Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2016 7:10:42 GMT 7
I stayed near a village called Otates the other day, and the maid at the house I was in lived in the village. I mentioned in another thread that her husband went to the USA twelve years ago along with his best pal and they both disappeared. The suspicion is that they failed to pay the $8000 due to the traffickers and were buried in shallow graves.
The local head family - feudal lords, so to speak - have kept a tight grip on the area for decades, however drug wars are always in the background. Their head man was assassinated along with two bodyguards at a roadside cafe. A third bodyguard ran towards Otates, and by the time he got to the village entrance, he was gunned down for cowardice. Running away was not to be tolerated.
I happened to meet that guys daughter.
She pointed out to me that if you see a roadside memorial in a strange place, for example on a straight road - it wasn't a car accident. That's where they found the body ( a body dump ) after the murder. They believe that where they find the body is where the persons soul ascended to heaven, hence the little shrines.
"But if you see a shrine on a corner, that's where some drunk has crashed his car," she smiled, in an attempt at putting my mind at ease.
While I was near the village an old lady died - and that heralded an all night vigil followed by a New Orleans style band leading the procession to the internment. Fast burials are required here as you'd expect in the heat.
"We only have so much ice," said the maid.
If you drove along the village roads you'd think you were in Thailand. Wait, that's a lie. Almost every village in Thailand now has a hardtop road - not here. Rubble is poured and crushed in an attempt to give a stable surface, then the floods come and wash it all away. The street side stalls, the fruit vendors by the side of the country road, and many more things are recognizable though.
I was at a Mariachi band concert last night in a beautiful 19th century theatre. Cameras weren't allowed, so no photos, sorry. The best way to explain this theatre is that it looked like the same one in the Godfather 3 movie. While sitting there an American mentioned to me that 25% of deaths in Mexico are accidental -
"Then you add on the murders and there ain't many natural deaths left."
Oh dear - anyway, the concert was great - here's an example of what I saw:
The local head family - feudal lords, so to speak - have kept a tight grip on the area for decades, however drug wars are always in the background. Their head man was assassinated along with two bodyguards at a roadside cafe. A third bodyguard ran towards Otates, and by the time he got to the village entrance, he was gunned down for cowardice. Running away was not to be tolerated.
I happened to meet that guys daughter.
She pointed out to me that if you see a roadside memorial in a strange place, for example on a straight road - it wasn't a car accident. That's where they found the body ( a body dump ) after the murder. They believe that where they find the body is where the persons soul ascended to heaven, hence the little shrines.
"But if you see a shrine on a corner, that's where some drunk has crashed his car," she smiled, in an attempt at putting my mind at ease.
While I was near the village an old lady died - and that heralded an all night vigil followed by a New Orleans style band leading the procession to the internment. Fast burials are required here as you'd expect in the heat.
"We only have so much ice," said the maid.
If you drove along the village roads you'd think you were in Thailand. Wait, that's a lie. Almost every village in Thailand now has a hardtop road - not here. Rubble is poured and crushed in an attempt to give a stable surface, then the floods come and wash it all away. The street side stalls, the fruit vendors by the side of the country road, and many more things are recognizable though.
I was at a Mariachi band concert last night in a beautiful 19th century theatre. Cameras weren't allowed, so no photos, sorry. The best way to explain this theatre is that it looked like the same one in the Godfather 3 movie. While sitting there an American mentioned to me that 25% of deaths in Mexico are accidental -
"Then you add on the murders and there ain't many natural deaths left."
Oh dear - anyway, the concert was great - here's an example of what I saw:
