Today, the Federal Electoral Tribunal will make their announcement about the disputed election in Mexico. I have written about it before. Apparently, they are going to declare Felipe Calderon the winner. This is not going to make the thousands of people who are protesting happy. Here’s the article.
Some interesting things in the article:
- Lopez Obrador is considering setting up a “parallel government.”
- Lopez Obrador’s party controls Mexico City. This is why they haven’t been removed from the main square and have been allowed to keep up their protest.
- Business leaders said Monday they plan to file lawsuits against Mexico City’s government and Lopez Obrador’s party, alleging they are responsible for $369 million in lost revenues due to the protests.
- Hundreds of supporters of leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador set up an overnight camp at the court’s headquarters late Monday, vowing to prevent the judges from declaring Calderon president.
This is definitely a big day in Mexican politics. This also means a lot for the stability of the country. The reaction to today’s declaration will determine a lot about the future months.
Here’s a little video I found on Youtube today about the tents that are all over Mexico City protesting the election results. The street that all those tents are on is usually the main road going through downtown. Right now, it’s all blocked by people who are upset about the election. Who knows when it will be resolved.
Since we already gave you 5 places to visit in Mexico City, here are the 5 non-work related places we visit every week along with the things we buy there or do:
- Costco: We go there to buy milk (imported from the US), diapers, chicken, and beef. Nathan likes to sample the cheese they’re always giving out.
- Wal-Mart: Now that they opened the new one, it’s become our favorite place to get most of our groceries, vegetables, and other things.
- Sam’s Club: We love going here for diapers and mini chocolate donuts (they’re delicious).
- Fun Burger and Coffee: This place is a great place for Nathan to play. We’ll pretty much buy anything for an excuse for Nathan to play on their playground. We usually get Krispy Kremes in this plaza, and then we take Nathan to the playground.
- Los Arcos: This is our favorite taqueria (taco restaurant). Janell always orders alambre con queso, while I like tacos al pastor, and we order a taco de bistec for Nathan.
Honorable Mention: Comercial Mexicana, Plaza Satelite, Torbert house, Home Depot, McDonalds, Starbucks
I was playing around yesterday at Cafepress.com, and I made this design for Mexico City T-shirts. So, if anyone out there wants to buy one, you can go to my cafepress store and order one. That would be a great way to get yourself a cool Mexico City shirt and support our ministry at the same time. Imagine that! You can get do two great things with one click of the mouse.
By the way, there are different types of shirts if black isn’t your thing.
This post is a response to a comment by Jules, asking where she should visit in Mexico City. I originally titled it, “Top Five Places…,” but I decided that I wasn’t sure if these were the Top Five or just five really important ones.
Anyway, if you’re going to visit Mexico City and are looking for some things to do, make sure you check these out.
- National Cathedral: A walk through this magnificent cathedral will make you think about your theology. Be sure to check out the plumb bob that is at the center, showing how much the city is sinking. You could spend a lot of time learning about a lot of different rituals by reading about the various chapels along the outside.
- Palacio Nacional: This is where the president rings the bell for the Independence Day Grito. You can also see a history of Mexico through Diego Rivera’s murals along the corridors. The fountain in the middle is where the first-ever bull fight in Mexico took place.
- Latin American Tower: If you want to be overwhelmed by the giganticness of Mexico City, you should go to the Latin American Tower. It’s sort of the Empire State Building of Mexico City, and you can see either the city or the smog. On a good day, you can see the two volcanos that are on the outskirts of the city.
- Bellas Artes: This theater is made of Italian marble, and the architecture is amazing. It’s where they have the Folkloric Ballet and National Orchestra.
- Templo Mayor: This is right outside the National Cathedral in the main square. Many of the stones from these ruins were used to build the National Cathedral. It used to be the main temple of the indigenous people who lived here in Tenochtitlán. Most days, right outside of Templo Mayor, you can see some ancient rituals being performed.
Coming home today from Puebla, we were talking about some of the top things that we hate about driving in Mexico. We were talking about this during the three hour drive, which included about an hour and a half in traffic.
Here’s the list, in no particular order:
- Buses and taxis everywhere who think they own the road and have no courtesy. Meaning, they stop wherever and whenever they want, cut you off, expect you to let them into the line of traffic, but never let you into the line of traffic. Plus, they don’t really care if they bump into you.
- People who turn right (or left) from the far left (or right) lane, cutting off anyone who is in the lane that is SUPPOSED to turn that direction (or go straight).
- Potholes that could swallow a compact car that you don’t see until they have broken your axle (we hit one that sounded horrible).
- Speed bumps (they call them topes), but we are talking about the kind that are intended to hurt, injure, or render useless any car that doesn’t practically come to a complete stop while going over them.
- When there is traffic and people decide to turn the shoulder into another lane. Then, when they can’t get past you, they get behind you in traffic and “bump” you.
- Traffic cops that mostly cause traffic. Maybe that’s where they get their name?
- While driving down the road, at any given time, someone could be backing up towards you, and you must avoid them. As long as they have their flashers on, there’s no problem.
- Motorcycles that zip by you (between you and the car next to you) without any warning.
Wow, that list got longer the more I thought about it. Anyway, we’re back safely (thank God) from our trip to Puebla. I’m sure I’ll be posting a follow up traffic post sometime in the future.
