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Home  The News Latest The Mazatlan Grapevine February 08 |
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The Mazatlan Grapevine February 08 |
The Mazatlan Grapevine
By: Greg Brady
 Mazatlan, Sinaloa, México, February, 1th. 2008.- Every year at Carnival time, one of the highlights of the entertainment spectacles is the traditional roast, that is, the burning in effigy of the year’s most distinguished villain(s), dubbed el mal humor, sort of like “the evil spirit”. This year’s representative of the incarnation of iniquity is: the band of inebriated rascals who last summer had the audacity to lasso Mazatlan’s beloved Deer Statue (remember, Mazatlán is an indigenous word meaning “land of the deer”, and, believe it or not, there are still little deers lurking around not too far off the beaten paths), tear it down from its pedestal and drag it with their pick-up truck through the streets, irreparable damaging it! The local police hunted them down at their Golden Zone hotel, and found incriminating evidence indicating that these rowdies from rival city Culiacán were the guilty culprits. It turned out to be a very expensive prank for them, and now they will burn in infamy on Carnaval Saturday, joining the ranks of past villains such as Osama Bin Laden and Monica Lewinsky. The good news is that the original artist/ sculptor has since recreated a larger, maybe even better version of the Deer, and it now graces its old roost on Avenida Olas Altas (in front of the offices of your humble servants at Sinaloa Interactivo).
China will be sending an official delegation to Mazatlan’s Carnaval 2008 to participate in various events, including the spectacular float parade and the extravaganza coronation of the Carnival Queen. The Chinese Embassy in Mexico City, in an outreaching gesture as the Chinese  Olympics approach, has authorized and subsidized the cultural envoys, who will present samples of Chinese culture in the form of music, dance, and symbolic representations such as an impressive legendary dragon float. Carnaval 2008 coordinator Guillermo Osuna is enthusiastic, saying, “This year we have the participation of a delegation of forty youngsters sent to us courtesy of the Embassy of China. They will be displaying the famous Chinese dragon, and will have a presence in the parades and coronations.”
Talk about facing reality, the Sinaloa state Secretary of Public Education and Culture has announced that maybe they will postpone plans to implement a mandatory third year of kindergarten before admission to first grade. Florentina Castro, head of SEPyC, noted that the logistics of caring for 3 year olds may be beyond the capacity of the nation’s school systems. “The view taken by the secretaries, and I agree, is that nobody should be obligated to do the impossible, and the implementation of this reform appears impossible.” So 3 year olds may breathe a sigh of relief, and spend another year before reporting to perform their scholarly duties. School inscriptions in Mazatlan begin in early February.
 The City’s new Mayor, Jorge Abel Lopez Sanchez, recently declared that, starting in March, seat belt use will begin to be rigorously enforced, and that breathalyzers will become part of the municipal police forces daily routine. The new enforcement policy will be preceded by a publicity blitz to expand public awareness about traffic safety. Quoth the Mayor, “In February, the municipal government will begin an educational campaign which will encourage the government and you, the public, to respect the laws of transit.”
Mazatlan’s pioneer recycling organization, Separado No Es Basura (Separated, It’s Not Garbage) initiated a cleanup of the roadside on the way to the airport on Saturday, January 26. Over one hundred participants, including volunteers from the Escuela Nautica, Instituto Anglo- Moderno, Instituto Cultural de Occidente, Policia Federal Preventativa, Grupo Pueblo Bonito, yellow taxi company ATAMSA and airport personnel helped pick up litter and debris to help to give a good first impression to airport arrivals. Separado No Es Basura general coordinator Patricia Coppel de Kronemeyer stated that, “by doing this, we hope not just to clean up the area of initial contact for tourists coming to our city, but also to invite the authorities and citizenry to set in motion a permanent project for cleaning and dignifying the city’s image.”
 On a sad note, Mazatlan’s pride and joy, baseball team Los Venados (the Deer), made it all the way to the finals but lost a hard fought best of seven series against the Yaquis of Ciudad Obregon. It was a bittersweet season for Los Venados, as some of their best players of previous years were not on the roster, beloved 3 time champion manager Juan Jose Pacho was replaced by new manager Eddie Diaz after a lackluster first half of the temporada, and they lost their last game at home on a Sunday. On the bright side, the first week in February, an all-star Mexican squad will compete in the Serie Caribe against other Latin American countries, and Venados ace pitcher Walter Silva and designated hitter Roberto Saucedo will be on the team. ¡Buena suerte!
That’s all for now!
G Brady
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