Wednesday, July 16

Gas

It was mentioned here that the gas in Mexico is much cheaper than that
of the US. On the face of it, it's true, but in real terms I don't think
so. I'm no economist, but I tried my hand at proving my belief anyway.
This is what I got: An American dollar is $10.23 pesos, and a liter of
gas is $7.10 pesos. That comes to $2.64 dollars per gallon, or about 38%
less than the US national average of $4.24 dollars per gallon. But,
Americans earn more money than Mexicans. The per capita income of the US
is $45,800USD and Mexico's is $12,800. Americans make, on average per
person, about 72% more than Mexicans. This should surely change the
perspective of gas being 38% cheaper. To give a number to that
perspective, I just divided the cost per gallon by the GDP per capita
for both countries and compared them. The resulting number is 2.21. So,
I guess I can say that in real terms, the cost of gas in Mexico is more
than double the price of gas in the US. There are some problems with
this though. Mainly, that GDP per capita is a skewed number, especially
for Mexico, because of the very few people at the top that make a
retarded amount of money. Mexico also has a problem with, as Luke
mentioned, underreporting. I'd assume that records are particularly
inaccurate in regions with large numbers of indigenous peoples - many of
whom don't speak Spanish.

Tuesday, July 15

policiaca de la cuenca

My last post got me thinking about posting the nasty articles found in the news papers here, so, I did. You can find that blog here. I've cut out a bunch of articles with some really F'd up images and articles to be posted, and in so doing I've horrified the occasional student or staff member passing by or visiting me in my office. And to think this whole time I thought they were OK with what they read. I guess it's taking it a step too far when they're actually collected. The cleaning lady was especially interested in what I was doing with them. I told her that I was posting them on the Internet to show how crazy it is here. Naturally, she said that it's not a violent place. She then asked me if I knew the gardener that was recently killed. I guess natives defend their hometowns even in the face of their own unsolicited inconsistencies.

Monday, July 7

godfather style

check it out: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,376861,00.html

This sort of shit happens all the time actually. It comes up in the
local papers, but with pictures! This, however, is the first time I've
seen a mention of mafia shenanigans appear in English speaking news
media. I should scan and post the pictures of this guy who got his
hands, tongue, and cock n balls cut off by the local crime syndicate
here in Tuxtepec. It was the second I've seen where they left a note on
the body. The first one said something about how this is what happens to
you when you snitch. The latest one had something to do with how this is
what the do to their members who don't follow orders.

Wednesday, July 2

Summer bugs

    The summer months have brought summer bugs. Some of them are new and interesting to me, and others aren't; flies for example. The rivers of monster ants are straight out of National Geographic. They'll sometimes even envelop half the broad side of an our building, which brings a grounds keeper or three to exterminate them with a few cans of raid.  One bug has seemed to have quieted down a bit though: one that I've aptly named the barking cockroach. It looks like a cockroach with wings and hangs out in the trees, outdoing any of the most irritating loci with it's several minute long, piercing chirp.
    The most irritating bugs of all however are what they call palomitas de San Pedro (Saint Pedro's popcorn). Though I haven't had to deal with them as of late, they come - hatch, I suppose - once the rain has let up. Clouds of black winged termite-like insects will cover an area in the same fashion a smoke bomb covers a rioting group of Oaxacan teachers. They'll work their way into every nook and cranny of your clothing, hair, and shoelaces. They don't bite or sting, and in fact their wings pop off their bodies as easily as pedals from a daisy.