Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

So to-day is when results from the Guerrero election are expected. As one newspaper columnist explained it, organized electoral delinquency. The bane of anyone blogging is that nothing has happened worth posting for post-erity. Glad to say the newspaper here has said there was a fatal shooting on Thursday in this municipality, within 24 hours of my arrival. Meanwhile the tourists keep coming to the beach and most of them have their head in the sands saying its as safe as houses. They just dont read the local papers or perhaps more to the point, ignore the situation if no tourist is implicated. But the tourist fraternity is happy and friendly and so too are the vast majority of our hosts.
Now, that Darwinian paradise. Takes a launch ride of ten minutes up the lagoon to the golf course. One of the most beautiful in the country, not that I have seen many but how could it not be? The course has retained a lot of vegetation. Amongst the trees and bushes I spotted an Ivory-billed woodpecker the other day. My bird book suggests it is almost extinct, and here is me a rookie ornithologist clapping eyes on one. Turkey vultures and flycatchers are common too, to go along with pelicans, waders, frigate birds etc. I have in mind to go back to the beach where I noted a dozen different species of crabs one time, all adapted in some Darwinian way to their small niche.

Alarm Clock

So the day begins in my dark cool room when the sun hits a certain alignment of two slits in the wall leaving a bright orange streak. Twenty to eight. Lots to do like follow the Guerrero election this weekend. Also for brekky finish off the great moist (Duncano Hinse?) nut cake from last night. The election has many pointers for any that might be on the near horizon in the Great White North. At stake in this election is the gubernatorial post. In Mexico state and federal politics are an extension of each other. The new PRI (Partido Revolucionario Nacional)is the natural governing party of the right, after buying off those of the last 70 years. It is opposed by the PRD, party of the left. Guerrero, despite having Acapulco in its jurisdiction, is one of the poorest and most violent of the Mexican states. The two candidates with a chance to become Governor are cousins and used to spend Xmas to-gether. Now one has left the PRI for the PRD, the other remaining as PRI nominee. But the current state governor(PRD)supports the PRI candidate. Meanwhile the PRD candidate accuses his cousin of being of the old PRI, despite the accuser himself having been PRI Party secretary, MP, Senator and interim PRI Governor already. Talk about the pot calling the kettle red, white and green, Mexican national colours co-opted by the PRI Party. The PRD canadidate calls his party colleagues shitheads, loose translation. Meanwhile he has faced 102 accusations in the past of human rights violations by the PRD, the party he now represents. Where can I join up to vote?
Triviata 1. The beach which I go to through the golf course and which stretches as far as the eye can sea (sic) with no one on it, well its named Coco Beach, Coco being my nickname when I was at school in Scotland (my initials squared). The headland right alongside is Punta Graham, great Mexican name, and one of my two middle names. Does someone in my family have title to this place and is holding out on me? 2. the ride here by bus was going to be boring but turned out to be wonderful scenery, through banana plantations with the Sierra Madre Sur mountains as backdrop. 3. the golf course is a paradise of Darwinian natural selection. More about the vermilion flycatcher and almost extinct woodpecker which I watched, later.
Ciao

Sleeping Policemen

Ah yes de regreso a Mexico, land of the sleeping policemen. Dad in Britain would call speed bumps as such when we encountered them on our travels. Here the crime rate would suggest that there is a plethora of the pesky items, which there is. What makes me laugh though is their names on signs. They are referred to variously as topes, tumulos, reductores de velocidad, vibradores etc. So here we go with a blog, web log of all the trivia not worth printing. Triviata I call it, as engaging as an opera. But life is made up of little things such as the folowing;
So I leave home on the coldest day of the season so far, minus 22 at 10 am. Arrive in Mexico, just take away the minus. Net 44 degree gain, more at midday in the sun. Really don´t know why I come here. The lady trickster on the bus from Barrie to Toronto played up her cough every time someone approached the vacant seat beside her. She did not cough once in the following hour long trip. I watched and was tempted to call her on it but relented. I was already on my holidays. The Pakistani taxi driver taking me to the airport said he paid $230,000 for his car and cab licence. Maybe he wanted a larger tip from me to help with the payments.
Chilaquiles every morning now. First serving was with "the family" in Puerto Vallarta, same place I have been in previous years. Tacos at night and ring the changes with huevos rancheros for in between times. I was so looking forward to my first beer, Sol, only I mistakenly got a ZERO with no alcohol, had to ditch it. Puerto Vallarta was made famous by Richard Burton and Liz Taylor, although Liz was a hanger on only, not in the cast. I visited the cafe where John Huston is commemorated. Got to rent Night of the Iguana just to see. My first day on the promenade offered up vistas with floating prisons in the bay (cruise ships) and pelicans and frigging birds. I saw one of the latter balancing on a pole in the breeze and was surprised when an American in the know called it by its frigging name. Some might call it a frigate bird, good name for a fish but for something that flys? It produces a lot of guana.
So a big election in the nearby state of Guerrero on the week-end. Hope it does not cut into the futbol. GOL.....LLLLLLLLLLL! Next message I will summarise the curious oddities of this election. It is quite something. If you have any political bone in your body, stay tuned! Canada, are we in an election yet?