Yucatan Living

Yucatan News: Memorial Day and Cacti

29 May 2012 News 2

News Starting May 28, 2012

Americans Celebrate Memorial Day

In the United States, Memorial Day is observed on the last Monday in May. The purpose of Memorial Day is to remember all of the American service men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Memorial Day is a time when families get together and celebrate the living, as well as honor their dead soldiers. Memorial Day is the day when the U.S. flag flies at half-staff until noon, in honor of the fallen, and then is raised again, in celebration, of their lives and legacy. Yucatan Living would like to extend our best wishes and sincere thanks to the families who lost loved ones in any capacity as they served the country. We are deeply appreciative of their sacrifice.

Meeting with American Consulate Coming in June

The American Consulate is planning to have a Town Hall Meeting for Americans in June. The main purpose of the meeting is to cover the subjects of overseas voting and hurricane season preparedness. They will also discuss security, and routine and emergency services offered by the Consulate. Those registered with the Consulate will receive time and location information in their email inboxes. Additional information about this meeting will be published in Yucatan Living, on Yolisto, on our Facebook pages and through mailing lists as soon as it is available. The Canadian Consul and her compatriots are slated to attend as well. Please begin to formulate any questions you may have of either consulate for that meeting.

Mexico’s Navy Day is June 1

On and about June 1, Mexico shows its appreciation for the Mexican Navy with a week-long celebration that includes beauty pageants, military services, formal dinners and community events that put many other national holidays to shame. Such is certainly the case in Progreso! Here, one can find marathon races, as well as kayak and canoe racing, fishing tournaments, loads of grownup water toys and families enjoying all of it. This is the Mexico that the Navy works so hard to protect and serve, and they do a wonderful job of it. We hope every member of Mexico’s Navy is aware of just how much they are appreciated. They come to the rescue of those who are in trouble offshore, protect us all from criminal activity of every stripe, and they are not above lending a helping hand to children’s projects to clean beaches and mangroves. Well done, ladies and gentlemen of the Mexican Navy!

Yucatan Cactus and Succulent Association News

If you are a member of the Yucatan Cactus and Succulent Association, this is to advise you that the Association has ordered a shipment of nursery plants that should be in by the next meeting. The Association went ahead and ordered all of the plants together and paid for them out of the Association’s funds in order to obtain a lower overall price. Please do attend the next meeting and be prepared to take your plants and pay for them so that the funds can be returned to the Association. For more information, please contact: Enrique Gorostegui at Twitter: @ASYCS; Facebook or the Yucatan Cactus Web Page. If you want to join, they meet every month at Centro de Investigaciones Cientificas de Yucatan CICY in the north part of the city.

 

 

Author Interview With “The Write Factor”

Local expat author, Malcolm Massey Live will give a live Facebook Interview about his latest novel about 2012:The Lost Calendar of the Maya: The Return of Kukulkan. The show will air from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM in Mexico, from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM on the U.S. East Coast. Be sure to listen in or feel free to ask questions on The Write Factor! Congratulations to Malcolm Massey for winning this important interview and for finishing yet another novel about Yucatan and the events to come in the remainder of 2012.

Welcome Deborah Allen to Proyecto Itzaes

Deborah Allen is a single mother, living in Centennial, Colorado, with her three children. She recently took on the volunteer position of International Development Coordinator for Proyecto Itzaes and, in that capacity, visited Chicxulub Puerto to see the work being done. She also went to meet the people who benefit from that work. Deborah was particularly struck by isolated visions: a child walking down a dirt road with a library book in her Proyecto Itzaes bag, families who are barely scraping by, teens who are the first to ever graduate in the history of their families. Deborah also discovered the power of Proyecto Itzaes as it makes it possible for parents to send all of their children to school, rather than only one or two. Soon Deborah realized that she could not turn away without helping. If you would like to help Proyecto Itzaes with its many literacy and support programs, please visit the Proyecto Itzaes Donation Page, where you can leave a one-time gift or an ongoing gift of $7 USD per month.

Yucatan’s Department of Health in Michigan

Michigan State University has an Institute of International Health, which recently hosted a number of visitors from the Department of Health in Yucatan. The new partners are working on a project that will allow them to exchange new knowledge, new scientific discoveries and to develop mutually beneficial research projects. We have already seen a number of collaborative projects in the area of osteopathic medicine begun in Merida and now will look for more, especially in areas that include hyperbaric treatments. O’Horan Hospital is the headquarters for this partnership in Merida and we look forward to meeting the MSU medical students and residents as these research projects and international training programs move forward.

Summer Begins in Yucatan

It isn’t vacation time quite yet, but readers may have noticed that cultural events in the city are beginning to dwindle down to a precious few. That isn’t to say that there is nothing going on in Yucatan, however. Instead of being out and about in the city, Yucatecos and expats alike are out in force on the beaches. We felt badly for the fishermen this week. The weather was beautiful, but the wind was strong enough to stop them from fishing. On the other hand, that same wind made a day at the beach a welcome break from the heat of the city. Look for an increasing number of days when city dwellers throw caution to the wind and either hit the road or hop a bus for Progreso. It is just too easy to do and the rewards of having a nearby beach suddenly seem to massively increase in importance. Throughout the summer, we hope everyone has the opportunity to spend as many days on Yucatan’s beaches as they like.

Young Entrepreneurs Present Business Projects

The fast approaching end of the academic school year brings more than cultural shows to our adopted state. It also brings out the projects of some of the best young business minds in Yucatan. These are the young entrepreneurs from the Accounting Department at UADY. Each year, they present a new crop of young businesses, many of which go on to be quite successful and create any number of new jobs in Yucatan. This year, eleven projects were presented at Sendero Mall, in the eastern part of the city. One of the most interesting business products was the making of shoes from recycled denim. The idea is to make a sustainable product and there is no denying that there will probably never be a shortage of denim in need of recycling. This shoe is made by Shantelle, and you can contact them on Facebook. By the way, we have it on good authority that the customers loved this shoe. Congratulations to this year’s young entrepreneurs and best wishes to those who follow them next year!

National University Literary Games

Most people think that Spanish and Mayan are the only two languages spoken in Yucatan. Such is not the case. There are, in fact, quite a few other Native American languages spoken in rural municipalities in Yucatan. Those are usually listed on the State of Yucatan’s pages for individual municipalities (counties). In the main, however, Mayan is the most widely spoken indigenous language in Yucatan, so much so that there is currently a great push on to rescue the language before it is lost. Toward the goal of rescuing indigenous languages, there are national literature competitions through all of Mexico. This week, $3,000 peso prizes were awarded to the winners of stories, narratives and poetry – all written and presented in the Mayan language – plus, the work of the winners will be published. Awards are important. They give a younger generation something to strive for and an older generation validation for all of their solitary work. Our congratulations to all of the winners and to their teachers and families for instilling a love of their language in them at an early age.