December 2004

Thanks to Tina Manley, who sent me this photo taken on 23 December of folk dancers parading in the streets of Querétaro – the culmination of the Fiestas de Diciembre in the city.

Something I’ll not be listening to while opening my presents (all the same, thanks for the tip-off, Ed). Instead, we’ll sing along to El Vez. Deliciously tongue-in-cheek-kitsch-with-a-cause. Tracks such as “Brown Christmas” and “¿Mamacita, Donde Está Santa Claus?” stand out. That reminds me, must post up the interview I did with him back in December 2000…

Some anniversaries are best forgotten, and for me personally, December 1994 is one of the most forgettable. Exactly ten years ago my wife and I were among those hit by the collapse of the Mexican peso.

A week earlier we had booked our one-way flight back to London (payable in US dollars) from an agency in Lázaro Cárdenas, but had chosen not to settle in full until a week or two later. A bad move. A planned exchange rate correction of the Mexican Peso to the US Dollar, triggered a massive financial meltdown, unleashing the ‘Tequila’ effect on global financial markets. Two year’s savings shrank to a beggarly £444 on our arrival at Heathrow Airport on a dank and dingy January morning. I’m still resentful. In time we recovered and grasped the new opportunities of the early internet…

Football’s world governing body, FIFA, has ruled that a leading Mexican woman footballer is not eligible to play for a professional men’s club. I wrote about this story on Friday.

The Christmas event in Oaxaca is the unusual Noche de Rábanos, which takes place on 23 December.

Artisans carve tableaux from giant radishes for kudos and a prize of $12,000 pesos (about £550 or $1,065 US dollars).

Check out the photos on the website of the Oaxaca state tourism office (in Spanish).

Maribel Dominguez is rated one of the top women footballers on the planet. Now the 26 year-old, 5-foot-4 (161cm) striker has joined the Celeya club on a two-year deal. The (men’s) team currently play in Mexico’s Second Division.

Dominguez has scored 42 goals in 43 matches for the Mexican national women’s team. She told journalists: “This is a dream I have had, and now it is not far away.” Football’s ruling body, FIFA, has reportedly said that the decision as to whether she can play in the men’s league lies with the Mexican Football Federation. Meanwhile, Manuel Lapuente, who was Mexico’s national team coach at the 1998 World Cup in France, scythed in with this clumsy challenge: “My father told me you don’t touch a woman even with a rose petal. Now we are supposed to face a woman and slide in to tackle her.” Now surely that’s worthy of a yellow card for dissent..?

Serapes
Originally uploaded by Robert Gold

The largest colonial cathedral in the Americas
Originally uploaded by Froda

The New York-based Project for Public Spaces organisation – a nonprofit consultancy dedicated to creating and sustaining public places that build communities – has nominated Coyoacán, 8km south of Mexico City Centro, as the fifth best neighbourhood in North America in which to live. Discuss…

Languages student Helen Murray from Rossett in North Wales writes about Coyoacán in her BBC blog about her experiences living & working in Mexico.

In its print version today, The Guardian featured this AP/Mario Armas photo of air balloons in flight during the Third International Air Balloon Festival in Guanajuato.