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November 10, 2002.
I have made
so many mental notes over the last couple of weeks that I can't remember any of
them now. It must have something to do with those "Senior Moments" everyone
tells me about… I don't know where to start. I think the time has come for
me to stop trusting in "mental" and starting putting on "paper". I
am absolutely amazed at the metamorphosis this town has undergone over the last
couple of weeks, following Kenna's departure. I am impressed by the solidarity
people have shown in helping each other. There are places where you truly cannot
tell that there had been devastation so very recently. Our
friend Mary pointed out something very interesting to me. She said, "Think
about it. If you had arrived in Vallarta 13 days ago, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2002,
as a tourist on a two-week vacation, by now you would have experienced hurricane
Kenna, a couple of good 'n heavy almost-unheard-of November rains and a 4.8 earthquake
on Tuesday morning, Nov. 5th, and still have two days of your vacation left. In
between you would have had sunshine, friendly hard-working people putting the
city back together again and enough stories to tell your friends to last you until
your next trip to Vallarta!" Mary, you put it so succinctly and so well.
Thank you! I am not at all impressed by the behavior of
some of the insurance adjustors and their companies, that have underwritten some
of the enterprises that were damaged or destroyed by the hurricane. I know I shouldn't
be surprised, but I still am. It seems to me that insurance companies are the
same all over the world: they love to harass you to make sure you pay your premiums
on time, but they just hate to part with their money when time comes to pay up
…even if you haven't had a claim in years, or ever. And
I am even less impressed by banks. As my regular readers know, they are my pet
peeve (along with TelMex from time to time…) Now I find out that Canadian
banks have gone the way of all others. And they used to be so efficient…
I tried to do a wire transfer from my account up north to the one I have here.
Six long distance telephone calls later (and mucho $$$ in telephone charges) I
find out that they will no longer do wire transfers, not by phone, not by internet,
not by fax. Now whoever wants to do such a complicated transaction must stand
-physically- in front of the young man who kept repeating "I'm only following
orders, ma'am" to me on the phone. The human element
is gone. The fact that one has been a client for over 35 years, with an A-1 credit
rating, and gold and platinum and diamond-studded "client cards" - no
longer matters… Here, Bancomer sent me a letter with a card and a flyer,
advising me that from now on I could do all kinds of wild and wonderful things
- by phone! Wrong. Not so. Doesn't work. I tried, many times. It doesn't work.
After wearing my finger down pressing all the various buttons they told me to
press, I was told (by a recording of course) that in order to continue I needed
to punch in the number of my debit card. Whassat? I've never been issued a debit
card for our company account. And my bank is somewhere out in the Pacific ocean
(it was the Bancomer at the foot of Guerrero St.) Thank goodness for Lupita whom
I found by luck at another one of the bank's surviving branches. She was able
to help me out. Besides, all I wanted to know was if there were any pesos left
in my account… Over the last couple of weeks, I have
had the opportunity to see and read about both sides of the human condition as
a result of the event and its sequels. I've seen entire families, with babes in
arms, go to a neighbor's shop just to help him clean up the debris. I've seen
people lend money with no questions asked, no papers signed, just to help someone
out. I've seen multiple examples of the goodness we all have within us. But I've
also witnessed the ugly, the folks who came with suitcases to fill them up with
other people's goods that were floating in the streets. And of course, I read
about the lady who videoed a cop looting… (He was later fired.) My
heart goes out to Pat Henry and Lucy Muñoz and Gil Givens. Is it not strange
that Gil and Pat, both of whom will be having their book signings this Saturday
(see separate article in this issue) should have lost all their belongings to
Kenna? I know we're not supposed to ask why… but still, why? For
those of you who live here, please remember that Tuesday, November 12th is "El
Día del Cartero" in Mexico. That means that it is the day of the letter
carriers, i.e.: if yours has managed to climb all the way up the hills or stairs
that lead to your place, more or less frequently, do consider giving him or her
a little something special on that day. Remember that those folks get paid a most
pitiful salary (if we can call it that). And as of two years ago, there were only
12 of them to service a town of 250,000 !!! I don't know if they were given the
budget to increase their team since then. There have been many improvements over
the last couple of years, yes, our postman now has a little motorcycle, but still…
So remember: El Día del Cartero, November 12th. The
other day, my internet-generated horoscope told me: "Discard those items
from the past that really have no use for you anymore. Much as you like to surround
yourself with objects of sentimental value, the time comes when it is necessary
to look to the future, rather than dwell on the past. Time spent cleaning up and
throwing out will release you from the past so that you can embrace the future..."
Hmm, them's wise words. Even though I was spared any damage whatsoever from Kenna,
which caused many people to put their past behind even though they didn't want
to do so, I think I might do just that. Be well, take
good care of yourselves and each other. Hasta Luego! pvmomto3@hotmail.com Archives
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