Grand Quinceanera last night for Yuleidi in VO

Just after we came in

Some kind of dance production

Yule and the guys

We were thinking of not going but all the kids wanted to. Went with a car full and only three of us left at 11:30. The live band had just played one song and I couldn't take any more. The noise level had been high all evening and these guys were louder.That dance floor was full of crazy kids most of the night but they were having a good time and fun to watch.

Beer or Piña coladas and lots of food. An almost slide show on the screen with lots of fotos of Yule. The guys parade around with the girl for about 20 minutes and then dad comes out and dances with her. This was held in the huge Villa Obregon Ejido center across from the plaza.

Some people worry too much

This started out as helping the guys that built my house do the work on a project in Melaque this winter. All were in agreement but then I realized the lot had no water and all the paper work and actual work might delay construction by a week or two if we waited for the snowbirds to arrive. I volunteered to price it all out and that progressed to I would try to deal with the government and the water contract, arrange the backhoe and buy all the parts. This is not a simple connection because first we need 60+ meters of 2" pipe run from a block away before we connect to the lot.

So bit by bit it has been coming together. All the property papers and ID were faxed down from Canada. Money has been sent to my bank up north and the Delegacion says I have everything I need except an address. 

The Presta Nombre, who is in Seattle for a couple more weeks, worried that I needed a Carta de Poder (Power of Attorney) or at least a letter of permission to set this up.  I asked the Delegacion and they say none needed with all the paperwork I have. Then we have an address vs. Ejido lot number issue. I have no idea where the Presta Nombre came up with the idea that the address has to be the Ejido lot number but that is pure fantasy. I drove up and down the street trying to make sense of the house numbering and it makes exactly zero sense. The fact is people make up their own addresses mostly without even looking at what is next door. The adjoining lots on the papers are 74 and 76 so I said why not call it 75.  I could have picked anything but the Presta Nombre thinks I can't guess because lot number has to be the address. So I'll drive over to the Emiliano Zapata Ejido (El Ranchito) to double check the lot number just to calm the worrier.  I should have chosen 175 and stuck with it. Addresses are used for water contracts and the electric company and Ejidos could care less. You are a lot number to them.

A little over half of the 60 meters

Tenacatita evictions over land dispute

State police evict homeowners in beach community of Tenacatita
From the Guadalajara Reporter

Villalobos has been trying the get the low-income families evicted from the land for two decades, ever since he purchased 42 hectares of Tenacatita beachfront land from the wife of a former state governor in 1991. (He apparently obtained the federal beach concession rights in 1993.) Many of the businesses on the undeveloped beach are palapa seafood restaurants that have been serving tourists and locals for more than 40 years.

Francisco Martinez Flores, the ejido (local land commune) commissioner for El Rebalsito, said the ejiditarios own the 42 hectares and have the land titles to prove it.

La Huerta Mayor Carlos Ramirez Nuñez called the eviction "unfair" and said municipal authorities would do all in their power to help the families return to their homes.

But if they get ever back to their homes and businesses, there may be nothing left of them. After the families left in pick-up trucks with their belongings – some making as many as 10 trips to and from the highway – police brought in heavy machinery, presumably to demolish the palapa huts and homes, and blocked the only road leading to the beach. None one was allowed in without an "official" escort. Both the La Huerta municipal secretary and a Puerto Vallarta-based Jalisco Human Rights Commission observer had to give up their cellphones and cameras to police before they were allowed to enter the area, according to reports from Spanish-language daily Milenio. La Huerta municipal cops who turned up to provide "additional security" were also barred from entering. The area resembled "a war zone," commented one foreign resident at the scene.

Guadalajara Reporter article

Read personal accounts from people that live in the area here