Category Archives: Life in the Yucatan

The good, the bad and the ugly. Telling it like I see it for over 10 years now.

No Smoking in Restaurants

Casual Restaurant Critic, Life in the Yucatan

While my associate the Casual Restaurant Critic writes sanguinely about the no-smoking rules in restaurants, I would like to take a sharper look at what I consider an invasion of privacy and an intrusion by government in the affairs of ordinary citizens.

While government is supposed to be charged with maintaining some sort of level playing field when it comes to regulating the activities of its citizens, this rather lofty ideal has come crashing down over the decades, or maybe it hasn’t – it’s just become more obvious and less secretive.

To maintain some semblance of authority (we are here to help the people!) government officials like to take on simple, easy to do projects like this no smoking thing. There are enough people whining and moaning that cigarettes kill, so we should be able to pass this quickly and everyone will see how hard we work for the subjects we mean populace. It’s the government policy version of Hamburger Helper.

While I have no doubt that smoking is a health problem I nevertheless enjoy my cigarettes, especially the one right after a meal or in a bar. I can however, go for extended periods of time without lighting up so I not one of those militant smokers. My problem is with government legislating what you can or cannot do in a privately owned restaurant. Public spaces, yes, by all means, legislate away for the good of everyone since everyone needs to be in these public areas and smokers shouldn’t be allowed to contaminate the lungs of those who choose not to smoke, in those areas. But restaurants, no.

Non-smokers will whine about how they can’t go to Trotters without having to put up with smoke from some nearby inconsiderate jerk who is smoking. Or how they can’t enjoy their coffee at Segafredo without suffering the exhalations of some smoker at the next table. I have two words for those people – don’t go.

It is not your god-given right to go to any restaurant. There is no clause in the constitution of this or any other country that indicates such a right. This is not a public space. This is a private space and the owner of the establishment should be able to make the decision as to whether or not he or she wants to allow smoking in his or her place of business. If you feel you can’t go to ‘x’ restaurant because they allow smoking there, so what. Don’t go. It is not, I repeat, your god-given right or constitutional obligation to eat at that restaurant.

Will a restaurant’s business suffer because the owner allows smoking? So be it. The owner can then decide to create either a no smoking area or prohibit smoking altogether if he or she decides that it will be good for business. Maybe the move to non-smoking will be a good idea, maybe it won’t. It should be up to the owner.

But I want to eat there, the steaks are so good, whines the militant non-smoker. Tough. Open your own steak restaurant or go someplace else. This is a privately owned business. Get it?

What about employees? This is another selling point for the non-smoking militant. I don’t think that Mr. Trotter for example, goes to his employees homes and points a gun at them and forces them to come to work. If you can’t stand smoke, go work someplace else. Simple.

But then, no one will work in the restaurants and bars where smoking is permitted, some might argue. Again, tough. Tough for the owner. If there are no employees willing to work in a smoky environment, it’s up to the business owner to make changes, not the government. The business owner must decide how to make his workplace safer and/or the job more attractive to make up for the hassle of the employee possibly getting sick from cigarrette smoke. Better wages, a better health plan and a good smoke extraction/air purification system will make the job attractive to potential employees. Have you ever been to Vegas? Are the croupiers complaining about the heavy smoking that goes on at the roulette tables and casinos in general? Probably. But if you don’t like it, you could go work at McDonalds or Walmart. No one is forcing you to work there. They must be doing something at those casinos that make people want to work in them.

Restaurants are not public places. How many times to I have to repeat this?

My position is admittedly anti-government in the sense that they have no business in anyone’s business. Or personal life for that matter.

Malls, at least in Merida for the time being, are still smoking friendly. A mall, in spite of being privately owned as well, can be arguably classified as public spaces. You could make an almost convincing argument that you have to go to the mall to get whatever it is you want to get. I wouldn’t be convinced, but you could make it. Yet, one can still smoke in the mall. Not in the restaurant, but in the mall. Go figure.

Hysteria in the Yucatan?

Life in the Yucatan, Politics

Back in Merida from my travels, I can perceive the nervous tension in the city. The violence associated with more ‘macho’ states like Nuevo Leon and Sonora has made an appearance here at last, and it has shaken up the Yucatecans like nothing before. No hurricane has had the impact of the news that 12 headless bodies were found here.

Here! Where nothing ever happens!

There is a saying that says, cuando se acaba el mundo, me voy a Yucatan which roughly means when the world comes to an end, I’m moving to the Yucatan. Well, that feeling of ‘nothing bad ever happens here’ has been shaken out of many Yucatecans. The ambiente is tense:

  • Around the city, there are police controls near every mall and wherever people might be congregating. Police controls funnel traffic from 2 or 3 lanes into one lane where machine gun armed police with bullet proof vests and dark sunglasses peer into your vehicle as you pass by. At night, these are lit up like Christmas trees and you have to squint as you pass under the bright 500,000 watt lights blast into your face.
  • The newspapers are happy as pigs in poop because they have increased their sales to the point of salivation. They are even printing rumors that they pass off as stories ‘that have not been confirmed’, like a shooting here or there, a kidnapping that might or might not have happened, a bomb threat imagined or real who knows, that kind of thing. Very professional and a great example of journalism. The local papers, in an effort to ‘inform’ their readership, actually took the beheading video off YouTube and posted it directly on their site. Nothing morbid about that is there? Nahh.
  • The people that put that polarizing film on vehicle windows are happy because now they can offer the service of removing that same film. You remember the Dr. Suess story of the Star Bellied Sneetches? With the man who brought a Star On and Star Off machine to the hapless Sneetches? It’s kind of like that. The state government has decreed that no vehicles shall have darkened windows and that any car that has it must have it removed. We all had until mid September, but of course, as is always the case in this lovely land, there has been an extension of the deadline. The traffic manual from the SPV says that cars shouldn’t have their windows polarized anyway, but only now it seems will anyone do anything about it.
  • Store owners and merchants in the malls and in general are complaining that sales have fallen dramatically as people opt to stay home instead of going to the mall to enjoy free air conditioning. Better to be sweating on the sidewalk in front of your house than to be bleeding and cool in the air conditioned mall. The economy in general, has slowed to a crawl.
  • Kids and their parents are deciding that discos and nightclubs are not great places to be, since the combination of macho-ness, alcohol and a possible hand gun are not a particularly attractive combination. Drugs are sold at clubs after all, and while this has been going on for a while, it took some beheadings to bring the message home.
  • Police have raided a lot of houses, found clues here and there and seized a sizable number of vehicles. Not much in the way of arrests though. There is much speculation about who is involved. Anyone who looks foreign ie. not Yucatecan is suspect. Remember the Diario de Yucatan catchphrase ‘aspecto fuereño‘ and you get the picture.

That all said, I have not felt particularly unsafe in my daily activities. Business-wise I am hurting but I don’t feel physically threatened, yet. I guess if I was a clubber or involved in some illicit activity I would be worried, but for us normal folks trying to eke out a living, besides the traffic complications, armored machine gun vehicles on the periferico and the occasional military helicopter with armed soldiers sticking out overhead, nada grave.

NotTheNews on Drugs

Inspired, Life in the Yucatan, Politics

Chris Rock and I have a lot in common it would seem. We are both in the same corner on the so-called ‘war on drugs’, which is really a load of crap and an excuse to dedicate money ‘stolen’ taxpayers to a ridiculous and wasteful campaign that does absolutely nothing more than fill the jails with regular people who just want to get high while the real power players remain out there.

Humans have been smoking, injecting, inhaling mind-altering substances ever since some caveman ripped up a pot plant and threw it on the fire, causing the entire tribe to erupt in a fit of giggles and then try to satisfy their munchies with some roasted squirrels or something. Why do governments (with the notable exception of the Dutch) not seem to understand this? People want to do drugs! So let them.

The existing laws are already enough. You want to get high, whether it’s alcohol or crack, fine. you break the law and you go to jail. Simple. Do you think that there would be all this violence between competing groups trying to dominate an illegal market if you could go to the tendejon at the corner and pick up a 100 gms bag of weed along with a six pack? I don’t think so.

Of course, any independent thought in this country (and most everywhere else) is completely dependent on what the giant Puritan hypocrisy thinks:
“Oh you want to legalize drugs? Well forget about getting your tomatoes to Pennsylvania then. You help us ‘fight’ this war and if you are good, you’ll get a pat on the head from us and some used Hummers from some war we are just finished with.”

Legalize drugs, stop the violence. Stop the madness.

Losing your Head in the Yucatan

Life in the Yucatan

While I travel in North America, it is with an increasing sense of incredulity that I realize the narcos have finally made their presence known in the Yucatan. Merida is finally waking up to the fact that it is not immune to their tentacles.
I once told my family that if the violence in the rest of the country ever made it to the Merida, I would pack my bags and leave. It seems that a decision is imminent…
More later…

And if you thought that last post was fun…

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

Here’s another one!

When filing your business’s annual tax declaration, you make out the onerous paperwork – well, your accountant does because the Mexican tax system is so complicated that it is virtually impossible for anyone to understand what the hell it is you are supposed to actually put in the scores of little boxes and what to deduct or declare – and you file it, paying at the bank via internet since Mexico is such a modern country. Once you have paid and received/printed your receipt, and have verified that your money has been removed from your bank account in order to help promote a comfortable lifestyle for Mexican politicians once they have retired and live in France, you think you are done right? Wrong.

It turns out that there is a little-known and never-used (up till now) in the marvelous taxation laws of this advanced democracy that states that besides filing your declaration and paying, you have to (or your accountant has to) LET HACIENDA KNOW THAT YOU HAVE PAID by means of an official letter or notification. Failure to do this will result in a $50,000.00 peso fine! Can you believe this? You pay and they already have your money, but since you didn’t tell them you paid, you automatically get slapped with a fat fine which will presumably cover the cost of Mr. Carstens weekly lunch bill.

This is nothing less than outright highway robbery and a wonderful incentive for investors to come to Mexico to subject themselves to this abuse. Perhaps the Mexican government should consider promoting the country to the International Masochist Businessmens Association, whose members might enjoy this kind of pain.

I am not making this up. I have first-hand knowledge of such a case right now. The accountant alleges that while it is technically his fault because he is supposed to be watching his clients’ back, he prefers to fight the fine legally (with the clients money of course).

Meanwhile, for your enjoyment, look for a photo of Mr. Carstens, Mexico’s Minister of All Things Taxable and believe me as you will see, he needs the money.

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.

CFE Makes Your Life Easier Again – NOT

Life in the Yucatan

The CFE (Comision Federal de Electricidad) whose slogan is “for the progress of Mexico” is once again asking that any payments made on your electric bill by check be made with a certified check.

This provision was relaxed a while back and one could pay their electric bill either with cash or a check (not certified). A few days ago I sent an employee to pay the business’ electric bill which came to a whopping $8000 pesos for the 2 month billing period and the employee returned saying that the check had to be certified. This was news to me since that particularly onerous provision had been waived. No, the CFE person told my employee, and it was right there on the sign, didn’t you read it?

For those of you unfamiliar with the burocratic processes that maintain this country firmly and irrevocably in the ‘third world’ category, the Mexican version of the IRS, Hacienda, insists that any payment made in a business environment to a supplier that is at or over the $2000 peso amount must be made by check. Since the CFE bill was well over that amount, a check must be used. But the CFE insists that a check is no good unless it has been certified by the bank that issued the check, which means you incur an additional charge (for the certification) to be able to pay your electric bill. No other supplier does this, but the CFE is the only game in town when it comes to powering your electric equipment, lights and air conditioning so they can (and do) pretty much whatever the hell they want.

So a special salute to all my friends at the CFE and the Secretaria de Hacienda y Credito Publico: a big Thank You for making life so much simpler for the small business owner!

I hope you all rot in hell.

Cold Cuts and Sound Systems – Supermarket Promotions

Inspired, Life in the Yucatan

Enough of the political comments! What does a Canadian living in Mexico have to do with US politics anyway, you ask. Well as a citizen of the countries immediately to the north and south of the rogue elephant, it would behoove everyone to take an interest.

But of much greater significance is what I really want to ask in this post:

What is the relationship between sausages and sound systems?

If you have lived in Merida for a while, you have probably gone shopping at some point in one of the major supermarket chains like Comercial Mexicana, Chedraui, Carrefour (now extinct), SuperMaz, San Francisco, Bodega Aurrera and, most recently, Walmart de Mexico. And on one of those forays into the mazes of aisles and products, you have probably come upon that section of the store dedicated to the ever-popular cheeses and cold cuts.

These are special areas of the store that sell everything from the plastic, fluorescent orange queso americano to dubious (non lactose) versions of Oaxaca and Manchego cheese from brands with names like Deisi and Meli (OK I made that last one up). They also sell sausages – hot dogs made with the cheapest filler are extremely popular and show up in everything from wienie salads to paella – as well as salami and ham, another HUGE seller.

Now – and I am getting to my point at last – whenever there is a promotion on any of these products, the companies like Fud, San Rafael and Dubi (I did not make that last one up) decide that the best – and only – way to promote fake meat is through a direct assault on all your senses more or less as follows:

  • Sense of sight – they will have scantily-clad hostesses showing off their belly buttons, legs and cleavage, holding trays of pre-cut samples which obviously appeal to your
  • Sense of taste, which will detect mostly salt and fat but that is just the product; nothing can be done there.
  • Your sense of touch will be employed here when your fingers scrabble around on the aluminum-foil wrapped tray trying to grab a piece of fatty hot dog or ham
  • And finally, your sense of hearing will be attacked by a full out, blaring sound system, playing the latest tunes in the reggaeton, cumbia and salsa genre. In addition to the music, one of the hostesses or a host dressed in bright blue and yellow polyester will act as a DJ or MC, announcing the fabulous deals on wienies right now, and all the goodness that corn starch, pigs feet and salt can provide when ground up and shoved into a semi-edible sausage casing. He will be yelling into the mike, the music blaring, perhaps even delighting his oblivious audience with a few dance moves, and generally just creating a real exciting ambiance in which to purchase ham and cheese.

Why is this? What is the relationship with loud tropical music and cold cuts? Certainly an important question that deserves some thought.

After a long absence…

Life in the Yucatan

Another month goes by and there is nothing to write about?

To tell you the truth, my dear readers, I have been absorbed in other things that have taken me away from the NotTheNews blog site and therefore my writing has been somewhat nonexistent. Of course, the fact that there were no more updates on the Chabelo case really put a damper on my inspiration.

There is of course, always something to write about when you are a neurotic foreigner. Although I am coming up to the point where I will have lived as long here as I have elsewhere growing up! 20 and 20 (years).

There is an interesting development regarding the hospital in Alta Brisa. My last post was on the IMSS so here is another health-related note: it seems that the Hospital de Alta Especialidad which was touted as the largest and most advanced medical center in the southeast of Mexico – if not Latin America, oh hell, in the world – has never been opened or inaugurated.

Apparently former President Fox did come to snip some ribbons, but the place was never really opened. It sits there, completely finished (at least from the outside) complete with landscaping and security… EMPTY.

Now a branch of some medical workers labor union has overrun the facility, declaring that they want half the jobs in the hospital to be alloted to their union people and the resignation of the guy running the operation. The local paper Diario de Yucatan shows some of these folks eating tacos and sleeping in the hallways of this brand-spanking new hospital that could be already helping people, but is mired in conflict in true third world fashion.

There was another narco-shooting in Merida this past week, when several men in a vehicle tried to make off with someone and that someone managed to escape the vehicle but not the bullet of a 45 caliber pistol that mangled his forearm. This happened in Mérida’s hallowed ‘norte‘ (where the ‘nice’ people live) and the local papers made the most of it.

Mostly this violence is not affecting anyone outside the sphere of
the business that these folks are in, so nothing to worry about yet. I will be sure to keep you posted.

That about wraps it up this morning, thanks for checking in and hopefully you found something interesting.

Credits: Special thanks to:

  • La Rosita for their unwilling and unknowing participation this morning by providing me with the photo of their rather simple salbutes.
  • Theresa for sending me this link: http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-trw-insider28oct28.pg,0,2826129.photogallery?index=1 which highlights the top places for Americans to get arrested. In the world! You live in Mexico? Well read it! Thanks Theresa: you kick started by lazy butt this morning.
  • My dear wife, for making this damn fine coffee that I am drinking as I write.

…and in other news…

Life in the Yucatan

There is, along with the exciting details of the back and forth between Chabelo and our state government, an article on the IMSS. For the uninitiated, that stands for either Importa Madre Su Salud or Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, depending on whether you are an official of the instution or someone who has had to use their services.

Apparently, according to the newspaper ( must be true – salió en el Diario) under a headline titled ‘Sensibilizacion en el IMSS‘ the IMSS announced a campaign in which they are encouraging their staff (nurses, receptionists, doctors, etc) to be more efficient and nicer to patients. Apparently, and this must be a recent problem since gosh, no on has ever mentioned this before, a few folks have been complaining that the IMSS staff is a little less than professional or courteous in their dealings with patients.

I wish them all the best in their quest and look forward to positive declarations by the fine people running the IMSS in next week’s newspapers.