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San Miguel de Allende -- Today is Saturday, September 04, 2010 12:03 at our loyal server in the USA| From the Vip Club Newsletter for San Miguel de Allende with information on discounts available for club members who have purchased the VIP Club Discount Card
November 30, 2006
Greetings:
VIP Club participating bar, EL PETITE, Hernandez Macias #95, reopens
with an inauguration gala, tonight, November 30, with a special reception and
live music from 6-8pm. The attached Market Bistro Restaurant will reopen sometime
in December. Good luck Daniel.
BTW: Right next door in Romanos, they have a dinner show in
the back patio every Thursday night, with Parker and Young playing from 8-10pm.
Also, on Wednesdays, Frederico plays Latin folk from 8-10pm.
Also, entertainment wise, VIP participating restaurant
La Frugua wants member to know about their weekly line up of entertainment:
- Tuesdays;
8pm, Tango Nights, with "Rio Negro,"
- Wednesdays; 8pm, Blues with "Robert
Kaplan and & Joe,"
- Thursdays; 9:30pm, Pop, Salsa, Cumbia etc, with "Rossalba,"
- Fridays & Saturdays;
10:30pm, "Maria,"
- Saturdays; 3pm, Mexican Trio Music, with "Los
Padrinos,"
- Sundays; 8pm, Bohemia with "Pepe Cordoba."
Card Member Keith Thompson is no longer at Finnegans
but has opened the Long Horn Texas BBQ, behind
La Palapa. Because of the price structure, the card does not apply but consider
giving Keith's new place a try.
Card Member, Donna Drinnon, of the Drinnon Art Gallery,
Sto. Domingo 42B, is having a mixed media show on Saturday & Sunday, December
2-3, from 12-5pm, featuring wall art of women and children
Card Member Beatriz Orvananos is moving her VIP Club participating
Ritmos Latinos dance lesson studio from Zacateros to La Carpa. Classes will resume
January 8, 2007. Contact La Carpa for the new schedule.
Club members Mort and Norma Erlick are having a garage
sale, at their home, Cuesta de San Jose #29,
on Saturday, December 16, 9am-1pm. They will be selling off Mexican antiques-Santos',
Textiles, Folk Art, Oriental Rugs and many one of a kind items. Club members
can come a week early if they call first at 152-8180.
It was brought to our attention that a notice was posted on
the "not-so-cool" list, a good idea gone bad where there is mostly
whining, griping and back biting, and someone was braying the propane gas company
does not show when called. I had a casual conversation with Jesus from Noel Gas
and asked him if there was a problem. Do know, especially if it a large tank
delivery, that if the trucks can't find a parking spot they cannot deliver. They
do try coming back often during the course of the day but if they can't park
they can't deliver.
We would like to remind members that the VIP card does not
apply to cover charges for entertainment. We post this information in our brochures
and on our webpage but some members overlook the rule and occasionally they give
door men a hard times. Stop it! The Club rules are but few but each member should
know them. Restaurant wise the card is valid for food and drink off the menu;
tobacco products, t-shirts etc. are never included as part of the discount.
A member called our office and all the girls could make
out is them saying they lost their card. They could not understand who they were
because they were sneezing and coughing the whole time. But do know, if you misplaced
or lost your card, contact us here for immediate replacement, no questions asked.
BTW: with flu season upon us, know that VIP Club Members get
a 20% discount at Chelos Faracia , off of pharmaceuticals and 15% off their retail
products.
Many members have written in for updates about member
Arden O'Rourke who was in a bad accident up near the border. Seems our prayers
and good wishes were answered. She is out of trouble, has come out of the coma,
and has been taken off the respirator at a hospital in San
Antonio, Texas. She has a long way to go to be her old self but she is
doing better everyday. Arden and her family thank you all for your concern and
prayers.
The holidays are coming: Be nice to one another.
Thank you for your continuous and loyal support.
Your San Miguel VIP Club | November 21, 2006
Greetings:
Your VIP Club welcomes ROMANOS RESTAURANT BAR into the club.
Romanos, Hernandez Macias #93, 152-7454. Romanos has become a San Miguel landmark
restaurant. Now under new ownership, Dave and Patrice Brucia offer the same hearty
menu with good-sized portions as beforehand while adding some new entries. Romanos
is open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday. VIP Club members may take 10% off
their bill. Romanos does not take credit cards.
VIP Club member Beatriz provides Tango lessons at her studio,
located at Zacateros 21. She offers members a 10% discount when paying for a
month's worth of lessons.
VIP Club member Ross MacDonald wants members to know that
beginning November 24 the San Miguel Fitness Center and MacDonalds Casa de La
Salud are having their first annual membership drive with many discounts and
price reductions for the gym, vitamins, chocolates etc. Ross also will soon have
a new website under San Miguel Fitness that will provide discount coupons, a
medical referral service and other valuable and diverse services to sanmiguelenses.
Do know that the San Miguel Fitness Centers offers 20% off to VIP Club members.
VIP Club participating boutique and fashion center, "Goldies" has
moved off Canal and is now located at Zacateros #19, in the old Clan Destino
location. Hours are daily: 10:00-am-6pm, 154-7521.
Maru Riba, owner of VIP Club participating restaurant
La Princesa, on Recreo, would like members to know La Pricesa has a new chef,
Angel Flores, who comes with sterling credentials earned at Camino Real Hotel
in Mexico City and while in Cancun. La Princesa
now offers a new and diverse menu with many various specialties.
Silvia, of L'invito fame, has opened another local pizzeria
with wood burning oven located on the corner of Calzada de la Luz and Calzada
de la Aurora. Her other location is Ancha de San Antonio,
32B. Both are open everyday providing home delivery. Call 154-6228 or
154-1000.
Members do know, if you are in business or an artist,
who might be having an event or even a garage sale, Your Club will be more than
glad to post your event in our newsflashes. Yet do know, if your event is time
sensitive, we can not guarantee we can send your notice out right away because
we only send out newsflashes that are germane to new club business, so get your
notice to us early. Do know that the VIP Club website is being viewed more and
more by our robust membership <www.vipsanmiguel.com>.
Your Club's site's advertising rates are very reasonable.
Brrrrrr . . . everybody is talking about the weather.
All will use more propane. Remember Your Club's discount from Noel Gas. So far
the reports are good with many members saving big time on their propane bill.
One member, who has three properties, says they paid or their VIP membership
just with the savings. Also, with the weather getting colder, the poor out in
the campo lack warm clothing. Both Biblioteca Publica and our local post of the
American Legion have drives to collect coats and sweaters to give to the less
fortunate. Why not look in your closet and permit your older garb to warm the
needy.
Your Club wants to wish our American membership a Happy Thanksgiving.
It goes without saying how much we all have to be thankful for here in San Miguel.
A belated Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian members.
Thank you for the good turn out and VIP Club members
who attended my reading at the Authors Sala on November 10, and special thanks
to Susan Page and the steering committee who were thoughtful enough to invite
me to read excerpts from my work, it warmed my heart.
Please include, member Arden O'Rourke, in your
prayers and good thoughts. Arden, a fine lady, was involved in a horrific auto
crash with an 18 wheeler up at the border. Presently she is in a coma in San
Antonio, Texas, and she's in trouble. A silver lining might be that, as of today,
it has been reported she has moved her arms and legs and periodically
has opened her eyes before slipping back in unconsciousness. Get back with us,
Arden!
Members and friends, please don't sleep with open flame
heaters operating in bedrooms or you just might not wake up!!!
RIP: Elfie Guillen.
Thank you for your continuous and loyal support.
Your San Miguel VIP Club
| Mexican Coke: The 'Real Thing?'
By TOM RAGAN
Sentinel staff writer
WATSONVILLE
It's popping up just about everywhere in Latino communities across the United States: Mexican-made Coca-Cola in those old glass bottles, somewhat of an anomaly in the age of the plastic liter and twist-off cap.
Slightly worn and a bit gritty from all the coming and going, the 12-ounce bottles, which sell for roughly $1.25 a pop, are being bought up and sucked dry at record clips in cities across the country with large Latino populations.
And Mexicans and Mexican-Americans aren't the only ones swigging down the soda bottled south of the border, claiming it tastes different from its American-made counterpart, that its fizz seems to last longer because it's in a glass bottle.
If running diaries on the Web in the form of blogs are any indication, just about everybody who likes the heft of a good old-fashioned soda bottle is looking for the Mexican-made pop in the thousands of ma and pa convenience stores that cater to Latinos.
"Mexican Coke is selling like crazy bro, and I can't keep up," says Rudy Mendoza of El Gordo Taqueria on Main Street. Last week the 20-something Mendoza, Salinas born and bred, was cursing the underground distributor under his breath as the slightly green tinted bottles, with the words "Hecho en Mexico," started to disappear from his refrigerator.
In somewhat of a conundrum, the Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co. has condemned the recent imports across the country as a form of "bootlegging."
But at the same time the company has recognized that it would be remiss if it overlooked the Mexican pop craze, which is why it is now buying Coca-Cola in bottles from Mexico and importing them to Texas and Southern California, two of the largest Mexican markets in the country, according to Mart Martin, a spokesman for Coca-Cola's North American division in Atlanta.
"We believe that the appeal of Mexican Coke is as much about nostalgia as it is about anything," says Martin. "It's like getting a piece of home in a bottle. You can't deny the fact that it's in a tall glass bottle, something you just can't find in most parts of the United States."
But it's the "same exact product," and Mexican bottlers are buying the ingredients straight from the company, says Martin.
"It's not like they're stirring it up in some backyard," he adds. "Coke is Coke is Coke."
The company, however, rarely elaborates on Coke's ingredients, and the secret formula is actually in a vault in a bank in Atlanta. Instead, the company line all along has been that there is "no perceptible taste difference" between Mexican Coke and the American-made Classic Coke.
As Martin says, "You have to consider the circumstances: the packaging, whether there's ice over it, the temperature, or whether it's in a can or a bottle. But what often happens is people think it tastes different because it comes in a bottle, and that's what we're trying to get our arms around. The 'why?' It could just be psychological."
Yet there is one kicker, and it's a fairly large one: Mexican Coke may contain the same secret syrup, but its sweetener is entirely different.
It's made from sugar cane, not corn syrup.
'The Real Thing'
Latinos are the fastest-growing population segment in the United States, and Mexico accounts for well over half of the roughly 33 million Latinos who live in the country, according to the 2000 census.
Certainly, this is not the first time the Mexican market has flexed its muscle, with an occasional borrowing from U.S. popular culture.
Look closely at the Mexican man wearing that Texas Longhorns cap or the World Series-winning Chicago White Sox hat. There's a chance it came from a market just off the plaza in Any Town, Mexico.
But then there's the real Mexican deal, like tequila, which has anchored many a margarita happy hour; or tacos, as popular as hamburgers, without which there'd be no Taco Bell.
Mexico's a country that's put the popularity of chips and salsa right up there with ketchup and french fries.
And in yet another nod to the lucrative Latino market, Frito-Lay just came out with a "fiery habañero" flavor of Doritos that all but requires a bottle of water during consumption.
It's no secret that the meteoric rise in the Mexican population in the past few decades in the United States has given rise to all products Mexican, which has made its way into the mainstream of the American psyche — from canned jalapeños to cheaper laundry soaps to the corn tortilla.
But taking a brand name like Coca-Cola and undercutting the American-made Coca-Cola distributors on their own turf hasn't gone over well with the largest soft drink supplier in the world, according to Martin.
Although the bottlers in Mexico are authorized and are making the cola above board, it's the non-Coca-Cola distributors — the guys who are wheeling and dealing it in an underground market — that are causing all the problems.
Lawsuits have been filed, but no dispositions as of yet.
"They're trespassing on the territory rights of many U.S. bottlers," said Coke spokesman Martin. "Bringing it into the country is not illegal. But what it does do from the Coca-Cola standpoint is it violates contractual rights that we have with our bottlers. And it has potential trademark right infringements as well."
The controversy has even bubbled to the surface in several blogs.
Ordinary Joes are mixing their thoughts and opinions with the best of the high-browed corporate types who've made careers out of analyzing products that sell and those that don't.
Grant McCracken, a noted anthropologist with a doctorate from the University of Chicago, wrote: "Some consumers now insist that Mexican Coke is a more robust brand than American Coke, not least because it is charged with meanings that American Coke never had, or long ago gave up. In particular, Mexican Coke is charged with a powerful nostalgia, a remembrance of childhood south of the border."
Karina Alejandre, 22, a recently arrived immigrant from Mexico who now cooks at El Gordo Taqueria in Watsonville, remembers her first sip of Coca-Cola.
And guess what?
It didn't even come from a bottle.
"We'd drink from plastic sandwich bags with straws inside," she said in Spanish, an imaginary straw in her hand. "We couldn't leave the store with the bottles."
Since Coca-Cola was founded in the late 1880s as a syrup mixed with carbonated water, it's gone from the soda fountain to the bottle to the aluminum can to the plastic liter.
And now it's back to the bottle, courtesy of Mexico, a country that's usually a few years behind the times, often fashionably retro because of it.
And in the backrooms of some Mexican tiendas in Watsonville, from El Gordo to D'La Colmena, cases upon cases of the Mexican Coke bottles sit, proof that there's a demand, which is causing a stir but saturating a Latino and non-Latino thirst across the country.
As McCracken notes, "The bigger challenge of the Coca-Cola Co. is to admit that even the magnificent corporation that has created and preserved the 'real thing' authenticity must now admit to the possibility that there are many authenticities. This is the lesson of plenitude. This is the lesson of the long tail."
Miguel Perez and Leticia Martinez, Watsonville residents, don't know anything about corporate lessons learned.
They just know what they like.
"When we run out," says Martinez, "I buy the smaller American-made bottles. They cost more, but they're worth it. I love drinking Coke from the bottle."
from www.santacruzsentinel.com | If you read guidebooks or travel articles about México, you will read
that Mexicans are wonderfully accommodating, friendly, warm, and generous to
strangers. You will be given the impression these people are the “Salt
of the Earth” and maybe even virtually Saints. You will be told things
like, “Mexicans are helpful to a fault” and “they will be so
patient with you trying to learn Spanish.” While this might be true, I
have, of late, begun to doubt the multitude of clichés that pour forth
from all the guidebook and article sources about Mexico.
About 18 months into our expatriation experiment, my wife and I began to wonder
what was going on in the heartland of Mexico. The clichés we had read
in our pre-expat research were, frankly, beginning to fall apart. The longer
we lived here, the more we were beginning to see things that the guidebooks gushed
about Mexican’s congeniality weren’t necessarily true. Something
wasn’t adding up.
Guanajuato is about as much in the middle of the country as it gets. It is
truly the heartland of Mexico. Here life is uber-provincial. The dictionary defines
provincial as, “a person of local or restricted interests or outlook; a
person lacking urban polish or refinement.” I began hearing this uber-provincial
stuff more and more as the years went by. I heard this from not only American,
German, and Canadian expatriates but also from Mexicans who grew up in other
parts of Mexico and who, for one reason or another, ended up in Guanajuato.
Certain things begin to happen to us that caused us to begin asking questions.
After all, we were still very fresh and green expats who didn’t know much.
But we began to ask about this or that once things started happening.
I guess it was the first time I was knocked into the street by a Mexican and
subsequently hit by a bus that caused me to wonder what was going on. The second
time was really what got me to wondering. I was pushed off the sidewalk not once
but twice into the path of an oncoming bus and was struck. Not once did anyone
stop to see if I was all right. The pushers never bothered to utter one word
to me. My wife has also been pushed and shoved off sidewalks. I have a 70-year-old
American gringa pal who was pushed into the path of a taxi and was nailed.
One just has to ask what is happening in Guanajuato, Mexico.
I wish I could tell you.
What I began to see long ago was that the Guanajuatenses on the street are
practically running to get somewhere but never arrive on time for anything. Although
all of Latin American (and Italy) is famous for how they regard time differently
than the rest of the world, this has slowly been changing in the more metropolitan
areas of Mexico. More and more, Mexicans are beginning to forsake their traditional
understanding of what it means to be on time for anything. Not so in Guanajuato.
It is just as traditional here as it has been for centuries. Some say the heartland
of Mexico is “stuck in the past.”
But, what you have are Guanajuatenses running at the speed of light and, I
can assure you, to get nowhere fast. They are absolutely not trying to get somewhere
on time. It is a cultural affectation here in Guanajuato. They will never, ever
arrive on time for anything. This is a total mystery in and of itself. Why are
they running? They never arrive on time for anything so what’s the rush?
So, you may logically ask, why are they running down the sidewalk knocking
gringos into the gutter? I wish I could tell you, but I can’t.
I have asked Mexicans because I have the facility in the language to do so.
Most of those I have questioned are not from Guanajuato originally. They are
here for a job, marriage, or whatever, and have been transplanted from other
regions of Mexico.
To my amazement, these Guanajuato transplants have told me that they view
the people of Guanajuato as some of the rudest, most ill educated, and most ill
reared Mexicans in the country. I have gotten emails from Mexicans and as well
as been told in face-to-face interviews that they regard Guanajuatenses Mexicans
as anti-social. This is amazing. These are Mexicans from other regions talking
about their fellow Mexicans. It very much reminds me of those from the Midwest
and western parts of America talking about New York.
Now, I have to take the word of those who tell me this since the only place
I’ve ever lived in this country is Guanajuato. But, I am beginning to take
their word to heart and believe what they say, hook, line, and sinker. Our experience
bears out what our Extra-Guanajuatenses have told us.
Once, I got an email from a Mexican lady in Puerto Vallarta. She had read
some of my articles and columns but poo-poo’ed me as a crazy gringo. Then,
she and another Mexican girlfriend came traveling through Guanajuato. She said
she couldn’t wait to email me and tell me how many times she was shoved
off the sidewalk and pushed away from the cashier’s counter in stores.
Just this morning, my wife was in line to buy some very delicious tamales.
She placed her order and paid the guy. Before the seller could get out of his
mouth, “One moment while I get your food” a Mexican lady, one of
our congenial, warm, and kind Guanajuatenses, elbowed my wife out of line and
cut in front of her. The seller had to be someone from some other part of Mexico
because he noticed what happened and told this woman to get in line.
A month ago, some college student who thought it was appropriate to lay hands
on me and shove me a good one shoved me out of the way in a pharmacy! I wish
I could tell you that these are all isolated incidents but I would be lying.
The guy pushed me as though I was a piece of furniture that was in his way.
The mystery is how Mexicans are supposed to be such kind, generous, and accommodating
people to foreigners while in Guanajuato, you are just liable to be pushed into
the path of an oncoming bus going at the speed of light. How…how…how
is this so?
The other day, we were exiting the post office when we saw one Mexican do
something to another Mexican. This kid, in his early twenties, walked by a lady
who had set her heavy bolsa (a large shopping bag) on the sidewalk while waiting
for a cab. This young man kicked the bolsa into the street. It seemed unintentional.
He looked briefly and then walked off. The lady took off after him. While she
was trying to corral him, a bus came by and squashed her bolsa and all its contents
to smithereens.
My wife once had to catch an elderly lady who was shoved off a 12-inch-high
sidewalk by two girls who seemed not to care a wit that they almost killed one
of their fellow countrywomen.
Something else that goes on in stores all over the city—another mystery--is
something that would get Guanajuatenses killed in America. When you go to meat
counter or any place with a counter, Guanajuatenses will shove you out of the
way to bark their orders to the hired help, even though the employee was already
waiting on you. Don’t miss the picture here. There you are. You’ve
just given your order to the butcher for a kilo of hotdogs when some Señora
puts her hands on you (or elbows you) and knocks you into the middle of next
week so she can be at the front of the line.
This goes on all the time, without fail, day and night—and there’s
nothing you can do about it!
NOTHING!
Why they do it I cannot tell you. We have asked and are told that the people
of Guanajuato are “malcriados” and “maleducadas” …this
means ill-raised and badly-educated.
I think the mystery is how did they earn the warm and inviting reputation
that you read in all the guidebooks? They certainly could not have meant the
heartland of Mexico, especially not Guanajuato!
Perhaps it’s the other regions about which the guidebooks have been
talking.
I do not know!
by Douglas Bower
Article Source: EzineArticles.com | THINGS TO DO
Though known as a retirement haven San Miguel offers a wealth of leisure time activities to those that don’t believe retirement means rest. It has a reputation for outstanding hiking and biking, horseback riding and instruction, birding and rock climbing. More conventional pursuits, such as golf and tennis are also at hand and San Miguel has a number of fully-modern gyms and exercise studios.
House and Garden Tour:
One the more popular activities in San Miguel is the weekly tour of the town’s premier residences, if one judges by the over 10,000 visitors who participated in 2005. Over 300 local home owners open their doors on every type of architecture and interior decoration imaginable; a good source of inspiration and ideas for future residents. Tours depart from the Biblioteca on Sundays at noon, tickets can be purchased at the door from 11 am. onwards.
Hot Springs:
The road to Dolores Hidalgo is dotted with hot springs producing warm to hot, mineral-rich water. Facilities range from those of luxurious spas to more traditional Mexican balnearios with gardens, restaurants and picnic areas; and may include any number of pools. The pools themselves can be indoors, under the open sky or in rock-lined grottos, and range in size from small, perfect for soaking, all the way up to Olympic, ideal for laps or swimming.
Fiestas:
While all Mexicans love a party, it seems that no town enjoys a celebration or fiesta more than San Miguel. Local citizens take to the streets with verve and enthusiasm for traditional holidays, to honor local heroes and patron saints or sometimes, it seems, just for the fun of it. There’s always something happening; all marked with music, dance and fireworks. Of note in the upcoming months is the Chamber Music Festival in early August, September’s San Miguelada or ‘running of the bulls’ and week-long Fiesta to honor San Miguel Arcángel and the Brass & Wool Fair and Jazz Festival held in November.
Wining & Dining:
Whether you are an avid gourmand or someone who just likes to pick up food—fast, you will appreciate life in San Miguel. There may be no large chain restaurants, but there is a local cafe on almost every corner, offering tasty, freshly made specialities. And you are sure to discover that the towns premier restaurants can vie with those of larger North American cities for taste, style and presentation.
After dinner, those in search of culture will find that their choices include gallery openings, theater, concerts, dance or foreign and classic film. Those who prefer lifting a glass can do so in everything from hard-drinking cantinas or friendly sports bars and pubs to nightclubs featuring rock, salsa blues or jazz (often live) or elegant rooftop terraces and intimate hotel lounges.
Reprint permission from "Su Casa"--Your Home in San Miguel de Allende
© 2006 Imprint Publishing/Advertising
Telephone in San Miguel: 152-0493
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