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November 24 2008 Page 2

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Day of the Iguanas

On a morning in a Oaxacan market, photographer Graciela Iturbide made one of the most enduring images of Zapotec life

By Lynell George

Smithsonian magazine, September 2008

Day of the Iguanas

In the early 1920s, Diego Rivera returned to Mexico City from a trip to Oaxaca and began telling friends about a place where strong, beautiful women ruled. Soon Rivera was painting such women, and within a decade, the list of artists and intellectuals that followed the road south to Oaxaca included Frida Kahlo, Sergei Eisenstein and Langston Hughes. Photographers came too: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Tina Modotti, Edward Weston. To varying degrees, they were all taken with the indigenous Zapotec women on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the culture in which they really did enjoy more power and freedom than other women in Mexico.

Graciela Iturbide didn't travel to the region until 1979, but the photographs she made there have proved to be some of the most enduring images of Zapotec life. And her portrait of a woman named Zobeida�titled Nuestra Se�ora de las Iguanas (Our Lady of the Iguanas) and included in Graciela Iturbide: Juchit�n, a recent collection of Iturbide's work�has practically become a symbol of Zapotec womanhood.

By the time Iturbide made her trip to the isthmus city of Juchit�n, she had already shed several skins. Married at 20, a mother of three by 23, she seemed set for a traditional life as an upper-class wife in Mexico City. But her 6-year-old daughter died from an illness in 1970, and later Iturbide and her husband divorced. Although she had been studying filmmaking, Iturbide signed up for a still photography class taught by the Mexican master Manuel Alvarez Bravo. She was one of only a few students to enroll, and the class developed into an apprenticeship.

Iturbide had begun photographing in Mexico City and among the Seri Indians in the Sonora Desert when, in 1979, she was invited to take pictures in Juchit�n by the artist Francisco Toledo, a native son and an advocate for the region's arts and culture. Iturbide spent a few days observing the Zapotec women, who seemed to project an almost ethereal self-possession�independent, at ease with their bodies and comfortable with their power, which came from control of the purse. "The men work" on farms and in factories, Iturbide says, "but they give money to the women."

The women also ruled the marketplace, where they sold textiles, tomatoes, fish, bread�"everything," Iturbide says, "all of it carried on their heads." It was amid the market's tumult one morning that she spotted Zobeida (whose name has also been given, incorrectly, as Zoraida). "Here she comes with the iguanas on her head! I could not believe it," Iturbide says. As Zobeida got ready to sell the lizards (as food), the photographer says, "she put the iguanas on the ground and I said: 'One moment, please. One moment! Please put the iguanas back!'"

Zobeida obliged; Iturbide raised her camera. "I had a Rolleiflex; only 12 frames and in this moment," she says. "I didn't know if it was OK or not."

It was more than OK. A year or so later, Iturbide presented several of her Juchit�n photographs to Toledo, to be shown in a cultural center he had founded in the city. Somewhat to her surprise, Our Lady of the Iguanas�which she considered as but one image among many�was a hit. Residents asked for copies of it, and they put it on a banner. "The image is a very important one to the people of Juchit�n," Iturbide says. "I don't know why. Many people have the poster in their house. Toledo made a postcard." The locals renamed the image "The Juchit�n Medusa." "There are many legends about the iguanas and other animals, and maybe that image relates," Iturbide says. "Maybe."

Although Iturbide returned to Juchit�n many times for the better part of a decade, she also traveled widely, photographing in Africa, India and the American South. To her surprise, the Juchit�n Medusa also traveled�turning up as an element in a Los Angeles mural, for example, and in the 1996 American feature film Female Perversions (starring Tilda Swinton as an ambitious, conflicted lawyer). When Iturbide went to Japan for an exhibition of her work, the curator told her he was glad she didn't bring her iguanas, says Rose Shoshana, founder of the Rose Gallery in Santa Monica, California, which represents Iturbide.

Ultimately, the pictures the photographer made in Juchit�n were important to both her work and her reputation, says Judith Keller, who curated a recent Iturbide retrospective at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. "It reinforced her concern about the lives of women, and it validated her thinking that this is an important topic and this is something she should continue with," Keller says. In October, Iturbide will be awarded the Hasselblad Foundation International Award.

As for the Lady of the Iguanas herself, Zobeida died in 2004, but not before the image made her something of a celebrity. As anthropologists debated the exact nature of Juchit�n society (matriarchal? matrifocal?), journalists would seek her out to ask, inevitably, if she was a feminist. Iturbide says Zobeida would answer: "'Yes. When my husband died, I work. I take care of myself.'"

Lynell George writes about arts and culture for the Los Angeles Times.

Friday night at the Bavarian Gardens and Hinde and Jaimes

Jaltemba Bay Animal Rescue

Advocating humane and healthy practices for animals in the Jaltemba area by promoting health, education, sterilization, adoptions, foster care and positive relationships with animals and their owners.

December 2006 to November 2008: Two years, 6 clinics and a total of 750 Animals Spayed or Neutered in the Jaltemba Bay Area!!!

Free Spay and Neuter Clinic Update: Guayabitos, November, 2008

Our clinic quota was filled by 8 a.m. each morning of the clinic with animals being turned away daily. In total, 127 animals were accepted in the 4 days of the clinic, with 108 animals sterilized, two other surgeries were performed while a few animals that were too young to be sterilized were sent home.

Mateja arriving with an armload of kittens

People waiting to check in their animals early in the morning

All 19 dogs and cats up for adoption were adopted out! Amazing!! People are now seeking out our clinic animals as they are healthy, have been sterilized and receive free vaccinations including rabies. Gifts from the clinic include a bag of food for the newly adopted animal, a new collar (along with toys and leashes if we have them), and a certificate of sterilization.

An adopted cat leaving in a bag!

Bruce holding his newly adopted cat

Adopted!

Family holding gifts from the clinic for their newly adopted dog

Adopted!

Bobbi and Roger adopted the puppy, Osita, on the left. The other was also adopted.

Two happy people holding their newly adopted puppy along with gifts from the clinic.

A very special thank you to Dr. Antonio, Lalo and Humberto, our dedicated medical team.

In all, over 35 volunteers help at the clinic!!! Thanks to all of you who so generously gave of your time. Your dedication to these animals was beyond imagination!

Many thanks to the following folks for providing delicious food and snacks for our medical team and volunteers including:

Carole and Brian Francoeur

Nancy and Dan Milski

Tina Krause

Bobi and Brian Emmons

Sherry Kisner

Tom Plattenberger and Bruce Hilton

Eydie Francis and Mary Bell

Linda Youcha

Marco from Tortilla Sunset

Xaltemba Galleria and Restaurant

There are a few names missing. My apologies! All the food was enjoyed immensely!

Many thanks to the following people for their wonderful donations:

Mateja 1000 pesos

Tina Krause 500 pesos

Molly Shultz 200 pesos

Tom Plattenberger and Bruce Hilton 1000 pesos

Mary and Harry Beckner 1000 pesos

Joan Hagar 500 pesos

Thomas Bartlett 1000 pesos

Arne and Patricia Brakke 500 pesos

Also many thanks for the donation of dog and cat food:

Marion & Barry Schryer (1000 pesos of dog/cat food)

Keith and Lena Sheardown

Mark and Abby

Keith and Lena bagging up dog food they donated to the clinic.

Other donations include:

Carol and David Wallace: collars, bedding and grooming supplies

Lorna Kroll: donation of medical supplies

Faye and Fred Hodson who drove down Lorna�s supplies

Nancy and Dan Milski: donation of cat supplies

My apologies for any omissions! Please let me know.

A photo album of this clinic will be forth coming!

To Make a Donation:

Please contact linchimes@hotmail.com

Donations may be made through mail, direct deposit, email money transfer or in person.

Thanks to all of you for your wonderful support!

Mexican Pacific Coast Tourism Project to Outshine Canc�n
Barnard R. Thompson - MexiData.info
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Escuinapa de Hidalgo, Sinaloa, M�xico.

The Mexican government has announced a major new tourism development that will stretch along the Pacific Ocean coast of southern Sinaloa � a project that will ultimately be twice the size of Canc�n. A master planned tourist area to rival not just Canc�n, but too the Riviera Maya that runs along the shores of the Mexican Caribbean.

President Felipe Calder�n, with officials from the Mexican government`s National Trust Fund for Tourism Development (Fondo Nacional de Fomento al Turismo, or Fonatur), made the announcement at the September 29 opening of the Fonatur sponsored Mexican Real Estate and Tourism Investment Expo, in Mexico City.

Provisionally called the Pacific Coast Integrally Planned Center, infrastructure work is scheduled to begin during the first half of 2009, with the final stage of the phased developments to be completed by 2025. This in much the same way that other Fonatur master planned seaside resorts, such as Canc�n, Los Cabos, Ixtapa, Loreto and the Bays of Huatulco, have been done.

The 5,884 acre [9.2 square miles] Pacific Coast CIP will be in the midst of the Sinaloa National Wetlands, in part on the near 5,000 acre Rancho Las Cabras, owned by former Sinaloa governor Antonio Toledo Corro. The area is 80 miles south of Mazatl�n and west of the Mexico Highway 15 town of Escuinapa, in the municipality of the same name. On land between the Pacific Ocean and lagoons and marshes known as the Laguna Agua Grande, the area will include 7.5 miles of beaches between the villages of Isla del Bosque and Teacap�n to the south on the State of Nayarit border.

The coastal area is well known locally for its beauty and tranquility. Slightly inland from the coast, the estuaries, lagoons and mangrove stands are surrounded by palm and tropical flora filled valleys, with a notable abundance of birds and migratory waterfowl. Deer, mountain lions and peccary, among other animals, are found in the area.

And fishing is big in the region, commercial fishing (and shrimp farming), and of course sportfishing. Several species of protected sea turtles come to area beaches, and at sea among the many species found are billfish, humpback whales and white sharks.

Of historical significance, there are large oyster shell mounds near Teacap�n that experts say were harvested by indigenous peoples living in the area as long as 4,000 years ago.

The investment by the Mexican government is to be around MX$5 billion pesos [US$465 million as of September 29], according to President Calder�n (who made the announcement before the current worldwide financial crises came to a head, and the anticipated cutbacks). Calder�n added that the aforementioned Mexican public sector investment should spark another US$6.638 billion in private national and international investments.

First stage construction costs will be some MX$1.5 billion [US$139 million as of 9/29], according to a Fonatur executive, that will be applied to 988 acres. That first phase is scheduled for completion in 2012.

The President went on to say that the mega-development will ultimately create 78,000 direct and indirect jobs. He also said estimates are that the Pacific Coast CIP will attract nearly 3 million tourists by the year 2025, and US$2.8 billion in foreign exchange.

Once completed the overall complex is to include four golf courses; two marinas for a total of 1,000 vessels; 44,200 hotel rooms (hotels, condominiums, etc.); a five mile beachfront walk; and a light railway. Plus the possibility of a new airport is in the offing (or the small airport at Teacap�n could be expanded).

Based on what has been learned from other CIPs, such as Canc�n, hotels will not be allowed right on the beach. The required buffer zone will be 300 meters. Hotels will also have a maximum height limit of four stories.

Urban zones and shopping areas will integrate open space shielded by law against construction, as will cultural centers and convention facilities.

Emphasis will be placed on nature and the environment, with 25 percent of the total 5,884 acres dedicated as natural protected areas, acreage that must be devoid of development. Furthermore, 109 acres of the surrounding wetland environs will be kept intact. Regarding the lagoon and marsh areas, visitors will be able to enjoy ecotourism activities via a series of canals and pathways.

As well, Pacific Coast CIP developments will have to meet marine and land area environmental standards and requisites that are included in the 2006 Marine Ecological Ordinance of the Gulf of California Program.

For workers, at least 5,000 homes will be built, along with schools, hospitals and facilities for needed community services.

Water will be provided through three separate systems, wastewater treatment plants will be built, and each hotel will have to install not only rainwater catchment receptacles, but too separate systems for rain and wastewater drainage and control.

On an interconnected regional basis, highway improvements are planned for the stretch of Highway 15 from Mazatl�n south to Tepic, Nayarit (and on to Tequila and Guadalajara; or southwest to the Bah�a de Banderas-Compostela Tourist Corridor and Puerto Vallarta). Too, the road inland from Mazatl�n to Durango is to be improved, all arteries that will give area visitors, among others, easier access to tourist and cultural sites, neighboring cities, mountain regions, archeological zones, and indigenous communities.

And finally, for ocean going visitors, the Pacific Coast CIP is to be in harmony with Fonatur`s Sea of Cortez Plan, the system of Transient Marinas, and the so-called Nautical Staircase.

Barnard Thompson, editor of MexiData.info, has spent 50 years in Mexico and Latin America, providing multinational clients with actionable intelligence; country and political risk reporting and analysis; and business, lobbying, and problem resolution services.

Mexico: Emigration Plunged 42 Percent in Last 2 Years Amid Crackdown in United States
Alexandra Olson - Associated Press
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Mexico City - Mexican emigration has dropped 42 percent over the last two years, a government study released Thursday showed, confirming that America has become less appealing amid an economic downturn and stepped up raids against illegal migrants.

About eight of every 1,000 Mexicans emigrated between February and May of this year, according to the survey conducted by the National Statistics and Geography Institute. That's a 42 percent drop from the same period in 2006.

In all of 2007, an estimated 814,000 Mexicans emigrated, compared to 1.2 million in 2006. The figure � which was reached through household surveys � includes all Mexicans who left the country, and did not break down legal and illegal migration.

A summary of the investigation did not delve into the reasons for the drop. But experts say America's economic troubles and tighter border security have deterred many Mexicans from risking the journey to the United States, a trip that often means long desert treks, dodging bandits and bribing corrupt police.

The vast majority of Mexican migrants go to the United States.

The study did not offer statistics past May 2008. But experts expect the trend to continue amid the financial crisis that rattled markets worldwide in September.

"There is no longer an American dream, at least for the moment with the economic situation," said Victor Clark, the director of the Tijuana-based Binational Center for Human Rights, which works with illegal migrants. "News of mass raids snowball through towns that send a lot of migrants. In small northern towns, the news is that there is no work for Mexicans in the United States."

There have long been indications that Mexican emigration has been falling dramatically. The U.S. Border Patrol has reported a 39 percent drop since 2005 in the capture of migrants trying to cross the frontier illegally.

And Mexicans are sending less money home, hurting Mexico's second-largest source of foreign income behind oil exports. Remittances fell 12 percent to $1.9 billion in August, the biggest drop since record-keeping began 12 years ago, according to Mexico's central bank.

Emigration rates will likely recover with the U.S. economy, said Rodolfo Rubio, an investigator with the School of the Northern Frontier, a Mexican think tank.

"It has its fluctuations," he said. "When migrants starting getting news that it's possible to find jobs ... they will certainly starting going again to the United States."

While the sluggish U.S. economy is the main driving force, raids on companies that employ illegal migrants have also contributed to the emigration drop, Rubio said. His institute has found that more than half of deportees in the border city of Ciudad Juarez were caught in raids.

The government statistics are part of the broader 2006-2008 National Survey of Occupation and Employment, which studied 120,000 households.

The study found no significant change in the number of Mexicans coming home. But the drop in emigration was so large that by the end of 2007, more Mexicans were returning home than leaving the country, the study said.

Some authorities believe Mexico will see a surge of returning migrants as the economy worsens in the United States.

Mexico City's municipal government has predicted that up to 30,000 more immigrants than usual will return from the U.S. over the next few months. Other towns across Mexico are also preparing for an influx of returning migrants.

Clark said it was too early to know whether Mexicans would start leaving the United States en masse.

"It's a phenomenon that is barely starting to develop," he said. "Some immigrants say they will travel farther north in the United States to find work. But others say they will come back."

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Want to Buy in Mexico? Here's What You Need to Know
Michael Sasges - Westcoast Homes
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Buy smart, just as you would in Canada, former Vancouverite recommends.

In Mexico, the asking price of a new-construction home is one-quarter to one-third the asking price of a comparable Canadian home. But property ownership by foreigners is restricted. The weather is lovely, but... And the scenery is so different, but...

A recent Mexican real-estate seminar by Canada2Mexico Consulting provided an opportunity to investigate the dream and the reality. Providing the answers below is Victoria Pratt, a former Vancouverite now selling Mexican real estate.

Q: At which Canadians was the Canada2Mexico Consulting seminar aimed?

A: We are seeking Canadians interested in buying a vacation home or a second residence, which could be either a condo or a single-family dwelling, on the Costa Vallarta of Mexico.

This zone is anchored by Puerto Vallarta and the greater Bay of Banderas, and includes towns and resort destinations that Vancouverites may have heard of, such as Nuevo Vallarta, Sayulita and San Francisco in the states of Jalisco and Nayarit.

Q: If a holiday or retirement home in Canada, on average, costs X, what is the Mexican equivalent, or Y?

A: The cost of a resort residence in our area is generally one-third to one-quarter the cost in Canada. Good developments are ranging from about $150 US to $250 US per square foot, completely outfitted with quality ceramic or marble floors, granite countertops, integrated kitchen cabinets and good carpentry for closets and finishes.

I have a buyer who bought a three-bedroom condo in Mexico as a second home for $425,000 US and jokingly commented that he had paid $1.2 million US for his False Creek condo of smaller square footage. Both were bought in pre-construction and both are waterfront properties.

Some listing examples:

� An excellent pre-construction condo development on the El Tigre golf course offers large two-bedroom plans for less than $250,000 US and includes beach-club and health-club memberships and golf-club privileges.

� A three-bedroom oceanfront townhouse with about 2,500 square feet, and fully-furnished, is listed at $789,000 US.

� A two-bedroom oceanview condo of about 1,400 square feet, fully-furnished, is listed for $445,000 US.

The very highest end condos and homes with the finest finishes and most exclusive locations would be in the $300 to $400 per-square-foot range.

Q: The seminar news release says rising house prices, an unstable economy and increasingly expensive medical and health-care costs in Canada are changing the way many Canadians consider their future. Is the Mexican economy stable? What's stability?

A: As a resident of Mexico, I consider the Mexico economy as stable as the global economic conditions currently permit. I am not an economist so can't elaborate on what stability is in technical terms, but can give you my sense of the economic environment in my area.

The tax base is increasing - more people are paying taxes - and tourism has steadily grown over the past 10 years, along with tourism infrastructure in our area, as has real estate development and investment. We will be most affected on a national basis by declining oil prices, similar to the factors that are currently affecting Canada.

Q: Can gringos own real property in Mexico?

A: Yes, foreigners can own property fee simple in the non-restricted area, which is 50 kilometres beyond the ocean borders and 100 kilometres beyond the national borders.

The restricted zone was established within the Mexican constitution for sovereignty reasons. In the mid-1970s, an administrative mechanism was created to permit foreigners to own in the restricted zone by way of deeding the property within a trust.

The trusts are administered by the chartered banks of Mexico and ownership is registered with the secretary of foreign affairs. The owner is named as the first beneficiary of the trust and has all the rights of being able to sell, bequeath, rent or chattel the property in the same manner as a fee-simple regime.

Q: How easy or difficult is probate down there? Is there probate in the Napoleonic Code? Is there joint tenancy? Tenancy in common?

A: A lawyer and the Canadian consulate could be your resource to answer those technicalities.

A foreigner buying real estate in the area in which I sell is required to register title to the property under a trust, as it is located in the "restricted zone.'' The trust offers the advantage that one can name one's heirs as beneficiaries and the process for claim is as simple as proving identity and presenting a death certificate to the authorities in Mexico, notarized and legitimized, of course.

Q: The last half-dozen headlines atop Mexican dispatches published on the Vancouver Sun's news pages, and published before the seminar, suggest that Mexico is plagued by cultural and natural violence. People do ask, I am sure. What do you say?

A: The violence to which the headlines refer is all related to the crackdown on corruption and particularly drug trafficking that is the mandate of Mexico's presidente, Felipe Calderon. The violence is occurring between factions and in retaliation for policing and convictions, as the president implements his anti-corruption campaign.

My personal viewpoint is that there is a lot of money at stake and there is bound to be a power struggle, but it is infighting and the violence is not targeted at the public.

I know similar issues are affecting Vancouverites as one sees the reports and debate on rampant gun use, escalating gang violence and cross-border drug and gun-smuggling.

As residents of the Puerto Vallarta area, we have seen increased security personnel and we feel safe in that protection is there and, if one is not part of a criminal lifestyle, one should not be affected.

With regard to hurricanes, I chose the Costa Vallarta, as it is relatively safe from those perils, being protected by Mexico's third largest bay and having what sailors refer to as a meteorological trough off the coast and that buffets drastic weather. Hurricane risk is mainly in the Atlantic/Gulf/Caribbean area of Mexico and is seasonal.

Q: Please share with Sun readers one "horror story" and its lessons and one life-should-be-so-good story and its lessons.

A: In my 10 years as an owner and nine years living on the Costa Vallarta, I have not had any horror stories among my friends or clients that I could say are unique to Mexico.

There have been a couple of instances of medical emergencies for which my friends rave about the level of medical care. People are happily living their life of retirement, semi-retirement or on vacation.

One hears of folks making silly real-estate deals from time to time. I would say they have likely not acted in the manner they might at home and perhaps made snap decisions or have not consulted with credible professionals.

The lesson is to align yourself with reputable advisers and make an educated decision -- same as in Canada.

Q: Am I wrong to think that in September, when your cross-Canada meetings were announced, they were anything but extraordinary, and now are extraordinary, with so much wealth disappearing around the world?

A: Of the two conferences staged by Canada2Mexico, I have identified buyers for my area. The common denominators are that they have funds earmarked for a vacation-home purchase.

There is, however, warranted concern on where the dollar will settle, but it has not stopped them from actively looking with a purchase goal in mind.

Many developers are considering setting an advantageous peso exchange rate or publishing in pesos (rather than the traditional U.S.-dollar-based price lists) to give a sense of stability to both national and foreign buyers.

We have had, and continue to have, many positive factors as stimulants in our market and we certainly hope they will at least partially offset the effects of the economic crisis.

Victoria Pratt is a sales associate with Pacific Boutique Properties. Her Mexican telephone number is 011 52 1 322 779 9283. Her email address is vp(at)pacificboutiqueproperties.com

			NOVEMBER			2008

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
24	25	26	27	28	29	30
6:30 Karaoke @ Bavarian Gardens		7 pm Most Wanted @ Crazy Nellys	Market Day Mens Golf Thanksgiving Xaltemba Restaurant Thanksgiving Benja's 7 pm Dance with Ramon @ Crazy Nellys ys 7 Enrique Plays the Bavarian Gardens		7:30 pm Karaoke at Crazy Nellys SOLD OUT	NFL @ Nelly's

			DECEMBER			2008

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
6:30 Karaoke @ Bavarian Gardens		7 pm Most Wanted @ Crazy Nellys	Market Day Mens Golf 7 pm Dance with Ramon @ Crazy Nellys 7 Enrique Plays the Bavarian Gardens		7:30 pm Karaoke at Crazy Nellys	NFL @ Nelly's
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
6:30 Karaoke @ Bavarian Gardens		7 pm Most Wanted @ Crazy Nellys	Market Day Mens Golf 7 pm Dance with Ramon @ Crazy Nellys 7 Enrique Plays the Bavarian Gardens	D�a de Nuestra Se�ora de Guadalupe	7:30 pm Karaoke at Crazy Nellys	6 pm Crazy Nelly's Anniversary Party NFL @ Nelly's
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
6:30 Karaoke @ Bavarian Gardens			Market Day Mens Golf
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
Death of Jos� Mar�a Morelos (1815)		Nochebuenas	Navidad			Los Santos Inocentes
29	30	31

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