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The H1N1 virus might have stolen Cinco de Mayo’s thunder but in a Texas town I’ve never heard of, some girl claimed the Miss Cinco de Mayo title during the weekend.
Now, I don’t know exactly what such a title is all about, since we never had anything remotely similar down in Mexico, but she seems happy enough and -if you asked me- free of any kind of killer influenza.
¡Sí, se puede!
Amid the worse swine flu scare ever, Mexican taco makers have readily embraced face masks, which is nice, I think but… Wouldn’t it be better to just NOT chop swines and then put then on a tortilla? I mean, just asking…
Photo: Reforma
If you are the best Mexican shoe-shiner specializing in boot cleaning and you live in Spain, the best way to promote yourself is, well, simply by stating the truth: that not only you are a Mexican shoe-shiner but that you are the Best of Mexico (working at the Gran Vía, that is.)
Photo: Tania Carreño
And speaking of God and his many talents, Hillary Clinton failed to acknowledge one of his mightiest deeds. Ever. During her recent visit to Mexico City’s Basílica de Guadalupe, the Secretary of State was so mesmerized by the sacred cloak of Juan Diego, that she couldn’t help but ask:
“And who did you say painted this thing?”
Thank goodness Monseñor Diego Monroy was at hand to provide the only correct answer.
“God!” he replied.
Of course. And you thought HE was only good at teaching English.
You gotta love Mexico’s politicians.
As part of its ongoing fight against organized crime –and presumably in an effort to impress Hillary Clinton, who is paying a visit— the Mexican government this week set up a hot line for people to call in anonymously to denounce criminal activity. Alas, the number published nationwide on the Official Journal of the Federation turned out to be the switchboard of a local Scotiabank branch.
The Office of the Attorney General is sending countless corrections and even some apologies. Well, I mean, nobody’s perfect!
Move over, Carlos Slim. Another “notable” Mexican, our very own drug lord El Chapo Guzmán, 54, has made Forbes’ list of billionaires with a fortune described as “self-made.” (Please, don’t be fooled by the cheap-looking Gortex jacket.)
According to Forbes, the fortune of drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán is estimated at around $1 billion — No. 701 on the list– right between a Swiss oil-trading tycoon and a U.S. chemical heir and just on pair with Televisa’s Emilio Azcárraga-Jean.
Oh, and he is only 54, which makes us believe a bright future still awaits the Sinaloa native.
¿Quién dijo que no se puede?
Mexican scientists have done it my friends: they claim they have come up with a píldora anticonceptiva… for men, which will allow them to do whatever it is they want to do without leaving any living traces behind.
According to a recent article in the Mexican press:
“A group of investigators at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM) have been working on this little wonder for over 2 years. The pill, which men will not have to take everyday, will allow them to ejaculate without releasing any sperm.”
Additionally, the male pill is NOT expected to make men fat, moody or make them feel like throwing things at you for no apparent reason.
Alas, this little wonder is not scheduled to hit Mexican pharmacies until around 2019, by which time we’ll all be old and bored anyway.
Nobody can accuse Mexicans of having ran out of ideas. Take the Northern state of Sinaloa, where a budding group of entrepreneurs are offering visitors tours associated with the state’s most dangerous drug lords.
“The tours include visits to their mansions and to the places where some high-profiled narcos have been killed,” according to press reports. Some of these visits are done riding a pulmonía, those golf-cart-type taxi substitutes that roam free on the roads of Mazatlán.
Alas, the Narcotours are apparently clandestine, and certainly not authorized nor promoted by Mexico’s Tourism Board.
Yet.
…Either things are really, really ugly or the Web designer at El Universal got a little too creative by super-imposing the voter’s head over the section’s headline, which I believe is actually called La Disputa 2009 (The Dispute 2009). But then again, when it comes to Mexican politics, you can never be sure.
Remember those glorious days when Lady Liberty was a mere symbol of freedom and enlightenment?
Well, folks, that is nothing but gone now. In these turbulent times, in which only U.S. Latinos seem to be the only ones who can afford to buy anything, Lady Liberty herself has been forced to take up the iron and work hard at pitching dry cleaning services… in Mexico.
Who knew the llama eterna would end up becoming the plancha eterna? Ay, Dios!
Hat tip to paisano, and loyal Miblogestublog follower Rafael Carballo.
39,897 was the number of people who gathered this Saturday at Mexico City’s famous Zócalo to take part in a group smooch (el megabeso), easily beating the UK’s 2007 record when 32,648 people kissed in Weston-super-Mare.
¡Sí, se puede!
(Now we only have to find a way to beat the gringos at soccer. But I guess that’ll have to wait.)
Photo: Houston Chronicle
One of the very few things I like about touristic places is the joy of ordering my food from a bilingual menu, where Huevos al gusto (eggs any style) magically become What eggs do you like, and huevos estrellados are turned a round natural, as was the case in Yucatán’s Sacbé restaurant.
Others, like yet another Yucatán eatery (below), have a simpler take on things, and offer you the opportunity to enjoy a good plate of Eggs off your choice.
Just like Americans know how to cater to Mexican shoppers at the mall, bartenders in Los Pelícanos, an eatery in Puerto Morelos, Yucatán, have found a way to please their mostly gringo clientele: with a NAFTA friendly margarita, which for some odd reason was missing the Canadian flag.
Oh well, nobody’s perfect. ¡Salud!
Photo: Laura Martínez
Ah, Mexico…!
Doña Trini, in dowtown Puerto Morelos, had everything this blogger was looking for during a recent trip to the Yucatán peninsula.
Photo: Laura Martínez (Puerto Morelos, Q. Roo. 2008.)
Forget the Club Med. Hotel Reforma, in the heart of downtown Mérida, offers everything you should expect from an all-inclusive hotel: air conditioning, swimming pool, parking, cable TV, coffee and bread… why not?
(Yeah, I’m back from my Yucatán excursion and still too lazy to do much. But stay tune and in the meantime, Feliz 2009!)
Photo: Laura Martínez. Mérida, Yuc. 2008
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