Category Archives: Uncategorized

Finishing the House


A Home for Juan Manuel is approaching the finish line, thanks to so many of you! Your generosity and interest in this project have been heartwarming. Juan Manuel and Don Rodolfo are over the moon. It is a great blessing that work continued throughout the holidays; that our builder, Zata, has shown up to work every day; that we haven’t experienced theft of materials or major overruns; and that so many of you have been so generous with your assistance and support. Having said that, our budget is very, very tight coming into the home stretch.

We have collected 86,905 pesos. Thus far we have paid out 59,587 (23,500 in labor, 36,087 in materials), for a remainder of 27,318. We still owe Zata, per his proposal, 23,100 pesos. We had been paying him 5000 per week, but this past week we only paid him 3500 as work had not been completed as quickly as planned and it worries me that work will not be completed before our budget runs out. I would like to have some money left to reward him with a bonus at the end for all his hard work. However, current accounting shows us with only 4218 for the remaining supplies. Click on any photo to enlarge it or see a slideshow.

The architect’s budget did not include doors, windows, electrical, plumbing, any of the fixtures, waterproofing the roof, paint, etc. Live and learn; he only listed supplies for the basic structure itself. Obviously, my dream of putting in a wheelchair ramp for Juan Manuel’s house and for Don José’s next door will not be happening. We have received a very kind donation of a nice used door which, unfortunately, doesn’t fit either of the openings that have been built. We have just found a man who can adapt it to the rear door frame, however, and we are very grateful for that. Another kind lady has promised the final two windows built to size, and we are very grateful for that. Fingers crossed.

This week’s plan includes to finish smoothing the exterior walls, plaster the interior walls, install the junction box, outlets and switches. Next week should be installation of doors and windows. 

Can You Help?
Door measurements are 96 cm x 295 cm for the front door. Should you have an extra door that meets these size requirements please let us know. A used small ceiling fan would also come in handy, as would one of those small under-counter refrigerators. If you or your friends have money you could spare, it would be wonderful to be able to finish this up by waterproofing the concrete roof. One lady has kindly sewn bed coverings and bought sheets for two mattresses, plus is working to furnish Juan Manuel’s kitchen with used pots, pans, plates and utensils. Please help us get the word out; here is the link to the original post with payment options.

Many thanks and may God and karma shower each of you all with warm, love-filled blessings! As Yolanda reminds me, “have faith; God will provide.” I’m grateful to God, and grateful for each of you as well.

COVID Update Mazatlán 2

0a8e9588-fdf1-4599-aa96-304b31832dadI believe it’s time for an update on COVID-19 here in Mazatlán. I have been working so hard to help out and these posts take time, but I realize getting information to you is overdue. Our economies need to reopen; our people need to work to support their families. My hope is we can do so sanely, smartly, wisely, effectively.

Throughout this crisis, official figures and those reported on the ground by medical professionals have differed significantly. Doctors at our three public hospitals tell me they estimate 1000 people in Mazatlán are currently infected with COVID-19, and of that number 800 are asymptomatic. We need to take care, please; even if you are not sick, please shelter at home if you can, wear a mask when you are out and maintain a safe distance from others.

From the perspective of our public hospitals and their medical staff (ISSSTE, IMSS and the new General Hospital), we are in a horrendous crisis. The federal government has us at MAXIMUM RISK right now. While fortunately in Mazatlán we have had enough beds and equipment, the new General Hospital, for example, tells me they are running with only 30% of their normal medical staff! And during a crisis, when you’d think it would be all hands-on deck! Such under-staffing is due to some staff being infected, but more to people quitting, refusing to come to work, or taking leave and citing pregnancy or underlying conditions. There is too much work, the stress levels are through the roof, medical workers are scared, and they are dropping out in droves. The reason so many medical professionals refuse to work is because they do not have the personal protective equipment (PPEs) they need to stay safe and healthy. Their work also requires them to live separately from their families during this pandemic, if they are able, or to risk infecting loved ones if they are not careful.

The new General Hospital is running with only 30% of their normal medical staff.

Yes, I agree with many of you: the federal, state and municipal governments should be providing that gear to public hospitals. I suppose they are doing their best; it’s not my role to comment. The bottom line is that our medical staff do not have the protective gear they need. I ask them to take photos of the staff with the gear we provide them, as proof to all of you that your money goes directly to helping them. In nearly every photo taken there is at least one person without appropriate gear, risking his/her life for our welfare. It is heartbreaking.

So many of you have been doing amazing and wonderful work during this time to help out our local community. Local businesses are donating protective equipment, food and money. Many individuals have donated to Mazatlán Comparte, a volunteer position I’ve held nearly full-time for the past six weeks—100% of those donations go to buy either food for the Food Bank or medical supplies for our local public hospitals. Many of you are making masks, face shields or desk shields and donating them to those who need them, which is terrific. Others are helping out at shelters or feeding the needy. Whatever you are doing, bless you, bless you, bless you. And if you can do more, please do. Now is the time. Click any photo to enlarge it or view a slideshow.

This crisis has brought out the best and the worst in people. For each of you who is feeding the needy, we see a grandmother kicked out of her home because her family doesn’t want to nurse her or become infected, or a single woman forced to leave her own home in a wealthy community because, instead of offering to bring their neighbor food and medical supplies, her neighbors “want to be able to walk their dogs freely without fear of contagion.” Today the first baby with COVID is in IMSS Mazatlán, but she is fortunately doing well.

How much PPE (Personal Protective Equipment for medical professionals) is needed?
A few generous people who have donated money to Mazatlán Comparte ask me, “surely you have enough equipment now?” Let me try to explain the insatiable appetite of Personal Protective Equipment. EACH medical professional on a DAILY BASIS needs:

  • 1 KN95 mask
  • 10 pairs of nitrile gloves
  • 10 pairs of latex gloves
  • 1 surgical gown
  • 1 pair of boot covers
  • 1 coverall (now we are buying reusable ones which can last up to 5 days)

Obviously, that’s quite a bit of needed gear. In one week, a medical professional will need six KN95 masks, 60 pairs of gloves, six surgical gowns and one coverall.

But the real problem comes in the quantity of people at each hospital who interact with COVID patients and thus need PPEs. At our IMSS General Hospital Zone 3, for example, on a daily basis 199 medical staff interact with COVID patients and need PPEs! That number includes 43 doctors, 97 nurses, 10 assistants, 11 social workers, 15 janitors, 12 stretcher-bearers and 11 triage doctors. That means that just ONE of our THREE main public hospitals here in town on a DAILY basis requires:

  • 200 KN95 masks
  • 2000 pairs of nitrile gloves
  • 2000 pairs of latex gloves
  • 200 surgical gowns
  • 200 pairs of boot covers
  • 200 coveralls

The new General Hospital tells me they need PPEs daily for 110 professionals who attend COVID patients. ISSSTE hospital needs PPEs for 190 professionals daily. That’s a total of 500 medical professionals who DAILY need PPEs to treat current COVID patients here in Mazatlán; the quantities are untenable.

Every day in Mazatlán’s public hospitals, 500 medical professionals need PPEs to treat COVID patients.

To put this all into perspective, with your very generous help, in April and May Mazatlán  Comparte supported local medical staff with donations of:

  • 820 KN95 masks
  • 190 coveralls
  • 37 pairs of boot covers
  • 36 boxes of 250 nitrile gloves (4500 pairs)

Today we will purchase 500 additional KN95 masks at the miraculous price right now of 104 pesos each. These donations are wonderful! There is no doubt they have saved lives. And yet, from a larger perspective, they are a sad drop in the bucket. The longer this pandemic continues, the more PPE is needed; it’s insatiable. That’s why we need to keep the curve from spiking by reopening wisely and doing what each of us can to prevent the spread of the virus.

Difficulties/Challenges with Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs)
Last time I shared with you how challenging it has been to help. Prices of many PPEs have skyrocketed, due both to demand and to greed/price-gouging (surgical gowns normally cost 30 pesos and now are up to 160 pesos each with IVA). Many of the PPEs for sale are counterfeit and won’t work properly, so we require vigilance at every step of the purchase process and verification of every shipment upon receipt by medical professionals. Finally, the PPEs can be very difficult to find, though thankfully over the past weeks that has eased a bit. We now have a stable of trusted providers who are dedicated to selling us verified protective equipment at fair prices; let’s hope that continues. The problem is that prices of some needed items can skyrocket, or become unavailable, so it’s always a challenge. And the needs vary, too, as material is received from federal, state and municipal authorities. At Mazatlán Comparte we give the PPEs that the hospitals most need at the moment to the hospitals that are most in need. During a week ISSSTE might receive a shipment of coveralls and not need them for a couple of weeks, while IMSS might be in desperate need of masks that we can provide.

The second challenge has been in getting the PPEs to those in need. Unbelievably, especially in the beginning, there were medical professionals who resold some of the donations received (none of Mazatlán Comparte’s, thanks to careful teamwork), or handed them out to their friends at work rather than just to those working with COVID patients. At Mazatlán Comparte, we have team members from the IMSS, ISSSTE and new General Hospitals who are in charge of COVID professionals and who ensure the PPEs we provide are used for exactly the purpose intended.

Protect a Medical Professional for One Week: 2500 pesos. That amount will purchase everything that person needs for a week of work: hooded, reusable coverall, KN95 masks, nitrile and latex gloves, surgical gowns and boot covers.

How Can You Help?

  1. Please wear a mask when you are out and about, as the government recommends. This protects you and those around you. Please wash your hands frequently and use hand sanitizer.
  2. Please do not use medical grade equipment for non-medical uses! Using medical-grade overalls and KN95 face masks to spray bleach on the malecón or to sanitize cars is overkill and deprives our medical personnel of vital material. Neither is required for day-to-day use by normal people like you and me. If you have medical-grade material, please consider donating it to a hospital.
  3. Maintain social distance as the government recommends. Stay vigilant that the bank you go to, the restaurant you’re visiting, are following sanitary protocols and, if not, get out of there.
  4. Reach out to neighbors who are alone; offer to bring them what they might need.
  5. Stay calm and centered; don’t give in to fear. This is a virus; an infection is very painful, but what we are doing is trying to prevent the curve from spiking. We want to reopen our economies, resume our lives, but let’s do so smartly.
  6. Donate: Mazatlán Comparte has systems in place to ensure that the PPEs we buy are functional. We also get better prices, due to buying in quantity and coordinating amongst multiple hospitals and cities. KN95 masks, for example, have varied in price to us from between 121 and 71 pesos per mask, while they tend to be much costlier on the open market. We buy reusable medical-grade hooded coveralls for 350 pesos each; again, much higher on the open market.

Protect a Medical Professional Campaign
Mazatlán Comparte has a new campaign: Protect a Medical Professional. There are several options. The amounts below will purchase everything that person needs for a week of work: hooded, reusable coverall, KN95 masks, nitrile and latex gloves, surgical gowns and boot covers. Remember that just in Mazatlán’s public hospitals, we need PPEs for 460 medical professionals every week!

  • For one month: 10,000 pesos
  • For one week: 2500 pesos

Or, you can help by donating smaller amounts. A week of the following for one medical professional:

  • Surgical gowns: 1120 pesos
  • KN95 masks: 700 pesos
  • Reusable hooded coverall: 350 pesos

Or, one surgical gown and a pair of boot covers (for one professional for one day): 200 pesos

To donate for medical gear: Donate to Hospice Mazatlán, I.A.P. with the comment “Mazatlán Comparte” to distinguish that your donation goes to combat COVID-19. http://www.hospicemazatlan.org/donativos/

To donate food: Donate to Banco De Alimentos Mazatlán Iap with the comment “Mazatlán Comparte” to indicate that your donation go to COVID-19 relief. https://www.paypal.me/BAMXMAZATLAN

Other Ideas
Mazatlán Comparte is also thinking to do a series of online auctions. That could be fun for everyone involved. Might you have a skill that you could share? Say, cooking a gourmet dinner for four people, and we will deliver it to the purchaser? Or maybe your company could donate something it provides? Cases of wine, kilograms of coffee, boxes of frozen shrimp and scallops? If you do, please let me know.

Bless you all! I know many retired folks are on fixed incomes and find it difficult to help. Many of you help friends and family. Whatever you do, thank you! I pray you stay healthy and well, and that as a community we become stronger together!

Covid-19 Update Mazatlán

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Despite—or perhaps because of—our concern about Semana Santa and COVID-19, things are finally getting quiet here in Mazatlán: no RAZRs running up and down the malecón at all hours, almost no motorcycles revving, and very few pulmonías or aurigas blaring their music in the middle of the night. It has taken a while, but Mexico is on board.

This pandemic to me is Mother Nature’s way of sending us all to our rooms and telling us to reflect on our actions while she cleans up her air. I do hope we will listen, but looking at the number of single-use masks now polluting our global waterways (photos below from the internet–not from Mazatlán), it seems we are not learning.

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Governor Quirino Ordaz first closed schools and massive events; then casinos, discos and cinemas. Next bars and restaurants were ordered to scale back seating 50%. Despite all this, we went a couple of weeks with loads of fireworks going off around town periodically and banda music blaring—showing that, despite the cancellation of loads of parties and events, others continued. Even now El Muchacho Alegre seems to have a party crowd in the evenings.

As it is up north, here it’s difficult to find hand gel, good sanitizer (bleach seems readily available), and face masks. We worry if medical staff will have the equipment they will need. A week or ten days ago people in Mazatlán started to make fabric masks. First they passed them out to family and friends, and now many locals are selling them, including ones made by the domestic-violence-surviving young women at Floreser. If you need homemade masks, they are my go-to source. Call Ely Cucurumbe at 669-123-1669 and she’ll deliver some to you (50 pesos each); she speaks great English.

Many restaurants have now voluntarily closed or have cut back to pickup or delivery only, including the Panama chain. This week the governor closed all beaches in Sinaloa: ocean, river, lake, stream. We have watched all day today as the lifeguards on 4-wheelers chase down anyone walking or gathering on the beach and make them leave. Banks, doctor’s offices and many stores are practicing the social distancing promoted by cartoon super-heroine “Susana Distancia” (“sana distancia” is “social distancing”) by marking their floors and setting chairs at a safe distance. This sadly does not prevent people from crowding around on top of each other. Below is a photo of the sign on the Cuban place, Carlos and Lucía’s, in the Golden Zone.

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All but essential workers have been asked to shelter in place, as we accustom to a new normal of food and grocery deliveries (stores remain open). Of course workers who are accustomed to living paycheck to paycheck are suffering horribly. President Lopez Obrador has promised relief, and Mazatlán’s mayor has done so, as well. It’s not enough, but it’s something. Most foreigners here have paid their housekeepers to stay home and not work, and I believe most foreign-owned businesses are doing the best they can by their workers, too. These are challenging times, to say the least. Yet, there are those who continue kissing, hugging and drinking on the malecón, and others who insist on partying. It breaks my heart, as so many of us are already indoors for three weeks in order to help minimize the effect of this virus on the community.

Click on any photo to enlarge it or view a slideshow.

Wednesday the governor ordered the closure of all hotels. The AquaMarina Hotel had been one of the first to close, it seems a couple of weeks ago already. The photos above are of workers putting up a fence to prevent access to the Olas Altas Inn on the malecón, plus photos of the Hotel Playa Mazatlán, closed for the first time since its founding, the Decima and the Playa Bonita.

Several of the hotels have lit hearts using the lights of their empty rooms, as a sign of hope to our fair city, I suppose. I do love the gesture. The Hotel Hacienda, of course, has a tradition of lighting up for the holidays. Sadly, this time it’s not a celebration.

Photo by Carlos Pérez

Below I throw in a pic of tonight’s sunset for those of you who are up north.

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Be well, dear readers, whether you are here in Mazatlán or you have returned to your families up north. Stay home, stay safe. Help out anyone you know who is alone, has special needs or underlying medical conditions. I hope you can use the time to read, learn a new skill or try a new exercise. Take care of yourselves and reach out to others; creativity is key as we tread this new territory.

Truck Lovers

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The first Semana de la Troca hit Mazatlán this week and over 500 pickups—from classic and beater to custom and modern—hit the Avenida de la Bahía facing the new Central Park this weekend. Participants arrived Friday for a parade last evening followed by a concert (we live streamed it on Facebook), and are partying again this evening. The event will finish tomorrow (Sunday) morning.

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We met truck lovers from several states, lots of families, members of truck clubs, Mazatlecos now living outside the city and coming home for a visit. The car show, rally and musical event is sponsored by Mzt Trucks and the Asociación Trokera Nacional. We experienced a whole lot of excitement and bonding, and big hopes for making this an annual tradition. I guess Mazatlán is becoming the motorized vehicle capital of the area?

I am recovering from major surgery, so hobbling around with a cane. I was excited to get outside, if even for an hour, so put on my fisheye lens and had a bit of fun with what we saw. I trust you’ll enjoy the pics! Click on any photo to enlarge it or view a slideshow.

 

Lost Mazatlecan Tradition?

DSC_4630©Mazatlán has a tradition of fishing that dates back probably a thousand years: shrimping with hand nets. The gorgeous way the tarayas spread out and then splash onto the water has always fascinated me; it’s a very tranquil, rhythmic dance. Below are a couple sequences of the net throwing, to give you a better idea.

Riparian shrimp fishermen go out in small pangas in pairs. Reminiscent of the gondoliers of Venice, the non-fisherman sits in the back of the boat and holds a long stick (la palanca, made of mangrove wood) with which he pushes the boat through the shallow lagoon or estuary. The second person stands in the front of the panga and casts the net. Click on any photo to enlarge it or view a slideshow.

Toño, “El Cubano”
Felipe, the fisherman who kindly let me join the group

Watching shrimp fishermen work in the estuaries and lagoons of Mazatlán has brought me joy since I first arrived here on La Bala train in 1979. Back then much of the Golden Zone was still covered with waterways (Laguna Gaviotas and Estero El Sábalo), as was the whole of the marina area (Salvador Allende). El Venadillo, Laguna del Camarón and Estero del Yugo were much larger. And there were shrimpers everywhere! We were all in shrimp heaven!

Just as we can hail an oyster diver or a fishermen to buy his catch today, up to a few short years ago we could buy the catch direct from shrimpers easily here in Mazatlán. But now? It’s a gorgeous and delicious tradition awaiting the final nail in its coffin. I posted a couple of photos on Facebook a few days ago of buying shrimp from the shrimpers in Estero de Escopama, and I immediately had about 20 people asking me privately (they don’t want others to know!) the secret to where they could go to buy such shrimp. Now that we’ve cemented over our waterways, we have to travel that much farther to see the beauty of the tarayas.

If Mazatlán were Patzcuaro, we’d be promoting the beauty of our traditional fishing methods as tourist attractions. There, of course, the “butterfly net” fishermen catch tourist tips much more frequently than they catch fish. In Mazatlán, however, we seem to have purposefully worked the past 50 years to kill our centuries-old tradition. At the same time we seek UNESCO certification as a Creative City in Culinary Arts, we lose the tradition for harvesting the shrimp for our famous aguachiles.

I was very fortunate to be welcomed into the last hand net shrimping cooperative in our city, The Veterans of the Mexican Revolution. They most kindly agreed to take me out with them while they fished. The first day I joined them, they caught 135 kg of shrimp that they sold to the owner of a pescadería at the Stone Island Embarcadero. The second day I joined the group they sadly caught far less: maybe 35 kg. They told me that was because it’s the end of the season, and because it was a cloudy day. Cooperative members share equally in their catch. Some may choose to take their daily pay in shrimp, others prefer cash. Either way, it’s equal: you fish, you get paid.

85 year old José Ibarra Rodriguez is the only surviving founder of the cooperative. In the video below he tells me that they started the fishing cooperative in 1967, and their first day of fishing was August 16, 1968. At the time, they purchased a 50 year federal concession to fish. There are currently 24 members in the co-op.

However, due to the government losing documentation, and to the emphasis on tourism and development over the environment, over the years they have lost most of the estuaries that they used to fish, and are currently fighting over the rights to everything between Escopama and Pozole (Dimas).

The estuaries and lagoons of Mazatlán used to be lined with mangroves, filled with shrimp and fish, and home to endemic and migratory birds. Our gorgeous bay, dozens of miles of beaches and the wetlands, with our view of the Sierras to the east, is what attracted the Who’s Who of Hollywood as well as so many renowned writers and artists to our city.

The sad thing to me is that very soon we will have to go even farther to see the beauty of the tarayas. Other fishermen in the group tell me they have lost their concession to fish the Escopamas, and that the Salinitas concession has also expired. Mazatlán’s centuries-long culinary tradition continues to die out at the very time we seek UNESCO accreditation.

I leave you with a few happier shots of the pelicans that gladly clean up the smaller fish that the fishermen fail to throw back in, as well as some cormorants fighting over a fish.