The Embassy Guy I wrote about yesterday mentioned that he'd been here in Mexico for several months and expected to leave in September. If you are a junior officer, fast in fast out, seems to be the policy. I would really like to know who in the Embassy actually has some really in-depth experience in and knowledge of Mexico. Seems to me if the State Department is moving junior folks around fast, they're not doing anything to develop any real understanding of the countries we have embassies in. When I was in the US Peace Corps about 2 centuries ago (in the mid 1960s) one of the virtues of the training program was that it was, in many ways, in the hands of people who were from the countries we were going to. Does the State Department do this in their training of folks? I have to say, The Embassy Guy appeared to be very considerate and appeared also to have absorbed the idea that it is really not cool to be tough and rude with our hosts.
At yesterday's meeting, The Embassy Guy informed us of The American Citizen Services Unit (ACS Unit) which I had no idea existed. Here is its purpose according to the Embassy Website:
The United States Government has no higher responsibility than to serve and protect its citizens including those who reside or are temporarily abroad. The American Citizen Services (ACS) Unit provides prompt, coureous, and eficient services to United States Citizens, consistent with US laws and regulations.
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In the morning before we went to the meeting, when we drove down to the bridge where we walk the dogs and start our run, we were confronted with a bumper-to-bumper stream of traffic. We didn't know what the crunch was about, but somebody or other suggested some trucks had collided, diverting traffic from the main road. We decided we'd hike along foot trails into the hills instead of running along the road. Needless to day, the humans enjoyed the change, and so did the dogs.
On our way back down, we ran into a man standing in the path, quite still. It turned out he was catching birds, or maybe had caught them some time ago. Strung through the high branches were a number of the fragile wooden cages we see all over. He said he caught birds because he liked them. He knew all their names, their colors, their songs. He shushed us at one point to hear a bird in a cage high up in the tallest tree. I don't know if he let them out or brought them home or what. But he was a gentle man. He pointed out leaf cutter ants to us, and nudged one to show us its characteristics. He didn't even hurt the bugs.
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We figured an accident would have been cleared by the time we set off to the meeting with The Embassy Guy, so we just headed down to the main road. Just past San Marcos, we ran into Traffic (with a capital T). In a clearing at the side of the road, buses were parked side touching side. Hmm. Someone came down the road telling everyone we had to turn around: it was a manifestación, or protest demonstration. We had to drive the REALLY back way to Coatepec (which we go through to get to Xalapa where the meeting was) in a long line of cars, many of whom were clearly not used to truly bad roads. The main road is a moderately bad road. It has lots of baches (potholes) which pop into the road following every hard rain. But the REALLY back way to Coatepec is a road comprised not just of baches but of mountains and valleys, cliffs and rocks. Needless to say, while it was a beautiful drive (Jim hopes city people didn't notice how beautiful which might cause them to decide they wanted property out there), we were rather late to the meeting.
The manifestación was a protest by the people of Ixhuacán de los Reyes against what they said was the State PRI's efforts to impose a candidate for mayor on them. It lasted ten hours, so we had to go home the back way, too. Everything seems to have been peaceful. Roads get closed here or narrowed all the time: for fiestas, for funerals, so they can be used to temporarily store building materials, when a tree falls across them, for repairs, whatever. People are very patient about it. Nobody seemed to lose their temper. When there is NO clear explanation of why the road is closed, however, people know how to put a heavy hand on their horns.