Bush Visit to Guanajuato, Mexico- Barra de Navidad- Tortilla Soup Recipe

Bush Visit to Guanajuato- Immediate Progress Seen*
George W. Bush, forty-third president of the United States of America, is, as this is being written, in the final phases of preparation for his visit to Mexico. The site of the visit is el rancho San Christóbal, home of President Vicente Fox Quesada. The Fox ranch is in San Christóbal, a village that is a part of the municipality of San Francisco del Rincon located about ten miles south of Leon, Guanajuato. According to news reports here, San Christobal has become the lucky recipient of substantial improvements to the tiny village’s infrastructure.
The American advance party arrived in a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster and unloaded 70 tons of equipment, supplies, and, hopefully, enough purified drinking water for the President and his party. The plane was the largest to ever have landed at the Leon/Guanajuato airport, arriving here on the 6th of February. The American Embassy has secured reservations for 100 rooms at the Hotel Fiesta Americana in Leon for, as the Mexican newspaper, AM, put it, the premier group of collaborators. Neither members of the U.S. Supreme Court, nor the group from Florida, is expected, however.
The Mexican government is spending 7,000,000 pesos, about $750,000 to fix up the facades of 150 houses in the village. Two hundred new utility poles are being installed and strung to augment the one electric line to the village. Fifty-six new telephones are being added to supplement the one telephone that has served the village for the last ten years. One hundred gallons of paint have been purchased to paint all the buildings in the village. Trees are being planted, and little parks are being spruced up. An area has been cleared off to provide a heliport, and the town of San Francisco del Rincon has added a second police patrol to help in the security of the two presidents. While 7,000,000 pesos is not a great sum for Mexico to spend on a few hour visit, it is surprising to some observers that even this much money is being spent for such a brief occasion, especially in light of President Fox’s recent announcement that he was going to cut government expenditures 30% and return the money to the people.

Although I did not support Bush in the election, I thought that I could show belated support for him by offering to draft a speech for his arrival. After all, I am an American who has lived here for almost six years and have a special appreciation of the two cultures. Also, I followed the U.S. elections quite closely on TV and I believe I have grasped the special nuances of the Bush speaking style. I do not expect any remuneration, emoluments, or benefits of any kind except the good will of our new president and the un-spoken thanks of a grateful nation.

Text of State Address to People of Mexico:
Bweanos deeas amigos and amigas. (Wait for applause and cheers from audience. You can expect the crowd to enthusiastically cry out the endearing term, Pendejo! Pendejo! Now smile.) With your permiso I will now revert to my native lingua, or is it lingo? (Smile. Wait for laughter.)
I am a leader (Pause) and your great Presidente Vincenty Fox is a leader. (Pause and wait for applause.) Yes, as leaders we know that with leadership-yes, with real leadership, my amigos, that we can lead these two great nations of ours into a leading role in leadership. (Wait for thunderous applause and the crowd to enthusiastically cry out, Pendejo! Pendejo! Smile.) Yes, I say unto thee, what we have here are the leaders and the led. (Point first to yourself, then Fox, and finally to the audience. Smile. This could be a defining sound bite covered by the world press so deliver it slowly and distinctly. It should appeal to your religious right core because of the Biblical phrasing and to all Americans tired of the failed Clinton presidency who are looking for leadership.)
I love the Mexicans. I love their sense of family values. My brother Jeb married a Mexican. She’s legal, you know. And jest because we are here in the same state, the great state of Gwaniwhato, (Wait for applause) that her family lives in, and jest because we are not going to visit them on this trip, doesn’t mean we don’t love ‘em. No, not at all. Why, I ask, should Laura and I have to be the first Bushs to visit them when my brother Jeb has never come here? It’s O.K.; it’s O.K., though. I’ll send Dick Cheney down here to see them. That’ll really warm ’em up. (Wait for laughter.) That Cheney. What a guy! He’s not here but isn’t he sumthin? Let’s give a big hand for Dick Cheney. (Wait for thunderous applause and the crowd to enthusiastically cry out, Pendejo! Pendejo! Smile.) You know, Dick is back at the White House, that’s Casa Blanca in Mexican. He wanted to come to keep an eye on Colin. Hey, that Colin, isn’t he something?I want to thank Vincenty. What a guy! Isn’t he sumthin? (Point finger at Fox.) Let’s give a big hand for Vincenty! (Wait for applause and cheers from audience. Smile.) I know I am going to enjoy visiting his ranch. I’ve got me a little ranch in Texas, too. You can bet that George W. knows not to step in any caca de toro. I know words like that because Mexican is my second language. Yes, we got some of that stuff on my ranch and Colin Powel; well, he almost stepped in some caca de toro. That’s why he said, “I don’t do ranches.” (Wait for laugh. Smile.) Say, that Colin Powell, isn’t he sumthin? (Point finger at Powell.) Let’s give a big hand for Colin! (Wait for applause and cheers from audience. You can expect the crowd to enthusiastically cry out, Pendejo! Pendejo! Smile.)That cabinet of mine is a real crackerjack, don’t you agree? And my Attorney General, he’s the prize. (Wait for applause and cheers from audience. You can expect the crowd to enthusiastically cry out, Pendejo! Pendejo! Smile.)

Say, isn’t that reporter over there, the one from the Washington Post, isn’t that the one I called an ass-hole? Hey, Senor Translator, what do you call somebody like that in Mexican? Translator: Señor Presidente, you mean, pendejo?

Statement from Carole
Dear Friends,
Some of you have raised questions about my absence from The Newsletter. A few of you have even questioned if I may have “passed to the other side,” which in Mexico means to have crossed the border to the U.S. of A. Let me assure you I am sti ll here to keep Charlie in relatively good humor.
While “he who must be obeyed” takes much joy in putting out The Newsletter, I take “joy” in stapling and labeling. You’d be amazed what a postgraduate degree can do for you.
At any rate, I am alive and well in Mexico enjoying the hard labors of telling Chepa what to prepare for la comida, watching her clean, do dishes, iron, etc. When I am not too busy I feed our cats, dog, and see that the humming birds are adequately supplied with their comida of sugar water. So you will know that my life is not complete decadence, I do go to Spanish classes twice a week, spend a small amount of time cataloging books in the gringo library, reading whatever and whenever I care to when the selection of a U.S. president is not going on, but mostly I enjoy spending time with the friends I have been fortunate enough to make here. The hardest part of this retirement life is how busy it becomes and deciding where you want to vacation to rest up from the heavy schedule.
I do miss having you near but I do not miss the slipping and sliding that Wisconsin winters have to of-fer. So, dear friends, when you wish to escape the snowing and blowing remember you have a friend in Mexico. And now back to my Spanish homework- or may be a little siesta first.
As ever, Carole.

Guanajuato Friends Visits Barra de Navidad
On the Pacific coast of Mexico, south of Puerto Vallarta and north of Manzanillo, lies the sleepy fishing village of Barra de Navidad. (Named Christmas Bar in Spanish because the first Spaniards to arrive by boat landed at this inlet on Christmas day and presumably stopped at the local bar to slake their thirst.) Today, the not-so-sleepy villagers of Barra de Navidad fish mainly for tourists. For several years now, I have been saying that I don’t really care that much for beach resorts with their con ticky-con tacky atmosphere. Why is it that Americans and Canadians flock to the Mexican seashore each winter? Why did we choose to go there for the third winter in a row? When daytime highs in Guanajuato drop down to the low sixties and high 50's one starts to think of balmy beaches, surf and sand, so that may explain it. But it does seem that the natives are able to meet the American visitor’s desire for cheap junky knickknacks no matter how garish the taste. The main street of Barra is lined with trinket shops. We later learned that not all on the Mexican Riviera, as the Mexican tourist industry tags it, is cheap and garish.
This year, our traveling group consisted of Dr. Ward Mould and his wife Pat; Jim and June Jackson; Phil and Jan Contreras; Ron Mann, who kindly edits this newsletter, and his wife Sandra Ward; and Carole and me. All in our group are year-round residents of Guanajuato. With our van and the Mould’s car we caravanned to Guadalajara and then on to Barra de Navidad, about seven hours by way of the winding scenic route. Our return, by way of the toll road passing the Colima Volcano, was only six hours. I had volunteered to arrange for our hotel reservations for this trip. I picked out the Hotel Delfin on the Internet because I thought it was the same place that Mike and Maurene Torphy, of Madison, had picked out about five years ago when they came to visit Mexico and we joined them at the beach. This was a swell place on the ocean with a gorgeous pool and a nice beach. In the various calls I made to secure reservations for the Delfin, I talked to the owners of the hotel, a man and his wife with distinct German accents. I could only presume that they came to this remote Mexican village after World War II, probably war criminals that made it out just in time. I couldn’t understand how if they were war criminals they could be about twenty years younger than I am, but maybe they started young.

It turned out that the hotel I meant to book us in was the Hotel Barra de Navidad, not the Delfin. Phil Contreras is an ex-U.S. army artillery captain who commanded a battery in Germany armed with nuclear artillery shells. I thought it was a good idea that he volunteered and not I to talk with the German owners about the ten of us moving out of their hotel to the Hotel Barra de Navidad. As it turned out, the owners were very nice about it. If you should ever decide to stay at the Barra de Navidad Hotel make sure to ask for an ocean-side room with a balcony. The view, the balmy breezes, and especially the sunsets, are magnificent.

There is not a lot to do in these beach towns besides play in the water, sit beside the pool, play cards and read, but we managed to include a few gastronomic excursions. Walking a couple of blocks down the main street to the docks on the lagoon we all boarded a seagoing fishing boat instead of one of the small launches called pangas that are usually used to cross the lagoon to a peninsula named Isla Colimilla. There were several charming open air palapa restaurants. These structures consist of some vertical poles supporting what looks like a straw roof but is probably reeds or stalks of some kind. Of course the menu was virtually all seafood: shrimp, fish, squid, octopus, fresh and delicious. We were serenaded by some musicians that were not very good but I suppose that is the results having no competition on the Isla.

Dr. Mould, who has a few years on the rest of us, returned to the Village by means of a taxi, which took him past the beautiful 36-hole golf course of the Gran Bay Resort. The resort is on the same penin-sula as the restaurants but carries the name Isla Navidad, or Christmas Island. I think this is such a pretty name, although the place is a peninsula, not an island, and its real name is Colimilla and not Christmas, which in Spanish is part of the name of the nearby village, Barra de Navidad. Developers have always been good at enhancing swamps by calling them glens, and, calling flat areas, prairies, so I guess it’s O.K. that this place is Isla Navidad, Christmas Island.
On the return trip crossing the lagoon, Enrique, our boat operator, cruised into the sizable yacht harbor, which is a part of The Gran Bay Resort. We saw dozens of beautiful ocean going vessels from various ports of call along the Pacific seaboard. One rather large boat hailed from Sedona, Arizona, which made me wonder if our U.S. Corps of Engineers has been up to one of its little dredging tricks again. From the yacht basin we were able get a better view of the hotel, which seemed to consist of two large buildings or complexes. We later learned that the smaller of the two was the residence of the owner of the hotel. It all looked so beauti-ful that we decided that we would have breakfast at the very posh Gran Bay Hotel and Resort next morn-ing.

There is something soporific about warm salt air and our group turned in early, that is, all but Phil and I who decided to explore Barra de Navidad at night. We heard live music wafting down the street. Down one street, turn, walk some more, and turn again until we discovered the source of the music. The place was upstairs and we found ourselves in a large room with a long bar and some guy, well oiled, singing at a karaoke bar, reading the words off a TV screen. The singer was not very good, and probably was related to the musicians we encountered on the Isla. Phil and I had a deep discussion on the meaning of life after a couple of drinks. The drinks were generously poured and we decided to call it a night.

Breakfast at the Gran Bay was grand indeed. Everything was exquisite and we partook of a buffet served out of doors with a lovely view. The meal went on without end. Some of us realized that we were going to get nicked pretty good so we returned over and over again. When we received the bill for $16 per person and with our tummies full, we could smile with a degree of satisfaction that the Gran Bay Hotel and Resort had met its match.

Sitting around the beautiful pool of the Hotel Barra de Navidad we met a woman from Vancouver, B.C. who had been deep-sea fishing the day before and said she had done very well. “Was that your six-foot long swordfish we saw hanging up at the dock yesterday?” I asked. “Yes it was,” she answered proudly. We had been considering doing some fishing but this clinched it. We arranged with our boat captain, Enrique, to take Ron, Phil and me, out on his boat the next day.
This was my first experience at deep-sea fishing. Enrique was in radio communication with fifteen other sports fishing boats on the bay. No one, except parties in two larger boats that were out fifteen miles, had caught anything that day and the fish they caught were small. In an effort to help us catch something, Enrique took us within twenty feet of the beautiful jagged rocks forming the Barra coastline but our fishing poles saw no action.

Ron, who is an old trimaran sailor from his days in Hawaii, seemed to take to the up and down of the boat like a fish takes to water, so to speak, and Phil seemed all right, but I felt queasy all the time. Iron men and wooden boats, I believe is the expression. But this boat was plastic and my stomach was squish. On landing, our wives were there to great us. Carole had managed to buy the three smallest fish that she could find at the fish market, thus enabling our photo op on landing.

South of Barra and closer to Manzanillo is a beautiful restaurant called Le Recif, which is French for reef. This place is built on a promontory jutting out into the Pacific. Some of us had eaten there before on a previous trip to the coast and we were anxious to try it again. We arrived early but the guard at the gate said, it being Valentine’s day, the place was fully booked. After telling him that it was Dr. Mould’s 90th birthday, which was not exactly true, and that we had come all the way from Guanajuato to dine at this place, he let us in. Thanks to Ward’s willingness to add another year to his age they agreed to serve us. The waiters said that we were early enough and that they would serve our party of ten. The tables, next to the rail that prevented diners from falling into the abyss of crashing surf below, were all taken, so we sat near the center of the room and enjoyed our fine meal, beautifully served in this exquisite corner of the world. Ron remarked that it was the finest restaurant meal he had eaten in Mexico. Of course I agreed with this especially if you don’t count the meals concocted by Carole and Chepa served right in our own home back in Guanajuato. Unlike the Gran Bay, this restaurant was filled mainly with Mexicans enjoying a romantic meal on dia de San Valentino with their honeys.

The Train is coming!
A recent front-page article in the local paper described a project to bring passenger rail service to Gua-najuato. It’s been ten years since the city had regular train service. Today, regular passenger rail service has disappeared from Mexico save for a six hour run to a tiny town, Opal, Zacatecas, which is stranded and lacks any road connection. In 1970, Mexico’s peak year for train travel, there were 37.4 million pas-sengers. Today, there are hardly any. Under the proposal for our area, trains would serve Guanajuato, San Miguel, Queretero, San Luis de Potosi, and Zacatecas. All of these are beautiful Spanish colonial towns and, like the train that traverses Mexico’s famous Copper Canyon, these trains are meant for tourists. Unless the newspaper got the schedule wrong, one would get on the train in Guanajuato at an astonishing 3 am on Sunday morning, arrive at San Miguel fifty miles away at 6am. You can then leave at 5pm and arrive in Queretero at 6pm. You can return from Queretero, five days later on Friday at 7am, and arrive in Guanajuato at 8pm. The trip from Queretero to Guanajuato by car is about two and a half hours, so it would appear the train promoters have some kinks to work out of their schedules and perhaps they should speed the train up a little bit. A total of five days on the train takes you from Guanajuato to Zacatecas, via San Miguel, Queretero, and San Luis de Potosi, but the return direct to Guanajuato is only one day. You figure!

Sopa de Tortilla, A meal Fit for a President
As news came out about President Bush’s visit to meet President Fox in the state of Guanajuato, it was reported that the American president was going to be served sopa de tortilla, tortilla soup. Chepa, our maid, laughed at this and thought it was all pretty funny. But if one soup could be labeled the classic Mexican soup it would be this one. While I have never found anyone who did not like this dish, it seems to me that it is a little bit like offering a visiting dignitary a bowl of chile*. This soup is quite common and no two recipes of the soup are alike. It is easy on the tummy and quite delicious.
In the interest of bringing our two nations closer together I offer a recipe for sopa de tortilla. It is based on recipes from three different cookbooks and what I could learn from Chepa. Try it. I’m sure you will like it.

Sopa de Tortilla a la Casa Colobris (Tortilla Soup in the Style Served at Charlie and Carole’s House.)

6 or8 day-old corn tortillas
1 tablespoon salad oil plus oil for frying
6 cups chicken stock or canned broth
½ onion, cut in chunks
3 cloves garlic
3 ripe tomatoes
2 or 3 chiles pasillas (optional)
salt and fresh ground pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro leaves
2 avocados
Cut the tortillas into strips about ¼ inch wide, and fry in hot oil turning them over until they are golden brown. Drain on paper towels, salt, and keep them warm. Try not to eat too many of them so that there will be some left for the soup.
Grill the tomatoes, garlic, and onions on a griddle until the skin is charred, turning as needed, and pourée in blender. Add 2 ounces of chicken stock if necessary.
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large saucepan over high heat and sauté the purée. Boil for two minutes, lower the heat, and cook for 5 minutes or until the purée thickens and changes color.
Add the remaining chicken stock and cilantro. Return to a boil, add salt and pepper to taste, and cook, covered, over medium heat for 15 minutes.
Cut the chiles into ½ inch rings and remove their seeds. Fry in the hot oil for 1 minute or until crisp. Drain and set aside. (The chiles are optional but really good.)
Five minutes before serving, reheat the soup, pour into soup bowls, and add the fried tortilla strips. We prefer to sprinkle the fried tortilla chips on top of the soup so they stay crisp. Garnish each bowl with a few chile rings and the avocado.
Serve and enjoy.