Seven thousand miles of outstanding cruising since November 2008 means it's time to do a little renovation and more planning for the future. Find out what ...
Tomorrow we will sail out of this manky, malodorous, sweltering, shithole Puerto Madera, turn left and within 20 miles be in Guatemalan waters, out of Mexico for the first time in five months. For me personally it will be like taking leave of an enigmatic but beautiful women for whom I have an irrational, adolescent crush but in truth I have no true capacity to know fully. So I have reveled in the simple and visceral delights she offers so readily.
You will read some terrible things of Mexico; the drug problems, the crime, the poverty, the corruption and now to top it all the swine flu, all of which are cancers within, but do not define the people and to us have not been evident. Despite the sometimes overwhelming physical beauty and diversity of the land, flora and fauna the Mexico we will remember is etched in the faces and resonant in the voices of the people we have met or sometimes merely observed and who almost without exception have faced us with good humor, patience, pride of place and humility of self. I have never heard so much laughter from people working so hard; the fishermen, the women at the market stalls, the taxi drivers, the girl in the lavanderia, the barely-out-of-adolescence, machine gun toting navy inspectors, the hardware store owners, the waiters, the construction workers and farm laborers in the fields.
Realizing it is easy for me to say, we have observed almost no abject poverty. The markets in every town or village have a stunning array of fruits, vegetables and dry goods and are always packed. Eating with family is the prevalent pastime and is going on everywhere, from the commedores tables in the marketplace, to the street side taco stands, the front room restaurants and the endless beachside palapa restaurants. Housing is simple, even crude by U.S. standards, but in this climate it is effective and usually kept neatly with dirt patios swept and raked and pavements outside town house doors likewise.
This has confused some notions I thought I had clearly understood. At one time on the racetrack I employed up to 75 people almost all of whom were reluctant immigrants from Mexico who had left family and friends behind to make the then illegal trek north for work. From conversations with these lads I understood that they came to the U.S., to earn minimum wage, live in cramped dismal backstretch rooms, struggle with a foreign language and generally be treated as second class citizens because they could not afford to put food on the table at home. That may have been the case, but if so we have not observed it in our five months here. Something more insidious is going on. We are all manipulated by the weight of corporate sales pressure and that pressure is all the more effective when it is applied to the uninitiated. I am coming to believe that the motivation for many that come north is no different than that which makes so many U.S. citizens over extend their credit in order to get a bigger flat screen, a flashier new car, larger refrigerator or more square footage. It is a yellow brick road, which in order to travel down everything dear, family, town and friends, has to be relinquished and yet at the end of which, behind the curtain, there is nothing.
There is a fast growing middle class here. It is apparent in the housing, the vacationers at the beach resorts, and the crowds shopping in the Home Depots, Walmarts and the like. Yet has hard as everyone seems to be trying the country succeeds only partially as a governing entity. So many great plans do not come to fruition, so many resources are wasted. If our time here has taught us anything it is to give thanks that we have lived in two countries, England and the U.S. where by chance, historical accident or design, the governing institutions, though not perfect, do a reasonable job of protecting their citizens and ensuring their chances of pursuing their unfettered dreams. It has not been so here, although perhaps it is changing for the better. An informe written in 1799 to the King of Spain by Antonio de San Miguel, The Bishop of Michoacan suggests these institutional fissures are developmental and deep rooted.:
" The population of New Spain is composed of three classes of people - white or Spanish, Indians and the castes or mixed. The Spaniards comprise one tenth of the total number, and nearly all the property and wealth is in their hands. The Indians and the castes cultivate the land , serve the wealthy, and live by manual labor. Because of this a conflict of interest results - a mutual hatred which is developing rapidly between those who have everything and those who have nothing ... There is no middle class; one is either rich or miserable, noble or infamous.
The benefits which the law seeks to give to the Indians are extremely limited, and it can almost be said that they do more harm than good ... The natives do not have individual property, and they are obliged to cultivate the holdings of the community. This method of cultivation comes to be an even more unbearable task for them because for many years in this area they have almost lost hope of receiving any profit from their labor...
The law prohibits intermarriage between castes; it prohibits the whites from living in the Indian towns; and it prohibits the Indians from living among the Spaniards. Civilization is opposed to this barrier which has been placed between them.
The castes are marked as inferior by law, and they are subjected to the tribute, which places on them an indelible blot. Among the mixed races there are many families which by color and stature could be confused with Spaniards, but the law scorns them. Although many are gifted and are people of good character, they are forced to live in a state of constant irritation against the whites; it is a wonder that their resentment does not move them to vengeance more often."
This type of institutional neglect causes a disconnect between the people and their political leaders, which in turn seems to instill a truer valuation of the local and the familial.
Having spent 30 years in the racehorse business we felt it was time for a different kind of adventure.
Both originally from England we have sailed for fun for over 30 years. We have owned MANDY for five of those and are planning to head south for Mexico etc. in November 2008 - ready or not. [...]
When we get to Panama we will decide which way to turn; through the canal or across the big puddle. The eventual goal, whether by boat or not, is Galicia in north-west Spain where we have a ruined farm cottage and barn (pictures in the galleries) that we plan to restore.
We love our 3 grown children and our parents but this window of time is reserved just for us. It has been a long time coming. World economy sucks. So what?