Another quiet week in Lake Texcocobegone...

What’s it take for Mexico to get noticed by the outside world? The C.I.A put out a report claiming the world’s 10th largest economic power (and #2 oil supplier to the United States) was going to have political and social upheavals… but… a late middle aged Englishman named Charles Windsor-Montbatten remarries, or an 84-year old Pole dies in Rome, or a dead woman dies in Florida… and the foreign press tends to forget about Mexico. Oh well, never mind. We haven’t had the riots in the streets we were promised (and to which APF seemed to be looking forward, having gone to the trouble of issuing gas masks to their reporters and cameramen). A few demonstrations, but nothing of note. The absurd attempt to stop the guy 70% of Mexicans want to be the next president from even running for the office looks to be fizzling out. The OTHER PARTIES have managed to vote to consider the issue, and there will be some street theatrics for a few days, but nothing’s going to happen. As I noted below, even Condeleeza Rice is resigned to a Socialist President here. And… weird enough… AMLO is supported by some of the folks at freerepublic.com (the people who STILL claim Hillary Clinton is a lesbian working in league with Satan – or Saddam or somebody – to rob us of our precious bodily fluids) seem to think the guy’s brilliant: after all, maybe somebody with a plan to do something for the poor will keep the poor from emigrating north. But, then what will the Minuteman types do with their spare time? Probably go back to dragging black men behind their pick-up trucks. So… it’s been a quiet week here in Lake Tezcoco-be-gone. We’re working out the billing challenges caused by the early Easter (the same week as Benito Juarez’ birthday) that put a kibosh on any attempt to hunt down errant billing clerks. It’s good, that I’ve got so many “challenges” right now… we’re growing and need a few more “native English speaking” trainers. They’re a peso a dozen. The trick is finding ones with manageable personality quirks… i.e., not so alcoholic that they can’t work in the morning, or who confine their tastes in the young to those of legal age, or … you get the picture. Foreigners in Mexico are all half-cracked (including yours truly), but finding out which half is cracked isn’t something I’m always real good at. I met someone who was looking for a job, had a good resume and … I don’t know why… preceded to regale me with tales of his sexual adventures in gay S&M bars. Interesting, but did he know how to conjugate verbs? I wasn’t real sure, so had him talk to someone else… who was regaled with a song-n-dance about the applicant’s family life, his children, yadda-yadda. Can you say “cognitive dissonance”? Well, “flake” is simpler and more Anglo-Saxon. Finding SANE trainers isn’t nearly as piquant, but a challenge in its own way. We’ve found two new teachers – a Mexican grad student in Medieval literature and a peripatetic Gringo we had to import the whole way from Toluca. Toluca, being a 30-peso bus ride away, we’ll pay moving expenses. See, we do offer benefits! I’m out of gas (again) this weekend. I’m half-convinced the gas company is only filling the bottles half-way. Either that or I’m taking a lot more showers than I know. Maybe the dogs are soaking in a hot tub while I’m gone. If they are, I wish the little one would use some soap… Iztaccíhuatl is a nice, cute little pooch, but white dogs get dirty awfully fast. And that’s all the news from Lake Tezcoco-be-gone, where all the men are gasless, the women are strong and the foreigners are nuts!