the people in white

this morning, i had to go to the northshore to pay for my vehicle insurance and as i went through "restaurant row" just east of SJC, those people in the white band uniform things were at one of the sets of topes soliciting money, as they often are. who are those guys????

oh, and speaking of topes, there are two new sets by the new pemex just east of el baijo/la cristina on the carretera. i don't see that any new school has gone up in the past couple of weeks, so are they in honor of the new pemex? (on the upside of things, the traffic in ajijic was actually moving today.)

lucky wrote:this morning, i had to go to the northshore to pay for my vehicle insurance and as i went through "restaurant row" just east of SJC, those people in the white band uniform things were at one of the sets of topes soliciting money, as they often are. who are those guys????

oh, and speaking of topes, there are two new sets by the new pemex just east of el baijo/la cristina on the carretera. i don't see that any new school has gone up in the past couple of weeks, so are they in honor of the new pemex? (on the upside of things, the traffic in ajijic was actually moving today.)

I do not know who these folks are, either. I do not donate money to any charity that I am unclear about and try to make sure that any money I donate is going to the source that I want to help. I have seen these folks all over the place in my five years and have heard that they are a scam, but I do not really know.

Thanks for sharing about the two new topes between Ajijic and Joco. I think that brings the grand total to 10,002. Zoey

I don't know either but I have heard "people just collecting spending money" and "the Guadalajara Red Cross".

lucky wrote:this morning, i had to go to the northshore to pay for my vehicle insurance and as i went through "restaurant row" just east of SJC, those people in the white band uniform things were at one of the sets of topes soliciting money, as they often are. who are those guys????

oh, and speaking of topes, there are two new sets by the new pemex just east of el baijo/la cristina on the carretera. i don't see that any new school has gone up in the past couple of weeks, so are they in honor of the new pemex? (on the upside of things, the traffic in ajijic was actually moving today.)

The day after they put up those new topes we saw a 4 car pile-up that included a Chapala bus. The car slammed on the brakes at the last minute and everyone piled into him. Guess they should have put up a sign to go along with it.

Bob

Those nice ladies standin in the middle of the f*#n road are one of the charities I always give to... The Red Cross does a lot of good... besides... it gets em of the road!!

right now it is the chapala red cross but usually it is the guad red cross on weekends. if you give to them our red cross does not see 1 centavo of it.
the chapala people are clearly marked as such and there is usually a vehicle nearby that is marked chapala as well.

The folks down here in Chiapas manning tope checkpoints do not wear white coats but they can, in fact, save your life, as long as you agree to donate to community causes some of which, by the way, are quite legitimate and benefit the local Zapatista and indigenous communities they are set up to benefit despite the fact that donation crusades may seem to outsiders to be extortionate in character.

Let´s face it; you are driving from some tourist center such as San Cristóbal De Las Casas to some tourist destination such as Palenque and some indigenous villagers whose lands have been confiscated and fields divided and sovereignty marginaliized in order to build a highway for your convenience to some such place as Palenque ask rather forcefully for your contribution to the community you are traversing when you have already paid tribute to the state authority that built that thoroughfare and you begrudge these campesinos their ten pesos? If those ten pesos bother you more than the countless pesos the state has assessed you to travel this road both directly or indirectly disrespecting indigenous lands without paying for that privilege in appropriate tolls then you need to rethink your moral obligation to the fellow human beings who provided you access through their jungle homelands to Palenque in the first place without viewing you as an unwelcome interloper.

A word to the wise:

If you are driving a Chiapas backroad - let´s say from Palenque to Ocosingo - and you happen upon a village where a large group of villagers of both sexes and all ages backed by countless campesinos - request that you donate to the building of a local soccer field, I suggest you render some ten pesos or, alternatively, your gonads.

Pride has its place as does humility.

this ain't chiapas, fatboy. i just 'splained about the white coats here-is what people axed about.

Actually, Shrimp; the guys in white coats following you around are carrying butterfly nets and plan to take you to a place where you no longer have to worry about those giant carp in the Agua Negro Sump who stole your water wings near the Chapala pier last week and where I suggest you request a frontal lobotomy which is free and will help you sleep at night there in the dormitory with the other geezers thinking they look like Marlon Brando and wondering why everyone else thinks they are Gabby Hayes clones.

You better watch it since The Dawg will be returning to his summer estate in Ajijic in a couple of weeks and rejoining the Ajijic social whirl while you stew away in that broom closet you rent from 7-11 in Chapala and if you continue to treat Dawg disrespectfully I may have to remove you from my Ajijic Gourmet Society Meal-of-the-Month competition in which case you will never unload all those Vienna Sausages, toothpicks and that Sam´s Club Catsup you´ve been hoarding for your anticipated competition entry.

Holy chit! One of the funniest descriptions I've heard, the visual I conjured up was hilarious.

So much for "chit" Chat. De Dawg did speak of southern México, where a couple of Canuks had their rig hijacked a couple of weeks ago by "about 20 bandidos". Do you think perhaps they didn't want to donate to the cause? Lizzy

pedro wrote:this ain't chiapas, fatboy. i just 'splained about the white coats here-is what people axed about.

I have never seen the Chapala Cruz Roja in white uniforms,dressed like nurses, including a white hat to match the dresses and yes, I know that this is Cruz Roja collection time. They usually are well dressed young folks or adults with a tamper proof container that you put your change or bills into that is made of clear plastic and supplied by our local Cruz Roja. I have no idea who the ladies in white are, but would like to know. I doubt very much that they are Cruz Roja GDL. Anybody really know? Zoey

there is also some sort of religious organization that likes to be mistaken for cruz roja.

the chapala cruz roja, young, collectors were, indeed, dressed in white.
all this has, no doubt, caused mass hysteria and confusion.

pedro wrote:there is also some sort of religious organization that likes to be mistaken for cruz roja.

the chapala cruz roja, young, collectors were, indeed, dressed in white.
all this has, no doubt, caused mass hysteria and confusion.

Apparently, only by you. The rest of us are just trying to figure out who they are. In five years, Chapala collectors have NEVER been dress in white.. Zoey

this time they were, fool. the last time i saw them was a week ago at the libramento and carretera intersection with a chapala cruz roja marked truck overseeing their activities.

pedro wrote:this time they were, fool. the last time i saw them was a week ago at the libramento and carretera intersection with a chapala cruz roja marked truck overseeing their activities.

Time for me to disconnect as you have no idea what you are talking about and each response makes you look more stupid. Zoey

whaaaat! ya need pictures???? i happen to notice what they do because it is one of the organizations i support.