile lands from remote times must have favored the production of food. Owing to its bioclimatic conditions and a systematic exploitation of its human and natural resources, by the middle of the eighteenth century Coatepec was already a important producer of sugar, tobacco, citrus fruit and later coffee, which gave it fame on a global level...."

In May, 1992 the government of the State of Veracruz declared Coatepec's eponymous hill, Cerro de Las Culebras, a protected area because it is "an important water catchment and because of this, it is necessary to protect and maintain it covered with tree and bush vegetation to maintain its capacity to capture water and to avoid erosion and [damage] to drainage networks. In addition it represents a natural patrimony of exceptional beauty and recreational value."  Today the owners of the hill say they've been relegated to second place in making decisions about the hill ever since the 1992 decaration.  As someone who has climbed the Hill a number of times over recent years, I can say it doesn't look like a whole lot of decisions have been made at all, but a lack of decisions hasn't hurt it. It is pleasantly unkempt.  A very uneven old stone road wends its way to the top and a few trails and crumbling stairways provide shortcuts. The Stations of the Cross march up the side of the road.  At the top of the hill is a level place with a tower surmounted bya giant statue of Christ that you can climb a circular staircase to reach.  There is a picnic shelter, a nice open field and somebody's house, the only house on the hill, as far as I can tell. The hillsides themselves are covered with coffee and shrubs and trees as they should be.  There has been, however, some damage of which I was unaware.

A recent article in Altavoz says, Cerro de los Cuebras is "again becoming a main issue -- or headache -- on the agenda of the municipality."  The owners seem to want to sell it to the city, but only at "a fair price."  Apparently, the current alcalde, or city president, promised he would promote expropriation, but hasn't done anything at this point, instead "supporting and promoting the ... 'Committee for the Defense of Cerro de las Culebras'" which is headed by a woman amed Betzabé Moreno Salinas.  

Now we start to get an idea of some of the factions involved.  The owners, at least some of them, represented old-line Coatepec families with names like Monge, Altamirano, Quiroz, Opochs and Peralta among them.  You will recognize Monge as the name of the local PAN candidate for the Chamber of Deputies.  This group has a name: "Coatepecaños and Small Owners for the Defense of Coatl Tepetl, A.C."

This group has written to both the Municipal President and to the Governor expressing disagreement with his working with the Betzabé Moreno Salinas group, which contains people from outside Coatepec (like Xalapa) because they say this groups "attitudes will harm the interests of the legitimate owners" who have "cared for our land, keeping it beautiful as was specified in the original declaration, and maintaining it through agricultural work."

They point out that in fact the municipal administration itself has "degraded the hill, extracting gravel for a highway and streets in Coatepec, extending permits for the construction of houses, and undertaking works without previous consultation [including] the widening of the road from the base of the hill to Anáhuac street to enable traffic [to go up the hill].  They add that although private properties were affected, they have not been compensated.

Betzabé Moreno Salias's group apparently has proposals for a teleferico and bike path on the hill and would seek private investment from not just local sources but from, as mentioned, foreigners...which may be what really offends the old-liners the most.

Betzabé Moreno Salinas's group actually seems to be very aware of damage to the hill and aggressively interested in its protection.  Here is a link to the group's blog.  It is in Spanish, but you should have no trouble picking out the pictures of road construction and the new houses which have caused serious consternation.  We've seen the house construction, but it seemed to be between the hill and the main street, not affecting the hill itself. The housing replaced small cow pastures. The road construction must have begun since our last visit because we haven't seen it.  It is worth checking out the link.  You will also see lots of civic involvement on the hill as well as some more photos of it and of its sights.

I hope to follow up on this and on other environmental protection efforts by local people in the area prontito.

Home Cooking

Yesterday we went up to visit Don A and Doña J and their daughter in Xico for comida, the main meal of the day, which people customarily eat sometime between 2 and 4. There was a whole bunch of guests already there sitting around two long tables that had been pushed together and covered with tablecloths and placemats. As happens here in our area more than any place I've lived since I was a kid in the Bronx, I feel the same rush of warmth I used to feel going into my grandmother's house for big family meals.  

The tables were already laden with piles of tortillas and bowls of beans and bean broth and guacomole and bottles of Fresca and tequila and alcohol de caña.  The men were, at the moment, clustered at one end while the women bustled in the kitchen which opened onto the dining room. Introductions all around: Three sisters of Doña J, two of their adult children, one ten year old, two husbands, and one husband's brothers. A little later, a goddaughter came with her two kids, a couple of other friends, and Doña J's and Don A's son and his novia and her mother, Doña G., whom we know pretty well. People brought more chairs, shifted seats.  Everyone fit.

The meal was prepared from a recently slaughtered pig: the bean caldo being broth, big hunks of boiled meat wrapped in hoja santa, pork blood cooked into a kind of dark porridgy concoction called morunga seasoned with onions and chiles and spices, and large wavy sheets of chicharrón.  Everything tasted wonderful, though I had a hard time having more than a taste of the morunga even though the taste was good. Blood sausage and blood pudding were not so rare in NYC.  My mom and dad would eat it in German restaurants.  But some things I'm not good at.  My parents used to eat lung stew and my mom tried to get me to eat that to no avail, and tripe, here served in a soup called menudo.  Still can't do it. Liver I like.

Doña J and her family originally were from the state of Guerrero.  A number of years ago, one sister married a man from Xico. Later, more siblings, including Doña J and her husband, Don A who is from the state of Michoacán, followed.  Some family still remains in Guerrero.  Two of the brothers have worked over the years in the US, one still does and is married to a white woman (as he says) from the States and lives quite legally in a Michigan where he owns a house and some land and is a foreman. He has been in the States with a few breaks for over forty years.  For eighteen of them he worked in the heat of Florida summers as well as through the winters sowing and harvesting.  He has had a green card for many years, but cannot become a citizen because he cannot read English sufficiently well for the test.  He is a jovial man, kind of the life of the party.  He was home on a visit.  We asked him how life was these days for an immigrant.  He said it has gotten much worse in recent years, much more prejudice and overt hatred, many more immigrants, legal as well as illegal, picked up and thrown into privately-owned jails without cause being given.  It sounded as if his life in his town was okay because he was well-established there.

When we were all at the table together, the bantering began: I don't remember what started it, but there we women were, united in praise of ourselves, our intelligence, our quickness to learn, etc. etc.  The men had no defense except that they were stronger.  Of course we women laughed at that. And there was some discussion over who was really the boss of the family. The men told lots of jokes, including some immigrant jokes and lots of jokes at the expense of women.  We women laughed at them, too, and had some comebacks, of course.  Some of the jokes were over Jim's and my head. It's often really hard to translate jokes from one language to another, and lots of Mexican jokes  involve puns, making it harder.  One joke was about confusion between a border guard and a hungry inmigrante, centered on an armadillo.  It went past me completely. Although I did get that the word chicharron was also slang for breasts.

We talked about a lot of stuff. Of course we compared countries and experiences from driving to prices to public manners to Social Security benefits to living apart from one's family and living in a foreign country: when does it start to feel like home? At around 4:00 the television went on: Football.  Soccer, that is, a World Cup game between Mexico and El Salvador. Unlike in the US, only one person went over to sit and watch it deliberately.  The sound of the game wove in an out of the talk around the table.

We finally left as people drifted from the table to the kitchen, to the living room, and to go home.  As usual I ate too much.  I am still feeling the consequences.  I think I will avoid eating much today.

A Coatepec Blog

Here is a link to a very nice blog put out by AltaVoz, a local news organization (think Radio Teocelo) with news about events, etc. in Coatepec: http://lavozcoatepec.blogspot.com/

It's in Spanish, but it has lots of pictures which will give you a local newsy-kind of view.