iwindsurf.com says the winds are supposed to be light in the AM so I'm going out in the panga for sierra, dorado and marlin (lots of bait around and
I'll buy that in the early bright, have all morning to find something).
Here's some excitement that happened just today.
Baja Frog Dinner
Episode One
Slippage
There is a very old dicho, a saying. about rulers and their subjects that has been attributed to Mexico and Mexicans.
“If you drop a live frog into a boiling pot of water, it might jump out, leaving you with no dinner. If you place the frog in a pan of cold water,
slowly increase the heat, the frog will stay in the pan and eventually become your meal.”
It is purely a political concept and for that reason it has been relegated (lo’ these many years) to a dark and dusty cubby in the low rent district
of my mind.
Today it screamed at me from the depths. My own little village just had some slippage in the tectonic plates of change; a tremor no one could have
heard coming – our own perfect “frog and the pan” episode.
• This little place is a desert (3.5 inches of rain and over 100 inches of evaporation per year
• No rivers
• All our water comes from rain
• Until now there has been no need to worry about running low or running out
• Our local water company is a Mexican family
• There are 400 homes in the village
• Most residential water bills have been between 50 and 100 pesos per month for as long as I have lived in here (11 years)
• Most of the time I pay my monthly bill with coins – last month it was 57 pesos
All the bills are computer generated and hand delivered to each house. This month’s bill was delivered today.
This month’s bill is double, triple, quadruple the normal bill! At first homeowners just thought it was a mistake, a glitch on ONLY THEIR BILL but
when they got to the water company office, saw the angry crowd, heard the shouts and curses they became angry, frightened and appalled.
My bill went from a normal 100 pesos to 285 pesos. I paid it because after almost 150 months at $5 dollars and (all things considered – see my list)
I figured “don’t be an Ugly American”.
The Mexican homeowners/customers were irate. They bullied and abused the local water boss with such rage and vitriol that he had to be taken to an
emergency medical center, our local Casa de Salud for treatment of hyperventilation. The parking areas of the clinic and the two private doctors
(usually vacant) were filled with people, cars and trucks, spilling into the streets.
What a surprise! It turns out that Mexicans, who abhor confrontation, have a damn good reason – stress can kill you if you have never had it!
Some of my Mexican and gringo friends stopped by to ask my advice but it’s too late for that. I did the math and found that the water company family
had been charging about 20 pesos for a cubic meter of water a month over as many years as anyone could remember. The new price is 57 pesos for the
same CM3.
Most Mexicans I talked to refused to pay – almost all the gringos paid. Now each customer will have to decide if they are the jumping frog or the
burnt frog.
The dicho guides the cook, not the frog because if you don’t pay, if you jump, the fall can kill you.
Wait for Episode Twowoody with a view - 2-17-2007 at 08:12 PM
Quote:
It is purely a political concept and for that reason it has been relegated (lo’ these many years) to a dark and dusty cubby in the low rent district
of my mind.
And what a district that must be .....'tis never good to get the native's
sarongs/panties all in a bunch, however, we gringos can only hope that the less fortunate can afford a basic neccesity of life......Iflyfish - 2-17-2007 at 10:00 PM
Interested to see how this one plays out.
IflyfishIflyfish - 2-17-2007 at 10:00 PM
Going fishing!!
Good one!!
Keep your tip up!!!
IflyfishCapt. George - 2-18-2007 at 04:10 AM
Only a hop, skip and a jump from USA prices...FARASHA - 2-20-2007 at 03:54 PM
.....'tis never good to get the native's
sarongs/panties all in a bunch, however, we gringos can only hope that the less fortunate can afford a basic neccesity of life......