Day of the Dead

If you’d like to participate in Dia de los Muertos ceremonies, there are several villages in Mexico with colorful celebrations worth attending. Most are in the Central Pacfic Coast states of Guerrero, Michoacan & Jalisco.

This festival honors the lives of dear departed ones with rich cultural traditions.  Planes full of tourists attend annually. This year, airfares to the best festival destinations are between $200 and $400 rountrip from the U.S.

“Dia de los Muertos” is a holiday celebrated primarily in Mexico but also in Hispanic and African communities worldwide. Families honor memories of their departed with music, costumes, festively decorated sugar skulls, and altars to the dead with many candles. Families visit graves to leave the favorite foods and drinks of their departed. Loved ones are celebrated with stories, feasts, dancing, iconic skeletons, and always with good humor.

These ceremonies date back thousands of years and began as a celebration of death as a voyage to a higher plane by the pre-Hispanic Olmecs & Zapotecs. The Aztecs celebrated for an entire month, honoring their goddess of death. The modern celebration occurs on the 1st and 2nd of November, fusing the pre-Hispanic celebration with two Catholic holidays – All Saint’s Day & All Souls’ Day. In Brazil it’s a public holiday and Spain holds parades and festivals.

Send a note for recommendations on the best festivals.  Even you don’t attend, remember the ancestors who influenced your life!

BIRDING IN PANAMA

Panama is a birder’s heaven.  This tiny isthmus is a nestled between two oceans, serving as a land bridge for birds migrating between two continents.  Panama has more species of birds than any other Central American nation including Costa Rica, which has built a reputation as an eco-tourism center.  With a land mass approximately equal to that of S. Carolina (and a much smaller human population), Panama is home to roughly 1000 species of birds including 150 migratory species, 50 species of raptors, 18 species of parrots, and 12 species found nowhere else in the world.

Where else will birders find, in a very small area, a dozen species of tanagers and trogons, the giant blue-and-gold macaw, keel-billed toucans (pictured here), and unique species such as ant birds, umbrella birds, harpy eagles, and quetzals?  With such a dizzying array of opportunities, where should birders new to Panama begin?

Birding near Panama City

Surprisingly, one of the best birding spots on the isthmus is a day trip from the cosmopolitan capital, Panama City.  The Canopy Tower at Parque Nacional Soberania is a logical starting point.  Where have ornithologists found more birds from their ‘life-lists’ in a single day than anywhere else on the planet?  Soberania’s pipeline trail holds the title.  Many of the bird species residing in the park’s 55,000 acres can be seen on this 10-mile hike.  There are too many species to list here!  There are also medium and short birding hikes featuring ant birds and waterfalls.

Leaving Panama City, there is a Canopy Lodge at El Valle de Anton that specializes in birding that provides an excellent stop over location in route the Azuero Peninsula.

Birding from the Azuero Peninsula

The remote Azuero is Panama’s heartland and home to another of the country’s top birding spots.  Playa El Agallito near the town of Chitre exposes mud flats at low tide.  Here you will find birds migrating between Alaska and Argentina.  Birders can contact Biologist Francisco Delgado at (507) 996-1725 for a guided tour to see spoonbills, terns, egrets, pharalopes, stilts, and thousand-member flocks of many shorebird species.

More than 160 migratory species can be found in Paque Nacional Sarigua, a 20,000 acre park with mangroves, lagoons, and ranger station with an excellent perch.  Visitors to the Azuero will also stop at Bahia de Parita and many refuges, islands, and reserves with freshwater wetlands and marshes that are home to fulvous whistling ducks, limpkins, glossy ibis, black-crowned night herons, blue-footed boobies, frigate birds, and white ibises.  Visit www.anam.gob.pa for links to the Azuero’s many excellent birding sites. 

If you visit the Azuero during Carnaval, visit Las Tablas where you’ll find another elegant ‘bird’.  Graceful beauty queens parade in costumed bikinis and extravagant polleras.  Don’t try to arrive the week of Ash Wednesday without confirming lodging reservations well in advance.

This author’s favorite beach hideaway on the Azuero is Playa Venado.  Here there is excellent lodging on a pristine shore, a Smithsonian outpost, and day trips to islands that are home to herons, terns, noddies, and boobies.

Birding in Panama’s Northern Highlands

Boquete is the Valley of Eternal Spring.  Here you’ll find harpy eagles, violet-eared hummingbirds, three-wattled bellbirds, yellow-thighed finches, black-chested warblers, and many birders favorite trogan – quetzals – abound in the shadow of Volcan Baru, Panama’s highest elevation.   Boquete was settled by European immigrants and maintains the largest population of indigenous Ngobe peoples and expatriates living side-by-side.  Flower fincas and coffee plantations line this picturesque valley.

From Cerra Punta you’ll find the easiest access to the magnificent Parque Internacional La Amistad, 1,500 square miles that his home to 225 bird species, including the largest concentration of quetzals in C. America. 

In both of these locations, you can stay in birder-friendly lodging with nature trails onsite and balcony views of quetzals.  There are also many bird-rich, cloud forest hikes in the area, including the hike to summit the volcano and a hike to an eco-lodge with outstanding wildlife viewing.

Birding on Isla Coiba

Scarlet macaws make their home in this marine park comprised of 39-islands surrounding Panama’s largest island.  Mostly virgin rainforest, you’ll find 147 species of birds on Isla Coiba, including 21 that are native to the island.  The Coiba spinetail, crested eagles, white-faced monkeys, crocodiles, snakes, and whales are the scarlet macaw’s neighbors.  It is best to visit by private charter flights or charter boats which can be arranged from Chiriqui.  Boaters often choose to fish their way back to the mainland.

Birding in Bocas del Toro

There are many parks in this province but the best birding is in the transition zone between Parque Internacional La Amistad and the tourist-friend islands on the coast.  The options are Bosque Protector Palo Seco and Reserva Forestal Fortuna.  There are several ecological projects in this transition zone where reforestation is being implemented to mediate the effects of slash-and-burn agriculture, cattle-ranching, and illegal logging.  Contact a destination expert to arrange guided excursions into the best birding areas which are near Altos de Valle’s or check in at the area’s ANAM ranger station on the Fortuna highway.

Birding in the Darien

One of the most remote places on the planet, Parque Nacional Darien is an UNESCO World Heritage Site, a Biosphere Reserve, and Panama’s birding mecca.  The Darien is home to 450 bird species including 6 species of macaws, parrots, ibises, and harpy eagles.  There are also poisonous dart frogs, crocodiles, big cats, and snakes.  Guides are required and access is limited, which is fortunate for endangered species.  Journeys require registration with the police prior to departure, due to the presence of smugglers in this border area between S. America and the Panama Canal. 

Sailing or kayaking the San Blas Islands provides birding along with glimpses into the indigenous Kuna Yale culture.  Perhaps the best option for birding in the Darien is the Kuna-run Burbayar Eco-lodge where the elevation is favorable and there are six trails on the lodge’s private reserve.  River journeys to the Darien should be booked with a destination expert. 

Timing Your Birding Visit

Despite Panama’s modest size, it is impossible to enjoy all the places listed here in less than three weeks time without feeling rushed.  Birders with one or two weeks can prioritize their destinations according to their other interests because each of these destinations offers world-class birding opportunities.  The rugged Darien is in stark contrast to the many first-world comforts to be discovered in Panama.  The best time to visit is between Christmas and Easter.

View from atop Volcán Barú

Volcan Baru is Central America’s most spectacular peak.  The Baru Volcano is at the heart of Parque Nacional Volcan Baru.  It is halfway between Belize and Bogota and adjacent to International Park Amistad, an UNESCO World Heritage Site.  From its summit one can view the Pacific Ocean, southern Costa Rica, the Caribbean Sea, and a good portion of Panama’s northern highlands.  Dawn atop Volcan Baru is a photographer’s dream.

The whistles of the quetzal – so splendid it was worshipped by the Maya as a sacred bird – entertain the few hikers brave enough to ascend 6,100’ over eight miles to the volcano’s 11,400’ summit.  Many of Panama’s 50 species of raptors can be seen soaring for prey, as can hummingbirds – the main pollinators of the numerous and exotic species of Heliconias.  Five species of cats make their home in this cloud forest; pumas are most numerous.  One species in short supply is mankind.

The shortest ascent is via El Salto, the author’s home, at 5,000 feet.  Allow 5.5 hours in thin air, and plan to leave around midnight to navigate a crude path in the dark.  To enjoy vistas too magnificent for words, hikers must reach the summit before clouds and fog form mid-morning.  Hikers enjoy breakfast at the summit and descend in periodic or constant rains for well-deserved feasting and resting before posting photos on the Internet bragging of their accomplishment.

Insider’s tip from Dave at Hostal Boquete:  make sure your camera is fully charged. The journey is 10-hours walking plus 1.5 hours drive from Boquete to the trailhead and back to the pueblo.  Essentials: flashlight, quality footwear, warm clothes, gloves, rain gear, 2.5 liters of water, food, and sun block.

Coffee is integral to the culture of highland Central America.  Boquete, Chiriqui, near the Costa Rican border, is the Napa Valley of coffee, with over 20 local labels, tasting rooms, and finca tours.  Coffee aficionados from www.UniqueCoffee.com will be travelling to Boquete in Feburary.  In the meantime, notes from Roaster Seth Appell’s most recent visit to C. America are worth sharing…

“In a noble social experiment, the country of Costa Rica shunned the expense of a national army, investing instead in the building of schools and hospitals, providing low-cost education and healthcare for the general population. Rather than following the colonial model of large tracts of farmland owned by the wealthy minority, agricultural centers were built upon a cooperative model, providing coffee plants, education and materials at cost or free for anyone with even the smallest amount of arable land.

Spend a day with the members of CoopePalmares, and you quickly begin to understand the wealth and freedom of this country that values its families, heritage, and the skills necessary to produce truly fine coffee.

In the center of every coffee field is a home. Each proud farmer we met was born in the center of his own two or three acre coffee field. A man can tend two or three acres of coffee trees with his own hands. For 365 days a year, a farmer cultivates his tree’s, cleans the soil of weeds, and prepares for a harvest that returns a meager third of his income. 250 coffee trees produces that two sacks, or 300 pounds of coffee. And yet with this he sends his children to college. At harvest time the entire country returns to its roots. Children come home from school, and families reunite to harvest coffee across the country.

It is a fact that during my entire stay, I never met a man working at any job whose family was not involved in the coffee back home. It’s a simple fact of life that coffee provides only a portion of the income necessary for a good life, and indeed Costa Rica is a country with a comfortable middle-class. The spirit of “Pura Vida”, the pure life, is the spirit of the Costa Rican people.”

Coffee pickers from the indigenous Ngöbe are beginning to return from Costa Rica to their native Panama.  They have been helping with the larger cooperative’s harvests.  It is encouraging to realize how Panama respects its indigenous peoples.  The atlas reveals that Panama’s population is comprised of 8.4% indigenous peoples.  This atlas has a page for each tribe’s land area (Comarca).  Quick arithmetic reveals that Panama has reserved 20% of its land for its first Americans.  Panama’s Comarca’s are not marginal lands; but prime property.  This is tangible respect.

I recently had the joy of meeting Dra. Maria Ruiz of Boquete’s Casa Ruiz.  We discussed coffee and philosophy.  I was mesmerized by Dra. Ruiz’s perspective on the subject of creating peace within a community.  “Peace results when people respect (and feel respected by) their neighbors”.   Respect is a reoccurring theme this week.

This theme reminds me of a recent journey to meet the people of Latin America’s last kingdom, the Naso.  The Naso Comarca is on Panama’s Rio Teribe, where villagers live in harmony with the land, off the grid, growing almost everything they need to thrive gracefully in concert with Mother Earth, including coffee and cacao for chocolate.  The Naso raft down river to trade surplus crops for grains and other incidentals.  My children couldn’t believe how happy the Naso children are without electronic diversions.

Unlike the Naso, many Ngöbe live outside of their Comarcas.  Like Costa Rica, entire families are involved in harvest coffee.  Unlike Costa Rica, many farms are too large to be owner tended, and the Ngöbe people tend the crops year round, living on the fincas.  Others follow harvests and return to their Comarca for the balance of the year.  The return of the harvesters is an exciting time in Boquete and, for several months each year, the entire pueblo revolves around coffee, festivals, and the holidays.

For information on an upscale tour of this area and some of its finer cafes, fincas, and many rainforest adventures, check out our Coffee Culture Tour link.

Consider Seattle, once a Puget Sound paradise, now a concrete jungle subdivided by highways bathing once-pure air in smog seven days/week, pumping poisons into the lungs of everything that breathes.  Cement trucks pouring new parking lots daily. What interstate freeways did for Seattle, they could do for Glacier National Monument, the Amazon and the Andes.

Just such a freeway is being built from Brazil to Peru, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, across ravines filled by waterfalls and over gorges fed by the Andes Mountains, the source of the mighty Amazon River.  This freeway could be completed in 2010, giving birth to numerous other highways feeding off the mother road, increased illegal logging, burning, and poaching.  Why pave the last great undivided rainforest? 

Such a highway creates new horizons for Brazil’s continued growth, bypasses the Panama Canal, and opens up new oil and gas fields. The road has been called “The Road to China”.  Never mind that sea freight through the Panama Canal costs one-quarter the amount that land shipments will cost.  Never mind that this road spells doom for places like the Manu and Pacaya-Samiria National Parks, places where the biodiversity will be remembered as staggering.

This is where the automobile has brought us.  Corporations have no shame as they colonize nature and pump poison into the atmosphere.  Diesel trucks will soon harvest once-protected tropical hardwoods in order to line North American closets.  The highway is to be a private toll road, operated by a those with friends in high places, those willing to pimp their grandchildren’s legacy for today’s luxuries.

Our planet’s last un-colonized indigenous peoples will be displaced by this highway.  They will no longer be able to live in voluntary isolation from the material culture of consumerism.  Cultural, ecological and environmental factors were not evaluated prior to the granting of this no-bid contract to pave yet another paradise.  Former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt recommends countermeasures to offset the devastation of the Trans-South American Highway; namely, cooperation to create international conservation areas such as Amistad on the Costa Rican/Panamanian border.

Unfortunately, this solution will be “too little, too late” once the first toll booth opens in Peru near the headwaters of the Amazon.  Visit Northeastern Peru soon in order to know the immensity of what will soon be lost at the hands of the “Initiative of the Regional Infrastructure of South America” (IIRSA – an organization content to bypass democratic processes involving citizens).  Visit very soon.

Those interested in the Americas will relish Charles’s Mann’s analysis of modern anthropology and archaeology, “1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus”. This fascinating book collates evidence from contemporary peer-reviewed scientific journals, exposing myriad mistakes found in textbooks circulated in the last 200 years.

The value of this analysis is its proof positive that Europeans did not bring civilization to the Americas. Colonial settlers did not bring large-scale agriculture or forest management to a ‘primitive people’. Paris wasn’t a glimmer in anyone’s eye as great cities celebrated centennial anniversaries in the Americas … advanced agricultural societies with pyramids, plumbing, a vibrant written history, calendars and astronomical charts more advanced than any from Europe in the 16th Century. Columbus was a follower, tardy by thousands of years.

As a result of centuries of ethnocentric historical inaccuracies, few citizens of the Americas comprehend the amazing history of their own hemisphere. Those interested in this important story, in discerning facts from myths, will appreciate Mann’s impartial presentation. What happened to the advanced civilizations of Mesoamerica that enabled their accomplishments to be lost to contrived versions of the history of their region?

Begin to discover the answers with ‘1491’ and stay tuned for future revelations from archeologists and anthropologists working Latin America. ‘1491’s ecological revelations are salient to today’s debates about sustainability and climate change. This book reads like an epic adventure. Mann’s revelations are fostering debates worldwide, especially on college campuses in Latin American countries – the main source of new evidence regarding myths about what Columbus ‘discovered’.

Charles Mann in Oaxaca

Thanks to Uncle Bob for the gift of this book…

 

This photo is our new driveway, having recently abandoned the classic American pursuit for riches to farm and build a more peaceful life in C. America.   This post focuses on one expatriate couple’s grass-roots endeavor to bring a healing arts sanctuary and eco-retreat to the rainforest,  refocusing their lives on what matters most, “being here, now” rather than living for the future.

We found the perfect site.  More accurately, la tierra nos encontró.  It is secluded, bordered by three small waterfalls and a creek.   We’re minutes from the gate to the National Park that is home to C. America’s highest peak, Volcan Baru, where one can enjoy views of the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean by simply turning around. 

Michelle is planning yoga, massage, Reiki and medicine wheel offerings.  Our guests will summit a volcano, pick coffee and cacao to take home, zip line in the rainforest canopy, enjoy whitewater rafting and explore beaches on two coasts that are separated by only 50 miles.  At 7000 feet, we’re in the thin mountain air where cool nights push insects and snakes toward the coasts.  Our backyard is the mountainous UNESCO World Heritage Site, International Park ‘Amistad’, which straddles the border with Costa Rica.  ‘Amistad’ is Spanish for friendship.

We will add an eco-lodge to this land.  The name is ‘El Santuario del Volcan Baru’ which translates to ‘The Sanctuary of the Volcano Baru.  One goal is to preserve native vegetation while providing trails for visitors to access its wonders.  Coffee will continue to be cultivated in the shade of native vegetation, along with the organic fruits and vegetables.  There is much to learn about coffee culture.  Boquete native Nico Guerra has been working this coffee plantation since he fell in love with it in 1953. One-third is planted with coffee, bananas, citrus, chayote, and beans.  The remaining two-thirds is native habitat. 

The delightful village of Boquete is ten minutes away, in “the valley of eternal spring”.   The temperature hits 80 degrees (F) daily, but evenings and mornings often require a sweater.  In Boquete,   18,000 residents include many expats from the European Union, N. America & South America.  In the streets one hears French, German, Italian, English, and Spanish within a few blocks walk.  There is a bar furnished entirely with art and furniture from Africa.   Taxis are less than a dollar.   Genuinely helpful locals abound …and their assistance is not contrived in pursuit of a tip.

Large multi-national corporations do not rule in Chiriqui.  There is no Starbucks in Boquete; its coffee could not begin to compete; its canned faux Italian ambiance unnecessary.  Wal-Mart?  “Everyday low prices” are already here, without Chinese workers residing in company-owned factories in squalor reminiscent of the confederacy.  Kraft “cheese”?  Chiriquianos are accustomed to local dairy products from grass-fed cattle which they pass on the way to the rodeo.  People live close to the land.  Less is more.  What seems to matter most to Chiriqui natives is family, fun, and friends.  Work is the means to an end.

People here grasp that nobody’s dying wish is “more time at the office”.  The culture here is very supportive for healing from the toxic consumer culture prevalent in the USA.   Why not immigrate south and make room for another to immigrate north?  Lessons from the dichotomy are relevant and poignant in this age of plastic surgery and antidepressant prescriptions.  Paradise may not be in New Jersey, Orlando, or Salt Lake City …or anywhere thereabouts.  What price, paradise?  We don’t have the answer yet, but we have a solid direction which feels good.

At El Santuario, structures will be simple and primitive, yet comfortable, built with local materials from Chiriqui, with the smallest footprint possible for a healing arts sanctuary with seven artisanal bungalows and a modest home with a commercial kitchen and dining space for two dozen.  Here we will discuss change from the heart as the focus of our work and our guest’s experience.  Coffee will continue to be cultivated with longstanding local traditions that allow Boquete beans to win international cupping contests annually.  Guests will have the option to pitch in for culinary rewards.  There is much to learn about this finca (farm) and its present foreman, Nivardo Montezuma.  These are valuable lessons.

Sr. Montezuma, like many of our new neighbors, is one of Panama’s indigenous Ngobe-Bugle, the largest group of pre-colonial peoples in the country.  We must learn this culture if we are to be good neighbors.  We hope to work with our new neighbors on a partnership basis, sharing with them in the yield of any crops we tend together.  The Ngobe-Bugle are not divorced from their traditional culture and food supply, like most indigenous and post-colonial peoples in the USA.  We look forward to creating a cooperative partnership with everyone working the land with us.  We will improve our Spanish and study the Ngobe-Bugle language in order to learn from Srs. Guerra & Montezuma.

Another challenge will be striking a balance between the ecological preservation of the rainforest, the crops, and development of the healing arts eco-retreat that is ‘El Santuario’.  This will be accomplished using alternative energy and waste management technologies.  Our goal is generate our own power, compost, recycle, and operate “off-the-grid” as a self-sufficient operation.  We will replant native vegetation as the sole form of landscaping on the two-thirds of land not under cultivation.  We will stop to smell the flowers. 

Preservation of wildlife is a critical goal, but we are newcomers here and Ngobe-Bugle have been known to over hunt.  Without ant eaters, for example, there are far too many ants.  For controlling the insect population, pesticides are a poor option to natural predators.  To be organic and maintain the balance of the rainforest ecology, we must teach as well as learn.  The beautiful 45-pound giant anteater is close to extinction.  The ancestral headdresses of the Ngobe-Bugle are made from its fur.  Yet, our modern Ngobe-Bugle neighbors create less than one percent of the average New Yorker’s waste, carbon footprint, and smog.  They laugh more frequently, and walk daily in paradise (instead of sitting in traffic for 20% of their daylight hours).

For those of you following this blog to learn more about one family’s journey toward wellness in the rainforest, regular posts on this project will appear at Blogspot.com.  This WordPress blog will continue to focus on Mexico, C. & S. American journeys.  Please send comments and questions.  Stay tuned and don’t be shy about visiting Boquete.  The air and water are pure.  Smiles are bountiful.  Children safely roam the streets unattended.  The climate is perfect. 

We look forward to sharing our healing journey and to learning about yours.  If we can share hints about living in harmony with nature as a meaningful alternative to consumer culture, we’ll consider our mission accomplished.  Whenever we learn from our guests how to live more fulfilling lives outside of the ‘bigger, better, faster, more’ mentality that is destroying our ecology and culture, we will share such gems with future guests.  We are all students and teachers. 

Together, we can heal this planet; we can heal our communities; we can mend our relationships with those we love.  We can accomplish these goals by living in respectful gratitude for what truly matters.  At El Santuario del Volcan Baru, we will devote much energy toward discovery of the answer to the question, “What truly matters”?  Most importantly, we will explore with guests methods for manifesting more of this precious commodity in our lives and yours. 

As our dear friend June advises … Onward & Namaste!

Increasingly, baby boomers are retiring outside the USA.  Boomers frequently travel with an eye on their “place in the sun”.  Latin America is understandably high on the list of desireable expat destinations.  Why? 

Many of the reasons for becoming an expatriot in retirement are easy to guess.  Climate, culture, cost-of-living, and adventure are common reasons for becoming an expat.  What about creativity?   A new study has proven that living in a foreign country increases creativity.

In negotiation exercises given to 200 people, none could make a deal when neither had lived abroad.  When both individuals had lived abroad, 70% find a way to negotiate a mutually satisfactory outcome!  This study was conducted by the Kellogg School of Management in Chicago and the INSEA, a business school in Fontainebleau, France.  Yes, the researchers conducted a cross check to make sure that it wasn’t a case of the most creative people choosing to live as expats.

A quick look into the lives of your favorite authors, painters, and artists tells you that many of them lived as expats at some point in their lives.  We now know for a fact that this experience increased their psychological creativity.  The initial France/USA study found that 60% of students with expatriot experience solved a problem that only 42% of students without foreign experience solved, which led to the negotiation excercise study.  But these students actually lived abroad; simply traveling abroad is not enough.

The moral of this story is simple.  Live abroad and you can increase your creativity.  (Source:  Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, W. Maddux & A. Galinsky.)  You will learn a new culture, language, cuisine, music, and social situations.  Your brain will rewire itself for your long-term advantage.  Gauguin painted in Panama before heading to Tahiti.  Hemingway often wrote from Cuba.  Where is your “place in the sun”?

Those who visited Mexico in 1989 recall plates, stunningly painted, vividly colored cups, and serving dishes worthy of hanging in galleries.  “Yes, they are affordable, but  you can’t  use them because of lead paint.”  These last two words have discouraged admirers of Mexico’s earthenware.  Lately, such worry is becoming misplaced.

Mexico’s National Fund for the development of Arts & Crafts (Fonart) sponsored research that has inspired a revolution in the kilns of this nation’s potters since 1999.  Rather than using lead, which fuses at low temperatures, most potters are now using boron, also low-temp with an added bonus:  it’s non-toxic.  According to Fonart, “more than half of Mexico’s potters have switched and this segment is now earning four times what lead-based potters were earning a decade ago” ( due to the pricing in export markets).

Mexico’s Talavera ceramics are the oldest tin-glazed ceramics in the Americas, dating from the 1500′s.  At that time, craftsmen from Spain’s Talavera de Reinas were sent to Mexico where local artisans were already producing more detailed ceramic painting.  Spanish monks taught Indians about potter’s wheels and glazes, and the monks learned just as much about an extraordinary culture of decorating pottery.

Today, Mexico sells more Talavera-style pottery than Spain.  Just another lesson the New World has ‘learned’ from the Old World?   Mexico is on its way to abandoning lead-based paint completely.   This act is most important to Mexico’s millions of potters, who now enjoy kilns with exhaust fans to improve performance …in addition to living longer!  It’s pure fusion, this blending of the old and the new.    How can one argue with fusion?

The winner for this week’s best reporting goes to Laurie Garrett who says, “We should all stand up and scream Gracias, Mexico!” because  the Mexican government sacrificed by shutting down schools, businesses, restaurants, churches, and sporting events to prevent a global pandemic.  “They basically paralyzed their own economy.  They’ve suffered billions of dollars in financial losses, and thereby brought transmission of this virus to a halt.”  Bravo, Laurie!

Daily, the moronic media has seen reporters standing at a border crossing talking about a country they have never visited and know nothing about.  Remember the avian flu?  China did not swiftly quarantine the source, as Mexico did, so there were far more than the swine flu’s 61 deaths.  Gracias, Mexico!   (By the way, why is the USA so cozy with socialist China while Cuba is off limits because it’s socialist?  Why can’t the U.S. government pass the common sense test?)

How about the misleading drug violence reporting?  Mainstream media have bungled this story as well.  If you are dealing drugs or hanging out along the border you might encounter violence, but the same is true everywhere in the world.  Ready for the real story?  Mexico is more peaceful than the USA in terms of drug-related gang violence.   Three times safer; 15,000 gang-related deaths occur in the USA each year.  Gang-related deaths in Mexico doubled from 2,500 in 2007 to 5,000 last year, when President Bush bribed President Calderon with $400 million in law enforcement aid to initiate armed violence with smugglers in the DEA’s tragic waste of money, “the war on drugs”.  It’s amazing how the media leave out essential facts such as these.  Sloppy research leads to biased reporting.  One casualty of sloppy reporting (and Bush’s sloppy policies) is Mexico’s tourism industry, to the tune of billions of dollars.

Despite such follies, Mexico’s economy is holding up admiraly under the strain of the world recession – another problem made in the USA.  Workers have been laid off in Mexican car factories recently, but this is the first taste of the financial crisis.  The IMF forecast is for a short and moderate drop in GDP for most Latin American economies, including Mexico.  Latin America maintains a current-account surplus and accumulated reserves, unlike Uncle Sam’s financial sector and government which has behaved more like a casino for a decade now.  (Actually, that statement is not fair to casinos; most generate a budget surplus.)

In summary, Mexico is safe, strong, and waiting with welcome arms for summer vacationers.  Remember, your holiday dollars go a long way in this warm and welcome culture.  And Mexico deserves the world’s gratitude for its incredible response to a medical emergency this spring.  Gracias, Mexico!  See you soon…