December 14, 2012

• Report # 951

  Hey everyone, I hope that you’ve all been having a wonderful week. I went to the migration institute again on Wednesday morning, and I talked with a guy at the counter and he was able to figure out why the number I was putting in on the form wasn’t working. He also told me that I can’t do this stuff by myself and that I would have to go in with someone from the company. I headed home and then decided since it was such a nice December day that I would head to Chipinque, which is a beautiful park in the mountains in San Pedro.

  I had to take the metro train, and then take another bus, and then take a taxi, but I did make it. Unfortunately with the cost of entering the park by car and paying the taxi driver, it cost me 235 pesos. (18 dollars) I started walking around and taking tons of pictures. I had been to this park once before two years ago, but I really didn’t see much as I just went with my ex and some friends and we just walked around very little. This time I went on a long trail and walked up hills and through many different terrains, so I took so many pictures.

  I saw a very interesting bird that was mainly blue and white that I hadn’t see before, as well as an animal known as a Coati, which comes from the raccoon family. There was also lots of squirrels as well. It was a super sunny and cool day in Monterrey, and because Chipinque is so high up, it’s even cooler. I have no idea what the temperature was, but in some places I could see my breath. As I walked and continued to climb up the mountain I got to a part on the other side where the sun was coming through, and it actually felt a lot warmer.

  At around 3:30 pm I decided I should head back as I had been walking for two hours and I didn’t want to be caught some place far away in the dark, so I started making my long trip back. I was able to get some cellphone signal at some points, and I was finally able to talk with the lady from Teleperformance and I explained to her that I just had to print off my forms and then I would have to go to the migration institute with someone from the company.

  She told me if she called me back later that day we’d be able to go and Thursday and if not than probably not until Monday. So once again it was the same old story, I was making progress but very little, and very slowly. I got back to the point where the taxi driver dropped me off and seeing as I didn’t want to pay another 18 dollars just to get down I started walking. I knew it would be a long walk, but it was only 5:00 pm, so I had time to get down.

  I was able to answer a call from Arturo as I had signal again and he told me that there was a girl that wanted to meet me and that we would go to a club in the evening. Even though I was way up in the mountain and I still had to make my way down and get home and have a shower and get ready, we weren’t going until 10:30 pm, so I told him I would go.

  I think I was down to the bottom of the mountain a little after 6:00 pm, and after getting through the park, it was still going to be a super long walk to get back to where I would need to take the bus to get home, so I just took a taxi to San Agustin mall. Seeing as I hadn’t really eaten anything all day and I had walked for five hours I was super hungry, so I stopped at Focaccia in the mall and had a lasagna. I picked up a couple of donuts after and caught the bus and then the train and I headed home.

  I had a shower and talked to my parents for about half an hour. I really hope that I will have some news to tell them when I talk with them on Sunday. I headed back to the metro and caught the train for a few stops and met up with Arturo. He didn’t tell me, but he didn’t have his car this time, so we had to take the bus to head into San Pedro. And then he told me the girls couldn’t make it tonight, so we were just going alone….. those adventures with Arturo never really work out !

  Arturo told me they probably wouldn’t let me in the club with my jacket, so we had to leave it in a restaurant. I remember when the jacket was bought it was an expensive jacket, but it’s a sports jacket, meant for outdoor activities, not for going to fancy clubs. It was a chilly night, but at least inside the club it wasn’t so cold. All of these clubs are the same though, the music is super loud, and they all smell like smoke. All of those club people really don’t realize how much they are screwing their health !

  We spent a few hours in there, and while I didn’t really talk to anyone, Arturo did get a number for one girl, so he was happy with that. I’m just not the kind of person who goes into clubs and starts talking with random people. We stayed for a few hours, and Arturo felt pretty bad, but it was obvious to know why…. two bottles of vodka would probably do that to anyone. I ordered a plate of tacos seeing as the restaurant held my jacket for a few hours, and then we had to wait around until 4:30 am to catch the first bus.

  It was such a cool night and even with my jacket I was cold. I saw a weather sign and it said it was 11 C (52 F), but to me it felt more like 7 C. (45 F) After taking the bus I got off and said good-bye to Arturo and then I had to take two metro trains to return home. The city streets were so dead and I was the only person on the train I think. I arrived home and got into bed a little after 5:00 am and slept until a text message from the cellphone company woke me up after 12:30 pm.

  I took the metro to Fundidora Park and did my 10 km run that I’ve done a lot lately. I think today will be a much easier day with the exercise. I ran 10 km yesterday and on Tuesday, and on Wednesday I walked for five hours. My body is actually a little sore, though I’m sure I’ll run again on the weekend. After my run I took the metro to Interplaza to head to the internet cafe and print off my visa request forms. Thankfully they printed off without any problems. I even printed three copies just in case I make a mistake with the signature on one of them !

  I picked up something to eat from Super Salads and then I took the metro back home and had a shower. I called the lady from Telepeformance and I told her that I’ve done everything that I can do myself and that she’ll have to accompany to the migration institute. At first she was saying on Monday, but she then told me we could go at 10:30 am today.

  That would be so much better because if everything goes well, I will have all this stuff done by tomorrow and then it will just be a matter of sitting and waiting until I hear about getting the authorization so I’d be able to make my appointment at the Mexican consulate in Vancouver. I just really hope she will be there tomorrow and that there won’t be any problems. I just want to get all of this stuff out of the way so it gets to the point where I’ve done everything that I can do and just having to sit and wait to hear what the institute says.

  Arturo was telling me that these clubs that we’ve been to in San Pedro can be racist and at times they won’t let in certain people. I don’t know if this is true, though I’m sure they are denying people on a regular basis for all sorts of reasons. San Pedro is a wealthy suburb of Monterrey, and in fact I have read that it is the wealthiest city in all of Latin America. There are a number of reasons for this, one of them being that Monterrey has a high concentration of big companies, so I can imagine a lot of presidents and vice presidents and corporate executives of these companies are living in San Pedro.

  And while I’d never say it too loudly, I’m sure there are at least a few drug traffickers who live in San Pedro as well. After all they make tons of money, and San Pedro is a very safe city with high security, so they have it pretty good living where they do. If the city was really interested in figuring out who those people are and doing something about it they probably could, but I think they have mostly chosen to ignore it and deciding that by just letting people live in peace there will be less problems.

  I can definitely tell the difference between the people I see in the clubs in San Pedro and the people I see on the Metro and walking the streets of Monterrey. Now I am not saying this for any other reason other than the reason which is the reason… its obvious, but the people who go to the clubs in San Pedro are usually more light skinned Mexicans. There seems to be some sort of ridiculous conception going on about status that light skinned people have some European pedigree and are considered more beautiful, but all I can say is that is utterly ridiculous and flat out wrong.

  If there are clubs not only in San Pedro, but anywhere in the world who are denying people based on their personal appearance, I really think the city should be putting a stop to that because it’s complete discrimination. The girls are definitely a lot taller in these clubs, some of them were even taller than I was without even using heels, and the guys well some of them dressed like some sort of preppy farm boy, and others well just all out preppy period !

  It’s just unfortunate there are such stupid divisions between people over such stupid things. I’ve said lots of times before that there is not one group of people that is more attractive than another group of people, and there are beautiful people from all over the place. Clearly some places have no understood this point yet and that’s just very sad. Yet in Mexico there still seems to be a struggle among these issues…. one just needs to watch some of the Mexican Telenovelas (soap operas) to truly understand.

  Basically these soap operas are showing the 10 % group of Mexican people as if they are the majority, and when there is someone who truly represents the majority of Mexicans, they are a very poor person who cleans houses. The TV channels here should be ashamed of themselves that they have allowed this to go on for so many years and have chosen to falsely portray their own people and show them in such a poor light.

  It would be nice to know that one day some people will really step up and take on these forms of discrimination and extremely poor portrayals of the people that are shown on the TV, but until someone decides enough is enough nothing will change. We should all respect and appreciate diversity and understand that beauty comes from all colours and backgrounds. And while it seems the world has come along way to understanding this, there still is a long ways to go.

  For the next question:
  
  Do you think that some clubs discriminate based on how a person looks ? What can be done to put an end to this discrimination and the false portrayals of certain people on the television ?

  Today I will leave you all with some pictures from Allende at night and Monterrey during a cool, cloudy day. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Monday, bye for now.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  • 9:08 am
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