Category Archives: La Yacata Revolution

March 15, 2025 · 3:29 pm

My Stupendous Fall

Walking around La Yacata has always been a bit of a treacherous endeavor. The roads are uneven and filled with what my son and I call “ravines” from the intense gullywashers during the rainy season. The sidewalks are about as safe as any sidewalk in Mexico, meaning not very. Ramps to garages make steep drop-offs. Sidewalks broken to lay water or drainage pipes and then reset are accidents waiting to happen. Tree roots push the cement nearly vertically, and so on.

Well, that accident waiting to happen finally did. I was walking along with Cocoa, and I stubbed my foot on a piece of sidewalk that wasn’t level. I didn’t fall immediately. No, that would have been less spectacular. Instead, I stumbled along for another 10-15 feet, gaining momentum until I finally fell. My head hit a rock just off the edge of the sidewalk. I saw it clearly as a was hurtling through space and time towards it.

I may have blacked out for a second, because I don’t remember sitting up. Or maybe I do. It’s a little hazy. It couldn’t have been for more than a second, though, because my head laceration hadn’t started to bleed yet.

Super Prez and one of his workers were up the road doing some road measurement things when I fell. They approached while I sat there on the sidewalk, a bit stunned. Cocoa wouldn’t let them get very close.

My Spanish flew out of my head and I started what must have seemed like babbling to them in English. My husband was working down at the corner and I knew Cocoa wouldn’t let anyone but him approach. With a conscious effort, I switched to Spanish and relayed this information to them. Then the blood started gushing from my head.

My glasses were missing a lens and I couldn’t see with the blood in my eyes anyway, so I just sat there until my husband arrived. He tried pulling me up, but that wouldn’t do. I got up myself. Then he took my arm to shuffle me to the house. Again, that wouldn’t do. I could walk fine; I just couldn’t see. I gave him Cocoa’s leash and put my hand on his shoulder to guide me.

After the bleeding stopped, my husband left me with Cocoa and went back to work. My son didn’t get home until later in the afternoon, even though I tried calling him. He immediately cleaned and dressed my head, and I went back to bed. I contacted my teaching job and sent them a picture of my face to explain why I couldn’t teach that day. I had five classes that afternoon, so it was a financial disaster, but it just wasn’t going to happen.

I probably should have had stitches. The wound on my head took several days to scab up, and I’m pretty sure it will leave a scar. I used Árnica Mexicana (Heterotheca inuloides) and sábila (aloe vera) to treat my injuries, with some cola de caballo (Equisetum hyemale) wash for inflammation.

The following day, I let the people of La Yacata know I would be unavailable. While that didn’t completely stop them from bringing questions or documents, it did lessen the number of visitors. Not that I could see them anyway, as my eye had ballooned up quite a bit. I received a few kind messages wishing me a speedy recovery and telling me that I was “needed” by the community. It’s always nice to feel valued and essential.

I requested that I be allowed to teach without my camera on over the weekend because my eye was still so horrible. The company said I could as long as I started the class with it on and explained why I was turning it off to the students. The whole point was I didn’t want them grossed out, but I did what they outlined because I was just too tired to look for another job.

The following Thursday, my shiner was still vividly purple, but the swelling had gone down enough to manage tasks and send out the message that I was back in business. There were so many Yacata things to get done and nobody but me to do them.

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Filed under Health, La Yacata Revolution

Tagged as expat life, living in rural Mexico

March 8, 2025 · 10:45 am

Second CFE Billing Cycle

After the dispapaye (chaos) of the last billing cycle, we were determined to get our ducks in a row before the next. We started with the list of 8 meters which were not in the system or entered incorrectly and the incorrect numbering (lots instead of official numbers). Super Prez created a list requesting the lot numbers be changed to the official numbers, and every colono with electricity signed it. As I mentioned before, the municipio had granted Super Prez the authority to generate the official numbers and he had a letter to that effect from the presidencia (town hall). However, when he presented the list to the local CFE office, they called the regional CFE office, which said that it wouldn’t do.

Meanwhile, the restructuring at the CFE main offices was going on. If you recall, CFE begged off from attending our convivio (community gathering) in November because several higher-ups, including the local representative, had been fired for corruption. In the free-for-all that followed, the CFE supervisor who oversaw the electricity installation in La Yacata was promoted to fill one of the vacancies. While that might be perceived as good, as he was aware of our situation, it didn’t seem to matter any. He came on a site inspection with one of the more senior supervisors who threw a fit, saying we committed fraud as we certainly didn’t qualify for this federal program.

Super Prez was summoned to the regional office to account for our sins or some other such nonsense. The gathered CFE overseers accused him (and us) of misrepresenting La Yacata so we could receive this federal grant. Super Prez explained that the grant was a complete surprise to us. He then turned it around and told them to check their records to see who had approved the project. He waited while they dug around. They came back chagrinned. The application had one signature, a colono, not even on the mesa directiva (board of directors). None of the information about the status of La Yacata had been filled out, because, not surprisingly, the colono didn’t know any of it.

So what we believe happened is that at some point a year or so ago, a CFE grant scouting party stopped by and came across the colono sitting in front of his house. Instead of sending them to me up the road, this colono took it upon himself to become the community representative, and the grant scouting party accepted that. Since the grant money had to be spent and we obviously needed electricity, the scouting party submitted the application, which somebody approved. We first heard of the grant when CFE showed up with a plan and start date. We certainly weren’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth and gladly accepted.

Anyway, with some grumbling, the issue was dropped. However, it took several more trips to the regional and local CFE offices for the official numbers generated by Super Prez with full municipal authority to be accepted.

When that happened, Super Prez also got the go-ahead to connect the 39 muretes (posts) and fincas (buildings) that had not been included in the initial project. I worked with each colono to gather the required photos and documentation. (See Downed Lines and New Connections)

When the first additional solicitud (application) was finally ready, I handed the folder of items off and told the colono to go at 9 am Monday to the CFE office. He did, and on Tuesday, CFE zoomed into La Yacata, found me walking Cocoa, and asked for directions to the house. The electricity was installed that very day.

Now that we had official numbers, we needed to put them up on the walls. I bugged and bugged, sending messages and calling colonos so that they would put those numbers up before the next CFE bills arrived. We still didn’t have the street signs up, but the numbers started popping up. It made my heart glad! Things were beginning to feel like a community instead of a wasteland.

Turns out, all that effort wasn’t needed. When the CFE delivery guy came, he encountered the same colono who had made himself the official representative for the grant. He handed over the entire stack of recibos. The colono didn’t want to be responsible for all those bills, so he brought them to my door. I sent the word out that I had them for everyone to come and pick up. There were still four missing bills and two others that I wasn’t sure were correct. Well, I suppose we have to take what we get. I sent the two I thought were incorrect to the CFE office with pictures of their meters and the bill and told the other four that we’d wait for another billing cycle and see what happened.

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Want to read about the first failed attempt at modernization in La Yacata? Check out La Yacata Revolution: How NOT to Buy a Piece of Heaven in Mexico available on Amazon.

Downed Lines and New Connections

We hadn’t had electricity for a month when we had our first outage. Fortunately, it was localized to just one house, but still, I couldn’t help thinking–this was why we didn’t have nice things in La Yacata.

What happened, according to the neighbor was a large remolque (dump truck) was going up the hill and caught on the wire connecting to the main line to the house. The damage was bad. Fortunately, it didn’t tear down the main line, just the connecting wire, so there’s that, but still.

I moseyed up the road to take some pictures and sent them to Super Prez, who made a report to CFE. CFE assured him they would be out in 24 hours to fix it. Super Prez also called the owner of the house, who isn’t living there currently, to let them know about the issue.

24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours….came and went—no sign of the CFE repair crew. Two weeks later, the owner called and asked me if I could get Super Prez to follow up. Every time she called CFE asked for a copy of the electricity receipt, which we hadn’t gotten yet. So I sent a message to Super Prez, and he called.

Not an hour later, a CFE truck zoomed by the house. Sadly, they disappeared into the horizon and did not stop to check the line. Later that evening, or the next, I forget which, a CFE truck was driving up and down the roads and finally stopped to ask for directions. Super Prez happened to be here with an update on other matters and got them orientated. However, since the entire pole had been mangled, it would need replaced and they didn’t have that on hand and it would have to be ordered.

While we waited for repairs, the owners of two of the five houses that weren’t included in the original CFE project because of their location approached us to ask about getting the electricity connected. Measurements were taken and considered. Technically, they both were just under the 50-meter maximum from the last installed post. The problem was that the line would need to cross a road and that might cause CFE to say no to their connections. But, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

So, both owners went to CFE to ask about it, but both were refused. They came to me with the new requirements, which I reviewed and sent to Super Prez.

Requirements for Contracting:

For Tenants:
- Mandatory submission of:
  - Copy of the lease agreement.
  - Copy of the INE (official ID) of both the landlord and the tenant.
Power of Attorney:
- If the owner cannot be present to sign the contract:
  - Submit a simple power of attorney signed by two witnesses.
  - Copies of the INEs of the witnesses.
Ownership Documentation:
- Valid proof of ownership issued by the local delegate (applies to rural communities).
- Copy of the current property tax receipt.
- Valid proof of the official property number.
Official Identification:
- Copy of a valid INE, passport, or professional license (both sides).
Tax Identification and Fiscal Status:
- RFC with homoclave or current tax status certificate (issued within the month prior to contracting) when service invoicing is required.
- Mandatory for businesses.
Contact Information:
- Email address and phone number with national area code.
Technical Preparation:
- Printed photographs of:
  - Electrical connection box (mufa).
  - Base.
  - Grounding rod.
  - Circuit breaker.
Visibility of Official Number and Meter:
- Printed photo of the official property number visible on the facade and/or meter base.
- Photo of the nearest neighbor’s meter number.
For Legal Entities:
- Copy of the certificate of incorporation.
- Copy of the INE of the legal representative.
- Copy of the notarized power of attorney.

As we are neither an officially sanctioned independent community nor part of the municipio, the collection of documents was a bit hodgepodge. These included the new application, a copy of the property certificate, which served as the valid proof of ownership issued by the local delegate (Super Prez), a copy of the INE (official ID) of the owners, a copy of the articles of incorporation, a copy of the INE of the legal representative (Super Prez), a copy of the power of attorney, a copy of the current property tax receipt, and printed photographs of the electrical connection box, base, and the meter number of the nearest neighbor.

I organized this packet of paper into individual folders for the applying colonos and had them come and pick it up along with the photos of the various items requested in the list. One colono served as the guinea pig and took it to the CFE office where they were told that in addition to the paperwork turned in, he must present the número oficial vigente (official address number), which we didn’t have.

Our application for those numbers had already been given to the presidencia and they were sitting on the paperwork. So, Super Prez went to the CFE office in Salvatierra to find out if there was a workaround.

The downed line did eventually get fixed, but little did we realize that this was just the beginning of our issues with CFE.

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Need to catch up on our first failed attempts at modernization in La Yacata? Then La Yacata Revolution is where you should start!