Noise in Centro

Okay, after reading your e-mail to me and re-reading this post I realize you are essentially calling me a liar and accusing me of "painting a pretty picture". With all due respect, amigo, I think you have some bias issues, because if you were paying attention to what I post here over the years then you would know I do NOT just "paint pretty pictures" but tell it like it is, which is one of the reasons the goverment and a lot of turisteros don't exactly hold me in high esteem and why I was referred to by one of my critics as Don Sincero on the radio talk show I was on last month. However after re-reading your comments here and in the e-mail and in other e-mails I see you have a strong resentment and cynicism for a lot of things that make up life in Zihuatanejo. I don't share that resentment or cynicism and in spite of all its warts I love this community very much and see a side of it that apparently you don't. I'm surprised that feeling the way you do that you continue living here. Most folks I've met that share your general attitude towards Zihuatanejo and Mexico don't remain here for as long as you have. What we have are two very different outlooks on life here. It doesn't make either of us wrong or right, just different.

Yes, I post a lot of pretty pictures and try to keep from harping on the negative because I don't believe this is the correct place for complaining about a lot of that stuff. The local government has a website and a Faceook page that are much more appropriate for the types of complaints you seem to have. That's one of the methods I have used to get several problems attended to. This forum is mostly a place to answer questions from potential and return visitors. Not so much for airing our dirty laundry that doesn't affect visitors.

Noise does affect visitors, so reading your letter I see you complain quite loudly about the bar named "Carlos" across from the Cancha Municipal. They USED to make noise that bothered us, but not for the past several months. They have turned their music down considerably, and frankly I cannot hear it from a block away as I used to be able to. Only the stupid "sports bar" that pretends to be a disco with mostly terrible music and a jerk for a manager next to Coconuts makes a lot of noise on my block, but my wife and I have decided it's time to let others of our neighbors get involved and take some responsibility, especially the ones who have hotels whose guests are affected by it. We don't need to be the only folks taking care of things. We have achieved quite a lot between us, but the noise problem needs to be EVERYONE'S concern. We sleep well at night listening to the sounds of the waves and the occasional drunks passing by. Such is downtown life. But the thumpity-thump that used to reverberate our walls all night especially on weekends is no more thanks to actions taken by my wife and I and dozens of our friends and neighbors. The government has been taking action on the matter for the past several months.

One theme I find consistent in your complaints is you seem to want to apply a USA-style remedy to everything. You want things to be done here the way they are up north across the border. For example, you suggested that cops should fine boombox cars on the spot. There are numerous reasons why that isn't done here, but the simple answer is that it isn't the way our police are empowered to operate. You're confusing cultures and imposing one upon the other, and I believe that is one of the causes of your discontent with so much. Perhaps in the future something like that will be a possibility, but it's a long ways from being possible at the moment and so not worth worrying over.

You repeat over and over that you are simply expressing your observations, but as a smart feller once said: "En este mundo traidor, nada es verdad, ni mentira; todo es según el color del cristal con que se mira."