Category — Manzanillo

I have concluded that Mexico sets its citizens up for inefficiency, late payments, and debt. First of all, your common consumer will not have a bank account for many reasons (see my previous post about banks). Secondly, without a bank account, chances are that you will not have a credit card. Without a credit card, you cannot make payments through the internet. Consequently, this requires you to go in person and pay. You show up in person to pay at one of the many designated stores to make a payment only to find out that they can’t process your payment even though you showed up two days from the date your payment is due. Why? Estuped policy! If it’s within two days of the due date, certain utility bills will be charged with a fee unless you go to the main headquarters that are way the hell far away in Zimbabwe somewhere (actually, just a 30 minute bus ride from my house, but still!). Well guess what, you don’t get your bill statement until like two days before it’s due (not always, but most of the time). Is this a conspiracy or just a messed up system? Both!

People are always short in cash (and it’s gotten worse after the recession) and when they go make their payment, they take the exact amount due. So, once they’re informed that they have to pay a “late” fee even though they’re making their payment on time, leaves them unable to make the payment until they go back home and get the extra money to cover the fee (which they don’t because times are tough!).

I consider myself pretty astute when it comes to sticking it to the man, but sometimes you’re just doomed. For example, I do have a bank account, debit card, and credit card. I also have on-line accounts with whatever company I can to avoid the walk-in mess and now frightening swine flu. But even attempting to make your payments on time via the internet is set-up for you to fail. How so Payazaro? Well, “COINCIDENTALLY”, the system is always undergoing maintenance right when people want to make their payments. Ok, so I go and make my payment in person, but guess what, they don’t accept credit cards? Hmmm, what a coincidence. Sometimes I think Mexico takes pride in finishing last…

To all my friends back in the US who think they have to deal with difficult tellers and horrible customer service, just remember, it could always be worse.

Opening a bank account when I first moved to Mexico was a pain in the culo to say the least. I remember going from bank to bank figuring out which one would work best for me, and remember one distinct conversation with a promotional bank account recruiter from Banamex (a popular bank in Mexico). She said, “Hunny, all banks are thieves and even though I work for one, I wouldn’t recommend it.” Case and point.

First, there is no such thing as having a bank account without a monthly fee. The bank is charging you to use your money! Then, you need to go through a screening process that takes about a month before you get your debit card (at least it did for me with HSBC bank). Several banks won’t even take your American dollars even if you want to deposit them into your account as pesos and not request the immediate exchange in hard-copy currency. My bank started doing this the last few months and when I asked why, the response was “policy”. What policy? The ignorant frijolero couldn’t tell me.

Getting my credit card took about three months. Granted, I had no credit history in Mexico, and they wanted me to prove a source of income. I couldn’t because I had just been employed and hadn’t received my first paycheck, but when I’m depositing 5 thousand dollars (un-suspiciously of course) that’s not enough? The bank consultant told me to take that money out and deposit 200 dollars every week. Guess what, it worked. After two months they approved me. UN-NE-CE-SS-AR-Y Work! I looked at the bank consultant straight in the eye and told him, “you know this is estuped right?” His response, “I know, it’s policy.” They gladly embrace their estuped policy.

The general public does not trust banks. They still believe in the idea of hiding your money under your mattress or some secret place. For good reasons too! I miss the days of easy banking (on-line and in person), easier credit approval, and non-estuped policy.

Oh, and get this, apparently, if you owe a bank or another store money that previously gave you credit and suddenly you find yourself unable to pay because you are so in debt, there is an easy solution–a convenio.  In plain and simple terms, a convenio is legal binding document that states both parties (indebted person and the institution that gave the credit) agree that the entire debt will be liquidated if the indebted person agrees to pay a smaller amount in full! Crazy! This of course comes at the price of being X-listed on the Credit Bureau database. Consumer debt is a country-wide problem and institutions are willing to charge you less and get something then to charge you the total sum and have you avoid and hide from them all your life.

Mexico’s economy was first hit by the global crisis and people are still struggling with that alone. Then, with the whole narco-trafficking and killings throughout the country, not only was Mexico associated with terrorist countries like Pakistan, but several countries around the world were discouraging their citizens from visiting Mexico, hurting the tourist industry even more. Now, the whole swine flu crisis is slowly crippling Mexico. What the long term effects that will have on Mexico’s economy will be more clear once health experts determine whether or not they can control the flu. So far, it’s not looking good… I will suggest you get a “Payazaro Swine-Free Piggybank” and feed it regularly for me. If things don’t get better in Mexico, I may need it sooner rather than later.

I was thinking about the whole situation today and it really made me think of the movie “I Am Legend” with Will Smith and the whole plot behind finding the cure with a vaccine. Technically, this swine flu situation has not been declared a pandemic, but everyday it’s looking worse and worse. Though people infected with this flu are not becoming vampires or crazy/ugly looking monsters, it is slowly creating more social and global chaos. Others believe it’s another sign of the beginning of the end as mentioned in the Apocalypse. If it is, then this is definitely the least of our worries. One thing is for sure, there will be less kissing and hugging in the world and to do so comes with a risk. HIV (and then later on AIDS) will kill you several years down the road, but in our modern day world, a kiss of death is a reality. So the next time you pucker up and start smooching with that special someone and their breath and lips taste like chlorine, bleach, or antibacterial soap, you know you have someone who loves you.

The Swine flu is no laughing matter, and for some reason, people in Manzanillo are not taking it seriously. For those of you who may be worried about me, I’ll just say that I sneezed seven times today which could either be symptoms of some kind of flu or just another normal seven sneezes I get every single day

I’ve had the pleasure of hosting my grandmother and great-grandmother over the last few days and there is definitely something about our “modern” generation that has lost touch of the essential remedies of natural herbs and plant leaves.

We live in a world where there is a prescription or over-the-counter drug for almost everything. But have you ever asked yourself what people back in the day did when most of these drugs did not exist? How did they deal with toothaches, stomach pains, diarrhea, and regular cuts, sprains and swelling? Indigenous people had something for everything! And I’m not even talking about Curanderas or witches that claimed to remove “el chamuco” from your sinful soul, which to this day, is still widely used and practiced across many cultures around the world.

I am not arguing that herbal remedies should substitute modern medicine or that they are even more effective. However, we cannot completely dismiss this ancient realm of medicine as possible and inexpensive solutions to our modern illnesses (both psychological and physical–which some will argue is the same).

Why would I think about this when there is a recession to deal with and all my money to spend? Well, yesterday morning my grandmas were shuffling through my kitchen looking for tea, but not just any kind of tea. Before I could ask what kind of tea they were looking for, they both turned to me and said, “Mijo, ahorita venimos…” (“My dearest and most precious loving child, we’ll be right back…”) Before I knew it, they came back with leaves from ordinary trees and plants that I’m sure were at some point peeing stalls for the neighborhood dogs…shoot, even for me during late night emergencies after a late Friday and Saturday night of studying and drinking lots of healthy juice and somehow locking myself out of the house

The next minute, my great-grandmother hands me a hot cup of tea. Now if there’s anything about Mexican culture that can bite you in the ass, it’s saying “no” when you’re offered something to eat or drink, and the older they are the less of an option you have. So I drank it like a champ and immediately felt a boost of energy and alertness. To be honest, I don’t know what the hell I put in my body, and the outcome of drinking that tea cannot be a self-fulfilling prophesy effect because I was expecting the worst (fam, don’t tell my grandma!). But if my great-grandmother has been putting it in her tea for 80+ years and she’s still standing strong, then I think I will continue to drink it. More about this later…

The following painting can be found just before you enter “El Centro” of Manzanillo. To pass through this street without glancing over to this painting is like coming home and not saying hello to my mother. It means that much to me.

This is a zoom in of the quote found on this painting:

Translation:
“They cut the leaves,
Destroyed the branches,
Knocked down the trunk,
But they will never be able to tear out my roots.”

This painting means different things to different people. To me, the “they” has been governments, family, strangers, and sometimes even myself. Regardless of who the culprit may be or will be, where I’ve come from and how that’s shaped who I am today is always important to remember.

So I just got back from my city league basketball game and I always get reminded of how crudely honest or blunt coaches are with their players. I can never take my coach serious when he turns to me and yells, “Hijo de la chingada! Pasa el pinche balón pendejo! Chingada Madre!”. I’m not even gonna translate that. Even non-Spanish speakers can feel the love of those words. And no matter what I do he’ll still yell and swear. I can dunk the ball from the half-court line over the entire defense and he’ll still yell, “Vez? Vez Pendejo? Tenías a tu compañero abierto en la esquina!” (translation: “You see! You see dumb ass! You had your teammate wide open on the corner!”). But I’m not a kid and those words don’t phase me.

There’s this coach in particular that is in charge of the kid’s city league team. He runs the program so maybe that’s why he gets away with it. But he talks to these kids like if he gave birth to them and they owe him the price and gift of life. “Hijo de la chingada, te voy a partir tu pinche madre!” What trips me out is that he’ll do this in front of their parents! I definitely feel like a gringo for reacting like this… This would definitely not fly in the US and I love it

To the motherland. Not the mother of motherlands (Africa), but the wonderful port of Manzanillo, Colima (México). The sailfish capital of the world! I’m going to limit my description of Manzanillo in this post because you will come to learn much about it through the many posts that are yet to come. If you’re ancy pancy to know, google it

I will say a few things to give you some context of when, where, and why.

Manzanillo is located on the west coast of the state of Colima. I was born here and moved to the US when I was 7 years old, so when deciding to move back to México, it made sense to come to the only place that I “knew” as a kid. I bought my one-way ticket and bizounced out of Seattle on February 23rd. Why did I move back? If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me. Seriously. But for now, I will say that it was time to come back and explore my identity, culture, roots, purpose(s) in life and recharge my soul in an environment that was not the US (Ironically, little did I know that as soon as my cousin would pick me up at the Manzanillo airport he would take me to Wal-Mart to grab a bite to eat. Looking back to that day, I should have slapped him).