Control your chances of being a crime victim

Avoiding crime in Mexico - from Chapala message board

You can control your chances of being a victim of crime. Some ideas:

1) Scout out areas and live in a lower crime area (sometimes the lower crime areas might not be close to where you want to live)

2) Trust nobody, give your keys to nobody and don't brag about what you have or when you won't be home

3) Make sure if you have a car that you lock it all the time, park it in secured parking and never leave anything intriguing or valuable looking in plain sight.

4) Smile and know your neighbours

5) Don't bring valuable junk like gaudy jewellery and riches as you are in Mexico, having more than a poor Mexican means little and if you were rich you'd have a million dollar home on the beach, not be living in the Chapala area flaunting your riches.

6) Don't just hire anybody to work at your home. Some gringos are very naive and will hire a worker on the recommendation of another gringo without first ascertaining how long they worked for that person and if they have a good reputation in the community. You don't need workers but it is a nice bonus to pay relatively little and not have to sweep, mop and scrub toilets all the time.

7) Make sure you have adequate lighting around your home and look for ways to discourage burglars. Some homes have adjoining walls and connect to roofs of other homes, this is a recipe for disaster, especially in areas with a higher crime rate.

8) Don't mess with drugs or walk around in the wee hours of the night or drunk where you are not in control.

Monroe Washington - NE of Seattle

Staying with family while doing my up-north yearly business. Was out seeing the country today while waiting for the wheels to turn and trying the new camera.

A little over two weeks ago I spent a week with friends in San Miguel. Impressive city but lots of gringos and very touristy. We spent time in the country by the lake, visited three balnearios, spend a day in Guanajuato and Dolores Hidalgo.

12 hours back to Melaque to find my house had been broken into and enough of my computer pieces taken that I couldn't work with or upload any fotos. That kind of stuff also kills the positive spirit so I just spend the week before heading north repairing the house and adding more security. Another week of two here and back to the tropics

Pitaya season

It's now pitaya season. The cactus-type fruit enjoys a six-week harvest during May and June. Most that you'll find in this area are grown in the Jalisco highlands near Guadalajara, and sold in local markets and on the streets.

Pitaya is similar to tunas, but a little smaller and you don´t have to deal with tuna´s huge seeds, pitaya´s seeds are like dragonfruit´s seeds (pitahaya). It is very watery, fist-sized, and drips juice as deep and staining as wine - but only slightly sweet.

An important point to note: Pitaya is different from Pitahaya – a columnar cactus with similarlooking fruits native to northern Mexico. Over the last 200 years, writers in the U.S. and Europe have confused the two names to the point of absurdity. In central Mexico, youwill find the two fruits being sold in different bins, with the less desirable Pitahaya at a cheaper price. In the U.S., you will find Pitaya sold under both names!

Pitaya in the market

Pitaya cactus

Guamuchil

Guamúchil, huamúchil, cuamúchil, Manila Tamarind, Pithecellobium dulce
(wa-MU-chill)

We went up to Tenacatita yesterday and decided to check out Agua Caliente on the way. Agua Caliente is just a little north of the Tenacatita road on the river and thru town used to be the main road to the beach. Elke and John had not been there but Marcos and I had. Elke and John had also never tried Guamuchil and there was a large reclining tree next to the river just full of the fruit. Guamuchil is not something most people would go out of their way for but they are popular in road side stands and can be used for agua fresca (almost any fruit drink)

I was lucky to get the spelling right for a Google search ... and then looking further found all these others. They are possibly part of the Tamarind family and you don't eat the black seed. These looked totally ripe but were a bit drier than I've had before.

After - we drove thru town and out to Tenacatita and I think we spotted Bill's place on the far end across from the river.

Often planted for living fence or thorny hedge, eventually nearly impenetrable, guamachil furnishes food, forage, and firewood, while fixing a little nitrogen. The pods, harvested in Mexico, Cuba, and Thailand, and customarily sold on roadside stands, contain a thick sweetish, but also acidic pulp, eaten raw or made into a drink similar to lemonade. Pods are devoured by livestock of all kinds; the leaves are browsed by horses, cattle, goats, and sheep; and hedge clippings are often gathered for animal feed.

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