ACA

ACA, or 'Adult Children of Alcoholics' is a movement that has members who have learned to help themselves to develop better lives. Membership is wide-spread. In the city of Oaxaca, Mexico, ACA has a rather nice dedicated building.

These knowledgeable members of ACA have often been 'graduates'  from other 12 Step programs such as Alsteen, Alanon, and AA. Many of the the individuals now benefiting from the knowledge circulating in ACA groups have never used alcohol or narcotics and did not grow up with alcoholic family members. The did, however, often com from families not fully functional.

ACA members learned the value of the 12 Steps from AA members. They began to learn to interpret and to work the steps from recovering and recovered AA members.

They began to identify their 'problem' more clearly and continue to do so. Generally, it was found, they had developed and deeply integrated 'coping skills' that were not working effectively for them.

By the 1980s ACA people were separating from Alanon and were getting useful information from the works of Claudia Black, Sharon Wegschnider-Cruse and similar workers in the field. ACA members began to develop an awareness of the value of reviewing their family history.

Some ACA members found themselves able to more clearly think and speak of sanity and reality. Some began to feel less need for anonymity, but continue to practice it. ACA continues to have a more open literature program than do most 12 Step programs.

Meetings are at the heart of ACA. The meetings ten to be democratic. Some suggest that the more democratic the meeting the surer the healing, and the happier and more effective the results.

On the Road Again

I expect to put my plan into action this Thursday morning. I'll get into my Suzuki and begin driving toward Brownsville, Texas. I'll go slowly and rest a lot. From Brownsville I propose to enter the Mexican city of Matamoros.

I hope to spend a couple of months in Mexico, beginning with a slow drive to the great City of Vera Cruz.

If you are interested in Mexican happenings which I might witness comment below or send me an email and I'll recount a bit of what I see.

I think that even before I leave Van Horn and start heading down toward the Rio Grand Valley I will begin to feel a very pleasant new freedom.

Mexicans have called the Rio Grande, The Fierce River, El Rio Bravo. Mexico can be fiercely beautiful under its pretty little skies.

I remember that once on the US bank of the Rio Grand I looked into the bright green eyes of a furry black spider, then jumped into the river and swam to Mexico. 

Maps - Lake Zirahuen "El Alto Lucero" (The High Bright Star)

Maps - Lake Zirahuen "El Alto Lucero" (The High Bright Star)

Maps showing a bit of the area between Uruapan and Morelia.

Rates - Lake Zirahuen "El Alto Lucero" (The High Bright Star)

Rates - Lake Zirahuen "El Alto Lucero" (The High Bright Star)

Nice furnished place to rent by week or month.


Beautiful area near Morelia, Michoacan.

What´s on my Neighborhood? Sta Maria & Altozano in Morelia - YouTube

What´s on my Neighborhood? Sta Maria & Altozano in Morelia - YouTube

Click here for a good place to begin a You Tube search of Morelia, Michoacan and surrounding area.

Viewers

People from Russia, Malaysia, Germany, South Korea, Denmark, Canada, and the USofA have been viewing these posts.

Last month many persons from Mexico, Germany, Russia, Canada, Ireland, and the USofA viewed these posts.

Last week people from Ireland, Mexico, Canada, and the USofA viewed these posts.

Yesterday persons from Mexico, Canada, Russia, and the USofA viewe them.

Right now individuals from the United Kingdom, Canada, and the USofA are viewing them.

I am grateful.

THE SULPHUR | Laguna Larga Michoacan::. - SkyscraperCity

THE SULPHUR | Laguna Larga Michoacan::. - SkyscraperCity

Some idea of the variety of the Michoacan country-side

This is the area call Los Asufres.

SolutionsAbroad.com - Mexico Living in Tlaxcala

SolutionsAbroad.com - Mexico Living in Tlaxcala

Please tell me more about Tlaxcala the capital city of the Mexican state of Tlaxcala.

Although I have never been there I believe that it is picturesque and has a good climate.

The state is largely rural with a strong Mexican Indian and mestizo population.

Many people use institutions of higher learning and hospitals of the capital of Puebla in preference to local institutions.

Tlaxcala is roughly 60 miles from Mexico City and 15 miles from Puebla.

After Landa

You might want to search this blog for Landa related topics to get an idea of what this post refers to.


You may remember that Diego de Landa, Bishop of Yucatan, was a man that some came to hate because of his early destruction of certain culturally and historically important items of the Maya. I tend to think of him as a man of his time, of the better sort. There are those who agree that he has gotten a bit of a 'bad rap.'


Here are some dates of related occurrences long after Diego's time:


1761 Jancito Canek Maya Revolt


1820 Inquisition ended in Mexico


1847 - 1901 Caste War*


1847 Maya/Yaqui uprising


1864 Crecencio Poot Maya raids


* Perhaps the greatest Maya related rebellion. It took 170 to 'pacify' the Maya; and then came the Caste War.

You May Not Love Diego

I haven't loved an Indian for awhile; however, in general I find Indians highly respectable. If you are an Indian, a Native American Indian, you may think of Diego de Landa, Bishop of Yucatan, as you may think of Christopher Columbus, Admiral of the Ocean Sea. Yes, I know that their are some Indians who lack respect for certain Admirals and Bishops. But then, I am old enough to have met a Indian who was proud to have learned to tie a bow in his shoe-lace before he was forty. Then again he was also proud to own a plane and a license to fly it by that time.

Landa didn't have a casino. Do you know who he had for cultural neighbors? On one side he had Henry the VIII of England an on the other he had Ivan the Terrible of Russia. Just because these guys had good jobs did not make them sweethearts.


This is supposed to be a history so it seems only right to give you a few dates:
Chris lived from around 1451 to about 1506,
Henry lived from 1491 to 1547,
Diego lived from around 1524 to 1579,
Nik lived from around 1505 to 1542.

Ah, you don't know who Nik is. Nik was, Nikolaus Federmann, a German 'conquistador' of Colombia and Venezuela. He was supposed to be looking for land for German colonists, but went looking for Indian gold. I've read implications that he had ways of making then speak of their gold.

I'm trying to provide some interesting information about Diego de Landa. Not knowing what you already know of him or what parts of his life you might find useful or interesting has me stumbling around a bit.

I imagine that you know that he was a Spaniard and that Spain was probably the richest most powerful state in Europe at the time. Spain was also probably the seat of learning in Europe. They were also the most powerful Christian nation on earth. Christian faith was very strong in Spain, yet Church leaders and others felt the faith to be threatened. Perhaps it was; even in Europe.

The Inquisition was begun. The Spanish Inquisition may have bee a lot like an Inquisition on steroids. You might find it instructive and even fascinating to review what your World History book has to say about it.

In Morelia, the fine Capital of the Mexican State of Michoacan I visited  more than once, a small audiological museum displaying some 'implaments' of the Inquisition which had recently been found will digging in the local office of the Inquisition. As I remember that museum is in that very office.

To help orient you let me mention some other men whose activities effected the world during Bishop de Landa's life:
~ Niccolo Machiavelli was born in 1469 and by 1532 was publishing his most famous work, The Prince.
~ In 1531 Pizarro marched on the Inca.
~ In 1534 the Anabaptists formed a communist state under John of Leiden, but then they were Protestants.

I think that Landa, by living to the age of 55, lived longer than any of the men I've mentioned so far.

You are probably used to a lot of dates in your history so here a a few more to keep you comfortable:
~ In 1478 the Inquisition was established in Spain. The started by saying no Muslims allowed; then by saying no Muslims or Jews, and they meant it. After that it got worse. Protestants were  from Hell. In the beginning they had no idea that they had a world of Indians to save. The Inquisitors may have had more instruments of torture than certain contractors for the CIA. The Inquisition was active in Spain until 1834. That is over 350 years!
~ Most Jews were expelled from Spain and Portugal in the few years between 1492 and 1496. Spanish was the first language of the expelled Jews and perhaps their only language. Some Jewish families had been in Spain for a thousand years and helped to create the language. Were did the expelled people go? Many places. Some ended up in New Mexico. Others went to Turkey. They talked turkey their, but kept their Spanish for hundreds of years. A lot of this activity was a sort of practice to get ready to deal with the Indians of the New world.
~ From 1492 to 1506 Christopher Columbus voyaged and found those Indians.
~ In 1503 'Columbus discovered' the Cayman Islands and named them Las Tortugas. Cayman is kind of an alligator and Las Tortugas means the turtles. Now there were some people living on these islands when Chris got there. OMG! Indians! Some of those Indian guys tried to tell Chris and his sailors and soldiers that their islands were not called Alligator or Turtle. Someone must know what they called their land. When Columbus sailed away he took an Indian girl with him, sweet Mary Ann. She was taken, it has been said, to be a translator. She, surely must have told the Spaniards the the true name of her land.

Well, I've kind of gotten away from Diego de Landa. But, then, you never claimed any interest in that Bishop of Yucatan.

Drug Run to Mexico

Made another drug run to Mexico yesterday.

Forgot to bring my new little cellphone with me. I don't even know where it is now. I probably ought to keep it in the Suzuki.

I did remember to take my passport with me ... and to bring it back.

Paid about $49 for drugs. Here, the could have cost me about $700 the last time I checked! Gas cost me about $50 in my new little gas saver. The drive, one way, is farther than the run from Yucca Valley to Yuma.

I bought:
Amlodipino 5mg        100 comprimidos
Enlalopril 20 mg      400
Terazosina 2mg        100
Metoprolol 50mg       100

I don't have a doctor. After 40 years of taking my own blood pressure, I no longer do so. I have begun to forget to take my medication or to take too much.

I have probably made this particular run over three dozen times. I have probably taken as many different routs doing so.

Over the years more and more people have been going to Algodones to get drugs, glasses, and teeth. However yesterday there seen to be no one in the stores or offices. There were no lines of cars or pietones at the linea. There were few cars in the Indian parking lot.

If I keep making this trip much longer, I may have to find someone to help me get into and out of the car.

A Few Spanish Memories of the Maya

 A short time-line:
1523 - 25 Pedro de Alvarado 'subdued' the Maya of Guatemala.
1526  Francisco de Montejo received a royal 'permit' to conquer the "Island of Campeche and Yucatan" along with the title of Adelantado.
1527  Monejo's party landed at Cabo Catoche and made the first unsuccessful attempt at conquest.
1531  Montejo founded the town of Campeche and colonization began.
1534  Fry Jacobo Testera, a Franciscan missionary, arrived in Campeche establishing monasteries there and in Champoton. Other Franciscans followed, proving more successful than armies in consolidating the conquest.
1542  Francisco de Montejo, son of the Adelntado, founded the city of Merida on the site of T'Ho.
1543  Valladolid founded on te site of Zaci.
1546  Last hold-out groups in the eastern portions of the peninsula were subdued.
1697  Island kingdom of Tayasal in Lake Peen Itza forced to submit to Spanish rule.

Siquieros

I've heard that Siquieros has  a mural worth seeing at the home of the Mexican Electrician union.


Where might I get visuals of the mural to post here?

Guesses About Happenings Around 1500 BC

A while back I made some guesses as what was happening around 1500 BC. I based my guesses on reading I had  done rather than on my knowledge of man. My guesses follow:


'Great bronze work and the printing of a 40,000 some character dictionary during he Shang dynasty.' [I'm using Wikipedia and other on-line sources to check my guesses.] It seems that the Shang dynasty of China was in full career from 1760 BC to 1122 BC and the Shang were known for excellent bronze work. I couldn't find a date for the printing of the dictionary. Still I'd say I should get half credit anyway.


'There was notable seismic upheaval.' I haven't found and documentation and am not sure what I meant by 'notable.' There was a large earthquake in China noted in the Bamboo Annals,
but I figure a correct guess should fall within  100 years of 1500. So my guess is WRONG.


'There was tin mining in what is now England.' There is agreement that Phoenicians transported tin from England to places around the Mediterranean and they were doing business around 1500 BC. There are those who feel sure that tin was being mined in England by 1500 BC.
Even though there is some controversy as to whether Phoenicians were doing business in what was to become Great Britain as early as 1500 BC, I consider this a correct answer. I bet my Irish ancestors knew those Phoenicians by that time.


'A library at a rebuilt Hittite capital had tablets in eight languages.' I haven't been able to verify this. I do seem to remember a site believed to be Hittite at which tablets in eight langugess were found. I guess this must be called a wrong answer.


'The Rig-Veda was written down.' Authorities seem to think that it was put into writing between 1700 and 1100 BC. Can I get half credit?


'Chiapas de Carzo, the oldest city in Mexico was founded' It might be the oldest. Most experts seem to believe that it was probably after 1400 BC. Close, but wrong again.


'The Dorians conquered or settled in the Peloponnesus.' Historians speak of the conquest, but I haven't been able to verify a date. Most authorities seem to agree that there were Dorians in the Greek highlands at about that time. Close, but no cigar, yet.


'Hammurabi, King of Babylon, published his famous law code. Babylonians of the time were using highly developed geometry as a basis for astronomical measurements. The Zodiac was used as a teaching tool, The Hammuabic code included guidelines  for medical practices and permissible fees for surgery and treatments.' Wrong! The details are probably right, but most authorities agree that the code was written in stone before 1700 BC. 


'Moses received the Ten Commandments.' Haven't found agreement on the date. Couldn't even find agreement on what the Commandments said about killing each other. Wrong again. Is there info that suggests I could be right?


'The first palace at Cnossos, Crete was built.'
I seem to remeber that it was found to have light and air shafts and running water in the baths, but I'm wrong about the date. The palace may have been completed before 2000 BC. Even the one built after the catastrophe, the one of labyrinth legend, was probably completed by 1700 BC. Wrong.


'The Great Labyrinth of Egypt built by Amenemhet the III.' There was  first Suez canal during this period, Contraceptives were in use, A series of labor strikes occured at Thebes. Wrong. Authorities seem to agree that this Amenemhet live or rule from about 1860 BC to 1814 BC, So the happenings I mentioned must have occurred a that time.


'Troy was.' I was thinking of Homeric Troy. I was wrong. It seems to be that no one thinks it was there before 1399. Some think that it was founded after 100 BC.


Maybe this wasn't a complete waste, bu I don't plan to do it again.

More Maya

I suspect that certain Maya calculated long periods of time with little error. I believe that I have used the terms Initial Series or Long Count to refer to these calendric calculations in earlier posts.


Please use 'comments' to add any information you can. We like questions and comments too.


It seems that the Maya learned some useful approaches to reality from the Olmec. Olmec may have been the first to give place holding value to numeral which led to the concept of zero.


What can you tell us about the Olmec?


I believe that copies of Mayan writing dating back to about 1200 AD are available to us. Where can we get a good English translation of early Mayan writings?


I suspect that dance among the Maya is as important as it has been among other Indian Americans. I believe that dance carries history, technology, and culture of the people. It may be called sacred. 

Cultures in California

Some time ago I wrote a bit about difficulty some Californian Indians had in dealing with some Spaniards, Russians, and Frenchmen. Most of these Europeans were more understanding than the Americans, but still a considerable problem. For example, most of them could't tell a Cahuilla from a Mojave.


As I remember, the focus was on diplomacy and ignorance. There is really little more to write. In 1821 a noble of the Cocomaricopa arrived at San Gabriel mission. His people had been in contact with Europeans and had learned how to impress them. He came from a rancheria called "Avitucupaiba" six days from Tucson. He had been told by Cahuillas of Spanish settlements at San Diego where he could trade for cotton and beads. In the course of the conversations, powers at San Gabriel learned from the Cocomaricopa that it would take only 15 to 20 days to get a letter to Tucson from San Gabriel. Important information because the Spanish saw it as an opportunity for improving their communication with Mexico and Madrid.


At about the same time Emperor Iturbide, who had assumed control of Mexico, decided to send Reverend Augustin Fernandez de San Vincente, a high churchman from Durango, to inspect California in order to find out the extent of foreign activities in California and of the loyalty of the Caliornios.


Diplomacy not spying.


Iturbides envoy, Fernandez along with Padre Mariano Payeras, president of the California missions, inspected Russian settlements at Fort Ross and Bodega Bay.


Do you remember a post about happenings at Fort Ross?

What Are Our Vices?

Why are we so willing to damage Mexico and other countries with our vices?

Drug Run

Just got back from a drug run to Algodones, Mexico; an eight hour jaunt. I see that the day will come when that drive won't be fun.

The main reason that I have been making the trip, besides enjoying the novelty of it 3 or 4 times a year, has been not having to deal with doctors for prescriptions. However, a look at prices reminds me of another reason.

Here is an example of pricing:
I take two 20 mg tabs of Vasotec or its generic each day.
Buying 100 tabs on line costs about $112.00.
Buying the same amount locally costs about 10% more than that.
I have found the generic here for about $90.00.
I have seen generic on line for as low as $12 plus tax and shipping, bt have never actually gotten it.
Today, in Mexico, I ought 100 20mg of the generic enalapril for $2.89.

I take four different blood pressure meds a day. Here is some price info another one of them:
I take one 10 mg of the generic for norvasc.
I used to pay about $90 a 100 for their generic here.
I can get them on line or about $80 shipped free.
Today, in Mexico, I paid $7.50 for 100 tabs of 10mg amlodapine.

Roughly, taking my drugs for what the cost here cost $4.00 a day.
Paying for te in Mexico cost me about 20 cents a day. Still, it also takes 8 hours of my time thrice a year and it cost me about $60 for gas today.

The trip was good today: I saw both sides of the Salon Sea and made a circuit of the Joshua Tree National Park, bought chap gas in Yuma, spent a refreshing 1/2 hour in the new Quechan Casino, and enjoyed  pleasant hour in Mexico.

Cuenca

Cuenca in Eucuador is, and was, like Moralia was in Mexico -

A place for the good people to get away from the rif-raf