LOMAS Over the hills BY THE ENGLISH SPEAKER’S www.insidemex.com GUIDE TO LIVING IN MÉXICO april 2007 • Magdaleno Mariche Ramirez, Ciruelo, Oaxaca 2006 Black inMéxico The people of the Costa Chica › 14 CeCi Connolly on the cost of illness › 5 // Renting in the DF: Take 2 › 24 Around prAdo norte What is your ancestry? Rumbo a... “Scottish ancestry, but morelia Mexican.” Eduardo Hay Bátiz, whose JImm Budd takes us on a ramble Mexican roots are from Sinaloa. around MichoacÁn’s capItaL cIty 8 Perspective “I defIne myseLf as mexIcan. But I’m not a tradItIonaL mexIcan.” denise dresser challenges 7 Arts mexico to modernize. & Culture Market Meter dive “Everyone is from moving Michoacán.’’ masters FlorEntino GonzálEz the on up... 25 ayala, who is from Cliff InsIde mÉxIco Tziritzicuaro, Michoacán. Divers 12 checks out Who the hIgh end heLped put of mexIco acapuLco City’s housIng on the map. market. 4 INBOX 10-11 INSIDEOuT 24 REAL eSTaTe Editors Letter: diane anhalt’s childhood CloseUp patricia reyes the “Global Whassup!” as a political exile Spindola remodels “English – ipswitch.” Steals and Deals 5 INVOiCeS Barry KEnnEtH CoopEr Lingo for Gringos: 26 TRANSiTiOnS BaroCio,holding Ceci Connolly an historical taxonomy of Health love chilaquiles? grandson Pablo, whose mother the Cost of Chronic disease human relationships Make your own and make is of Italian origin. Glimpses Victor Solis ‘em healthy. 14 COVER TheFixer take two on 7 NEWS&nOTeS Exploring Mexicanidad along rules for renters in Mexico The Almanac the Costa Chica Staying in touch Semana Santa Father Glyn Jeemott Verizon Wireless’ north xFactor describes Mexico negro’s american plan library project. Mexico’s ethnic and racial diversity 29 FAREWELLS G1 22 Taste S. Huntington Hobbs III The Guide 9 INSIDEOuT The Cava CloseUp lesson 3: it’s time to taste 31 THE BaCKPaGe Las Lomas the wine “Spanish.” the Mexico City Metro’s dJ david taylor on Mexico in & The Calendar the Canadian press MóniCa arzoz, whose grand- parents were from Navarra, Spain. [ ] InsIdeMéxIco AprIl 2007 Entendemos el mercado extranjero en México porque ¡nosotros somos ese mercado! ¿Estás interesado en llegar al mercado angloparlante en México? ¿No hablas inglés y no estás seguro de cómo comunicar tu mensaje? ¡puede ayudarte! Desde el concepto hasta el diseño, nos aseguramos de que nuestros clientes obtengan lo mejor de los anuncios que publican. Contacto: [email protected] Teléfono: 55 5574 42 81 xxxxxx 2007 InsIdeMéxIco [ ] • on page 21 of our March issue (taste, “a taste of agu- ila y Sol”) we incorrectly paired the recipe for “Whimsical Corn Cookies” with a photo of “The Dancing Fish”. “Where are you from, We apologize for any culinary inconvenience! • ON PAGE 28 we incorrectly identified thed irector General of Grupo Ecos as Gleb Kouruznetsov. His morena?” correct name is Gleb Kouznetsov. • alSo, we left Quade Hermann off the list of Editorial HE WOMAN’S HAIR WAS CURLY AND Contributors. THICK, HER SKIN NUT BROWN, LIKE TMINE. “I am what time, circumstance, history, was nothing short of perplexing. have made of me, certainly, but I am also much more Every year for eleven years Father Glyn Jeemott than that. So are we all.” (turn to our cover story, page 14) has organized an JAMES BALDWIN encuentro, an annual town hall meeting for the black communities on the coast. The 2006 event The moment that passed between us, in a little, was attended by about 20 African-Americans, cement-floored seafood restaurant on the Guer- anxious to learn more about this corner of the di- rero coast, was like many I’d experienced: the aspora, eager to support Father Glyn’s work. nod from the South African businessman cross- While the area residents held seminars in ing the Friendship bridge between Thailand and Spanish on protecting the local waters from Laos; the wave from the African-American sol- overfishing and addressing social fragmenta- dier, on vacation with his German wife and kids tion caused by migration to the US, the African- in Croatia; the smile on the face of the Brazilian Americans formed a separate group and talked in bike mechanic when I walked into his store in English about black identity and what resources Naples, Italy. At some point I started calling it we might be able to offer the towns. the “Global What’s Up”, that moment of recog- It was another moment of dislocation: with nition between people of African descent, in an our flat r’s, American struts and expensive unexpected place. clothes, are our eyes any less foreign here than But this was slightly different. As much as the those of any other gringo? How can I expect this WANT TO BE woman’s gentle use of the word morena acknowl- community on the Mexican coast to have more edged our common roots, her question also con- in common with me than with their indigenous WANTED tained a statement: I am from here. You are not. and mestizo neighbors, with whom they share a by MailBoxes Etc? The histories and realities of people of African language, customs and more than 500 years of descent in much of the Americas (the US, Cuba, history? Local experience matters. Case file #MBE11427 Brazil) are well-documented and broadly dis- And yet there is a link. Common ancestry counts Name: William Scanlan seminated; not so with the blacks of the Costa too, as does a legacy of being a minority, of demand- Occupation: Area Franchisee, Southern Mexico Chica of Oaxaca and Guerrero, whose stories are ing that our respective societies include us in the Location: Oaxaca, Oaxaca relatively unknown. national vision. This brings us together, despite the Weapon of Choice: Bubble Wrap As an African-American--part of a culture that fact that my Virginia-born grandmothers cooked Last Seen: Carefully wrapping is constantly grappling with its history, citizen collard greens, not nopales. and packing artesanias for clients of a country where analyzing the intersection Yo soy americana, I replied to the woman at the Mail Boxes Etc. is one of the world´s between race, ethnicity and identity is a national restaurant. She smiled and embraced me. I felt most well-known and successful fran- pastime—spending time asking costeños “Where both the gratefulness of a well-received guest, and chise brands, and we are expanding did you come from?” and having the question the warmth of finding long-lost family. rapidly throughout Mexico. repeatedly answered by a mix of geographic ref- If you live in Mexico or are thinking of erences, historical half-truths and flat out myth Margot Shetterly moving to Mexico, and you’re entrepre- neurial, enthusiastic, trustworthy, enjoy challenges and are customer service oriented, MBE would like to give you distribution 50, 000 (paper and online) the opportunity to become part of our a ran shetterly franchise network. editor-in-chief printed by SPI: servicios [email protected] profesionales de Impresión, s.a. de c.v. NUMBEr 5 • april 2007 Apply today to become part of a world margot Lee shetterly distributed by servicios de mensajeria al detalle class team. managing editor emilio deheza advertising creative consultant [email protected] derechos reservados © Editorial Manda S.a. de C.V., catherine dunn art & photography alejandro Xolalpa Cordoba 206a #4, Colonia roma, C.p. 06700, México méxico city editor contributors Maya Harris d.F., México 2007. Se prohíbe la reproducción, total Email: Quade hermann Víctor Solís, Jimm Budd, antonieta Gaxiola o parcial, del contenido de esta publicación, así como editor producer Barbara Kastelein, Sara Carlos Xolalpa también se prohíbe cualquier utilización pública del [email protected] contenido, como por ejemplo, actos de distribución, Luz montero Meghan lee, alberto Griselda Juarez [email protected] ibañez, Michoacan transformación y comunicación pública (incluyendo la staff photographer In Mexico: Secretary of tourism in monterrey: olivia deheza transmisión pública). (55) 5004-1919 edItorIaL contributors [email protected] Certificado de reservas al uso exclusivo del título: 04- diana anhalt, Jimm Budd, design 2006-111512075500-102. Marcela Méndez Carlo Cibo, Ceci Connolly, Certificado de licitud de título y de contenido: en ana Ma. prado legal counsel Georgina del angel, Mario luis Fernando González nieves trámite. los artículos aquí contenidos reflejan única- Emilio Deheza diseño González-román, Maya Har- for Solorzano, Carvajal, mente la postura de su respectivo autor, y no necesa- ris, Barbara Kastelein, Sue El- public relations González, Pérez-Correa, s.c. riamente la de Editorial Manda S.a. de C.V., por lo que len Mason, lorraine orlandi, [email protected] dicha empresa no se responsabiliza por lo afirmado por Jamie rosen, david taylor John Boit, Melwood Global, us los respectivos autores aquí publicados. [ ] InsIdeMéxIco AprIl 2007 [email protected] Víctor Solís Valuing an ounce of prevention BY Ceci Connolly The Ides of March treated our friends up nesses are the leading cause of “avoid- north harshly—sleet and snow, scandal in able” death in the Americas. the Justice Department and the four-year Chronic illnesses also translate into anniversary of an increasingly unpopular “lost working hours, additional treatment war in Iraq. Can you blame President costs and other societal impacts,” says Bush for slipping south of the border? Eduardo Simoes, director of CDC’s Pre- Yet even in this sunny oasis, we can’t vention Research Centers Program, “all escape some things. In the words of Ben- from completely preventable conditions!” jamin Franklin, nothing is certain but Even the healthiest among us are af- death and taxes. fected, since taxpayers foot the bill for But both can be postponed. For all of much of the care. Kidney dialysis is you Americans having trouble meeting nearly bankrupting several Caribbean the April 15 tax filing deadline, there’s nations that failed to tackle a diabetes that fabulous—perfectly legal—loophole epidemic when it was in its earlier stage, called an extension.