Tag Archives: el maloso

Volunteers needed for Elton John

Life in the Yucatan, , , , , , , ,

As I mentioned earlier, Elton is on his way to Chichen Itzá, where he will perform April 3 under the auspices of the state government, Jorge Esma etc.

It seems that they are now ready to contract volunteers to help in the organization/running of the concert itself; I suspect these people will help direct people and cars and that sort of thing, in exchange for a view of the concert or Elton up close or even to shake Jorge Esmá’s hand which would be the best thing of all.

Tickets are still for sale, from $70 USD to $700 USD (seven HUNDRED dollars, yes) and there now young people, presumably volunteers also since there is no budget to pay these earnest youngsters, handing out leaflets at intersections in Merida’s fashionable north, where one supposes that those who could afford these ticket prices habitually circulate in their late model vehicles.

But, let’s not criticize; it’s all for the promotion of the state (people have probably forgotten about Chichen since the Seven Wonders thing) and tourism. Or is it?

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In a related-but-not-really note, there was a tiny ad in the Diario de Yucatan offering an excursion to see Elthon Jhon. I wonder if this is the same guy as Elton John or an imposter? It is normal for Yucatecans to add an H where there really isn’t a need for one, ie JanetH, WilbertH, YanetH, HumbertHo,  etc. but one would think that if you are going to promote this excursion you would probably have seen Eltons’ name SOMEwhere, no?

Blog Update

Inspired, Life in the Yucatan, , , , , , , , , ,

I have been tweaking and pinching this and that WordPress theme, and this one seems to be the winner so far.

Yesterday, I imported all my posts on blogger.com, from both the Casual Restaurant Critic blog AND the NotTheNews/EL Maloso blog. They should be all here now. Unfortunately, I lost some of the new posts I had put up here, but I am certainly not Hemingway so no big deal there.

I also figured out the FTP concept; downloaded a freeware FTP program and started loading photos (previous cropped, resized and chopped into the directory where they will appear ‘rotatingly’ at the top of the page.

There must be a search button widget here somewhere in order to look for a specific post; that’s next. Plus, a way of seeing the post archives since at the moment only the latest 10 appear.

Ideally, the categories will appear on the main page so you can click on Casual Restaurant Critic and only those posts will show up so you don’t have to wade through the other stuff.

Welcome to LawsonsYucatan!

Life in the Yucatan, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

If you have found this then you are on the new William Lawson Yucatan site!

This will be the new repository for all things related to William Lawson and my take on life in the Yucatan, which dates from the NotTheNews days to the elmaloso blog to the Casual Restaurant Critic blog. This is over 10 years of writing about life here. Eventually, it will all be here.

The immediate priority is to get the theme (the look of this WordPress blog) working, and then transfer content from the other online areas and sites to ‘populate’ this one. Sort of a one-stop for all things related to the topic of life in Merida or Yucatan, from a neurotic foreigners point of view.

Comment at will and spread the word!

What’s the Name of this Fondue Restaurant?

Casual Restaurant Critic, , , , , , ,
Fondue in Merida? Yes!
Here is a little gem of a restaurant that the Critic had recommended to him by his better half, who had been there already twice before.
XX is a tiny little restaurant located on Circuito Colonias next to TIGSA (a propane gas installation company) and across from a flashy new gas station. It is really a hole-in-the-wall kind of place, so tiny that only three or four tables fit inside, while another two await you outside unless, of course, it is raining, like it was last night.
Unassuming though it is in that there is no huge neon sign, the furniture is plastic red Coca Cola modern, one gets a warm vibe once inside. The welcome is friendly and your attention is seized by the sight of at least a hundred (or so it would appear) empty wine bottles hanging directly over your head on the ceiling. They are suspended by nylon and nails which have been approved by NASA, according to the funny blurb on the back of the menu which is worth reading to get a sense of who is running the place. Hey, if it makes the grumpy Critic smile, it must be funny. Also check out the mirror and poster, hung crookedly on purpose.
There are about 30 or so combinations of fondue options (including a mole fondue!); the Critic opted for the Italian, which features pomodoro, salami, sausage and pineapple – with the pineapple substituted for grilled mushrooms.
Along with a glass or two of red wine, the fondue was spectacular! The Critic could not get enough of the tangy cheese infused with tomato and salami! And at 150 pesos, the fondue is enough for two people so it is not expensive to escape cochinita-land for a couple of delightful hours, while you converse cozily with someone you enjoy being with.
On a scale of1-5, a solid 4.

Elections in Yucatan!

Life in the Yucatan, Politics, , , , , ,

Hooray for democracy!

Yucatecos and Yucatecas have, once again, the wonderful opportunity to exercise their hallowed democratic rights and obligations, and elect a diputado!

What the heck is a diputado, you might ask? It is said that the diputado is some kind of legislative political creature, that is supposed to represent the interests of the people in the district that voted for him or her. However, voting always along party lines, the diputado is about as representative of the people as a panucho would be representative of Swiss culture.

This time around, we have a few candidates to choose from according to the distrito to be ‘represented’. Today we will look at two: the PRI offers up Angelica and the PAN suggests former police chief Javier Medina.

A quick look at their websites (linked above) shows this casual observer that while the PAN continues its use of the traditional blue colors, the PRI has abandoned its green white and red colors to distance itself from its rather unpopular track record, while at the same time banking on that record and emphasizing it’s experience. OK. If you say so.

The PAN Javier website home page features a serious Javier making a speech, with carefully furrowed brows and much animated finger pointing and waving, indicating his experience and seriousness, while the PRI/PV home page loads up a video of a crowd of happy singing red-tshirt clad jovenes singing, clapping and dancing around Angelica in a kind of rapturous, can’t wait for the tortas and refrescos/I’m on TV!!/Michael Jackson We Are the World kind of way.

Oh and if you are wondering what this PV is about, it’s the Partido Verde Ecologista de Mexico (Green Party) who have allied themselves with the PRI. This is the most hypocritical of all political parties; if they have done one thing to protect the ecology or a blade of grass, I would be enormously surprised. I suspect the ‘green’ part refers to their political acumen, as in lack thereof.

As for their novel ideas, of which practically all sound very populistas, Javier’s sound a little more coherent, while Angelica stresses her ‘sensitivity to the needs of the family’ which begs the question “Whose family?” Yours? Mine? Hers, maybe? Neither of these candidates is saying “Yucatecos and Yucatecas, get off your butts and work” Probably not a real popular message.

Which brings me to the subject of how much the diputado makes in a year! According to El Semanario, in an article from 2008 (it’s probably increased by now) a diputado earned 77,888 pesos a month, along with another 45,786 to attend legislative sessions and 28,772 pesos to cover other activities. This makes a tidy little sum of $152446 pesos. A month. There is, on top of that, a savings program equal to 12% of their regular salary, medical coverage (you can bet they are not standing in line at the local IMSS (Importa Madres Su Salud) and an aguinaldo or Christmas bonus, equivalent to 40 days of salary.

No wonder they are so excited to ‘serve’ selflessly the needs of the population. And no wonder we have to pay more taxes!
Have a look at the candidates, their proposals and make up your mind. Imagine who you would vote for if you could vote. If you can, but don’t want to, you could try the Voto Blanco option, proposed by former elected officials now out of the running, who are now saying that the voting system is flawed and people should abstain from participating (in the system that elected them in the past) Sour grapes? Gee, ya think?

Have a great election season, enjoy the visual and audio pollution!

Viva la democracia!

More on the $2000 Peso Rule for Small Business Owners

Life in the Yucatan, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This note is of interest for those considering coming to Mexico and starting a small (or large) business…

In their infinite and constantly increasing wisdom, the powers that be at the Secretaria de Hacienda y Planeacion (SHCP) known simply as ‘Hacienda’ established a rule that said you can not declare as a legitimate expense any expense that reaches or exceeds $2000 pesos if you paid for it in cash. This ingenious little rule will somehow make the country less prone to tax evasion and help the 30% of Mexico that pays taxes pay more taxes either directly or in fines and therefore support the other 70% that pays no taxes whatsoever.

Let’s say you are buying something in Costco and the bill comes to $1999.99. That’s OK, you can pay in cash. But if it comes to $2000.01 then you must pay with a company check.

There are a couple of ways around this little rule, none of them particularly illegal (check with your accountant though, don’t take my neurotic word for it):

  • Let’s say you have $7000 pesos worth of goods you have bought for your business. You ask the cashier, or the person who is making up your invoice, to split the purchase into several separate purchases with each invoice totaling less than the $2000 peso total. This way you can pay for them in cash (petty cash) and then issue a check later for reposition of petty cash. This helps because if you want to pay by check in some of these places, it’s a pain in the butt since you will need to have extra paperwork done in the case of Sam’s Club or Costco, for example.
  • The other way is to pay your $7000 in cash; then make the check, and it’s accompanying poliza* out separately. Make the check out to yourself, but on the poliza make it look like the check was paid to the company in question.

This ‘petty cash’ rule is one of the rules that business owners must abide by and that make doing business in Mexico such a downright pleasure, especially when you see so many people not paying any taxes at all; it makes you feel proud to be part of that select group that pays for all the rest of the population.

The poliza is the copy of the check that must accompany each and every check in your accounting records and contains all the information on the check. It’s usually green which is another bit of completely useless information.

Oaxaca and Mexico City / Mob Rule in Mexico

Politics, ,

I have lived in Mexico for some time now, and it is amazing to me how this country cannot move forward. Or maybe it is and I haven’t noticed; the times we are living in, are the baby steps (complete with leaky, shit-filled diapers) the country is taking in the direction of a true democracy.

Excuse me – I had to laugh while I wrote that last line.

The situation in Oaxaca, where a screaming militant mob disguised as a teachers union has taken over the city center until their demands to negotiate with the federal government are met, is completely over the top. They will not negotiate at the state level and would like the governor removed, thank you very much. Maybe they would enjoy a non-fat latté with that order? Anyone living in Oaxaca or wanting to visit the city are prevented from visiting the city center thanks to these hooligans who may or may not be justified in their demands. The fact is, they are affecting the interests of many many other people who have nothing to do with their protest. The owners of businesses in downtown Oaxaca are unable to open, since there is no one to open for, besides the protesters. This has been going on for over 80 days now. No one has done anything. The governor is either incompetent, impotent or an idiot. I suspect maybe all three.

Not to be outdone, in Mexico City, the thugs, goons and all those lazy shits who prefer protesting to actually getting a job have been hired by the second place presidential candidate, Andres Manuel Lope Obrador (PRD) to blocking entire avenues in the nation’s capital. Hotels, restaurants and other businesses are suffering, as are all the people who have jobs in the area. No pedestrians or cars can enter the Reforma zone and the protest has spread to other areas as well, including banks and toll road booths leading in and out of the city. One of the largest cities in the world is becoming a parking lot, thanks to a few misguided militant mudslingers holding it’s 24 million inhabitants ransom.

My question is this: where in the hell are the laws in this country? Is there no law that says that blocking streets to effect a protest is illegal? In Mexico City there is one, put into place by a former mayor of Mexico City by the name of… get this: Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. This guy, AMLO, is the Master of Cynicism. The current ‘elected’ mayor of the city is a Lopez Obrador crony (also PRD) who has refused to move the protesters since this would be considered ‘repression’. So much for the rule of law. It’s mob rule.

And the federal government has not intervened – not in Mexico City, not in Oaxaca – since that would make them seem ‘repressive’ and that the situations in both cases are state issues that have nothing to do with the federal government. I wonder if anyone in the federal government has any balls whatsoever or were they all castrated before moving into Los Pinos?

What a crock of shit. If a state governor cannot (or will not) act in favor of ALL the citizens of his or her jurisdiction, then there must be a mechanism by which a higher authority – in this case the federal government – steps in to restore order.

President Fox has tried to limit his interference in state and local issues, preferring to let the system deal with these as they arise. This is probably good in a democracy. But a democracy must have that mechanism mentioned in the previous paragraph. Can he just sit idly by as millions of dollars are lost each day and thousand remain unable to work or freely move about their cities? So he hides behind his position of ‘I don’t want to go down as a repressive Presidente‘. Well gues what Vicente? You are going down in history as the most useless, ineffectual and ‘most given to making idiotic declarations’ of all Presidentes. I mean, Zedillo was pretty lame. But your presidency takes the cake.

As you can tell by this rant, it pisses me off to no end that the Mexican politicians in power right now are so chicken-shit and unable to restore the rule of law. There is no law in Mexico right now. If you get enough people together, you can do whatever the hell you want. No one will interfere since they don’t want to appear ‘repressive’ and use that excuse to hide behind their cowardice.

Viva Mexico!