Creating guided art tours in a Puebla town is a ‘learn as you go’ experience

October 6, 2021

Mosaics workshop in Zacatlán, Puebla — The writer "in the zone" during the Zacatlán, Puebla, mosaics workshop tour she organized.

If you follow my column, you know that I have developed quite an interest in recycled mosaic art. I used to be a quilter back in the day, but the eyes don’t let me do that anymore. Arranging tile “scraps” satisfies the same urge to upcycle the worthless into the beautiful.

Oddly enough, despite tile being ubiquitous in Mexican construction, as an artistic medium it is almost entirely unknown. (To be fair, Diego Rivera and some other artists have worked with it in the past.)

Today, there are several artists working with broken tile pieces, a technique called trencadís. I have found three community-based programs in different parts of Mexico that only now know of each other’s existence. They all engage locals in designing, breaking and placing tiles onto walls, benches, fountains and more.

But despite all the tile and pottery odds and ends that exist and the creativity that seems to surround us here in Mexico, trencadís is a niche that has not been adequately exploited.

In two of the locations that have programs — Zacatlán, Puebla, and Puerto Vallarta — the murals have become something of a tourist attraction. This may seem more obvious in a place like PV, but Zacatlán also attracts many weekenders, offering a cool mountain respite from urban life, complete with a gorgeous ravine and various small waterfalls.

So I thought to myself, is there a niche tour here for people interested in learning about such art in such a beautiful place? Would foreigners living in Mexico City be interested in it, especially with linguistic support?

Well, there is one way to find out: I spoke to Maricarmen Olvera, the head of Casa de Vitramuralista (the organization now behind community mural-making in Zacatlán) about doing a type of “dry-run,” bringing several of my friends up to Zacatlán, taking advantage of their five-hour workshop, murals in progress and the beautiful town.

Three friends decided to go with me last weekend. The goal was not to gauge economic viability but rather to figure out what such participants would want and not want. The idea was three days:

Friday was for touring the town and the murals with an emphasis on how the community’s artwork has evolved over more than seven years. Saturday was for the five-hour workshop on basic trencadís skills, culminating in a small item that the participant could take home. On Sunday, we worked on selected sections of murals to leave our mark permanently on the town.

What did I learn? Number one, it rains a lot in Zacatlán at this time of year, so a minimum of two pairs of shoes are necessary. We got caught in the rain at the tail end of viewing murals, and one participant had wet shoes for the rest of the weekend.

More importantly, I realized that doing both the workshop and a significant amount of work on walls is too much for those only curious about the murals and how they are made. The workshop was pretty intense, but people were happy with what they made.

On Sunday, most were happy to break and put a few tiles up, but then got bored. I, on the other hand, got “into the zone” and filled in a good chunk of space. Others decided they were hungry and took off for several hours.

Everyone loved the town and loved the getaway from the city. All were impressed with what Olvera and the people of Zacatlán have accomplished. It did not necessarily mean they wanted to get into this artistic activity.

My thought at this time is to cut the general tour to Zacatlán to two days, showing the murals and doing the general workshop. If there is interest, we can offer a trip focusing on one or more murals in progress.

I should also admit that I hope to recruit people for a similar project I am starting in Mexico City. I can’t imagine a city with more “junk” to salvage than here — and more space and interest in muralism by many average people.

We could also offer the really basic course, sending people interested in more advanced skills to Zacatlán. It will take us years to catch up with them (if we ever do).

If you are interested in any of these projects, you can contact MariCarmen Olvera for Zacatlán, in the north of Puebla; Marissa Martínez in San Luis Potosí; Natasha Moraga in Puerto Vallarta; or Leigh Thelmadatter (me) at [email protected] for the start-up here in Mexico City.

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.

Pioneering Mexican cider maker keeps the faith for nearly 100 years

Joseph Sorrentino

October 6, 2021

In a small room behind the counter at cider makers Sidra San Francisco, Gabriel Hernández García makes sidra (hard cider) the same way his great-grandfather, Gabriel Guerrero Miruela, learned to do it almost 100 years ago: completely by hand.

“A French chef taught my bisabuelo in 1927,” he said, “and he passed the information to his sons.”

The chef’s full name has been lost, but his surname may have been Prago and the techniques he taught Guerrero continue to be passed down faithfully. Hernández worked in his grandmother’s fábrica (factory, or in this case, cider mill), Sidra San Gabriel, for four years, learning how to make the beverage. Through four generations, “the recipe has not changed,” he said.

Sidra is a very old drink. No one knows when it was first made, but it’s known that Celts in Britain were making it at least 3,000 years ago. When Julius Caesar made his first attempt to invade in 55 B.C., he and his soldiers became so enamored with the drink they brought it back with them and left the first written record of it. Very soon, sidra spread across the Roman Empire and throughout Europe.

It took a couple of thousand years, but the drink finally caught on in Mexico when Prago transferred the knowledge of how to make it to Hernández’s great-grandfather. Today, sidra is served at many celebrations in Mexico, including quinceañera parties, weddings and other fiestas. It is especially popular at Christmas and New Year’s.

Sidra is popular in Spain, especially in the apple-growing region of Asturias, but the conquistadors apparently didn’t bring it with them when they arrived in Mexico. And because Guerrero was taught by a Frenchman, “the sidra made here is more similar to that made in France,” said Hernández.

He makes his sidra in Huejotzingo, Puebla, a small city that’s about 25 miles northwest of Puebla city. It’s become famous for the beverage and currently boasts around 30 sidra makers. Hernández figures 70% of the owners are members of his family. His own fábrica is small, the crew consisting of Hernández; his wife, Andrea Martínez Castillo; one son; and two other employees.

Hernández uses only Perón apples, which are grown in orchards surrounding Popocatépetl, an active volcano. “We use these apples because they have a good level of acid and they are flavorful,” García said.

Although Hernández starts making sidra in April, using about 200 pounds of apples a month through June, production doesn’t really crank up until later in the summer. Then, said Martínez, “we use four tonnes a month in July and August.”

In the back room, where the air is perfumed with the smell of the fruit, Hernández dips a basket into a concrete tub where apples are being washed. He loads them into a grinder to make a pulp he called gabazo. “This is given to animals to eat,” he said. “Horses, cows, pigs. We have no waste. We use everything.”

The pulp lands on a cloth that covers slatted wooden trays made from old apple trees. Once about 20 pounds of apples have been ground, Hernández gently spreads the pulp evenly, folds the cloth over it and places several more trays on top.

He then swings the tray into position, where a small hydraulic pump is used to apply pressure, squeezing out the juice. In an eight-hour day, Hernández can grind one tonne of apples, from which he will eventually make 1,600 bottles of sidra.

The resulting liquid is transferred to 200-liter oak barrels, where it is left to ferment. They only use oak because, explained García, “The oak imparts flavor to the sidra.”

The fermentation step takes around three months and is all-natural. “The apple seeds contain yeast, and this is what drives the fermentation,” Hernández said. “We do not add yeast.” Yeast is released from the seeds’ shells when the apples are crushed.

“We do not stop the fermentation,” he continued. “When the yeast has used up all the sugars in the juice, the yeast dies and precipitates. The liquid that is left is clear and brilliant. We move that to another barrel.

“We fill that barrel to the top, put on a cover and seal it with paraffin. We control the light, temperature, humidity. These are in another place where they cannot be disturbed. The liquid will mature for three years, and then we will bottle it.”

Hernández’s sidra is aged significantly longer than some others.

“The juice is aged three years in oak barrels so that it acquires a better quality and flavor,” García said. “This yields a natural gasification and amount of alcohol. We give it this much time to achieve the notes and flavors that characterize sidra from Sidra San Francisco.”

The final step in the production is bottling the juice. Hernández estimates he can produce about 96,000 bottles a year. A small machine directs the juice into bottles, but all the other steps — hammering a plastic cap into the bottle’s neck, twisting on a thin wire to secure the cap in place, adding a gold wrap to the neck and, finally, placing a label on the bottle — are all done by hand.

Sidra is low in alcohol. Hernández’s is 3% while some others are just slightly higher at 3.5%. Like other producers, Sidra San Francisco sells several types.

The most popular is ambar, also called champagne which, as its name suggests, has an amber color. They also sell fruit-flavored sidras, including pear, tangerine, peach, pomegranate, blackberry and strawberry. “The flavored sidras are 60% apple juice and 40% other fruit,” said García. They also make rosada, a sidra that is mixed with wine.

After all of the apples are harvested and the juice is aging in barrels, Hernández turns his attention to making wine, using grapes from Santa Rita, a small town in Puebla.

“We make our own because we have the experience,” García said. “We have experimented and determined how to make the most flavorful wine.” Their rosada is aged in oak barrels for an additional year.

Some makers offer a nonalcoholic sidra, but Hernández reacted strongly when asked about that. “To be called sidra, it must be fermented apple juice,” he said. “It is natural alcohol; none is added. Sidra without alcohol is not sidra.”

When asked why he continues to make sidra in such a difficult and time-consuming way, Hernández doesn’t hesitate in his response.

“When I was young, my grandmother transmitted this love of sidra to me,” he said. “She took me to the fábrica, and I saw the process.”

That love will be passed to the next generation, he said. “I will teach my children.”

Sidra San Francisco has two locations. In Huejotzingo, where the fábrica is located, they’re in an alley opposite the ex-convent on Callejón del Convento in Barrio Centro. The store in Cholula is located at Avenida Morelos 212. More information may be found on their Facebook business page.

Joseph Sorrentino, a writer, photographer and author of the book San Gregorio Atlapulco: Cosmvisiones and of Stinky Island Tales: Some Stories from an Italian-American Childhood, is a regular contributor to Mexico News Daily. More examples of his photographs and links to other articles may be found at www.sorrentinophotography.com He currently lives in Chipilo, Puebla.

Law will allow easier gender identity change for children 12 and over in Oaxaca

MND Staff

October 6, 2021

oaxaca congress — More than two-thirds of Oaxaca lawmakers voted in favor of the bill.

The Congress of Oaxaca has passed a law that streamlines the process for children aged 12 and over to change their gender identity, as long as they have the consent of their parents or legal guardians.

More than two-thirds of lawmakers voted in favor of changing the southern state’s civil code to give minors the freedom to decide whether they want to be identified as a boy, girl or non-binary without having to go to court.

The new law is expected to be promulgated Thursday via publication in Oaxaca’s official gazette.

After promulgation, adolescents will be able to legally change their gender via a short administrative process at civil registry offices. Officials at those offices will be required to confirm a child’s desire to change his or her gender and ensure that the child knows the ramifications of the decision.

Children who don’t have the consent of their parents or legal guardians can seek the assistance of the Oaxaca State Prosecutor’s Office for the Protection of Child and Adolescent Rights.

As things currently stand, children in Oaxaca who wish to change their gender identity have to file an application with a court and appear with a parent or guardian before a judge.

The only state where children can currently change the sex on their birth certificate via a quick formality at a government office is Mexico City. The city government published a decree in August to legalize the process, almost two years after a proposal to that end was discussed and found support among lawmakers in two congressional committees.

With reports from Milenio

12 brands of instant soup withdrawn for misleading information

MND Staff

October 6, 2021

Maruchan products remain on store shelves but not for long, Profeco says.

Twelve different instant soup products have been withdrawn because the information on their packaging is incorrect or misleading.

The head of the federal consumer protection agency Profeco said Monday that almost 130,000 product units had been taken off shelves.

“In the operation we carried out, 129,937 units of instant soups were withdrawn from the market. [They] correspond to 12 products [sold under] nine different brands,” Ricardo Sheffield told President López Obrador’s regular news conference.

The withdrawal followed a study of 33 instant soup products that analyzed the information on their packaging and their protein, fat, carbohydrates, energy and salt content. Its findings were published in the October issue of Profeco’s magazine, Revista del Consumidor.

Sheffield said that one of the products withdrawn was Korean instant noodle product Buldak Cheese, whose packaging says it has cheese and chicken.

Profeco's magazine — Profeco’s magazine focuses on instant soups this month.

“But it doesn’t have any cheese or any chicken. It’s deceitful advertising. … “You get more chicken kissing a chicken than with that soup,” he said.

“There’s another [product] called Maruchan Ramen that says it has vegetables. You can see in the Revista del Consumidor that the pieces of vegetables it has … fit on the tip of your fingernail,” Sheffield said. “The photo [on the product] shows peas, carrots, everything, as if it was something very healthy.”

Maruchan soups have not yet been taken off shelves but Profeco intends to withdraw them soon. That news prompted panic buying of the product, according to numerous social media users.

The Profeco chief said that instant soups sold under the Knorr brand were also withdrawn. Knorr soups have more calories than their labels indicate, he said.

“… In addition, they hide that they add sugar. That’s why these [instant] soups are so attractive – they have a lot of salt and a lot of sugar; they taste good but they’re not so good for you,” Sheffield said.

J-Basket instant noodles, Chikara udon and Ottogi ramen were among the other products taken off shelves.

According to the World Instant Noodles Association, Mexico is the world’s 15th largest consumer of instant soups. Maruchan “instant lunch” cup noodles are particularly popular due to their low price (about 11 pesos) and widespread availability at convenience stores such as OXXO.

Sold in a polystyrene cup, the noodle soups are commonly heated in microwaves at convenience stores but Sheffield warned against the practice, asserting that it causes chemicals to leak into the soup.

“They’re harmful to health, even more so if you’re eating them frequently,” he said.

With reports from El País and Reforma

Jumpstart that novel in your drawer with online workshops taught by pros

Michelle Aguilar

October 6, 2021

Author Susan Meyers' workshop "Jumpstart Your Story: Building Energy from Beginning to End" takes place online October 19 and 21.

Aspiring writers looking for guidance on how to finally finish that novel or memoir sitting inside them — or inside their drawer — may want to check out the San Miguel Literary Sala’s five online workshops for writers this month, where you can learn from the professionals to write descriptions that stay with the reader for days, pace your novel so your audience hangs on every word and craft dialogue that jumps off the page.

All classes are live and interactive, conducted via videoconferencing software.

Times given below are in Central Daylight Time:

October 18 & 20, 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. — David Dykes: “The World Wants to Make You a Better Writer.” Learn to break through your blocks and limitations in this workshop with a teacher, editor and author who will show you through writing exercises, examples from great works of fiction and interactive imaginative activities how to hone your skills in using sensory details to make your fiction more vivid, compelling and coherent. Dykes has taught at Texas State University, the University of New Orleans and the University of Tennessee.
October 19 & 21, 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. — Tom Coash: “To Be or Not To Be,” the Art of Writing Compelling Monologues.” Monologues are booming in popularity, and they can be many things, but what they can’t be is forced or fake. This seminar will take a close look at successful monologues and use playwriting and theater techniques plus writing exercises to give you a fresh look at the art of single-handed spiels. A playwright and director, Coash currently teaches at the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast Creative Writing MFA Program.
October 19, 4–7 p.m. — Susan Meyers: “Jumpstart Your Story: Building Energy from Beginning to End.” Get started — or recharge — your novel or memoir project by delving into several less frequently studied narrative tools like momentum, shaping, pacing and information release to improve your narrative. Meyers is the director of the Creative Writing Program at Seattle University.
Oct 25 & 27, 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. — David Ramsey: “The Divine Details: The Key Ingredient in Creative Nonfiction.” Details are the precise notes that allow a piece of writing to sing. Ramsey, whose writing has appeared in The Paris Review, The New Republic, Slate and many other publications, will help you create fictive details that show the reader something clear, specific and unforgettable. Explore how to hone your powers of observation and make your writing vivid, using three key elements: specificity, purpose, and surprise.
October 30, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. (six-hour master class) — Laura Davis: “Memoir: How to Create Unforgettably Vivid Moments Your Readers Will Never Forget.” A writing teacher and the author of seven nonfiction books, Davis will teach you to create emotionally resonant moments that pull readers into your world on the page and you’ll leave with a powerful first draft of a crucial scene, a list of future scenes to develop and a set of new skills.

For more information about these workshops, tickets, and biographies of the instructors, visit the San Miguel Literary Sala website.

Mexico News Daily

Tuesday’s COVID numbers: 788 deaths, 7,682 new cases

MND Staff

October 6, 2021

An additional 788 COVID-19 fatalities were reported on Tuesday, lifting Mexico’s official death toll to 279,894.

The Health Ministry also reported 7,682 new coronavirus cases, increasing the accumulated tally to 3.69 million.

There are 47,569 estimated active cases, a 1.7% increase compared to Monday. Tabasco is the only state with more than 100 active cases per 100,000 people. The Gulf coast state currently has about 120 active cases for every 100,000 residents.

Mexico City and Colima rank second and third respectively. Both states have about 90 active cases per 100,000 residents.

At the other end of the spectrum, there are six states with fewer than 20 active cases per 100,000 people, according to Health Ministry data. They are Chiapas, Guerrero, Chihuahua, Veracruz, Michoacán and Sinaloa.

About 73% of Mexican adults have had at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot but only about half of all citizens – adults and children – are vaccinated. Only 36% of citizens are fully vaccinated, according to The New York Times vaccinations tracker.

The federal government expects to have offered at least one dose to all adults by the end of October but has not announced plans to inoculate children apart from approximately 1 million minors with health conditions that make them vulnerable to serious COVID-19 illness.

Mexico has the fourth highest COVID-19 death toll in the world and the 18th highest mortality rate with 218.8 fatalities per 100,000 people, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Despite the high death toll, President López Obrador has characterized the government’s management of the pandemic as a success, writing in his new book that “we’ve done everything humanly possible to confront the pandemic and save lives.”

Mexico News Daily

September’s tourist numbers highest ever recorded at Cancún airport

MND Staff

October 6, 2021

cancun beach — Airport traffic indicates tourism is recovering in Cancún.

Last month was the busiest September ever for arrivals at Cancún airport, a clear sign that the Caribbean coast resort city is recovering strongly from the pandemic-induced tourism downturn.

Just over 1.66 million passengers flew to Cancún last month, according to airport operator ASUR, a 94% spike compared to September last year and a 4.4% increase compared to the same month of 2019.

Just over 56% of the incoming passengers, or 933,000 people, arrived on international flights while just under 44%, or 728,000 people, flew in from other airports in Mexico.

While the numbers are encouraging, tourism consultancy firm GEMES believes that international arrivals could have been higher had two factors not deterred United States citizens from traveling to Mexico.

An increase in coronavirus cases in the United States changed people’s perceptions about the safety of travel and caused a significant number of travelers to cancel or postpone their plans to come to Mexico, according to GEMES.

Secondly, the opening up of Canada and European nations to United States tourists lured people to those destinations and away from Mexico, the firm said.

“… There is a strong appetite to return to Europe and other destinations in the United States market,” GEMES said.

“While travel restrictions were reimposed in September in some European countries, it is only a matter of time until they will be lifted again.”

Mexico has been an attractive destination for many international tourists because it hasn’t required incoming travelers to show a negative COVID-19 test or proof of vaccination, or go into mandatory quarantine. The absence of restrictions was blamed for fueling coronavirus outbreaks in tourism hotspots such as Cancún and Los Cabos earlier in the pandemic.

However, the coronavirus situation in Quintana Roo – the state where Cancún, Playa del Carmen, Tulum, Cozumel and other popular tourism destinations are located – has improved markedly in recent weeks and it is now low risk green on the federal government’s coronavirus stoplight map. There are just 545 active cases in the state, the federal Health Ministry reported Tuesday.

The sargassum situation has also recently improved after large amounts of the seaweed reached Quintana Roo’s coastline earlier this year. A map published Tuesday by the Quintana Roo Sargassum Monitoring Network showed that there are no beaches with excessive amounts of the weed and just six with abundant quantities.

Twelve beaches have moderate amounts, 47 have only very low quantities and 15 are completely free of sargassum.

With reports from El Universal

AMLO goes to work persuading opposition to support energy sector reform

MND Staff

October 5, 2021

National Action Party lawmakers say no to increased electricity tariffs.

The federal government will attempt to convince all political parties to support its plan to change the constitution to overhaul the energy sector, President López Obrador said Monday.

The president sent a constitutional bill to Congress last Friday that seeks to guarantee 54% electricity market participation for the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) – an increase of 16% compared to the share it says it currently holds – and get rid of two independent regulators: the National Hydrocarbons Commission and the Energy Regulatory Commission.

If approved, the law would partially reverse the 2013 energy reform, which opened up the electricity and oil markets to foreign and private companies.

Speaking at his regular news conference, López Obrador rejected warnings that the initiative contravenes the new North American free trade agreement, the USMCA, which took effect last year. If that were the case, the United States government would already have protested, financial markets would have reacted and the value of the peso would have dropped, he said.

Asked whether the government would seek the support of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) to get the bill through Congress (constitutional reforms require two-thirds support), the president responded:

“We’re going to seek to convince everyone. To the priistas [PRI lawmakers] we just have to say: ‘Listen, did you already forget that the president Adolfo López Mateos, who was from the PRI, nationalized the electricity industry?’ And why did he do it? Because the country had to be electrified.”

López Obrador said it would be “interesting” if opposition parities such as the PRI and the National Action Party (PAN) chose to defend foreign energy companies such as Spanish firm Iberdrola – a favorite punching bag of the president – rather than support the CFE.

He also said that lawmakers who vote against the bill will be named and shamed at his morning press conferences.

“… It’s not a threat nor a warning [but] I say to the lawmakers there will not be anonymity, we all have to show our faces because [this issue] concerns the interests of the people,” the president said.

The aim of the bill, he said, is to guarantee low electricity prices for residential and business customers. “How are we going to industrialize the country with expensive electricity?” López Obrador asked.

The PAN, the Democratic Revolution Party and the Citizens Movement party have all rejected the president’s proposal, while the PRI has indicated it is willing to discuss it, even though it spearheaded the 2013 reform.

If the PRI were to support the bill, its alliance with the PAN would come to an end, the latter party’s leader in the lower house told a press conference on Tuesday.

Accompanied by other PAN lawmakers, Deputy Jorge Romero also said that if the electricity reform passes Congress – in which the ruling Morena party no longer has a supermajority as a result of elections in June – and is ratified by a majority of state legislatures, the National Action Party will challenge the law at the Supreme Court.

He reiterated that the PAN is vehemently opposed to the proposed reform because it poses a threat to free competition, a principle the court sought to protect in rescinding key elements of a federal energy policy earlier this year.

Contradicting the president’s claim, Romero said that giving the CFE greater control of the market will increase electricity generation costs, resulting in high prices for consumers.

PAN lawmakers held up placards in the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday, and at Romero’s press conference, to express their opposition to what they believe would be a tarifazo, or steep increase to electricity prices.

The PAN has an ally in the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO), a think tank, which warned that the approval of the reform “would represent a historic setback for the construction of a more competitive Mexico.”

IMCO said the proposal, if approved, would create a situation in which the CFE is both an electricity generator and a regulator of the same market.

“In other words the company would have the authority to establish rates and grant permits as well as decide which power plants can inject their electricity into the grid and when,” it said.

The think tank said electricity prices would increase and greater damage would be inflicted on the environment, as the CFE is heavily reliant on fossil fuels and renewable companies’ participation in the market would be limited.

It said that strengthening the CFE – a stated aim of the president – requires recognition that the company “doesn’t have the resources to be the sole player in all links of the electricity value chain – generation, transmission, distribution and commercialization.”

The company should instead “prioritize those segments that generate greater profitability, such as its legal monopolies in electricity transmission and distribution and its fuel buying and selling business,” IMCO said.

“Instead of strengthening the company, the initiative weakens it by forcing it to carry out activities in which it loses money.”

Energy analysts have said the reform would hinder investment in Mexico’s energy sector, which would have a knock-on effect on economic growth.

With reports from El Universal and Milenio

Seeking a life of stately country living? Read this before you buy a quinta

Clive Warner

October 5, 2021

quinta in mexico — The quinta as the author found it.

Two years ago, we sold our house in south Monterrey. I had already retired and my wife was about to. We wanted a single-level house, hard to find in the city. But we could afford a quinta and still have the budget to improve it.

A quinta is, nominally, a fifth of a hectare, 2,000 square meters, but you’ll find that homes on anywhere from 1,000 to 3,500 square meters are called quintas.

Should you buy a casa or a quinta? Well, there are pluses and minuses:

On the minus side, it’s a lot more physical work looking after a quinta. It probably includes a pool, a well, a palapa, a barbacoa pit, a barbecue and lots of grass. Ours has two separate electrical circuits, a four-zone irrigation system and miles of plumbing. If you’re not reasonably fit and active, you’ll need to hire a gardener or handyman.

On the plus side, the extra activity keeps you fit. My gym is now the wheelbarrow, spade, lawnmower and line trimmer. I’ve lost weight and gained muscle.

quinta home in Mexico — The home we ended up buying — its original style.

Quintas are not often found in the city but in rural or semi-rural areas. A big plus is the clean air. Breathing in Monterrey was like smoking a pack of cigarettes every day — a week after moving, my lungs ached for days as they “got rid of the city.”

The downside is that out in a rural area, it takes longer to shop and do other city-related things.

Many quintas are rented out for parties, especially on weekends. One such example, about a kilometer away from my home, often fires off impressive fireworks displays in the evening, which is fun to watch. But the banda or ranchero music floating over on the breeze is less enjoyable. And when it gets to drunken karaoke? Double glazing is a must-have.

Don’t buy a quinta if you’re insect-phobic. In our first year, all the butterfly species visiting our garden delighted us, and in July, we sat on the back patio firefly-watching. All for free!

But we do get things called pinolillos (tromboculids), which bite horribly; the occasional scorpion; and many, many spiders. I’ve educated myself about them; they are so smart.

My favorite is the harmless Mexican bold jumping spider, with its eight eyes and green fangs. Tarantulas don’t worry us, but we are careful around the brown huntsman.

While we were in the process of looking for our home, we spent nearly six months trawling the area, visiting quinta after quinta while our buyer took forever to get his financing sorted out.

I began to categorize them:

The “failed project.” Begun but long abandoned.

The “ruined castle.” In such a rotted state that only a bulldozer could improve it.

The “hideout.” Miles from anywhere, with its Olympic swimming pool, pack of attack dogs and gun towers.

The “structural nightmare.” Built in the wrong place, facing the wrong direction, with a crumbling above-ground pool.

stone cottage in Monterrey, Mexico — The stone cottage — the one that got away.

One from the last category left me with a peculiar form of OCD. We found a 1,600-meter quinta in a gated zone. Rather nice, in a posh colonia (neighborhood), but it was an obra blanca (a house still in the final stage of construction).

Another minus point was the sunken lounge. Far worse were the 16 structural support columns. All bulged, two feet above ground.

Finally, there was the house that got away: a stone cottage with walls about two feet thick. It had a rustic charm, though at 1,600 meters it was smaller than we wanted. Nor was the second bedroom a proper bedroom, but it was the best we’d found, so we offered a 10% deposit.

Two months later, our buyer finally got his loan. Strangely, the seller hadn’t yet cashed our deposit check. We said we wanted to close, but then the seller said he’d received a better offer.

I strongly doubted it, but we increased ours. Then the seller said he’d decided to sell to “a friend” and withdrew the sale. Since the seller now lived in the United States and the place had been on the market for years, I assumed he had viewed the sale in dollar terms and decided not to take the financial hit due to the changed currency exchange rate.

So we were house hunting again, angry at being strung along and desperate, a terrible combination.

Two weeks later, with our buyer nagging us every day, one of the realtors called us to say that a couple of new properties had come onto the market. We rushed to see them. The first was in the “failed project” category and quite nasty.

We drove to the second feeling gloomy, only to discover a possible option. It was the size we wanted. It had two bedrooms. It also came with the bonus of a substantial two-car garage and attached store. It belonged to a property company that had bought the whole 5,000-meter lot. Two of their workers lived in it with their families.

At first, I thought the house was made of block. These were not the regular size, nor made of cement. The house has a reinforced concrete post-and-beam skeleton with stucco-finished adobe block walls (non-load bearing). The front is an unusual cavity wall built of brick.

Inside, we found a typical country style with red terracotta floor tiles and, to our surprise, a boveda roof.

This house was a million pesos cheaper, had 400 meters more land and came with useful outbuildings. We’d have enough cash left over to completely redesign. One of the garages could be converted into a loft.

Our offer was accepted! We rushed to close, in the middle of the pandemic, with government services limited.

So what’s my advice? Visit as many potential places as possible. At each, try to place a rough value on the building(s), subtract that from the total, divide by the lot size. The result is your cost per square meter.

Price depends on proximity to major roads — but you don’t want to be too close (traffic noise). The worst value will be next to a golf club. Developers buy land very cheaply, flatten it, fence and gate it, build the roads, make a golf club and then sell little houses made cheaply for huge prices because of the club. Don’t waste your money.

Currently, we’re into our second year of quinta ownership: renovating the irrigation system, landscaping, and building a new pool.

Are we over budget? Of course we are!

Clive Warner is a retired British engineer and teacher who moved from the United Kingdom to Monterrey, Mexico, in 1990 with his Mexican wife, Sandra, after their computer business failed. After working in the cement and plastics industries, Clive became a teacher with the St. Patrick’s School in Monterrey. He has written four novels, a book about heart surgery, and a memoir. After selling their house in Monterrey a year ago, he and Sandra bought a “fixer-upper” quinta in Santiago and are still busy renovating it.

AMLO won’t present Senate award due to senator’s ‘lack of respect’

MND Staff

October 5, 2021

López Obrador and Téllez in happier days.

President López Obrador will not attend a ceremony in the Senate to present the upper house’s highest award to a nonagenarian ruling party senator because he wants to avoid a protest against him.

The president said Monday he won’t attend Thursday’s presentation of the Belisario Domínguez medal to Morena party Senator Ifigenía Martínez – a noted politician, economist and academic – because Senator Lilly Téllez of the conservative National Action Party (PAN) has called on other lawmakers to “disrespect” him at the event.

Téllez, who left Morena to join the PAN last year, called for López Obrador to be “confronted” at the ceremony.

“The serial rapist of the constitution, President López Obrador, will come to the Senate next week,” she wrote in a Twitter post last Friday. “Confronting him is necessary.”

At his regular news conference on Monday, López Obrador said he was very happy that Martínez would receive the Belisario Domínguez medal, adding that he sent her a letter to congratulate her and inform her that he wouldn’t be presenting the award to her.

“I have the duty to inform you that I won’t be present at the ceremony because a legislator from the conservative bloc is calling for me to be disrespected,” he told the 91-year-old senator.

The president told reporters that Téllez has the right to express herself and protest but he has a responsibility to protect the prestige of the position he holds.

“I’m not going to go in order to be disrespected and … [to face] a scandal,” López Obrador said.

Interior Minister Adán Augusto López Hernández will represent the president at the ceremony.

Téllez has been a frequent critic of the president and his administration since leaving the party he founded in April 2020. She has been critical of López Obrador’s energy sector plans, his decision to invite the president of Cuba to Independence Day celebrations, his treatment of the media, his attitude towards the middle class and his failure to curtail violence in Sonora, her home state.

With reports from El Universal

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