Open up your Facebook account. Go to Settings. Click on language. Choose Spanish. Pick a friend and give him/her a toque!
Introducing the Bi-national Margarita
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
‘Reforma’ Wants you to Know Mexican Immigrants in Miami are Blond, Dumb. Talk like Cantinflas
Mexico City’s largest newspaper Reforma this week launched Legal Alien, a daily videoblog chronicling the “tough life” of a Mexican immigrant in the U.S.
“What is it with Mexico that many of us are coming to this country, either swimming [across the river] or even hiding under a truck?” laments Alonso Castillo, who looks more like a member of RBD than a Mexican immigrant starving for work opportunities.
Some of the readers’ comments to Castillo’s postings are pretty hilarious, including some begging him to get a job in Televisa. Alas, most encourage him to go on, because, you know, if you are a reader of Reforma, chances most of your Mexican friends and relatives now living in Miami look exactly like Castillo.
Vicks Sponsors Bad News About, Well, Vicks
Extra! Extra! Vicks can harm your children. Oh, and this news has been brought to you by… Vicks.
From this morning’s Yahoo News.
Women, Charro-Style Families Restrooms Only
Plaza las Americas, in San Ysidro, CA., surely knows how to cater to a crowd of mostly Mexican shoppers, including Women and Family restrooms fully equipped for the convenience of your “typical” Mexican familia.
In the eyes of this mall’s planners, a typical Mexican family consists of: a man dressed in full charro gear (hat, tight trousers, matching bolero jacket and a huge belt buckle;) a woman in a maid-style apron (check out her mandil) who is probably someone’s maid, and a preppy kid in shorts and cardigan who probably goes to school in the “right side” of the border and wants nothing to do with the other two.
You can only thank the planners for making us all feel like one big charro happy family!
Photo (and hat tip to): Carla Raygoza.
What Else Can One Possibly Need?
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.)
Live ‘Reporting’ on a Real-Life Drama
Ok, Ok. A couple of Thousands of loyal readers of this blog have bombarded my email asking why on Earth I have not written anything about the whole Dominicci vs. Del Rincón saga. Well, I have, actually, written about this though in a more serious outlet, but I understand that’s not as fun as blogging.
I’m watching Del Rincón on Telemundo’s Al Rojo Vivo as we speak, so there’s not much I can say now. All I could gather for the moment is the following: He did not beat his former wife, nor did he sleep with one of her bridesmaids on their wedding night (phew!) He seems to have a liking for drinking and the ladies, though, and he thinks María Celeste Arrarás drinks as much as he does. (However, judging from this picture, he seems to prefer water, while Dominicci is more a creamy capuccino-type of gal.)
Oh, and he weeps on camera. A lot. And he speaks about himself in third person (yeah, just like Marlon Brando.)
Stay tuned… More to come.
Salma Hayek Wants you to Know Puerto Rican Grandmothers Wear no Panties
So here’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Salma Hayek is ready to make her debut as a Puerto Rican nurse and girlfriend of the character played by Alec Baldwin in NBC’s 30 Rock.
Not only this has been a “life changing experience,” says Salma, but after like years living in the U.S., her English is getting better!
You, Too, Can Help Texas Catch a Mexican!
Finally, a social networking site has been put to some fucked up use. BlueServo, a social networking site you’ve probably never heard of, has partnered with the Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition to launch Virtual Stakeout operation, a $2 million initiative involving a series of web cams placed along the Texas-Mexico border allowing the average Joe to become a Minuteman of sort.
According to their own press release, the pitch is real simple: Help us catch real Mexicans on real time!
It is not yet clear what the virtual deputies will get as a reward other than the possibility of making their lives a bit less dull. (I am told thousands of people from around the country have signed on to become virtual deputies, including a few dozens in Aquilla, Ohio.)
The Reyes Magos Might be Running Out of Ideas
My grandma used to say* there is nothing new under the sun. And to prove this point, a toy maker this week is releasing a new line of toys featuring none other than El Chavo del 8, the 35-year-old series featuring an 8-year-old child created -and portrayed- by 80-year-old Roberto Gómez Bolaños (aka Chespirito.)
The new toys from Fundex are debut just in time for Three Kings Day, and they are based on the animated series of El Chavo. But if you want to get your hands on them, you must rush to your nearest Target, because you will not find them anywhere else. (Sorry, Walmart and Kmart.)
*Please forgive my Forrest Gump lapsus.
Good Lord. Spanish Buses Now Feature Atheism
Meet the Bus Ateo (The Atheist Bus), featuring the latest advertising effort by Spain’s Unión de Ateos y Librepensadores, which on Jan. 12 will roll buses in Catalunya and Madrid encouraging citizens to stop worrying and enjoy life, as God probably doesn’t exist. The slogan reads:
“Probablemente Dios no existe. Deja de preocuparte y disfruta la vida.“
Correct me if I’m wrong, but if the campaign claims that God probably doesn’t exist, shouldn’t we be calling it the Agnostic Bus, instead?
Only God knows.
And You Think You Have Problems [With the Airlines]
Sabrina Säbrok, the Argentine nut-case model whose fake boobs now weigh like 10-kilos, is reportedly in a very bad shape after one of her implants burst in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
According to El Mañana: “During the flight, Säbrok began to feel a strong pain in her breast; fortunately, there was a doctor on board who took a minute to come up with a diagnose: a recently operated implant simply burst in mid air.”
And you thought you had airline problems….
Hat tip to Keith Dannemiller.
Photo: El Mañana
Here’s What I call an All Inclusive ‘Resort’
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
Out on a Mexican Immersion Tour (II)
Hi everybody! Time has come -yes, again- for this blogger to take a well-deserved vacation… in Yucatán, of course! where else?
So starting today (Dec. 21) and until my pesos run out, I will be somehow out of touch, hopefully taking long siestas, sipping tequila and stuffing myself with cochinita pibil (which, for some odd reason, is not part of the Hot Latin Diet.)
In the meantime, keep reading. Remember I’ve been posting stuff for almost two years now, enough for you to get acquainted with Latino media and pop culture.
Otherwise, just take the poll and tell me what you’d like the Reyes Magos to bring you back from “down there.”
Ingrid Betancourt Visits la Basílica de Guadalupe. Poses Next to a Properly Dressed Virgin
Former FARC guerrilla hostage, Ingrid Betancourt this week was in Mexico City, presumably talking about kidnapping and stuff. But also -as shown here- she took the opportunity to mingle with some Catholic church guy and to pose next to a properly dressed virgin… unlike you-know-who.
Photo: El Universal
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