She Said...

Nov. 3, 2007

Did you do what I did? I forgot all about the time change last week… All of a sudden, I «found» an extra hour on Sunday, and realized that we would be off kilter with the rest of the continent for an entire week. I wonder why the powers-that-be in Mexico decided not to follow the example of its partners in the NAFTA this year.

For my part, I find one good aspect to this change: I get up earlier, a minor miracle in my life. The negative side is that it gets dark earlier, and will continue to do so for another seven weeks or so. Oh, well, so be it. I just hope the folks who operate the Marigalante «pirate» ship remembered about the time change. A few years ago, they didn’t, so their «sunset cruise» sailed way after the sun had set, for a while. By the way, if you’ve never taken that cruise, think about doing so this time around. It is truly a whole lot of fun, no kidding, open bar, exciting shows, great music …and a surprisingly delicious buffet dinner with wine and everything!

Did you go out on Halloween? I had to do a little last minute, late night shopping and I ended up just sitting there, at the corner of Basilio Badillo, admiring all those little gremlins frolic about under the watchful eye of a parent, angels and witches, chubby little folk dancers in full regalia, punk rockers and kitty cats – all checking their bounty every once in a while, all delightful. I just sat there and smiled. That’s the way it should be, definitely better than doing all that trick ‘n treating in a snowstorm…

By the time you read this, we’ll be only a couple of days away from the grand culinary event of the year: Puerto Vallarta’s International Gourmet Festival! All we have to do is either dip into our savings …or load up our credit cards. But whichever means we choose to finance our ten-day long gastronomical adventures, this is something that must be done by anyone who appreciates superb cuisine. I’m truly eager to start…

And talking about «finances», in case any of you are still interested in my credit card saga with the Santander Bank, I’m sorry I forgot to bring you up to date. I did receive a card, delivered to my home while I was out of town, as promised by my friend, the manageress of the branch near the southbound bridge. However -and this doesn’t surprise me any more- it was the wrong card. It was yet another one I never requested. Maybe I’ll just have to get one of each, return them all, and then one day I’ll get the one I’ve been trying to get for the last two years plus, the «Santander / Mexicana» card, the one that would enable me to get frequent flyer points whenever I use it.

Anyway, I went to my branch of the bank, but Esther, my manageress friend, was on holidays. I explained my case to her replacement. That didn’t accomplish anything. So I just left her the envelope, with the card and everything else in it. She tried to give it back to me, but I just walked out.

One of these days, I’ll have a little free time again –before 4 p.m.- and I will go chat with Esther. I wonder if they’ll make me wait another six months before I can apply again, for the fourth time…

And I nearly forgot to mention: of course, the APM (a.k.a. Automatic Payment Machine) at the Benito Juarez Parking Plaza was «Fuera de Servicio». Like it is nearly always. And when it is in working order, it’s the other one that is out of service, the one that lifts the gate to allow you to leave.

Back to the real nitty gritty news this past week… It looks like the mayor has buckled under pressure. It looks like the people do hold the power. They just have to exercise it, but I’ve noticed that in this country, they very seldom do. They really have to be pushed to the wall before they react, and I guess that this entire parking meter matter has done just that. Let me put it into context for those of you who haven’t been following the development of this story. First, workmen appeared around town, drilling holes in the sidewalks and installing those old-fashioned parking meters. Residents and shop keepers complained. Upon his return from his trip to Montreal –accompanied by his relatives- the Mayor said he knew nothing about the whole affair – and neither did the cops. Then the residents on the south side organized a demonstration to manifest their discontent with the meters. The Mayor said he’d look into the matter and see if there was any legal way to annul the concession granted by PV’s former mayor (the one who’s being sued for a multitude of alleged wrongdoings), but it would cost –are you ready for this?- $200 Million Pesos in penalties to annul the contract, his spokespeople said (Oct. 20). Five days later, the former mayor made a statement, «We had to put order to the city.» Then we learned that there are two ways to revoke the contract, but regardless which of the two methods is used, it would still cost the City $200 Million Pesos (Oct. 28). On October 30th, both opposing parties, the PAN and the PRD joined forces to protest the installation of the meters, publicly, supporting the demonstrators in front of City Hall. The next day, workmen were removing the meters in the Romantic Zone on the south side of town as demonstrators were calling for the former mayor and his cohorts to be sent to jail. Wow! Never a dull moment in Party Vallarty, folks. One of our readers even sent us a photo of the event, as proof.

posted by Anna Reisman @ 1:40 PM