Dear Sir,
On this week’s letters page, I saw praise from a reader for a restaurant in the city. I would like to make a recommendation of my own, regarding a deserving but largely unrecognized store in Ajijic.
It has been open for some months, but few people seem to know it’s there, although it is very centrally located, less than a block from the Carretera alongside the Buganvillias mall. If you turn down Juan Alvarez where the casino used to be, you will find it on your right, just before the Telcel shop.
It’s a charitable venture, selling handmade articles from various parts of Mexico at extremely reasonable prices. The couple who run it, Regina and Jesus, are both charming and knowledgeable, having worked with the producers themselves over many years. I was impressed by the variety of products on offer : from chemical free body and face creams to organic tobacco, locally grown health foods to hand woven rebozo shawls in a wide range of styles and colors. I understand that sales of these products can make a big difference in the lives of those who produce them, often impoverished villagers, many of them women, with few other economic opportunities.
Each time I go, I manage to find something new, either for myself or as a gift. And yet I rarely see other people there, and it seems a shame that a shop offering such good value on ethically produced and interesting items should remain in the shadows. I would highly recommend dropping by to check it out.
Hilary Dennison, Ajijic
Dear Sir,
Last year, and in every preceding year since I’ve been here, the expropriation of U.S. oil companies by President Lazaro Cardenas in 1938 was commemorated on March 18 as El Aniversario de la Expropriacion Petrolera (Anniversary of the Oil Expropriation), a Civic Holiday. The list of holidays in 2016 in last week’s issue of the Reporter omits it. Does that mean that now that foreign oil companies are to be permitted to operate in Mexico again, the holiday is no longer to be observed?
Kenneth Crosby, San Antonio Tlayacapan
Editor’s note: Good question. Mexico’s energy reform package officially became law in August 2014. This did not inhibit President Enrique Peña Nieto from attending ceremonies to mark the 77th anniversary of the oil expropriation in March 2015. While some calendars may omit the date, this does not mean that the federal government will ignore the occasion, since the nationalization of the oil sector in 1938 still represents a moment of great national pride, regardless of current developments.