Cost of Cancún-Tulum section of Maya Train is nearly double original estimate

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July 18, 2022

An artistic rendering of a Maya Train car. — An artistic rendering of a Maya Train rail car. Fonatur

The cost of the northern Quintana Roo stretch of the Maya Train railroad will be 92% higher than originally thought, a government document shows.

An environmental impact statement (EIS) shows that the total cost of the Cancún-Tulum section of the 1,500-kilometer railroad will be 59.6 billion pesos (US $2.9 billion), up from an original estimate of just under 31 billion pesos.

The cost could change further as the federal government is currently negotiating the early termination of a contract it awarded for the construction of the Playa del Carmen-Tulum stretch of section 5, according to a Reforma newspaper report.

The army will build the Cancún-Playa del Carmen stretch of section 5 (Tramo 5 Norte) while a consortium made up of Grupo México and Spanish firm Acciona won a contract to build the Playa del Carmen-Tulum stretch (Tramo 5 Sur). The latter project is currently stalled due to a court order while the former hasn’t yet started and isn’t expected to be finished until July 2024 – the year after the railroad’s touted opening date.

The military is responsible for building the northern half of section 5, and could end up building the southern half as well.

Published last Friday, the Tramo 5 Norte EIS said the cost of the Cancún-Playa del Carmen section was 28.1 billion pesos (US $1.37 billion). The process to find a builder was canceled in March 2021 when President López Obrador decided that the army would undertake the project, but the average bid from 10 consortiums was just under 13.09 billion pesos, Reforma said. The projected cost – driven up by a route change and inflation – is 114% higher than that average.

In February 2021, Grupo México and Acciona won a 17.81-billion-peso contract to build Tramo 5 Sur, but construction of the 67.6-kilometer stretch is now slated to cost 31.5 billion pesos (US $1.54 billion), a 77% hike. The modification of the route is a major factor in the higher projected cost.

The government in January decided to move section 5 inland after the Playa del Carmen business community complained about the construction of the railroad through the center of that city. As a result, over 800 hectares of vegetation, including swathes of the Mayan jungle, have to be cleared. Some forested land has already been cleared, triggering protests by environmentalists, who highlighted that the work was done before environmental approval was granted.

The Grupo México/Acciona consortium felled thousands of trees in addition to carrying out studies and completing some preliminary construction work for Tramo 5 Sur, but the companies’ involvement in the project appears to be coming to an end.

The original path of the train (shown in orange) was rerouted inland, appeasing coastal property owners but angering environmentalists.

The federal government is negotiating the early termination of the consortium’s contract, Reforma reported, citing sources close to the process.

The cost of terminating the contract early is expected to be some 5.3 billion pesos, or about 30% of its original value, the newspaper said. An agreement between the two parties would pave the way for the army to take over Tramo 5 Sur, which the federal Environment Ministry last month deemed “environmentally feasible.”

The army would thus be responsible for the construction of three full sections of the train as it is also building the Tulum-Chetumal and Bacalar-Escárcega stretches. The federal government has relied heavily on the military for a range of non-traditional tasks, including the construction of the Felipe Ángeles International Airport and state-owned “well-being” banks.

According to Reforma, more than 60 contracts have been awarded for work on the railroad, which will link cities and towns in Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán, Quintana Roo and Chiapas. The value of those contracts is approximately 212 billion pesos (US $10.4 billion), or 31.6% higher than the original estimate. More contracts are still to be issued or publicly disclosed, meaning that the total cost of the project will be even higher.

President López Obrador has pledged that the railroad — on which tourist, commuter and freight trains will run — will begin operations in 2023, but two people working on the ambitious project claimed last month that it won’t be finished while the current federal government is in office, if at all.

With reports from Reforma

Giant tomato fight relieves stress, attracts tourists to village in Hidalgo

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MND Staff

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July 18, 2022

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Tomato warriors battle at Sunday's Jitomatiza in Hidalgo. Facebook / Cotuemm

Tomatoes flew on Sunday in the first village tomato fight in Tortugas, near Metepec, Hidalgo, an event promoted by the municipal government.

Some two tonnes of the red and green fruits served as missiles, allowing participants to release stress and enjoy themselves in what was known as the Jitomatiza, reminiscent of the famous Tomatina de Buñol festival in Spain.

The mounds of tomatoes, many of which were unfit for sale due to imperfections, were provided by local producers.

With white T-shirts, some of the participants circled the village accompanied by a brass band, like Roman gladiators preparing to entertain a crowd. The first few minutes passed calmly as the participants took to the field. However, before the buzzer a tomato sailed through the air meeting an unsuspecting victim. With that, the battle began.

Two tomato fight participants make a run for it. Facebook / Cotuemm

Children, adults and seniors all participated, some only enduring a few minutes of the tomato-fueled mayhem. Others, brave enough to seek vengeance for the blows they’d received, remained inside the battle zone marked out by yellow tape.

After a few minutes, fatigue took hold making for a more static battle, but tomatoes were never fully grounded and anyone in the arena was in danger of a juicy impact. Thirty to 40 minutes into the onslaught, although tomato remained, energy levels waned, and the two sides ended the friendly fight.

Many of the participants promised that the tomato fight would be the first of many in Tortugas. The first edition had a festive atmosphere with decorative food and drink stalls, performing dancers and a brass band that played throughout, providing a soundtrack for the combat.

Before the event, one official assured that the Jitomatiza wouldn’t be a waste of tomatoes, guaranteeing that all of the remaining tomatoes and puree would be collected and used as compost.

With reports from AM and Milenio

Was it a coincidence that a drug lord was captured 3 days after AMLO met Biden?

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MND Staff

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July 18, 2022

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drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero's capture in Sinaloa — Rafael Caro Quintero's arrest in Sinaloa Friday is a big win for the U.S., which has long wanted to try him for the murder of a Drug Enforcement Administration agent. Sedena

The arrest last Friday of notorious drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero was the product of talks three days earlier between President López Obrador and United States President Joe Biden, according to a security analyst and former federal official.

Samuel González, founder of the organized crime unit in the federal Attorney General’s Office, told the news agency Associated Press (AP) that Caro Quintero’s capture was “without doubt” the fruit of negotiations last Tuesday in Washington. “The Americans never stopped pressing for his arrest,” he added.

Caro Quintero, founder of the now-defunct Guadalajara Cartel, has long been wanted in the United States for the 1985 murder of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena. He was convicted of that crime the same year and served 28 years in a Mexican prison before his 40-year sentence was cut short in 2013. A judge ruled that he was improperly tried in a federal court when the case should have been heard at the state level and he was released. The 69-year-old is now set to be extradited to the United States.

González told AP that his capture was unlikely to have a major effect on the organized crime landscape in Mexico because Caro Quintero – who has allegedly led the Caborca Cartel in recent years – did not wield the same level of power he did in the late 1970s and ’80s, when he was a major supplier of drugs to the United States.

arrest of fugitive drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero in Mexico — Mexican military personnel on a plane transporting Caro Quintero (third from left). SEMAR

He also said that the arrest demonstrates that “there is no protection of capos” by the government led by López Obrador, even though the president has not prioritized the detention of drug lords.

In an interview with AP, Guanajuato-based security analyst David Saucedo noted that cooperation between the DEA and the Mexican navy resulted in high-profile captures of wanted criminals during previous governments. However, such arrests haven’t occurred since López Obrador took office in late 2018, he said.

In fact, the federal government last year disbanded a United States-trained elite anti-narcotics unit that collaborated with the DEA for almost 25 years – the president said it was infiltrated by organized crime – and the U.S. anti-narcotics agency was effectively forced to withdraw its Mexico-based aircraft after authorities rescinded its parking spot at Toluca airport in México state.

Saucedo suggested that López Obrador and Biden last week reached an agreement for Mexican authorities to resume the extradition of criminals who are wanted north of the border.

murdered DEA agent Enrique Camarena — Before a judge granted him early release, Caro Quintero had served 28 years of a 40-year sentence for the killing of DEA agent Enrique Camarena, seen here. DEA

“It seems to me that in the private talks between President Joe Biden and Andrés Manuel [López Obrador], they surely agreed to turning over high-profile drug traffickers again, which had been suspended,” he said. “Narcos are being captured again, and I believe that, clearly, it was what was in fact needed,” Saucedo added.

United States Ambassador Ken Salazar lauded the navy for the arrest of Caro Quintero and expressed regret for the deaths of 14 marines, who died in a helicopter accident after supporting the capture mission.

“For clarification, no United States personnel participated in the tactical operation that resulted in Caro Quintero’s arrest: the apprehension of Caro Quintero was exclusively conducted by the Mexican government,” he said in a statement.

While Salazar stressed that no U.S. agents were on the ground when Caro Quintero was taken into custody, DEA administrator Anne Milgram told employees at the agency she leads that “our incredible … team in Mexico worked in partnership with Mexican authorities to capture and arrest” the drug lord, for whom U.S. authorities had offered a US $20 million reward.

Justice has no expiration date. Thank you to our Mexican partners for capturing Rafael Caro Quintero, who for years terrorized Mexican citizens and is implicated in the kidnapping, torture, and murder of DEA agent Kiki Camarena. #SeguridadCompartida https://t.co/Mv0Caqc8id

— Embajador Ken Salazar (@USAmbMex) July 16, 2022

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar expressed satisfaction at Caro Quintero’s arrest.

In a message issued late Friday, Milgram told DEA employees that the arrest is “the result of years of your blood, sweat, and tears.”

Writing in the El Universal newspaper, Alejandro Hope, another security analyst, supported that view. “… An operation of this nature is unthinkable without the technical resources and the network of informants of United States agencies, particularly the DEA,” he said.

“… Beyond the friction and disagreement that might exist in … the bilateral relation, a fluid interaction between Mexican departments and the United States intelligence community persists at the operational level. That doesn’t detract from what the navy achieved but provides context,” Hope wrote.

He described the capture of Caro Quintana as an operation with an “extremely high degree of difficulty” and asserted that its successful execution showed that Mexican security forces, particularly the navy, “have maintained their intelligence and operation capacities.”

Mxican security analyst Alejandro Hope — Caro Quintero became a priority target for arrest “because that’s what United States anti-narcotics agents wanted,” said security analyst Alejandro Hope.

Hope also said that the capture of the capo showed that the federal government “never abandoned the strategy of beheading criminal groups,” despite López Obrador’s repeated affirmations that detaining drug lords isn’t a priority.

“The arrest of someone like Caro Quintero involves months or years of monitoring and planning. It also requires authorization at the highest level of responsibility. In other words, the president endorsed in private what he condemned in public,” he wrote.

Given that “we now know that the decapitation of criminal groups continues to be a strategy that is in full force,” Hope added, “can we now stop pretending that the [security] policy of this government is significantly different from that of the two previous ones?”

The security analyst said that Caro Quintero was no longer a major player in terms of drug trafficking or the generation of violence but nevertheless became a priority target once again “because that’s what United States anti-narcotics agents wanted.”

“Is that in Mexico’s best interest? I don’t think so,” Hope wrote, implying that authorities would be better served by directing their resources at combatting more powerful criminals and cartels, such as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel.

He predicted that Caro Quintero will be extradited as soon as possible given that keeping him in Mexico comes with the risk of escape and “legal trickery” as well as “suspicions of complicity [with authorities] and enormous pressure from the United States.”

In conclusion, Hope stressed that the arrest of the former Guadalajara Cartel leader – or any other individual drug lord – wouldn’t have any impact on the drug market in Mexico, which sends large quantities of narcotics across the northern border to the world’s largest narcotics consumer. “At this point in time, that’s not up for debate,” he wrote.

With reports from AP

Hurricane Estelle predicted to strengthen, bring heavy rains to Jalisco, Nayarit

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MND Staff

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July 18, 2022

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Hurricane Estelle satellite map — Estelle, a category 1 hurricane, is expected to cause heavy rain on much of the southwest Pacific coast.

Category 1 Hurricane Estelle was set to intensify on Monday, causing heavy rain on much of the southwest Pacific coast, with the worst damage forecast for Sinaloa. But the center of the storm is predicted to remain well offshore.

Intense rain is predicted in that state, where the National Water Commission (Conagua) is warning of possible landslides and floods. Intense rain is forecast for Nayarit and Jalisco, and heavy rain is forecast in Colima, Guerrero, Michoacán and Morelos.

Gales of 50–70 kilometers per hour are likely in Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco and Colima, which could all see waves of up to four meters high.

Storms should arrive later in the day in central Mexico with heavy rain, hail and thunderstorms possible in Mexico City, México state and Guanajuato. Sonora is also likely to see very heavy rain on Monday.

Hurricane Estelle status — Estelle is currently expected to remain a hurricane until Wednesday evening.

At 10 a.m. CDT on Monday, Hurricane Estelle was about 90 kilometers south of the Revillagigedo Islands, which lie some 600 kilometers off the coast, and was heading west-northwest at 22 kph. Maximum sustained winds were 130 kph.

Conagua urged people to take precautions and to follow official guidance.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in a public advisory on Monday that “Swells generated by Estelle … are likely to continue for another day or two and could cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.”

The NHC added that there are no coastal watches or warnings in effect.

Civil Protection in Colima has urged people in Armería, Tecomán and Manzanillo to respect the red flag signs on beaches and to follow the instructions of lifeguards.

With reports from Milenio

14 navy marines killed during operation to arrest former cartel kingpin

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MND Staff

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July 18, 2022

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The helicopter crashed near the Los Mochis International Airport in northern Sinaloa. File photo

Fourteen marines were killed Friday when a navy helicopter that supported the operation to capture drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero crashed in Los Mochis, Sinaloa.

One other marine was seriously injured and taken to hospital for treatment. The navy said in a statement that the cause of the Black Hawk helicopter accident hadn’t been established.

“Investigations will be carried out to determine the reasons that may have caused the accident [but] it’s important to clarify that there is no information at this time that [indicates] that the air accident is related to the arrest of the alleged drug trafficker.”

President López Obrador expressed his regret about the deaths of the 14 marines on social media. “I send my most sincere condolences and a hug to their families, colleagues and friends,” he wrote.

Military leaders pay their respects to the fallen marines. Sedena

The crash occurred after Caro Quintero, founder of the now-defunct Guadalajara Cartel, was captured in Choix, a municipality in northern Sinaloa on the border with Chihuahua. The narco had been sought since 2013, when he was released from prison after serving 28 years of a 40-year sentence for the 1985 murder of United States DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena.

He was taken into custody early Friday afternoon after a navy dog called Max found him hiding in bushes. Caro Quintero was later transferred to the Altiplano maximum security prison in México state. He is set to be extradited to the United States, where he is wanted for the kidnapping and murder of Camarena and other drug-related crimes, according to his DEA profile.

Along with fellow Guadalajara Cartel leaders Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and Ernesto Fonseca Carillo, Caro Quintero was a major supplier of narcotics to the United States in the late 1970s and early ’80s. The U.S. had offered US $20 million for information leading to his capture, but was not directly involved in the operation that ultimately led to his arrest.

With reports from Reforma

9 murdered in 72 hours in Guaymas, Sonora

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MND Staff

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July 18, 2022

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Four attacks left 9 people dead and more injured. Archive photo

Nine people were shot dead including one youth in four separate attacks in the space of 72 hours during a bloody weekend in Guaymas, Sonora.

The Sonora Attorney General’s Office said that four people were found dead on Friday at the pier of the Manga 1 fish farm in San Carlos Nuevo Guaymas, a beachfront subdivision within Guaymas. Two of the men were later identified through their fingerprints, but their names were not confirmed.

On Saturday a man was shot around 7 p.m. in Fátima neighborhood and his body was dumped on a dirt road. Later on Saturday, at around 11 p.m., three men were killed, including a 17-year-old boy, in an attack in the community of Las Guásimas. Another three people were injured in the attack. A pickup truck with bullet holes and bullet shells from various weapons was found by police.

On Sunday morning at 5:10 a.m., a man’s body was found with gunshot wounds in the Santa Clara sports field in San José de Guaymas, an ejido, or communal land, belonging to San Carlos Nuevo Guaymas.

Guaymas is no stranger to violence. There were 55 murders in the city in the first four months of the year, the newspaper El Imparcial reported. The newspaper also said that the spate of killings represented a rise on the four month average: in 2020 there were 144 murders in Guaymas and 149 in 2021.

Violence in Guaymas hasn’t been restricted to remote areas or specific neighborhoods: an attack outside the Guaymas municipal palace killed three people in November.

The city had a per capita murder rate above 100 per 100,000 people last year, according to a study by a Mexican non-governmental organization, the Citizens Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice (CCSPJP). However, Guaymas remained off the CCSPJP’s list of the 50 most violent cities in the world because it didn’t meet the requirement for inclusion of a population over 300,000.

With reports from El Imparcial

These expats are still here in Mexico decades later, whether they planned on it or not

By

Leigh Thelmadatter

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July 16, 2022

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Rina Lazo, left, and Helen Bickham, right — Rina Lazo, left, and Helen Bickham have both lived in Mexico for more than 50 years pursuing art careers. Leigh Thelmadatter

Foreigners who come here to live and end up staying for decades provide a unique perspective on life in Mexico.

In 2019, I had the fortune of interviewing Guatemalan-born artist Rina Lazo. Although a major muralist in her own right, she was best known as the last surviving assistant to Diego Rivera. She embraced this legacy, in no small part because the Mexico she discovered in the 1940s was “her Mexico.”

Mexico has received immigrants for a long time, including us English speakers. Like other immigrants, we have “push” and “pull” factors. Dire poverty generally is not one of them, but economics plays a role, as it does for retirees looking to stretch pensions.

But those of us who come at younger ages are a different breed, often dissatisfied with life in our home countries. We don’t quite fit in, and we’re looking for something different.

husband and wife in Mexico in the 1980s — Peace Kat gave up a promising U.S. art career after meeting the man who would become her husband. Both are seen here in Oaxaca in the 1980s. photo Rogelio Cuellar courtesy of Peace Kat

Bob Cox literally joined up with the circus as a young man in the 1960s, making his way to Tlaxcala, where he has lived since the 1970s. Dr. Stan De Loach ran away from home at age 14 to find a family in San Miguel de Allende. Teacher and artist Helen Bickham came to Mexico on vacation in 1963 with her husband and two small children. She then told her husband that he could return without them.

A distant second reason is politics. San Miguel and Ajijic started as havens for bohemians over 80 years ago. In the 1970s, some from antiwar and student protest movements found their way to Mexico despite the fact that the country had its own problems with the 1968 Tlatelolco student massacre and its aftermath.

Richard Clement and Bruce Roy Dudley came in part to avoid the draft. John Falduto’s mother came in 1980 in part because she did not like the political direction of the country, with him following her lead in 1992.

Mexico’s “pull” is the promise of an alternative.

The decision to come to Mexico and the decision to stay are often two different things. Most came here on vacation, for something job-related or to just pass through. Australian Jenny Cooper had to sail through Panama to Europe because the Suez Canal was closed by war, Patsy Du Bois came to study Spanish and Karen Windsor came to study Mayan archaeology.

If I had a peso for every time I heard something like “I was only going to be here for X amount of time, but then I met Y.”

Some are whirlwind romances. German-born Kiki Suarez was on her way around the world in the 1970s, stopped in Chiapas, met her husband and then looked for a way to make life work in San Cristóbal long before its current fame. Bonnie Sims came to Acapulco on vacation at age 19 and got involved with a local fellow. After returning to Canada, she wondered why she left and found her way back to Mexico.

Most met their future spouses in a much less-rushed manner, but that relationship was still central to the decision to stay. Peace Kat in Oaxaca flatly states that her spouse is why she remained, as she had a promising art career in Miami.

film director Michael Rowe — Australian Michael Rowe came to Mexico temporarily to figure out his next career move. He stayed and became a Spanish-language filmmaker.

But generally, staying is due to a mix of love for their spouses and for life in Mexico. They describe Mexican culture as “less hectic,” “less materialistic” and more “person-” and/or “family-oriented” than in the United States and Canada and Europe. People cite everything from family interactions to just being able to chat with vendors at local markets.

Mexico experienced a devastating earthquake in 1985 and the long-awaited fall of the Institutional Revolutionary Party’s 71-year dynasty in 2000, but interviewees’ comments on changes in Mexico since the late 1970s relate to improvements in infrastructure and the opening of Mexico’s economy, starting with NAFTA.

Some have stories of losing significant money during Mexico’s peso devaluations in the 1980s and 1990s, and especially 1994, but others, because they had foreign income, were not so affected.

Many, including the most bohemian, appreciate the improved access to products from the rest of the world these days, even if they feel somewhat embarrassed by it. Canadian Karen Windsor admits, “It might be a sin, but I enjoy it.” But she also notes that economic decentralization allows cities like her Guadalajara to develop.

Negative comments about globalization’s effect on the country are more related to how local communities have changed rather than how it’s affected Mexico as a whole. Everyone in San Miguel de Allende complains about waves of newcomers, for example, even if they like that the municipality has changed from a “dusty town” to a cosmopolitan center.

Peace Kat and Eric Eberman both bemoan the loss of local dress, traditions and foods in Oaxaca and Chiapas respectively.

Long-termers tend to have reservations about commenting on more recent political and social issues. Hardly anyone has citizenship, even after decades of living here, and so they are not permitted by law to participate in Mexican politics, including taking part in political action, like civil protests.

One exception is Eberman, who has been an activist for environmental issues in Chiapas, a dangerous occupation for Mexicans and foreigners.

A Oaxaca market in the 1940s. Expats have made their homes in Mexico since before the middle of the 20th century. Janice Waltzer/Creative Commons

One thing that maybe should not have surprised me was how many of my interviewees had formed connections with Mexican families of prominence at the local or national level. For example, Australia-born director Michael Rowe is married to the current minister of culture, Alejandra Frausto.

Another surprise was that my interviewees were not quite as nostalgic for “their Mexico” as Lazo was. The consensus seems to be not only that “things change,” but the essential for them — Mexico’s people — are who they have always been.

Special thanks to Patricia Grace Perrin Marion, Joanna Van der Gracht, Richard Carr and Alan Mould for their insights.

Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico 18 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture in particular its handcrafts and art. She is the author of Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta (Schiffer 2019). Her culture column appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.

It’s lychee season and rambutans aren’t far behind

By

Janet Blaser

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July 16, 2022

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lychees — Lychees work in many dishes — or just peel and pop them in your mouth. Yum!

My first encounter with a lychee was at Mazatlán’s organic farmers’ market, where one day a grower appeared with many boxes of the pretty, little, round red fruits. He showed me how to pinch one open; I popped it in my mouth and was hooked. Turns out the state of Sinaloa has perfect conditions for cultivating lychees and is one of the biggest producers in all of Mexico.

How did this exotic fruit, native to China, end up in Mexico?

In 1900, several hundred Chinese immigrants were given visas to work building Mexico’s railways. Their contracts allowed them to stay on, and those that did moved throughout the country. In Sinaloa, they found the climate, soil conditions and altitude to be similar to China, and some took up agriculture — especially fruit-growing. It was these Chinese migrants who introduced the lychee to Mexico.

Rambutans, while similar in taste, are the lychee’s rather wild-looking cousin, covered as they are with short and flexible red, pink and golden spikes, called spinterns. Inside is the same white globe of sweet flesh as lychees, but with a slightly different flavor. They’re grown mostly in the southern states of Chiapas and Oaxaca.

The classic rambutan experience includes a wheelbarrow full of the unusual little fruits. Indeed, I was visiting a small village outside Oaxaca city, meandering through an outdoor market, when suddenly said wheelbarrow appeared in front of me.

Enthralled by the rambutans’ cuteness (they look like alien toys), I stopped and asked the young man behind the barrow what he was selling. He picked one up and pinched it open to expose the globe of shiny, white pulp, gesturing that I should eat it, which I did.

What do they taste like, besides delicious? Well, you can’t separate the flavor from the texture, which is kind of like a grape — but not. The taste is grape-like also, with lychees a bit sweeter than rambutans. Both have a fairly big, shiny black seed in the middle of the pulp that you don’t want to eat. Lychees are ping-pong ball sized, while rambutans are closer to golf ball-size.

In Mexico, May, June and July are the biggest harvest months for lychees, depending on weather; besides Sinaloa, the state of Veracruz and the Huasteca Potosina region also grow them. Rambutan trees produce into November. Refrigerated, both fruits can keep a month or two longer.

My advice is to buy them when you see them, as the season is short!

Rambutan can be used to make preserves and chutneys; both rambutans and lychees can be used to make ice cream, be added to fruit salads or blended with vodka for an exotic martini. Personally, though, I think eating them chilled and fresh-popped out of their red skins is the way to go.

If you can’t find fresh lychees, canned ones are easily available. While not the same as fresh, they’ll work just as well in these recipes.

Lychee Bellini

6 lychees (if using fresh, peel and remove pits)
8 oz. chilled, dry sparkling wine

Puree lychees with a blender. Strain pulp with a fine mesh sieve, pushing puree through with a rubber spatula.

Fill a flute or other tall, narrow glass a third full with the lychee puree.

Slowly pour sparkling wine into glass, stirring slowly as you pour. Pause to allow foam to subside as necessary.

Lychee Ceviche

½ lb. fresh snapper, cut into bite-sized cubes
¼ cup fresh lime juice
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
1 jalapeño or serrano pepper, seeded, thinly sliced
8-10 lychees, pitted, cut into small pieces (about ½ cup total)
¼ red onion, thinly sliced
¼ cup packed cilantro, minced
¼ tsp. grated fresh ginger
1 Tbsp. simple syrup or reserved lychee syrup

Season fish with salt; combine with lemon and lime juice in a bowl. Add peppers and toss. Cover and refrigerate 15–20 minutes, stirring once or twice, until fish is just becoming opaque. Add lychee, onion, cilantro, ginger and simple syrup; toss to combine. Divide among serving bowls, spooning more juice over top of each.

Lychee-Chile Lemonade

1 lb. lychees, peeled and seeded (to make about 1½ cups lychee pulp)
1 cup fresh lemon juice
¾ cup sugar
Pinch salt
½ (or less) small serrano chili
3 cups cold water
1 quart ice

Combine 1 cup lychees, lemon juice, sugar, salt and chili in blender. Process on high until smooth, about 1 minute. Strain through a fine mesh strainer into pitcher; discard solids.

Add cold water and whisk to combine. Chop remaining lychee pulp into ¼-inch pieces and add to pitcher. Add ice and serve.

Rambutan Watermelon Feta Salad

1 Tbsp. minced shallot
½ to 1 jalapeño or serrano chili, seeded, minced
2 tsp. honey
1 tsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. white vinegar
3 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 qts. seeded diced watermelon (½-inch dice)
1 lb. rambutans or lychees, peeled and with flesh torn into rough chunks (to make about 1½ cups)
5 oz. crumbled feta cheese
½ cup chopped basil leaves
Optional: 1 stalk lemongrass, bottom 4 inches only, peeled and minced

Combine shallot, chili, lemongrass (if using), honey, soy sauce, and white vinegar in small bowl. Whisking constantly, drizzle olive oil into bowl. Season with salt and pepper; set aside.

Gently mix watermelon, lychees/rambutans, feta and basil in large bowl.

Add dressing; toss to combine. Serve immediately.

Lychee and Orange in Iced Syrup (Thai Loy Gaew)

3 cups sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 (5-inch) piece ginger, thinly sliced
¼ cup tightly packed grated fresh coconut
6 medium oranges, peeled and sectioned
2½ cups peeled and seeded fresh lychees, or 2 (20-ounce) cans, drained
½ cup chopped fresh mint
About 1 cup finely crushed ice

In small saucepan, combine sugar, salt, ginger and 4 cups of water. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low; simmer until liquid is reduced by half, about 20 minutes. Cool.

Toast coconut in a skillet over medium-low heat, stirring and tossing continually. Remove from heat; cool. Combine oranges and lychees in large bowl. Remove and discard ginger from syrup. Pour syrup over fruit. Stir in mint. Chill.

To serve, spoon fruit mixture into six small bowls. Add about 2 Tbsp. crushed ice to each bowl; top with toasted coconut.

Janet Blaser is the author of the best-selling book, Why We Left: An Anthology of American Women Expats, featured on CNBC and MarketWatch. She has lived in Mexico since 2006. You can find her on Facebook.

In Progreso, Yucatán, flamingos have the right of way

By

Lydia Carey

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July 16, 2022

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An elegant parade of flamingos in Progreso on Friday. visit mérida

A group of flamingos is called a flamboyance, a particularly adept description of a group of the long-legged and elegant birds that strutted their stuff across an avenue in Progreso, Yucatán, Friday morning.

Captured by bystanders, one video uploaded to social media had NYSNC singing Bye, Bye, Bye in the background, while the birds, unperturbed by the human onlookers, strut across the street with flair.

These majestic birds are not generally sighted in this part of the state and are much more likely to be spending time in Celestún where over 35,000 flamingos spend the winter mating season, or the salt flats of Los Colorados near Río Lagartos, where they are one of the region’s most popular natural attractions with visitors during their yearly migrations.

This made their traffic-stopping appearance in Progreso even more impressive, in addition to the fact that these birds are generally only in the area from November to April each year.

There are, however, always a few, like these six living in the fast lane in Progreso, that stick around for the entire year and are joined by their feathered friends in the winter.

The chance to spot them without having to go to their breeding ground is rare and it delighted residents in Progreso.

With reports from Por Esto

Why, when it comes to reproductive rights, Mexico gives me hope

By

Sarah DeVries

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July 16, 2022

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Mexican Supreme Court Justice Arturo Zaldivar — Supreme Court Chief Justice Arturo Zaldívar. He called Mexico's decriminalization of abortion in 2021 'a new route of freedom, clarity, dignity and respect for all women.'

It’s easy to feel discouraged lately.

The world has had a rough go of things. My native country, in particular, looks as if it’s about to implode on itself. It’s been rough watching democracy seemingly disintegrate before our very eyes from afar as a minority party gains an increasing amount of control over the country’s legal institutions despite the will of the majority of the people who live there.

Knowing that they could never retain power without gerrymandering, voter suppression and outright refusing to play by the rules, the Republican party in the United States has done a terrifyingly excellent job of cementing its power.

One of the most notable ways it’s done this is through Supreme Court appointments (in addition to the naming of more than 200 federal judges). After U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell successfully blocked former president Obama from appointing a new justice long before the elections, he and the Republican-controlled Senate then happily waved through several ideologically extreme and morally questionable nominees appointed by Trump who have now overturned Roe v. Wade‘s guarantee of the right to an abortion.

And if Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ curious opinion — yes, the same Clarence Thomas whose wife took an active role in trying to help Trump steal the 2020 election for himself – is to be taken seriously (and I think it should be), the right to contraception and even marriage between consenting adults might soon approach the chopping block as well.

The United States is now poised for abortion to be illegal in roughly half of its states, just as much of the rest of the world, including Mexico, is moving in the opposite direction.

I’ve been alarmed and saddened about the actions taken in my own country but hopeful about Mexico’s movement in the opposite direction over the past several years.

My optimism rose when I read a piece the other day about Mexican Supreme Court Chief Justice Arturo Zaldívar.

The Supreme Court of Mexico, while it has less power than the one in my country, has also had a few things to say on the subject of women’s rights, including abortion, in great part because of Chief Justice Zaldívar’s leadership.

In a unanimous vote, the court decriminalized abortion last year. While its legality is still technically up to individual states to decide, the Supreme Court’s actions have paved the way for access all over the country.

To paraphrase Záldivar: “We’re in favor of life – the life of the mother.”

I’ve written about abortion several times before, including the surprising landscape in Mexico as well as strategies for actually reducing the number of abortions that take place. (Hint: criminalizing it is not an effective way to reduce its incidence and, as Záldivar himself says, rich girls have always had access to abortions, meaning that what’s actually criminalized is poverty.)

I don’t feel much of a need to express myself further on the subject at this point – you can read my other articles about it if you want to know exactly what I think – except to say that a woman’s ability to control when and if she goes through a pregnancy and has children is everything.

Without that control, which comes via not just birth control but a general culture of respect toward women and their right to avoid coercive, unprotected sex — and, yes, the right to terminate a pregnancy — women’s possibilities for participating in the public spheres of society are near zilch, as has been the case for much of history.

When women have children, their lives are, quite simply, no longer their own.

Mr. Zaldívar has become an unlikely feminist ally. He was raised in a deeply Catholic family in a deeply conservative state: Querétaro.

The state has become much more cosmopolitan and diverse since even the days that I lived there, but I personally remember being surprised at how easily people were scandalized, especially when it was more than evident that everyone regularly participated in scandalous behaviors.

Given his background, it’s curious (and to me, inspiring) that his thinking has evolved to the point that he’s been such an instrumental actor in ensuring women’s rights and women’s inclusion in legal institutions – he’s responsible for guaranteeing a certain number of seats were reserved for women on the Supreme Court.

He credits his evolution to a circle of close female friends, aides and family members who have shared their own personal experiences and viewpoints with him. In a rare move for a powerful man, he did something amazing: he listened and he sympathized. He seems to have realized very clearly that the personal is indeed very political.

I, for one, am glad that women in Mexico have people in power on our side who recognize women as fully autonomous humans who should have absolute control over their bodies because there haven’t been many powerful people who’ve thought so for most of our history.

So it’s given me a rather unfamiliar feeling lately: hope.

Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her website, sdevrieswritingandtranslating.com and her Patreon page.