MEXICO CITY AND CUERNAVACA, STATE OF MORELOS

The border region ain't Mexico and AMEN TO THAT!

When people in the provinces of this country, Baja California is especially provincial, say they are going to Mexico they mean the interior of the country. Going to Mexico means the center of the country's power and it's surrounding states: Guanajuato, Morelos, Puebla, and Jalisco.

As a Califoniano, Oakland and Ensenada, I ask myself why anyone would want to travel to Mexico City? You don't know whether your cab driver is a real cabbie or a violent thief who will rob and possibly hurt or kill you. The air is unbreathable and the traffic unbearable.

A client of mine is a Daimler Benz owned Mexican company called Temic. My work with them requires me to fly to Mexico City once a month. Luckily, it is not necessary for me to use cabs. My client provides a chauffeur who receives me on each visit and returns me to the airport on departure.

My work takes me to their plant, located an hour and one half from the Mexico City Airport, in the state of Morelos. The plant is located in a beautiful agricultural area in the municipality of Cuautla; a half hour south of Cuernavaca.

The state of Morelos, finds itself in a political mess as I write this. The governor just resigned and there is still talk of indicting him for corruption and other criminal activities. The last straw for Morelos citizenry was the discovery that the "elite" kidnapping investigating unit (hand picked by the gov) was responsible for a number of kidnappings. Morelos leads the nation in kidnappings with a yearly averago of 360.. The cop/kidnappers were caught disposing the body of one of their kidnapping victims in Morelos.

I visited Cuernavaca , the capital of Morelos, for the first time in 1977 and it was a beautiful pueblo with jungle like hillsides: full of flowers, butterflies and the scent of lush flora. Today it is a grimy city with traffic problems caused by too many cars on narrow cobble stoned streets. Streets not designed for the magnitudes that fill this pueblo turned city.

Please don't get me wrong I like going to Morelos, but I'm so glad I live in Ensenada. One very important reason I like going to Morelos is the chorizo. The crap that we call chorizo here in Baja Califonia and most of California is not what I grew up on. In Morelos my grandmother's chorizo and morsilla (blood sausage) is in abundant supply. Chorizo, by my criteria, should not fall apart when you fry it up. True chorizo remains an in tact sausage that you cut with a knife and fork; seeing and smelling those fine, spicy juices explode as you cut into that plump motha. DAMN! Makes me hungry thinkin about it.

Morelos is culturally more traditional Mexico when compared to Baja California. Food preparation in Baja California, for example, is not high quality Mexican Cuisine. In the state of Morelos, Mexican cooking is an art form. The variety of dishes and sauces is vast, exotic and prepared with exceptional pride and caring. Holidays, fiestas and religious practices are more tradition bound and integrated into community life in "Mexico" as opposed to Baja California. Morelos is an interesting change for me from Baja California so I do enjoy my visits. A great place to visit but.

The political and social climate in the state of Morelos is also quite distinct when compared to Baja California. In Morelos, for example, the unions are very strong and often create major problems for large employers. In Baja California the unions are a joke, neither employees nor employers pay much attention to them. Most maquiladoras (foreign owned assembly operations) are non union shops in Baja California. Tijuana leads the nation in the number of maquiladoras; twelve hundred of the nations 2,000 maquiladoras are in TJ.

Union bosses, close proximity to Mexico City style corruption and a traditional acceptance of a government that does not represent the people's interests has created modern day Cuernava. Once the Mecca for Mexico's great artists it is now a bustling, "dog eat dog" city, bursting at the seams and hell bent on repeating the awful disaster that is Mexico City.

Cuernavaca and the rest of Morelos is still a popular weekend getaway for stressed out Chilangos (Mexico City residents). Only an hour away , via a very modern toll road, Cuernava is at least a little slower and less crowded than the Distrito Federal.

Lots of tradition and great food has Morelos. No surf, sand, desert, wide open spaces, clean air or that layed back Baja California feeling. Baja California must also be lauded for a state government that works hard to protect the interests and rights of its citizens. Where abuse of authority is the exception rather than the rule. Gracias a Dios, I do live in paradise.