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VIVA MÉXICO CABRONES! This update's going out a lot sooner this time. I waited too long on the last one and I would hate for my updates to get monotonous for my audience. Remember the picturesque beach I described last time? Those photos are finally up. If you are using Hotmail or Yahoo, be sure to add me to your address book, or you may miss future messages from me. It's possible that due to the large mailing list, they will get directed to your Junk Mail or Trash folder... Many have indicated they never received previous e-mails. 2 weeks in Los Angeles Exploring Baja California Also, feel free to forward this to people that may be interested or who could provide any suggestions or advice on where to go and what to do on my trip. I´ve still got 2 months left! OKAY. A little contest. The first three people who email me with the correct response to the following trivia question will have a postcard sent to them. Be sure to give me your address so you can receive the postcard. As I hope was evident in my last e-mail, Baja is typically scenic México. Baja is a long, thin peninsula that was attached to the rest of the continent many millions of years ago. Seismic activity, continental drift and other geographical phenomena are responsible for the separation of the North American Plate and the North Pacific Plate. This created the Gulf of California, also known as the "Mar de Cortés", and it divides mainland México from Baja California. To reach the mainland, I boarded a ferry boat from the La Paz region to Mazatlán. That's a resort city about 6-8 hours north of Puerto Vallarta. The trip costs about US$58 (581 pesos) but if you show your ISIC you'll get a discount down to aboutt US$45. The boat ride was 18 hours long, and would you imagine, I met three girls from the Montreal area on the trip!! Tara, Sandra, and Annie were all about my age (early-to-mid-twenties) and were tons of fun. They're travelling essentially the same route through Mexico as I am and are headed to Guatemala afterwards, maybe further? Mazatlan is a resort town, pure and simple. The Pacific Coast of México is known for its beaches but the ones I saw in this city were very dirty. Trash and dead fish are plainly visible along the shores of the ones that lie near the downtown strip. The guidebook says there are cleaner beaches to the north and south, but I didn't make the effort to see them. There will be many beaches waiting for me. One thing I am still waiting to find: a waterfall. If you know of any good ones in México or Central America, let me know. Mazatlán is famous for sportfishing (marlin and sailfish) and one of its biggest industries is commercial shrimp fishing. Mazatlán has loads of seafood for sale, and scores of downtown markets where you can stroll around and find anything you want for sale. One thing they didn't have? Sandals - size 13! I've been looking for a pair since I arrived in this country. The girls and I shared a room at Hotel México, a small bottle of rum, and the Lonely Planet guidebook!! Don't get any dirty ideas! After a fun weekend they headed on to Guadalajara and I made a separate excursion. I decided to skip Puerto Vallarta, a more expensive resort town, and make a stop at Mexcaltitan instead. Ever heard of it? They call it the birthplace of the mexicas (pronounced meh-shee-kas). It's an island in a laguna halfway between Mazatlan and Puerto vallarta. Getting there was a bit of a chore, as I played musical chairs between second-class buses, and then had to board a rickety lancha (motorized wooden boat) that whisks you through a maze of small islands held together only by tree roots and tall grass (no, not the boats, the islands!). Aquatic life is abundant here, and includes crocodiles, iguanas, turtles and a multitude of exotic birds. The water is murky brown and reminds me of riverboat scenes from Vietnam war movies. The island doesn't have a single car on it, and is only 350-400 metres from north-south and east-west. Apparently during the rainy season the streets are flooded and you can only get around by canoe. When I arrived on the Sunday evening, children had taken over the town square with a trampoline! The Azteca museum contains replicas of ancient pottery, and history about the development ofthis small village. Would you believe I was the only tourist on the island while I was there? Travelling during the off-season is not only less expensive, but less commercial. I reached Guadalajara late at night, and had to take a bus into downtown. I was walking blind without a guidebook (the Montreal girls had helped me out for Mazatlan and Mexcaltitan). I had a short list of places to stay, and one of them turned out to be a whorehouse (excuse my colorful language), but can you imagine if I'd actually slept there?? I found a nice place named Hotel Las Americas, in the center of downtown for US$15 a night. Guadalajara is a lovely city, with beautiful examples of different types of architecture on every corner. There was a music festival in progress when I arrived, the famous Fiesta de Octubre. A show I watched, Kathak Kendra of India, was a Hindu dance and music performance, and kept me spellbound. Someone get them for the Jazz Festival next summer! I met up with my friend Erika, who I know from Canada Day 2001, and she showed me the city by night, and we went for beers. She also helped me obtain the all-important Lonely Planet México. I also went to TEQUILA! Fields and fields and fields of the silver-blue agave plant. I took a tour of the Sauza factory and was thoroughly impressed. This is the only area of the world where tequila is produced and can still be legally called tequila. They have immense vats, dozens of them, that can hold 32,000 litres of this popular alcohol. I saw the entire process of harvesting to bottling. In fact, I witnessed in operation many concepts I learned in school, such as Just-In-Time, Quality Control, workplace safety, assembly line work, to name a few. Unfortunately, you can't take photographs in those areas of the plant. Second-class buses are common in Mexico. Since the poverty gap is so large, different classes of buses allow all people to travel between two points. A second-class bus stops at 20 different places en-route, has no air-conditioning, the seats are usually in a state of disrepair, and it's much cheaper. For a budget traveller wanting to experience culture, take these buses. You will see, smell, and breathe poverty. The gap between the rich and poor in this country is staggering. There really doesn't appear to be a middle-class. Can we chalk this up to the social hierarchy that the Spaniards had in place in the 17th and 18th centuries and which continued for many years after Mexico declared independence? It appears to have had profound effects on Mexico's inhabitants almost until the present day. The class system placed the king of Spain and the Catholic Church at the top, and following that, any European born citizens of New Spain. Next came the mixed children of Spaniards and natives, called Criollos. Indians were at the bottom and the slaves from Africa were below that. Around this time, the population was about 7.5 million. 42% were Indian, and 18% were white. I can't form an educated opinion given my limited knowledge of Latin American history,but Concordia gives courses in it, and I'm definitely going to take one when I get back. I do know that various Mexican governments have sought economic and social reform, but widespread corruption has prevented much of it from being realized. The government of Lazaro Cardenas in 1934 recognized the Mexican people's irritation at the level of foreign control in domestic industry. Cardenas took back the oil industry from foreign corporations and nationalized them. Oil is now one of Mexico's biggest industries, besides tourism. Now, Mexico controls its own oil, and its gas stations, known by the mnemonic PEMEX, are government operated. Prices are extremely high, about US$2.20 for a gallon. Personally, I don't have a problem with this. At this point I'm inclined to think the only way to save our planet is to impose strict tariffs on pollutants like gasoline, CFC's and non-recyclable products. It would appear there aren't enough responsible humans out there to save Earth from going down the tubes. I've now been in 5 different states of Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, Nayarit, and Jalisco) and enjoying every bit of this beautiful country. I've not had a single bad experience. I also crossed the Tropic of Cancer, which I thought was kind of cool. Don't know yet if I'll get to stand on the equatorial line, like my mother and brother did in Quito, Ecuador, many years ago, but I'm going to try and travel a bit during my sojourn in Colombia (that starts in January). Bueno... Que te vaya bien... (a common way of saying goodbye in Mexico). Tara, Sandra, & Annie - Stay safe, stay away from the dirty old men, and let's play TAG in Mexico, I'm headed to Veracruz next... Erika - it was really awesome to see you again in Guadalajara, and you ROCK for taking me to Sandi's bookstore!! we better see each other in Canada next summer! John - thanks for the info and links on S.A. de C.V. ('Sociedad Anónima de Capital Variable'), translation "Variable Capital Company", similar to Ltd., Inc., or Corp., not a quality standard
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