Wait But Why

Robert:

A fellow named Tim Urban writes one of the most unpretentiously intelligent blogs I have seen, and I'm an addictive blog reader.

It's called Wait But Why.

His posts are as insightful, brilliant and humorous as a New Yorker cartoon, if the cartoon's premise were developed into a short article.

Here are a couple of posts from the archives of 2014:


The Great Perils of Social Interaction


Ten Odd Friendships You're Probably Part Of

Paraphrasing E.B. White

Robert:

To paraphrase E.B. White:

I get up every morning determined both to improve the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes, this makes planning the day difficult.

Tepic Plaza, December 2014

Robert:

I spent the weekend in Tepic, the capitol of our state (Nayarit).

Tepic has a particularly pleasant plaza...always teeming with families amd shoppers, and especially so as we near Navidad (Xmas). Here is some video taken as we walked around Saturday evening.

(Remember that YouTube often defaults to a low resolution 360 playback; you can select much clearer quality by clicking the little gear icon below the YouTube screen on PCs, or the three vertically aligned dots in the upper right hand corner of the YouTube screen on an iPad, and selecting 480, 720 etc.)

De Tocqueville On Literature in Democracies

Robert:

Alexis de Tocqueville, undisputedly one of the most brilliant thinkers of the early 19th century (or maybe ever), had the following insights into the character of a culture's literature, as influenced by its form of governance.


“In democracies it is by no means the case that all who cultivate literature have received a literary education, and most of those who have some acquaintance with good writing go into politics or adopt some profession which leaves only short, stolen hours for the pleasures of the mind. They therefore do not make such delights the principal joy of their existence, but think of them rather as a passing relaxation needed from the serious business of life. Such men will never have a deep enough understanding of literature to appreciate its refinements. Fine nuances will pass them by. With but short time to spend on books, they want it all to be profitable. They like books which are easily got and quickly read, requiring no learned researches to understand them. They like facile forms of beauty, self-explanatory and immediately enjoyable; above all, they like things unexpected and new. Accustomed to the monotonous struggle of practical life, what they want is vivid, lively emotions, sudden revelations, brilliant truths, or errors able to rouse them up and plunge them, almost by violence, into the middle of the subject.

Alexis de Tocqueville

He continues:

By and large the literature of a democracy will never exhibit the order, regularity, skill, and art characteristic of aristocratic literature; formal qualities will be neglected or actually despised. The style will often be strange, incorrect, overburdened, and loose, and almost always strong and bold. Writers will be more anxious to work quickly than to perfect details. Short works will be commoner than long books, wit than erudition, imagination than depth. There will be a rude and untutored vigor of thought with great variety and singular fecundity. Authors will strive to astonish more than to please, and to stir passions rather than to charm taste,” – Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America.

The trends he describes have only accelerated in our internet age. One can only wonder how dismayed, or amused, de Tocqueville would be by our current click bait, soundbite, hook-book mentality.

Video Tour, Villa Los Sauces

Here's the new video tour of Villa Los Sauces. It is shot and uploaded in HD. Just in case you don't know, YouTube often automatically defaults to a lower resolution setting, depending upon your bandwidth. There is a manual override to restore playback in high definition.

Click the small gear icon below the YouTube screen., and you can then choose 720 or 1080 for maximum clarity. However, if you have a slow connection, the video might stop and start, stop and start, when using the higher settings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmqL2v0W_0s&edit=vd

Sayulita Ranch, From $899K to $699K

There are some properties we list that I really wish I had the wherewithal to buy. This is one.

 


Sayulita Ranch is 6  plus hectares (more than 15 acres), and includes a comfy, attractive 2 bedroom ranch house! Plus small casita for ranch-hand; corrals, etc.


 


This is a mixture of tropical forest and cleared pasture, just outside of Sayulita. What a tranquil lifestyle!

For larger and more photos, and complete data, go to: Sayulita Ranch
Or call Deborah Foster 322 117 3099

New Luxury Listing - Villa Vista Hermosa, Playa Estates

Patty de la Mora has just listed this magnificent tropical home, located in Playa Estates, on the road to Punta de Mita. The house has 4 bedrooms and 8 baths (5 full baths and 3 half baths).

There are big bay views, and palapa-shaded terraces...this is a very open, bright, tropical home.

In addition to the private pool, there is a beach side common clubhouse, with kitchen, showers and baths, and a large common pool.

Outdoor palapa kitchen.

Indoor spacious gourmet kitchen.

Master

$845,000 USD furnished and equipped.

For more photos and data go to Villa Vista Hermosa

Or call Patty de la Mora at 322 278 6961

New Listing - Villa Los Sauces

We've just listed Villa Los Sauces, a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath home in Flamingos Residential, behind Mega. This is an exciting property; it's a lot more house than you would expect in this price range.

 
It's stylish, spacious and impeccable.

People drive by this subdivision all the time, with no idea of what an appealing, well-kept neighborhood is inside the gates. The streets are wide. The density is low. And the homes are attractively styled.

Monthly fees are only 360 pesos, and include maintenance of the streets, street lights, common green area landscaping, sewage, and 24 hour security.

$234,900 USD appliances included, furnishings negotiable.

For more photos and data, click here: Villa Los Sauces
Or call Robert, 322 135 5979

"Sometimes I Wonder..."

"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it."

Mark Twain

Casa Cantera Now $499K

Casa Cantera, in the heart of the Zona Dorada, with partial bay views from three of the four bedrooms, and panoramic bay views from the rooftop terrace, has been reduced to $499K.

Many people feel this is the most elegantly beautiful home in Bucerias. And it's just 1 1/2 blocks from the beach. 4 bedrooms, 4 1/2 baths. The structural and finish quality is evident throughout.

Heated pool.

Spacious gourmet kitchen.

 For the dedicated web page hi def video tour, plus more photos and data, go here:   rfasoc.com/cantera.html

Or call Deborah Foster, 322 117 3099

Tranquility Through Perspective, Insights From the Gulag

“What about the main thing in life, all its riddles? If you want, I’ll spell it out for you right now. Do not pursue what is illusionary — property and position: all that is gained at the expense of your nerves decade after decade, and is confiscated in one fell night. Live with a steady superiority over life — don’t be afraid of misfortune, and do not yearn for happiness; it is, after all, all the same: the bitter doesn’t last forever, and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing. It is enough if you don’t freeze in the cold and if thirst and hunger don’t claw at your insides. If your back isn’t broken, if your feet can walk, if both arms can bend, if both eyes can see, if both ears hear, then whom should you envy? And why? Our envy of others devours us most of all. Rub your eyes and purify your heart — and prize above all else in the world those who love you and who wish you well. Do not hurt them or scold them, and never part from any of them in anger; after all, you simply do not know: it may be your last act before your arrest, and that will be how you are imprinted on their memory,” – Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation.

Two Adjacent Canal Lots, Bargain Price!

Robert:

We have just taken an interesting listing. Lot 161 and 160, adjacent canal lots in Section II of Nuevo Vallarta.  Each lot is approximately 20 meters by 38 meters, 771 sq meters (8,295 sq ft) each, for a total of 1,542 sq meters (16,592 sq ft).

Each lot has 20 linear meters of canal frontage, so a total of 40 linear meters on the canal (131 ft).

Lot 160

 This is on the best section of Jacarandas Street, on a good, navigable section of secondary canal, with clean homes all around. The price for both lots is just $395,000 USD. Finding two adjacent lots on a good street and good section of canal is extremely rare.

HOWEVER, there is a very large home, 8 (yes, eight!) bedrooms and 3 baths, on lot 161. Conceivably, the home could be extensively repaired and remodeled. But, I think most people would consider it a tear down. It is in seriously bad condition.



In my opinion, this should be viewed as an opportunity to own two spacious lots, haul away the rubble of the old house, and build something extraordinary.

We have 161 newly listed in both MLS systems here, with a side note that 160 is also for sale, pending some paperwork issues being resolved (they can and will be).

Looking at back of house (on 161)  from back of lot 160

However, if someone wanted to make an offer on just one lot, the owner says she would consider that, although her ultimate goal is to sell them both, preferably as a package.

Condo Mantarraya, Now $199K!

Beautiful Condo Mantarraya, 3 bedrooms 2 baths, in Bucerias, is now only $199,000 USD!




This condo has been thoroughly remodeled, and the work was superbly done. There are ample new cabinets in the kitchen, and they are stunning. There are also new counter tops and floors.


 












Impeccable condition, better than new, and comes completely furnished and equipped. The furniture is tasteful and of excellent quality.

  

Condo Mantarraya is in the Perla del Mar complex, in a quiet yet convenient location. Just 5 short blocks to a wide, gradual beach; close to many Bucerias restaurants and shops; and close to local bus service to easily access downtown Bucerias, or Mega and Walmart.

The pool is large and inviting, right out your front door.




There is a wonderful common rooftop terrace with panoramic views of the bay.

 


Low maintenance fees!

Click below for the HD Video Tour.

 


Call Robert's cell 322 135 5979, office 329 298 3314,  or from the USA or Canada, toll free 1 866 210 1324

New Listing, Studio Flamingos, Beach Front

This is a new listing of a cute, nicely furnished studio condo in the beach-front Flamingos Beach and Golf development.

 
 
44.8 sq meters (478 sq feet). AC, ceiling fans, dishwasher, fridge, microwave, cook top with hood, fully furnished and equipped. Easily rent-able to offset the low maintenance fees.



Common tennis courts, gym, large heated pool, and beach side restaurant. Secure, deeded parking.


 

Wide, gradual beach with soft, fine sand.

 
 Heated pool.

Jusr $149,000 USD all included. Contact Patty de la Mora at her cell 322 278 6961, or through the office at  329 298 3314. The office can be reached toll free from Canada or the USA via 1 866 210 1324.

Tsunami Sale?

The term "Fire Sale!" is so overused in this market as to have lost any impact.

So, maybe calling this deeply discounted property a Tsunami Sale will get a bit more notice.

 

In any case, Lambert Penthouse, in Green Bay II in El Tigre golf course, in Paradise Village, has dropped the price from $199,900 to $179,900. This is a startlingly low price, no matter what you choose to call it.

It's 2 bedrooms (one main level bedroom, with en suite full bath; plus a very spacious loft bedroom, also with its own large en suite full bath). There are even storage shelves in the loft bath; that's how spacious it is.

 Plus, off the living area there is a half bath for guests.

So, 2 bedrooms, 2 and a half baths. Plus exceptionally fine custom carpentry throughout the penthouse. All the doors and closets, shelves and cabinets, are amapa wood, all done by one of the bets carpenters in this part of Mexico, a German-Mexican fellow with a shop in San Pancho.

 

This penthouse has never been occupied. It was purchased in pre-construction in 2006, but soon after an illness struck, and the owner has never been able to furnish or use the penthouse at all.
The owner is now adamant about selling it, so bring offers.



 
 Video Tour in HD:

Call Robert:  office is 01 329 298 3314 or cell is 322 135 59 79.

From the USA or Canada, call Robert toll free at  1 866 210 1324

The RFC Chaos Resolved?

Robert:

I am informed by one very reliable source that Hacienda SAT late yesterday notified all notaries that the law has been amended effective immediately. Now, with the amendment, foreign sellers need not obtain temp residency, CURP or RFC. For foreign sellers we are back to business as usual, as before the Sept 1 new law.

Importantly, there is very good news for foreign buyers also. Foreign buyers now need not obtain temp residency. They can simply walk into the SAT offices (near Costco) with their tourist card and passport, and SAT will issue them an RFC on the spot. No advance appointment necessary. We will be helping out buyers with this.

I will confirm all this with other sources during the day and advise if any of this is incorrect or changed. But I wanted to share this welcome news and I am increasingly optimistic we are all now "in the clear. "

Potentially Good News For Sellers, re: RFC Requirements.

Good news for our sellers, although not "the final word."

Several local notaries are now taking the view that they can close deals with no RFC or CURP from the sellers, yet still take standard deductions for those sellers against any cap gains.This elevates the risk of a Hacienda audit of the sale, but assuming everything was handled legally, which of course it would be, there would ultimately be nothing lost, except the hassle of dealing with the possible audit, with deductions for things like major improvements scrutinized.

We have another notary that has now also changed from the strict interpretation to a much less cumbersome one, but on a different basis; that is, specifically, that they can generate automatically a generic RFC for sellers, which will technically satisfy SAT Hacienda and allow the notary to close.

However, other attorneys dispute the legality and efficacy of this generic RFC approach outright. They say it makes more sense to just close without an RFC at all for the sellers. 

So it's obvious there is still widespread disagreement among notaries and attorneys, with some still adhering to the original, strict interpretation. (Which, to recap in brief, is that unless both buyer and seller have full RFC and CURP from Hacienda, the new buyer will have zero deductible cost basis when he or she sells someday, and would then at that future date incur a huge, and clearly unfair, cap gain tax.)

Caveat:

Until more time passes and we arrive at a broader consensus, there is a real chance that your buyer might be advised by his attorney or notary that regardless of what the more flexible notaries now say, the buyer should avoid any and all risk of losing his or her cost basis, and therefore should insist, as a condition of his or her offer, on you obtaining the full temporary residency, CURP, and RFC from SAT, etc. just to be on the safe side.

In other words, just because we have some notaries now taking the more lenient position, that doesn't guarantee your buyer will go along with it. 

But, I am guardedly optimistic. My sense is that the consensus will gather momentum; more and more attorneys and notaries will come around to these more flexible positions. The more strict interpretation is just too draconian and damaging to the market.

Robert

Return to Mismaloya

Long ago, and for many years thereafter, Mismaloya beach was my favorite little place to escape to for a day. I found it to be the almost ideal mix of crescent sand and blue water, backed by ruggedly beguiling tropical mountains. Plus with a good selection of beachfront ramshackle restaurants, at reasonable prices, and easy-to-hire boats to take you out to the Islas Los Arcos.

Sunday I took a nostalgic turn and spent the day at Mismaloya, for the first time in many years. I'm happy to say it has lost none of its charm, and still casts a pleasant little spell.

The restaurants on the beach are not so affordable as I recall, but then nothing else in life is either. I've reached that age where all current prices induce sticker shock, compared to the "real" prices of my relative youth.

Mismaloya even has a mountain stream that flows right out over the beach...with fresh water swimming in the stream.

Here is a shot, standing on the beach, looking back upstream.

Germany From The Air In HD. Spectacular Video.

Robert:

This is an extra beautiful HD video. It's worth watching, even for non-Germanophiles. The soundtrack is a bit too melodramatic and overwrought, in my opinion, but that's a minor quibble, as the visuals are the point. One of my favorite parts starts at about 8:55 in; the cows crossing the See...I think that is the Koenigsee, near Berchtesgaden, but can't be certain. Be sure to click the little gear icon below the YouTube screen, and select a hi definition setting, either 720 or 1080, so that you can see this clearly.

Barcelona Go, On Vimeo

Barcelona GO! from Rob Whitworth on Vimeo.

Quantum Humor

Schroedinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.

Salon Article re: World Cup In the USA, 2014

 Robert:

Below is a fine column by Salon's Andrew Leonard about the USA's sudden appreciation of, and interest in, the World Cup.

Here's the direct link to the Salon article, also pasted below:

http://www.salon.com/2014/06/29/the_rights_absurd_world_cup_paranoia_explained/


"With her recent column explaining how the rise of American interest in the World Cup is “a sign of the nation’s moral decay,” Ann Coulter successfully sent readers around the world into gales of horrified laughter and generated god only knows how many hate-clicks.

Whether she actually believed what she was writing is moot. Coulter’s provocations are best treated as performance art. But there’s also no doubt that she was playing on conservative insecurities about change and globalization and multiculturalism that are quite real. A generation of Americans feels its cultural-superpower primacy slipping away, replaced by something it would rather mock than understand or celebrate.

It’s scary stuff! We’ve got a black president and our neighbors are hooting and hollering about the World Cup. You can practically hear the pearl-clutching: What’s happened to our once great nation!? And why the hell won’t all these obnoxious people on Twitter just stop going on and on and on about it? Reuters columnist and confirmed curmudgeon Jack Shafer got so fed up with all the World Cup chatter that he devoted an entire column on Friday to explaining why he was unfollowing everyone who committed the sin of so much as retweeting a single Cup-obsessed comment.

It’s mean and unfair to lump Shafer and Coulter in the same paragraph, but there is a connecting thread linking their disdain. Once every four years, the entire world explodes into an obsessive conversation about sports that incorporates and is inseparable from historical narratives of race and culture and nationalism. In many countries, soccer is politics. When the World Cup crests, it’s the biggest thing happening on the planet.

Shafer doesn’t want to hear that conversation. Coulter and her ilk are actively terrified of it. Because the fact that the U.S. is finally joining in is a sign that we are gradually becoming part of this world rather than lording over it or building walls to keep it out. On the pitch, Mexico is our equal, instead of a source of cheap labor and cheaper thrills. Our stars are neither the biggest nor the brightest. We can’t samba like the Brazilians or pass with the crisp efficiency of the Germans.

---

---

But it’s really cool that we’re in the mix. Now is the worst possible time to turn down the Twitter volume. Turn it up! The jokes; the political resentments, the exultation — it’s not just the sound of a truly global culture. It’s the sound of the future.

* * *

In the summer of 1990, I stood in Hong Kong’s Central Station, staring at something I didn’t understand. A live soccer game was being projected on a station wall — and hundreds of commuters had stopped to watch a couple of South American teams kick a ball around in Italy.

I had been in Hong Kong for several weeks, interning at a magazine, and this was the first time I’d seen anyone dawdle or linger about. There were no moments to waste in East Asia in the early ’90s. My clearest memory from those days was of young men galloping up the escalators from the bottom of Central Station to the point where they could get reception for their brand-new (and very bulky) cellphones, and start cutting deals. Back in the States we were still figuring out fax machines.

Yet here was a crowd, watching Diego Maradona work his wiles against the mighty Brazil. South Korea, the only East Asian team that managed to qualify for the 1990 Cup, had already been ignominiously eliminated, manhandled with ease by Belgium, Spain and Uruguay. The cultural connection between Hong Kong and the screaming crowds 6,000 miles away seemed tenuous, at best.
Whoa, I realized, as I watched the watchers. I guess that’s why they call it the World Cup.

Yes, once upon a time, you had to physically leave the United States to appreciate that every four years the entire rest of the world convulsed in a month-long frenzy of passionate fandom. But that’s all changed. Now that the U.S. has reached the knockout round twice in a row, and a couple of generations of soccer moms have done their work providing logistical support for young Americans to master the game of futbol, and globalization and the Internet have collapsed the borders that used to separate us, it’s a quite different story. More Americans watched the U.S. tie Portugal than the World Series or NBA Finals. Massive crowds gather in public spaces to watch the games. We’re all in, finally.

The clamor on Twitter marks a clear sea change. It was nothing like this last time around. It’s easy to see why people like Coulter are upset. If she really believes, as she claimed in her column, that American love for soccer is a result of immigration over the last four years, then Twitter is a place where the border fences have permanently collapsed and no one is checking passports. Social media has been overrun! There’s nowhere to hide and immigration reform won’t make it go away!

It’s a little harder to understand Jack Shafer’s decision to be so public about his desire to check out.

As a soccer agnostic, with no hatred for or interest in the game, these many tweets hold a negative value for me….
My opposition to sporting tweets, while deep, is not absolute. You’ve got to expect a Twitter din during college football bowl season, the World Series, Wimbledon, the Masters, the Triple Crown, the Stanley Cup, the Super Bowl, and other events. But none of these spectacles run on for a month like the World Cup.

I can understand why someone with no interest in soccer would be bored by the World Cup. But there’s a peculiar defensiveness to Shafer’s public posturing, to his need to explain why the rest of the world’s delight holds a “negative value” for him. He’ll accept sporting tweets for the World Series and the Triple Crown, but not for a phenomenon that, frankly, makes the World Series look like a Little League competition in Poughkeepsie. Sorry, Jack, but I think you’ve got to expect that the biggest sporting event in the world is going to dominate the conversation every four years. Publicly trumpeting how you are cutting yourself off from this dialogue is an unworthy form of American isolationism.

But at least Shafer is resisting the tide based on little more than sheer annoyance. Whether she’s pretending or not, Coulter is giving voice to those who see soccer as a threat to American exceptionalism and preeminence.

Their deprecation is rooted in fear and ugly xenophobia, and that’s just sad. Because there’s nothing to fear here. One of the things you begin to understand as you fall deeper under the spell of the World Cup is that soccer on this grand stage is the closest thing we have on this planet to a language that everyone can understand; whether they are Cantonese speakers in a Hong Kong subway station or favela-dwellers in Rio or corn-fed Iowans in a bar in Sioux City. It’s an irresistible new world order. Next time around, the volume will be even more deafening."

Andrew Leonard, for Salon

Multi-screen Cinemas, But Just One Show In Town

Robert


The mania that grips Mexico during the World Cup is pervasive. This year, the big multi-screen cinema chains have started showing the partidos (games) live on their big screens. It's a hit.

I watched the Germany and Ghana game last week in the Lago Real Cinema near Walmart in
Mezcales. Just 29 pesos for a seat.

I was pleasantly surprised. The image clarity was fabulous, and it did feel much more dramatic to see it on the huge screen. The only complaint (gringos always have a complaint doncha know) is that the volume was turned up past the pain threshold. Mexicans love deafening volume, whether watching TV, or listening to banda music, whatever. And I mean Mexicans of all ages.

But, this was an extreme case, even for Mexico.. It was just bearable during the narration of the game, but during the commercial breaks at halftime, and before and after the game, the beer commercials were even louder and were really at a damaging and truly painful decibel levels. I had to plug my ears with my fingertips.

Regardless, I was impressed overall with the excitement of the experience, so went back last Sunday morning to watch Belgium and Russia.

Matches that don't involve Mexico have been shown, so far, on just one of the 8 screens in this particular cinema.

But last Monday, the Mexico vs Croatia match was shown on three screens. I showed up half an hour before game time, but was disappointed to find that all tickets were long gone.

So, for this Sunday morning's upcoming second round match between Mexico and Holland, I wised up and dropped by the cinema last Tuesday night. They told me they had just put the tickets for Sunday on sale, so I snapped up two excellent seats. Still at only 29 pesos.

I asked them how many screens they would dedicate to Sunday's match. The answer? All screens. So for midday next Sunday, it will be a multi-screen cinema, but with just one show. And I have no doubt it will be sold out.

Everyone In Mexico Watches the "Partido" (Game).

This photo was making the rounds on the internet yesterday. I hope it is photo shopped and not real. Made me laugh in any case.

But if it were real, I have to admit I wouldn't be too surprised. Healthcare here is surprisingly good, caring, and affordable. But, when Mexico is playing in the World Cup, all bets are off.

Tlaloc Swaggers In Early

The rainy season usually begins with a thunderstorm on or very near June 15. This year Tlaloc, the Aztec rain god, tossed out Mother Nature's manual and swaggered into town early.

We had a storm in mid-May, another in late May, and two heavy thunderstorms in the last two days. and I mean heavy, drenching downpours that went on for two or three hours.

Last night was a meteorological extravaganza, with countless nearby lightning strikes and almost continuous crashing thunder.

Some reports say we received around seven inches in that three hour storm.

New Listing, Casa Lobo, La Cruz, Just $115,000 USD

Robert:

Patty de La Mora has just listed a cute and affordable house 2 bedroom 2 bath in the heart of La Cruz, about 3 blocks from the marina, for just $115,000 This is a real bargain; similar vacant lots costs this much or more.

Here is the link to the web page for this listing, with more photos and data:

CLICK HERE

The "Little Platoons" of Burke and Tocqueville

"The truth is that government, of one kind or another, is manifest in all our attempts to live in peace with our fellows.

We have rights that shield us from those who are appointed to rule us—many of them ancient common-law rights, like that defined by habeas corpus. But those rights are real personal possessions only because government is there to enforce them—and if necessary to enforce them against itself. Government is not what so many conservatives believe it to be, and what people on the left always believe it to be when it is in hands other than their own—namely a system of power and domination. 

Government is a search for order, and for power only insofar as power is required by order. It is present in the family, in the village, in the free associations of neighbors, and in the “little platoons” extolled by Burke and Tocqueville. It is there in the first movement of affection and good will, from which the bonds of society grow. For it is simply the other side of freedom, and the thing that makes freedom possible."

Roger Scruton

Exploiters vs Nurturers

"THE EXPLOITER WISHES TO EARN AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE BY AS LITTLE WORK AS POSSIBLE; THE NURTURER EXPECTS, CERTAINLY, TO HAVE A DECENT LIVING FROM HIS WORK, BUT HIS CHARACTERISTIC WISH IS TO WORK AS WELL AS POSSIBLE. THE EXPLOITER TYPICALLY SERVES AN INSTITUTION OR ORGANIZATION; THE NURTURER SERVES LAND, HOUSEHOLD, COMMUNITY, PLACE. THE EXPLOITER THINKS IN TERMS OF NUMBERS, QUANTITIES, 'HARD FACTS'; THE NURTURER IN TERMS OF CHARACTER, CONDITION, QUALITY, AND KIND.” 

WENDELL BERRY

Poofed Up Hair, Pass the Snorkel

Robert:

We are nearing the start of the rainy season. Already the humidity is here in force. You feel like you need a snorkel to breathe. But there are good aspects to it too. Your skin and contact lenses don't feel so old and dry. And, the humidity poofs up your hair, which is a gift to those of us with only a dwindling comb-over.

For about three days now we have been getting cumulonimbus clouds building over the Sierras. The rainy season always kicks in in the high country, and down south toward Acapulco, a few weeks before it does here in Vallarta. These storms in the Sierras are always our precursors.

Typically, the first real thunderstorm here in the bay area occurs on or very near the 15th of June.

"...The Contagion May Spread..."

On her aggregating web site, Maria Popova presents this week a wonderful letter written by E.B. (Elwyn Brooks) White. One of his readers was going through a bleak period of despair, and wrote to White that he (the reader) had lost faith in life and humanity.

White's response, to this forlorn, lost stranger, is brief, but consummately wise and lovely.

Dear Mr. Nadeau:

As long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate woman, the contagion may spread and the scene is not desolate. Hope is the thing that is left to us, in a bad time. I shall get up Sunday morning and wind the clock, as a contribution to order and steadfastness.

Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say, the weather is a great bluffer. I guess the same is true of our human society – things can look dark, then a break shows in the clouds, and all is changed, sometimes rather suddenly. 

It is quite obvious that the human race has made a queer mess of life on this planet. But as a people we probably harbor seeds of goodness that have lain for a long time waiting to sprout when the conditions are right. Man’s curiosity, his relentlessness, his inventiveness, his ingenuity have led him into deep trouble. We can only hope that these same traits will enable him to claw his way out.

Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope.  And wind the clock, for tomorrow is another day.

Sincerely,

E. B. White

White was a quiet and gentle man, and extremely shy. James Thurber describes him this way:

Most of us, out of a politeness made up of faint curiosity and profound resignation, go out to meet the smiling stranger with a gesture of surrender and a fixed grin, but White has always taken to the fire escape. He has avoided the Man in the Reception Room as he has avoided the interviewer, the photographer, the microphone, the rostrum, the literary tea, and the Stork Club. His life is his own. He is the only writer of prominence I know of who could walk through the Algonquin lobby or between the tables at Jack and Charlie's and be recognized only by his friends.

 — James Thurber, E. B. W., "Credos and Curios"

Video Tour, Casa de la Bendicion

Robert:

Deborah has done a walk-through video tour of Casa de la Bendicion, an immaculate, bright, and cheerful house here in Bucerias:



Here is the link to the web page for Casa de la Bendicion: http://rfasoc.com/benedicion.html

Video Tour, Casa Jamur.

Robert:

Deborah has just shot an HD video of  Casa Jamur, the cute little house on a hill in La Cruz, with panoramic views of the bay, for just $199,500 USD.




Here is the link to the web page for Casa Jamur, with all the photos and data: http://rfasoc.com/jamur.html

Beyond Help? Y Corazones de Conejos

Robert:

Today you can tell the season is winding down...the only people that have come in the office today are the breathtakingly cute 20ish girl that sells pie by the slice (14 pesos),  a religious guy handing out pamphlets (free), and just now, a young man who solemnly presented us with the card below, his mother's perhaps, offering the doctora's services (not free):

We've had some stressful, protracted deals this year. I guess the word is getting around.

But back to the adorable pie girl; the pie is good, but the eye-pie is even better. I'm sure 90% of her customers are men, trying to act cool while digging 14 pesos out of their pockets, their hearts pounding like a bunny rabbit's (conejo).

Pink Whale

This pink whale of a bougainvillea is catty cornered across from my office. It's the corner of Juarez and Lazaro Cardenas. This bougainvillea is always dramatic, but this year, since about late November, it has been spectacular.

It makes a deep shade for the taxi drivers who are always on call there. They even have their land line phone right there, if someone wants to ring for a taxi.

In the photo two prospective fares (standing) appear to be asking about rates. Or maybe they are just borrowing the shade for a moment.

Kurt Vonnegut On Kindness

Robert:

Kurt Vonnegut, speaking to the graduating class of Agnes Scott College, in Decatur, Georgia, May of 1999.

"I am so smart I know what is wrong with the world. Everybody asks during and after our wars, and the continuing terrorist attacks all over the globe, “What’s gone wrong?” What has gone wrong is that too many people, including high school kids and heads of state, are obeying the Code of Hammurabi, a King of Babylonia who lived nearly four thousand years ago. And you can find his code echoed in the Old Testament, too. Are you ready for this?

“An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”

A categorical imperative for all who live in obedience to the Code of Hammurabi, which includes heroes of every cowboy show and gangster show you ever saw, is this: Every injury, real or imagined, shall be avenged. Somebody’s going to be really sorry.

I am a Humanist, or Freethinker, as were my parents and grandparents and great grandparents – and so not a Christian. By being a Humanist, I am honoring my mother and father, which the Bible tells us is a good thing to do. But I say with all my American ancestors, “If what Jesus said was good, and so much of it was absolutely beautiful, what does it matter if he was God or not?” If Christ hadn’t delivered the Sermon on the Mount, with its message of mercy and pity, I wouldn’t want to be a human being. I would just as soon be a rattlesnake.

 

Revenge provokes revenge which provokes revenge which provokes revenge – forming an unbroken chain of death and destruction linking nations of today to barbarous tribes of thousands and thousands of years ago.

When Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross, he said, “Forgive them, Father, they know not what they do.” 

What kind of a man was that? Any real man, obeying the Code of Hammurabi, would have said, “Kill them, Dad, and all their friends and relatives, and make their deaths slow and painful.” 

Jesus's greatest legacy to us, in my humble opinion, consists of only twelve words. They are the antidote to the poison of the Code of Hammurabi, a formula almost as compact as Albert Einstein’s “E = mc². 

"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those, who trespass against us."