Expat Living

The End of the World?

I’ve barely come to grips with the start of this year’s season, and organizers are already ramping up for La Manzanilla events and fund raisers happening next year. Granted, 2013 is less than a month away, but isn’t a majorly significant event supposed to happen between now and then?

Claims denied

Property owners in the Tenacatita vs. Rodenas Corporation case heard last week that their claims have been denied. More than two years after Jose Villalobos, Rodenas owner, sent armed guards into Tenacatita, displacing 800 mostly Mexican residents and seizing their property, the Mexican Appeals Court ruled that the owners of confiscated real estate lacked legal standing to present an amparo claim against the company.

New delegate

Lifetime resident Pedro Preciado Chavez became La Manzanilla’s new delegado (delegate) in the October 28 election. Everybody in town is familiar with Pedro and his friendly smile. Prior to beginning his three-year term, he served as driver and announcer for the La Manzanilla Information System truck, our primary source for news of important local events. He also worked for 22 years with this area’s Civil Protection unit.

How I Spent the Summer

If Thomas Edison is correct about ‘genius being one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration,’ I was absolutely brilliant during this column’s summer hiatus. Summer in La Manzanilla is like being locked in a sauna, while a sadistic Mother Nature pours water on the rocks nonstop. Daily heat indices, frequently hovering in the 110-degree range, made it easy to break a sweat doing nothing more strenuous than sitting in front of a fan. Forget about doing much else.

Banking hell

My bank has misappropriated over 6,000 of my pesos.  Regardless that they are at fault, I’m the one who has been relegated to banking hell.

Light at end of the tunnel

As this year’s “Season” in La Manzanilla draws its final gasps … I’m ready to press a pillow over its face to help it along.  Enough, already! The Season started with a hurricane (Jova) and will end with Semana Santa – similar phenomena, in my opinion.  In between, hardly a day passed that something reportable wasn’t going on.  Plus, day/night-trippers from Manzanillo to Arroyo Seco added more strange faces to the people I already don’t know who winter here. I´ll gladly accept some cheese to go with this whine, but I didn’t retire to be this busy.