El Susto del ZIHmulacro

So, what about the kill tournament??

Oddly , or not, these ideas , " foreigners rise prices on us locals" and "they need to learn the language " are center points of the trump regimes anti immagration frenzy. .

Thank you, Little Guy. Well said. I agree 100%

I cannot disagree with you regarding the amount of concrete being poured in Zihuatanejo or the reasons for it. You have more knowledge and better understanding of the knowledge than I will ever have.

As the expression says, “Think globally; act locally.” Both aspects of that are important. Some (many?) of us who are fortunate enough to have been born into the wealthy North can sometimes be selfish in how we treat the world and others in it. Sometimes we do it without thinking. Sometimes we do it knowingly.

Development in places like Troncones brings benefits to many people, but I think we need to develop responsibility. My blood pressure rises when I see lush lawns, water-demanding foliage, etc. And my children or grandchildren will not experience the wastefulness of these irresponsible daily activities as will the truly local people.

So many of us use the horrible, thermal electricity from Petacalco.

The Petacalco power complex has had significant negative impacts on human health, marine life, fisheries and agriculture in northwestern Guerrero state. The Petacalco plant burns an average of 7 million tons of coal per year and has been described as one of the world's worst polluters. Its annual emissions of carbon dioxide and mercury (over 15 million tons, and 711 tons, respectively) are the highest of any power plant in Mexico. In addition, it ranks second nationally in annual emissions of nitrous oxide (228 tons) and methane (152 tons), third in nitric oxide (over 24,000 tons), and fifth in sulfur dioxide (152 tons per year). Air and water pollution traceable to the plant have created multiple negative impacts for surrounding communities, including depletion of fisheries, loss of mangrove habitat, and high concentrations of coal ash and other particulates that threaten residents' health.

Petacalco power station

Instead, we could be generating renewable energy using solar panels.

Many of us fortunate enough to be able to have a vehicle use fossil fuels, spewing more climate changing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, damaging not only health today, but worsening the planet for future generations. Instead, we could be driving on the renewable energy of our solar panels.

Our decisions are not limited to what we do in this area. What we do when we are in the wealthy North affects what happens in the Zihuatanejo area.

This is not about finger pointing. It is about each of us making thoughtful choices about what we do each day. I know that some don’t care. A wealthy homeowner in Troncones said to me, “I’m selfish. I blame it on being American.” I don’t buy that there are plenty of concerned, thoughtful, considerate, community-minded Americans. And there are plenty of non-Americans who are selfish. And each of us, regardless of origins, can change in a positive way for our community and our planet… for the present and for the future.

Gracias, amigo, for the very thoughtful and cogent reply. Like in Zihuatanejo, for so many years so many of the people from elsewhere who came to Troncones had a positive effect, as you described. But then some folks, mostly locals, started petitioning the local and state governments for services and attention. Well, they got it, and one of the very first things that began to happen was corrupt government officials and their corrupt friends started laundering their ill-gotten gains in Troncones. Buying and building condos and luxury homes for themselves and to sell.

From experience, I knew the party was over in Troncones the day you all got your coastal road paved. The worst of what's happening isn't because of foreigners, but there is a relationship between the success they made of Troncones as a tourist destination and the unbridled greed of speculators and people from other places who see a cash cow they can milk. Same as what is happening in Zihuatanejo where I can see where people illegally clearcut lots before they build monstrous condos on them on the hillside above Las Gatas and La Ropa, same as is currently happening along much of the coast from Saladita to Barra de Potosí. I watched this kind of so-called progress ruin communities up and down the coasts in Florida, displacing the people in those communities and making the rest feel quite uncomfortable as the greenery disappears, the cement rises around them and the cost of living goes up.

I was just reading about a woman in North Port Charlotte in Florida where she'd moved to 30 years ago and invested in land to build her retirement home, only to find out it was recently rezoned commercial when she and her husband were ready to retire and build. No public hearings were held. She simply found out after the fact, as we do with so many of our own local government's decisions.

I guess the moral of the story is careful what you wish for. While I contribute to the arrival of foreigners here, I'm proud of the fact that it seems the people I attract are like you: respectful of locals and local culture. People who are a positive addition to the community. Because we also get a lot of people who are the opposite. Including many who are Mexican.

A common complaint among Mexicans are the foreigners who move here to live but amazingly never seem to learn to converse well in Spanish. I know folks who've been here as long as I have who simply cannot converse in anything other than a rudimentary Spanish with so much U.S. accent that they're practically unintelligible. All locals really expect from new residents is a respectful effort to learn the language and some of our customs. When someone greets you with ¡Buenos días!, PLEASE don't respond with "Mornin'".

There's not much that people from other places can do about local prices rising. It goes with being a tourist destination as a greater demand is put on local services and the price of land and housing is forced upwards. The saddest part of our local story is that politicians at every level of government, especially the ones who sell cement, have stupidly bet 100% on tourism for our local economies, and tourism is a very fickle industry. I remind them every chance I can that we should be more focused on diversifying our economies than our tourist offerings.