Sunday, October 26, 2003
Mexico has a well deserved reputation for arts and crafts. Each state in the country produces local crafts that are prized items of decoration, for example Zapotec rugs in Oaxaca. Still, travelling far away from Mexico City to buy something as large and fragile as a pewter mirror is not practical. Other issues include finding many different crafts in one convenient place, priced for the average Mexican's budget and not for tourists eager to empty their wallets as fast as possible.
In Mexico City, San Angel upscale shops cater for clients looking for top quality objects while Zona Rosa offers many places that sell antiques. Yet, if you want to find an amazing array of crafts from all of Mexico, concentrated in dozens of stalls, and are eager to shop without constant harrassment from the vendors in order to find reasonably priced objects, you should head for the Ciudadela crafts market.
The market is conveniently located a couple of blocks North of the Balderas metro station and is open from 10:00AM until 05:00PM. Some shops accept credit cards but it is better to carry cash. Overall, the Ciudadela crafts market is well worth a special visit - you won't regret it!
Posted by Serge @ 02:20 PM MEX [Link]
Thursday, October 23, 2003
Unforgettable days are few and far between in a lifetime - today was definitely one of them. I had the great privilege to meet Jose Luis Inciarte and Alvaro Mangino, two of the survivors of the tragic accident that occurred on October 13th 1972 when a Uruguyan airplane carrying 45 passengers crashed in the Andes. Their story has been made famous by the movie Alive and numerous books, as well as a Web site (Viven!).
For most people, the salient feature of the catastrophy is that the survivors had to eat human flesh in order to make it alive. Alvaro and "Coche" explain the reasons behind this terrible choice in a candid yet deeply moving way: they felt that having been miraculously spared during the crash, they had to keep on living, as a sort of duty to themselves and their loved ones. After several weeks recovering from the crash and establishing a routine, things were looking up. Then, a dramatic avalanche buried the airplane's remains with all the survivors inside. Suffocating under 6 metres of compact snow, 8 more passengers died a horrible death.
If had to remember just two lessons from this incredible story told by Alvaro and "Coche", it would be that, according to their own words, "it can always get worse". Fate can strike repeatedly, and living through the crash did not spare them the avalanche and further sufferings. Yet, they kept on repeating to each other "you breathe, so you are alive", demonstrating through a 72-day ordeal without name that the human nature is such that, even though one can think he has reached the limits of endurance, it is possible to go beyond these limits.
I bow with tremendous respect in front of Alvaro, "Coche" and all the survivors from the tragedy of the Andes. I'm blown away by how friendly and genuine they are - just great, great, human beings. As an individual and an entrepreneur, they thaught me lessons that I hope I will never forget. Viven!
[more]
Posted by Serge @ 01:10 AM MEX [Link]
Sunday, October 19, 2003
It would be an understatment to say that my surprise was great when I read in the excellent Guns, Germs, and Steel that Mesoamerica was one of only three regions of the world where writing was independently invented. This is an amazing achievement that will forever remain to the credit of Mexico's earlier cultures - and one that can be used to gauge the decline of this country (I do not dare to use the word "civilisation").
Several hundred years ago, the Aztecs were the most advanced and populous human group in the region, with a food package (corn, etc.) and society organisation superior to anything found on what would become the United States. What would have happened if the Aztecs had engulfed the vast expanses of North America and had been given a few hundred years to develop in isolation from the rest of the world? The Conquistadores would have faced an Empire of colossal strength, and might have been repelled. A native American power could exist today, one that would have absorbed Europe's inventions to its benefit, like Japan did, retaining its roots and culture.
Today, Mexico is a poor, third world, country where a majority of the population is more or less illiterate, a nation that is unable to independently develop sophisticated technologies, where the surest road to wealth is through corruption, not through entrepreneurship.
How could Mexico fall so low despite such a proud past? Is it a legacy of the Conquistadores? But in that case why is Brazil capable of designing and manufacturing airplanes (Embraer), mastering the power of the atom and creating modern drugs while Mexico's main industrial claim to fame is limited to assembling parts received from the United States and shipping the finished product back (the maquiladora industry) to the great market?
My experience as a high tech entrepreneur in Mexico has been one of utter frustration, pushing me more than once on the verge of tears (probably to be shed at my own blindness not to have recognised the country's true nature before moving here). I would like to understand how Mexico became such a hopeless laggard in today's world economy, why so many Mexican "decision makers" seem to suffer from a full lobotomy, and why the Mexican population itself complacently keep on partying while their nation sinks into disgrace. Oh proud Aztec fathers of Mexico, aren't you ashamed of what has happened to your great land?
Photo credit: Carol Schlitt
[more]
Posted by Serge @ 02:09 AM MEX [Link]
Monday, October 13, 2003
Mexico is full of surprises, mostly annoying but sometimes rather hilarious. For example, today, just after my green taxi avoided colliding with another vehicle, I came face to face with hundreds of naked people (well, "face to pubic hair" would be more appropriate in these circumstances) vocally venting their anger (or alternatively shouting to keep warm) at the foot of the monument known as Angel de la Independencia.
After a solid protester in blue underwear handed us a manifesto, I learned that I had just come in close contact with the "Movimiento de los 400 Pueblos", who make a habit of invading key locations of the capital in a dress style more adapted to where Adam and Eve used to live than the fumes of Mexico City. It appears that these people have been protesting for over 10 years after having been robbed of their land by a powerful, and quite possibly corrupt (what a surprise), member of an ex-government.
As my taxi whizzed past them and almost flattened an innocent bystander, I couldn't help thinking that Mexicans make some rather inventive protest organisers, from crucified people in front of government buildings downtown, to professional barricade builders of the UNAM. Mexico might be like its best known volcano, the Popocatepetl, quiet from the outside, but boiling in the inside.
Posted by Serge @ 10:04 PM MEX [Link]
Sunday, October 5, 2003
There is a myth that I am eager to dispell: Mexico City is neither warm nor sunny. In actual fact, it's been raining here every single day since May. I'm not talking about the annoying English drizzle, but about massive downpours that have repeatedly flooded various areas of the capital. Thanks to careful urban planning, with heavy rains Reforma avenue is turned into a river and the fancy office buildings in Santa Fe into islands emerging from a mud bath.
As for warm weather, I recommend to seek it in Nuevo Leon, Chiapas, but not in the Distrito Federal. For example, my house is located at 2780 m. altitude, and I can hardly remember a day when I didn't have to wear extra layers of clothing to avoid freezing. Most of Mexico City is located at over 2200 to 2400 m. altitude - in Europe this would be eternal snow zone. To be fair, I never saw any snow here, but the thermometer did dive once or twice to zero degrees. The warmest day that I can recall reached a mere 32 degrees - not precisely a tropical paradise.
Posted by Serge @ 02:43 PM MEX [Link]
Saturday, October 4, 2003
Time is a relative concept, so let's start a week before today's date. I was in Cancun last weekend, 4 days to forget about the relentless pressure of work. This was my 3rd time in the resort, lucky me, and the least exciting stay of all (unlucky me).
Nothing to complain about the package from Hyatt, including flights on Aeromexico. The hotel (Hyatt Cancun Caribe) was nice enough, though I still prefer the Omni Cancun, further down the strip of white sands that extends for 20 km. In general, my conclusion as a diligent beach jogger is that the Hyatt has the last attractive beach in Cancun, all the hotels further North boast disappointing patches of sand dotted with rocks and garbage.
So what's wrong about Cancun? Well, in a nutshell, besides beautiful beaches, it's getting boring, or to be more precise, boring like the USA. The same brands, restaurant chains, discos, politically correct attitude, manicured lawns, hotel blocks, are found everywhere. All with the same pleasant average quality, nothing exceptional, nothing to make you raise an eyebrow either.
Granted, the atmosphere in a resort is influenced by the tourists who travel there. I have reached the conclusion that Cancun is best appreciated around Christmas and New Year. Sure, the prices are at their very highest, but at least when you go out you have the opportunity to meet interesting characters from everywhere in the world, Mexicans, South Americans, Europeans, etc.
As silver lining to a rather dark cloud, I had an excellent dinner on my last night in Cancun. The restaurant is located by Nichupte lagoon not far from the Omni hotel and is called the Laguna Grill. The food is a sort of Asian fusion cuisine served in a nicely and originally decorated multi-level dining room. The cook is Swiss and the restaurant only 1 year old. Next door is the club Tragara, sharing the same exquisite decoration and lagoon-side charm that reminded me of similar clubs in Greece. Both are highly recommended, over and above the industrial eateries further North.
Next year I shall pack up several bottles of mosquito repellent and try staying in Playa Del Carmen, slightly over 50 km South of Cancun. Who knows, maybe I'm getting addicted to the Mexican ambient mess and American hygenic blandness is bound to cause some allergy? Ah, no, I just wish that the beaches of Cancun were in Cartagena de Indias (Colombia) - I would never travel elsewhere!
