A Mexico City woman with her vaccination certificate. States would like them to be a requirement for inbound travelers.
State tourism ministers are going to press for international travelers to be screened for COVID-19.
Mexico’s association of tourism ministers will ask the federal government to implement a policy that requires incoming travelers to present a COVID-19 vaccination certificate or a negative test result.
Oaxaca Tourism Minister Juan Carlos Rivera Castellanos, who heads up the association, said the proposal will be taken to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs next week.
Mexico has never closed its air borders or required incoming travelers to go into mandatory quarantine. The absence of restrictions has been blamed for fueling coronavirus outbreaks in tourism hotspots such as Cancún and Los Cabos.
Rivera said in an interview that the proposal has the support of all state tourism ministers, who believe that the measure will help reduce the spread of the virus in Mexico.
If the federal government approves the proposal, a plan for its execution will have to be developed in conjunction with the Health Ministry, he said. One matter to consider, the minister said, is whether vaccinated travelers will be allowed into the country regardless of the COVID-19 vaccine they received.
Some countries are only allowing unrestricted entry to travelers vaccinated with approved vaccines. The European Union, for example, has only approved those made by Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.
In other COVID news:
• The Health Ministry reported 17,337 new cases on Wednesday, lifting Mexico’s accumulated tally to just under 3.37 million.
An additional 1,177 fatalities were reported, increasing the official death toll to 260,503. There are an estimated 107,520 active cases across the country, a decrease of 17% compared to a week ago.
• Almost 60,000 children and adolescents tested positive for COVID-19 in July and August, according to official data. The figure accounts for about 38% of cases detected among children since the start of the pandemic, attesting to the greater risk of infection posed by the highly contagious delta strain.
The National System for Protection of Children and Adolescents reported that 758 minors have lost their lives to COVID-19. Just over 54% were boys.
Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said Tuesday that serious COVID-19 illness and death is not a major threat to children, highlighting that fatalities among minors are much more likely to be caused by accidents.
Tiffany Pence checks the grapevines at a Querétaro vineyard. Photos by Joseph Sorrentino
“We wanted to get out of the States for years,” said Tom Pence as he drove down a highway in the state of Querétaro, where he and his wife Tiffany have made a business for themselves giving tours of the area’s vineyards. “Money started to not go as far as it used to.”
In addition, the wine store Pence owned in Orlando, Florida, was losing customers.
“As my customers got older, they were told to stop drinking wine for health reasons,” he explained. “Millennials … wanted to do everything online.”
Less business and a hankering for something different led Tom and Tiffany, who was a wine rep, to look for options. They’d traveled extensively for years and decided in 2018 to make the move to Mexico.
“We decided on Querétaro because of its high standard of living, low crime and its international airport,” Tom said. They also loved the weather, the opportunity to explore the plethora of nearby Pueblos Mágicos (Magical Towns) and its burgeoning wine industry.
A desire for something different and a better quality of life led Tom and Tiffany Pence to move in 2018 to Mexico.
“We weren’t looking for a wine region to move to,” Tiffany said. “We were looking for something international, so the wine region was a bonus. Basically, we moved here to have a better quality of life.”
Things were going well for them until COVID-19 hit and their revenue streams dried up. “We had to start worrying about how to earn money,” Tom said.
With a combined total of 37 years of experience in the wine industry, it was fairly obvious what they needed to do. “We’re right in the middle of wine country,” he said. “We figured we’d start talking to the wineries.”
A number of companies offer tours of Querétaro’s Art, Wine and Cheese Route, and that seemed like a good way for them to get to know the area and its wineries. “When we first got here, we did take one of the tours,” said Tiffany, “and it was a very nice introductory tour. But we felt that, for us, we wanted to spend more time at certain parts of the tour than they were offering.”
Too much time was spent sitting around waiting for other vans filled with clients to arrive, and the tours were overly structured and moved along too quickly, Tom said. “We didn’t have enough time in the Pueblo Mágicos,” he said, “or any quality time or experience with any of the nicer-quality dairies or wineries.”
They discussed their experiences and decided to start a tour of their own, one that was different, more personalized.
“We wanted to do smaller tours where, even on the fly, if a client says I want to spend some more time here, fine, no problem,” Tom said. “We decided we’d go to smaller wineries, ones that we felt offer a higher quality product.”
And so Heart of Mexico Wine Tours was born.
“Our tours are highly customized, but we have also created wine tours that are already set,” Tiffany said. “We’ve also designed a Pueblo Mágico tour. We spend time in Bernal, have a nice lunch, go to Tesquiquipan [another Pueblo Mágico]. It’s more customized so you can actually spend time where you want.”
They also wanted their tours to be flexible. “If you fall in love with a Pueblo Mágico and you want to stay, you can,” Tom said. If reservations have been made to stop at a winery after that, Tiffany will call them and arrange for a later time.
In addition to the wineries, their tours make stops at some of Querétaro’s artisanal creameries.
Cava de Quesos Bocanegro opened eight years ago. In addition to selling typical Mexican cheeses like quesillo, manchego and queso fresco, they have begun introducing aged, stronger-flavored cheeses. One creamery I found particularly interesting was Queso La Biquette, a small producer that sells only goat cheeses. Their products range from the fresh, mild cheese I was used to, to an aged Tomme, which has a rich, earthy flavor I find particularly tasty.
The Pences have expanded their personalized tours to include tours of the many Magical Towns in the state of Querétaro, like the village of Bernal, seen here.
The Pences may offer in the future a tour that focuses solely on creameries.
All of the wineries and creameries offer tastings, and I highly recommend them. Sitting at a table on a balcony overlooking a vineyard on a summer afternoon or sitting at a table sampling some delicious cheeses isn’t a bad way to spend some time.
The Pences also have what they call cultural tours. “We can tour the local markets, we can buy food, come back to the house and cook with clients. We can teach them how to make masa (the corn flour dough that tortillas are made from) from scratch.”
Right now, they’re offering smaller tours and taking people around in their car. Four is the maximum number that can fit in the vehicle, although they’re able to rent a van if a larger group wants to book a tour.
Currently, the tours are all in English but, Tom said, “We want to have bilingual guides eventually.”
The Pences have extensive knowledge about wines and have come to know Querétaro well. During a tour, they’ll explain the challenges that wineries face here and how those challenges make the region’s wines exceptional.
They also know the owners of these wineries and creameries well. Accompanying them on a visit is like being among a group of old friends. And the couple knows, and loves, the Magical Towns that dot the state.
But beware: take a tour with them and you’ll start thinking about relocating to Querétaro.
The president delivers his report to a small crowd of invited guests at the National Palace.
The federal government’s cessation of the “privatization trend” favored by previous administrations was hailed as a major achievement by President López Obrador in his third annual report to the nation on Wednesday.
In an almost hour-long address at the National Palace in Mexico City, the president also outlined a range of government achievements, many of which he previously highlighted in his first and second annual reports.
“The transformation [of Mexico] is in progress,” López Obrador declared at the start of his speech before asserting that there is a need to continue exposing “the great neoliberal farce” of previous governments and conceding that more needs to be done to “foster a change of mentality” among the nation’s citizens.
“… We’re banishing vices and dishonest practices in the management of government,” he said.
“A decisive measure was to stop the privatization trend in its tracks. We stopped delivering concessions to private companies in mines, water, hospitals, ports, railways, beaches, jails and public works. But the most important thing is that we’ve stopped privatization in the energy sector – in oil and electricity,” López Obrador said.
The government’s new energy policy aims to make the country self-sufficient in gasoline, he said, pointing to the modernization of Pemex’s six refineries, the construction of a new one on the Tabasco coast and the purchase of one in Texas.
“It’s worth remembering that a new refinery hasn’t been built in our country since the beginning of the neoliberal period 42 years ago. The last one [built] was that in Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, which began operating in 1979,” AMLO said.
With regard to the electricity sector, the president said he would send a constitutional reform proposal to Congress this month that will allow “grave damage” caused by privatization to be repaired.
“… While the market … was opened up … to national and especially foreign private companies with the delivery of subsidies, among other privileges, the Federal Electricity Commission plants were completely abandoned,” he said.
“Now we’re modernizing the hydroelectric plants to reduce the use of fuel oil and coal in the production of electricity. Energy produced with water is clean and cheap,” he said.
López Obrador also highlighted the government’s infrastructure construction agenda, noting that it’s building numerous projects including highways, dams, hospitals, state-owned banks, universities, schools, water treatment plants, bridges, railroads, airports, military barracks, libraries and stadiums. All the projects are being built without entering into partnerships with private companies and without taking on debt, he said.
López Obrador and his wife, Beatriz Gutiérrez, before his address in the National Palace.
Just three large infrastructure projects – the new Mexico City airport, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec trade corridor and the Maya Train railroad – are creating more than 143,000 direct jobs and over 277,000 indirect ones, López Obrador said.
Among a wide range of other government initiatives, actions, achievements, policies and agreements exalted by the president were the new North American trade agreement; the creation of a northern border free zone; the national COVID-19 vaccination program; the reopening of schools 17 months after they closed at the onset of the pandemic; the stability of gasoline and electricity prices; welfare and social programs; the delivery of loans to small businesses during the pandemic; improved tax collection; the defense of human rights, including those of migrants; and the absence of conflict with foreign governments.
“There is social peace and governability in our country,” López Obrador said after asserting that stores haven’t been looted during the pandemic because “desperation due to hunger” has been avoided.
“The industrial sector is in clear recovery, so is retail, tourism, the restaurant sector, aviation and other services. Almost all forecasts agree that the economy will grow about 6% this year. Foreign investment in the first half [of 2021] was US $18.43 billion, 2.6% higher than in the same period of last year and the highest [level] in the history of the country,” AMLO said.
He touted “historic records” in a range of areas including remittances, foreign investment, the increase of the minimum wage, the stability of the peso, the value of the stock market and central bank reserves.
He noted that his government holds security cabinet meetings every weekday morning and declared that the “fruit of this joint work” is a reduction in the incidence of a range of crimes including fuel theft, homicides (still at near record levels), vehicle theft and kidnappings. However, the president conceded that femicide and extortion are among the offenses that have increased since he took office in December 2018.
It wouldn’t be an AMLO speech without a liberal dose of praise for the government’s corruption-fighting credentials – and, as expected, Wednesday’s address didn’t disappoint.
“From the first year of government we managed, among other measures, to eliminate the cancellation of taxes for large taxpayers [who were] beneficiaries of cronyism, and corruption was categorized in the constitution as a serious crime … in which the accused is not granted the possibility of obtaining bail,” the president said.
“… It’s demonstrable that not allowing corruption and impunity helps to free up funds for the wellbeing [of the Mexican people] and the development of the country. That’s the formula – don’t allow corruption, govern with austerity and don’t allow impunity: moralize the public life of Mexico.”
In the two years and nine months since taking office, the federal government has saved 1.4 trillion pesos (US $70 billion) due to austerity and the elimination of corruption in purchases and contracts, López Obrador said.
“… With this formula of combatting corruption and governing without luxuries or frivolities we’ve been able to meet our commitments to not put the country into debt, not raise taxes and not increase fuel prices,” he said.
Tercer Informe de Gobierno | Presidente AMLO
“And the most important thing [is that the government’s] new economic policy, built on morality, has allowed us to finance social programs for the wellbeing of our people, especially for the poorest and most marginalized.”
The president, a tireless orator and avid traveler, also highlighted that he has held 685 morning press conferences since he was sworn in and visited every state of the country, some as many as 28 times.
“… It’s going well,” López Obrador said, referring to his almost three-year-old government.
“And I’m sure that at the end of March next year the people are going to vote in favor of me continuing my constitutional period [as president] until the end of September 2024. Of course this is not the only thing I need to fulfill my mission: what nature, science and the Creator say is also needed, we can’t be arrogant,” he said.
“But if I’m lucky and I finish [my term], I believe that we’re going to complete the job of transforming [Mexico] and we won’t leave anything outstanding. When I’m handing over the presidential sash I will only say … mission accomplished! I’m going to [my ranch in] Palenque, I leave you my heart.”
State police mount an operation to arrest seven municipal officers from the highly-ranked San Pedro police force.
Even Mexico’s best police force is not immune to corruption.
Nuevo León state police on Tuesday arrested seven municipal officers from San Pedro Garza García on charges they abducted a man and handed him over to an organized crime group.
The police force of San Pedro, an affluent municipality in the metropolitan area of Monterrey, ranked as the best among forces from 70 cities in a survey conducted by the national statistics agency Inegi and published in July.
The seven officers allegedly kidnapped a man from his home on July 22 and handed him over to a criminal organization that sought a 2 million peso (US $100,000) ransom from his family. The criminals failed to obtain the money because their victim escaped.
According to the Nuevo León Attorney General’s Office, the victim called police on July 22 to report criminal damage at his San Pedro home. Officers went to the address where they proceeded to abduct the man. They held him for several hours before handing him over to an unidentified group of armed men. The criminals held the victim hostage for three days before he managed to escape.
However, the Inegi survey suggested that the force had put past problems behind it. In addition, the Institute for Security and Democracy published a study in February that found that the San Pedro police force ranked first in the country for “civic justice.”
The think tank found that its officers are well paid – they receive net salaries of at least 21,074 pesos (US $1,050) a month, have a well-documented work methodology and are accountable to citizens.
The route of the Maya Train has changed once again, the National Tourism Promotion Fund (Fonatur) said on Tuesday: the train will no longer run through Mérida, Yucatán, but rather will stop at a station in Teya, outside the city.
The change comes just a week after Fonatur director Rogelio Jiménez Pons said the cost of the project would be one third higher than originally anticipated, due to a range of changes. One of those changes moved a planned station in Campeche city out of the capital after encountering resistance from residents.
The Mérida route change was made after a government analysis showed that the change would save construction time. The decision will “avoid problems related to construction and mobility within the city,” Fonatur said, adding that given the 2024 project completion goal, time and resources must be used efficiently.
Some Mérida residents celebrated the announcement that the station would be built outside the city, rather than at its original planned location in the area of Mérida known as La Plancha.
“It’s a victory for the neighbors. It shows that when people unite their voices, they can propose something good for the city, the state … It makes me very happy that all the work we did … has had a good outcome,” said Félix Rubio Villanueva, a member of the collective Gran Parque La Plancha. He said residents and faculty of the Autonomous University of Yucatán were among those who worked to keep the station out of Mérida.
Despite the rerouting, authorities said a future station within the city is not out of the question.
Morales, center, introduces her neighbors to some catchy Mexican tunes.
Some Brits have taken a liking to dancing in the street to Mexican rhythms, inspired by a Mexican Zumba instructor.
A woman from Monterrey, Nuevo León, has achieved online fame after posting videos of her lockdown dance classes with her neighbors in Manchester, England.
While living with her English husband-to-be in the British city in the first half of 2020, Tania Morales got her neighbors dancing by teaching them moves to such Mexican classics as La Chona, a song by the norteña band Los Tucanes de Tijuana, and La Vaca, a merengue classic.
She recently posted videos of the socially-distanced classes – held in the street of the Manchester neighborhood where she was living – to her TikTok account and several have gone viral. One showing Morales teaching Mancunians dance moves to La Vaca had 1.3 million views at noon on Wednesday while one featuring La Chona had more than 700,000 views.
The regia, as female natives of Monterrey are known, explained in another TikTok video how she came to give classes to her neighbors in Manchester.
Mexicana pone a ingleses a bailar La Chona
“My husband is English and last year, at the beginning of 2020, when he wasn’t yet my husband … I traveled to England and the plan was to be there for two weeks,” Morales said.
But the coronavirus pandemic started two days after she arrived and she ended up staying in Manchester for six months.
Morales explained that her mother-in-law likes to organize neighborhood events and proposed that she teach a Zumba class, a fitness program for which she is a certified instructor.
“My mother-in-law said to me: ‘Why we don’t we offer a Zumba class because everyone’s shut away,’” she said.
“… I don’t have to be asked to dance twice, do I? So every Sunday during the entire pandemic I gave Zumba classes. Obviously I put on La Chona, I put on La Bamba, I put everything on: salsa, merengue, bachata, even reggaeton,” Morales said. “… The truth is it was a very nice experience.”
Afghans arrive Tuesday at the Mexico City airport.
A plane carrying 175 Afghans, including journalists, activists and their families, arrived in Mexico Tuesday night, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The plane, which was one of the last to leave Kabul before the withdrawal of American troops, brought the fourth group of Afghan civilians granted entry into Mexico on humanitarian grounds. In addition to journalists and activists, 75 children were on the flight.
An anonymous source told Reuters that the group included journalists from the Afghan news outlets TOLO TV and Arman FM radio. The social media company Facebook also provided support for the airlift of Afghan journalists to Mexico, Reuters reported.
Last week, a womens’ robotics team and other journalists were among the Afghan refugees who found safe haven in Mexico, after New York Times staff contacted Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, looking for a place to accept Afghan journalists and others.
The flight that carried refugees to Mexico City on Tuesday was the first time Egypt Air had flown to Mexico. The Foreign Ministry said the airlift was coordinated with help from the Mexican embassies in Iran, United Arab Emirates and Egypt, as well as the Egyptian government. Travel costs and accommodations for the refugees are being covered by private donors and nonprofits.
More Afghans are expected to arrive in Mexico in the coming days, the Foreign Ministry said.
Firefighters and Civil Protection personnel work at the site of the Mexico City Metro accident in May.
Repairs to Line 12 of the Mexico City Metro system, where an accident in May claimed the lives of 26 people, will take a year, the city government said Tuesday.
On the advice of the government’s Technical Advisory Committee, a range of repairs will be undertaken.
The entire elevated section of the line will be reinforced with metal beams while the part that collapsed – causing a train to plunge toward a busy road below – will be completely rebuilt.
The underground section of the line, the Metro system’s newest, will also undergo repairs including the replacement of some sections of track and an overhaul of the drainage system. Tracks along the entire line will be re-leveled, all electrical infrastructure will be rehabilitated and wooden sleepers will be replaced by concrete ones, among other repair projects.
Two companies involved in the construction of the so-called Golden Line, which opened in 2012, will complete the repairs and cover their costs. Carso Infrastructure and Construction, owned by billionaire businessman Carlos Slim, will complete the work on the elevated section of the line, while Ingenieros Civiles Asociados will take charge of the subterranean stretch.
The total cost of the repairs and the plan that will guide them will be announced next week. Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday that the government would only pay for repairs and maintenance work that was scheduled before the May 3 disaster occurred.
The entirety of the line, which runs across southern Mexico City from Mixcoac in the west to Tláhuac in the east, “will be safe and in a better condition than when we received it,” said Metro director Guillermo Calderón, who took charge of the system eight weeks after the accident occurred.
Sheinbaum said the repair work will begin as soon as possible. “… The topographic survey and a lot of other studies will begin this week,” she said.
President López Obrador said in late June that Line 12 would reopen within a year, but according to the Mexico City government’s timeline that won’t happen until late August 2022.
Sheinbaum said there was some possibility that the underground section of the line would begin operations before the elevated stretch, but noted that the proposition was unlikely because the line’s maintenance workshop is in Tláhuac.
“We would have to look for another place for maintenance; that’s why it’s important that both [sections] open at the same time,” she said.
Line 12, which serves mainly working class neighborhoods in the capital’s southeast, was built while Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard was mayor of Mexico City. It suffered some structural damage when a powerful earthquake struck the capital in September 2017.
He suggested in June that the May 3 crash could be linked to maintenance, asserting that it was impossible to know whether his successor as mayor, Senator Miguel Ángel Mancera, “conducted all of the maintenance work required in the event of earthquakes of a certain magnitude.”
The central bank has raised its 2021 growth forecast for the Mexican economy by 0.2% to 6.2%.
The Bank of México (Banxico) said in its April-June quarterly report that the main reason for the upward forecast was higher than expected growth in the second quarter of the year.
“Furthermore, due to the advance in the vaccination process and a context of greater mobility and the opening of various [economic] activities, mainly in the service sector, the expectation that the gradual reactivation of economic activity will continue in the second half of the year is maintained,” the bank said.
Banxico also expects that the recovery of the economy in the United States will spur economic activity in Mexico, even as the country faces a large third wave of the coronavirus pandemic fueled primarily by the spread of the highly contagious delta strain.
Bank of México Governor Alejandro Díaz de León acknowledged that the pandemic continues to pose a risk to the economy but asserted that vaccination is offsetting that risk.
“We have two elements, a risk … that could affect the rhythm of economic activity and a mitigating influence that is the vaccination process,” he told a press conference on Monday.
The bank’s 2021 growth forecast is just below that of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is predicting a 6.3% expansion.
The World Bank and the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) are more pessimistic, with both forecasting growth of 5%. The Finance Ministry is expected to revise its growth forecast to 6% when it delivers its 2022 budget next week.
Mexico’s GDP slumped 8.5% last year as the pandemic and associated restrictions ravaged the economy. That was the country’s worst contraction since the Great Depression.
Banxico’s growth forecast for 2022 was unchanged at 3%, more than a point below the IMF prediction of a 4.2% expansion but on par with the World Bank outlook. The OECD is slightly more optimistic, predicting a 3.2% upturn next year.
The central bank also revised its outlook for job creation in 2021, predicting that as many as 840,000 jobs will be added this year, up from a previous maximum forecast of 570,000. As many as 700,000 positions could be added in 2022, the bank said, up from a maximum prediction of 590,000 three months ago.
With regard to inflation, Banxico expects that the rate at the end of 2022 will be 5.7% and predicts that the rate will remain above 5% in early 2022.
The Feast Day of San Blas' grand finale is an impressive, and not entirely safe, fireworks display that spins and sputters and occasionally topples over. photos by Yvonne Konar
Silhouetted against the inky night sky, the rickety metal structure some 25 meters tall is now fully ablaze.
Fireworks are spinning off in every direction over the town’s square, sending a shower of sparks onto the laughing crowd jammed together in celebration in the town’s plaza. Amid the craziness and the settling haze, a man taps us on the shoulder.
“Amigo,” he says, pointing upward. “Sometimes it topples over!”
Ah, Mexico! How we’ve missed you. It’s good to be back.
Like the long-lost friend or lover you’ve never forgotten, Mexico has welcomed us back with a bang. Her touch — the gentle probe and sensuous dance she offers — is hard to resist.
As part of the celebrations, a priest awaits in a boat to bless other boats owned by San Blas fishermen.
Located some 150 km north of Puerto Vallarta on the coastline in the state of Nayarit, San Blas is dubbed the Mexican Venice for the number of waterways that flow through and around it. Filled with lush growth, it’s a mecca for birdwatchers since many species use the sheltered waterways as rest stops on their migratory routes. We had arrived there the evening before a wild and crazy festival of water and fire known as the Feast Day of San Blas was to take place.
Truly, if the coastline of Mexico is her necklace, then places like San Blas are the gemstones that frame her voluptuous body. Filled with hidden coves and glistening bays, her shoreline dazzles and shines, showcasing stunning curves and offering passageways to hidden valleys.
Over breakfast on the morning of the festival, we watch workers build a tower in the town’s square. A young man named Hector responds to my sneeze with a “salud” (bless you).
“Gracias,” I reply.
He tells us that the metal structure will be used for the finale of the daylong celebration. “The whole day will be fun,” he says. “Don’t miss it!”
That afternoon, we gather back at the steps of the 300-year-old church along with locals, dancers in indigenous dress and musicians. Everyone is waiting for Día de San Blas to begin.
Suddenly, the church doors open up and the local priest walks out. Behind him, parishioners carry a two-meter-tall statue of the town’s patron saint, San Blas, down the steps.
The procession winds its way through the crowded spectator-filled streets. We join in and are jostled along as the parade heads toward the town’s docks. There, the priest and entourage climb aboard a waiting shrimp boat.
Around us, people are frantically searching for seats on various waiting panga boats. The narrow channel that heads to the ocean is awash with boats, many loaded heavy with passengers. All are following the lumbering shrimp boat making its way out of the protected passageway.
As we crowd onto the dock’s edge, wondering how to get our own ride, our friend Hector appears.
“Hola, mis amigos canadienses! Are you wanting to get on a boat?”
“Sí!” we reply.
The writer Shayne Konar, right, with Yvonne Konar.
Immediately, Hector turns his attention to one of the captains docked on the rocky shoreline. “… and my Canadian cousins,” he finishes, pointing to us. We score rides with Hector on a waiting speedboat.
More suited for summer-lake fun than an oceangoing adventure, the approximately seven-meter-long boat has managed to squeeze 12 of us on board. The only person wearing a lifejacket continually clasps her hands in prayer. At that point, the only thing I’m believing in is that we have a Titanic-size chance of going under.
The ragtag flotilla that’s assembled on the water looks like some madcap rescue operation.
Craft of all sizes — some decorated, many overcrowded, most without lifejackets and stuffed with families and grandmas holding babies — chase after the lumbering shrimp boat. We take the bow seats and are immediately drenched by the rolling seas crashing over into our boat.
We start bailing as prayers grow louder. I’m praying we won’t be soon going under. But if there needs to be a rescue, boats are literally within an oar’s length of us.
Our destination is a rock outcropping some two kilometers offshore, white from the droppings of nesting birds. We slowly gather around the rugged poop-stained peak in the middle of the bay.
Boats dart in every direction, bouncing over the waves. Someone has managed to scale the 30-meter-high rock and seems prepared to jump off. Everyone jockeys in closer for a better view.
Shouts of “Jump, jump!” fill the air along with “uno, dos, tres!” The crowd waits in anticipation for the circus-like finish to the mayhem.
Our captain senses that retreat might be the wiser of directions. Could it be the constant bailing or the smoke rising from the overworked motor that has him frowning? We turn and start back toward shore.
Now, as if sinking in the high seas didn’t seem like enough fun, our captain decides that getting crushed should do the trick. We head toward the growing line of boats waiting to receive a dousing of holy water from the priests aboard. This is a traditional blessing for another prosperous and safe fishing season.
It is almost our end as we struggle to come alongside the much larger shrimp boat. Our bow end bounces squarely into the side of the towering steel-hulled shrimper. The vessel’s booms loom scant meters above our heads, swinging from side to side.
Our captain manages to avoid one disaster, only to have the stern end of our undersized and badly overloaded craft smash off the side of the shrimp boat and narrowly miss getting caught in the larger boat’s wake. Feeling blessed at having avoided a high seas catastrophe, we chug back to shore.
Even the religious procession in honor of San Blas is a lively affair, with musicians and dancers.
On the dock, we say goodbye to Hector and promise to return in the evening for the finale.
That night, we crowd into the town’s plaza with hundreds of townspeople to watch the fireworks display.
The 25-meter tower of incendiary items seems secured by ropes tied to palm trees standing in each corner of the square. Fireworks line its sides. Spinning wheel designs and a fireworks-filled wire in the shape of a butterfly at the tower’s top await their moment.
The crowd roars as a Roman candle rockets from the church steeple. The fireworks on the tower are lit.
Children dance under the sparks and around the tower as if enjoying a warm rain from a summer’s night storm. Without safety barriers, people edge closer.
Above their heads, fireworks continue to screech and whirr, climbing ever higher up the tower. It is a spectacular show of light, smoke and noise. Through the smoke now settling over the plaza, Hector just nods and points to the tower.
We have our escape route, just in case.
The finale to Día de San Blas sees the butterfly ablaze, spraying a mammoth-sized shower of sparks in a wide arc.
The craziness of the night even extends to the church as fireworks explode down one wall and a last crescendo of Roman candles are sent from atop the steeple. Hector laughs. “Sí, no problemo!”
Sí!
This is the Mexico we look for.
From the fragrance of her land, to a stroke of her finger on the back of our necks, to the joyous laughter of children and smiles of families visible through the settling smoke of a fireworks display, this is a passionate, humid land, the people proud, kind and generous.
The preparation of the fireworks tower for that evening is a complex affair.
It’s a place where locals like Hector stop to talk to you and, if you are lucky, find you a seat on a boat ride. It’s a place with adventure and heart.
Sí, Mexico, no es problema!
Shayne and Yvonne Konar are retired teachers who have traveled extensively with only carry-on packs. To read more about their adventures check out their blog,Backpacks and Flipflops.
