Saturday, September 18, 2010

Our Gated Community

Following up on my previous post "Don't Forget To Take Out The Trash", here is the latest news on the trash dump news front.

Wednesday evening saw the first known garbage truck dump its load in the new basurero. We weren't there to see it, as we were in Pátzcuaro to celebrate La Noche del Grito and El Día de La Independencia.


However, once recovered from that celebration and informed of the event, we went up the hill to get some photos. There are still many scenic vistas to be enjoyed, if you look in the right direction.

Vista al sur

Make a nearly 360º turn, and this is what you see:

Vista al norte
It was surprising that the dump is so close to the road. The truck(s) must have followed a roundabout route onto the property. It's only 200 feet or so from the old stone wall. There is a theory behind the location, but I prefer not to speculate on it here.

If walls could speak...
 Vaca muerta en el camino.

My task accomplished, I returned home.

Later that afternoon, I learned that opposition elements had taken action at the foot of our street. Some rancheros placed a heavy chain across the street at a level high enough to block large trucks but with sufficient space to let passenger vehicles  such as ours slip by. They also rolled a large boulder into the street, which is impressive, but unlikely to be a true barrier. Probably it's more symbolic than real. The word on the street is that if the chain is removed, as it surely will be, they will replace it with a permanent one. Thus, fate has led us to live in a gated community, which never was our intention.


We sat a few minutes and chatted with these men, then told them, "Cuídense", and left.

The dispute is at its heart a family disagreement. We hope that they resolve it peacefully and soon.

Here's a short, live action video.

4 comments:

Michael Dickson said...

What I like most about the video is the heavy breathing.

I think that what´s happened and, more importantly, what is going to happen in your area illustrates nicely why Gringos should stick to less remote areas when they move to Mexico. When the gunfire starts, I hope you hit the deck.

Don Cuevas said...

Thank you, Felipe for your continued encouragement and support.

The heavy breathing (which I could have edited out) is because the videographer had just ascended the long hill.

I plan to be in the bathtub if gunfire starts, smoking a Habano.

We actually live in a very peaceful corner of Michoacán. Can you say the same about your hardscrabble outlying village of Pátzcuaro? There are some pretty strange rituals done there, some involving devils with long chains and sharp hooks on the end. There. it's considered normal.

Have a feliz día. Maybe we'll go out for some pollo asado today.

Saludos,
Don Cuevas

Tancho said...

Bathtub eh? Good idea, and you you lucked outas usual. Our's is fiberglass, I guess I will have to opt out for our closet.

Don Cuevas said...

We passed under the chain and past the friendly "guards" yesterday afternoon on our way to a Bloggers' Pollos Asados Conference.

No problems were encountered.
We'll see what the work week brings.

Saludos,
Don Cuevas