Tag Archives: 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.

Road Projects

Around the same time the electrification project was underway, we received indirect notification that the presidencia (town hall) had approved a project to pave a single road in La Yacata. The mayor’s brother had thrown this out to us in our initial meeting. We hadn’t responded enthusiastically because there was a lot of work to do, and we thought the sewer line should be put in before the paving. However, one of our colonos was the compadre of the family in power, and he was pushing for the paving project.

He was instructed to get copies of the IFE for 6 individuals who lived in La Yacata to formally petition for the project. He turned in 15. He was then asked for comprobantes de domicilio (proof of residence in the form of water or electric bills). That was a problem because we had neither of those services. After some discussion, the presidencia agreed to accept receipts for orders of pipas (water truck deliveries), which were transactions done at the presidencia. The compadre scrambled around until he had 6 receipts.

Then, a mesa directiva was needed. We already had a mesa directiva for La Yacata, with me being the treasurer, but hey, whatever they wanted. The compadre came to me and asked if I’d be on the mesa directiva for the road project. However, I didn’t have an IFE, just a permanent residency card, which wouldn’t do. So, I volunteered my son, who did have an IFE. I picked him up from work and zoomed to the Presidencia for the official signing.

The compadre was given the role of president, my son, and secretary; no treasurer was needed, apparently. Then there were two vocales (understudies of sorts) for the president and secretary. Everybody signed papers that nobody read. The project spec sheet was presented. I had one of the vocales take a picture of it and send it to me, although the person in charge said that the information on that sheet should not be shared with anyone. This seemed highly irregular to me, but what did I know?

According to the specs, the presidencia would replace the existing outdated sewer line, pave the street four blocks (to the end of La Yacata), and add sidewalks to areas that did not already have them. The presidencia representative clarified that these items would be done as long as there was money in the budget for the project. The budget was set at $400,000 pesos, which seemed ample enough to complete most of the project outlined.

Eventually, the project got underway with some general clearing of the first block. One side of the road had a sidewalk installed, the side of the road where the compadre had his house. Many days of road scraping followed, which seemed pointless to me since each day, the road looked pretty much the same as the day before. Then, there were days of the understone tezontle (red volcanic rock) spreading. Unfortunately, these days coincided with the torrential downpours of the rainy season, and every time they spread the rock, it washed back downhill.

There were no signs of the sewer lines that were supposed to be installed, so Super Prez and I went to Desorrollo Urbano to ask. We met with the guy in charge, who thought I was there to complain that my road wasn’t getting paved. I wasn’t. We asked if he could come to the next junta that Sunday and maybe give the colonos some additional details about the project. He assured us that he’d be there but never showed up.

The wheel of the maquina that had the battery stolen

Days passed, and no work was done. The maquina for the road construction sat idle in La Yacata. Apparently, it was a temptation not to be denied, and the battery was stolen. My husband said he saw the person who stole the battery, and he and the police went to hunt him down. It happened to be an ex-boyfriend of his sister, the one that we drove her to visit in jail, so my husband knew where to take the police. The thief was arrested, and the battery returned.

Then suddenly, the following month, right before the elections, there was a flurry of activity. The asphalt was laid directly on the existing chapapote, the road pavement from 30 years ago. No sewer lines were placed, and no sewer lines were removed. The road crew worked until 2 a.m., using the lights of their vehicles as illumination.

The next morning, Cocoa and I meandered over to see the results. The first block had been paved, and about ¾ of the second block. They hadn’t even made it to the corner. And I had to say, it was a piss-poor job. Not even a week passed, and they were out again patching the holes that appeared.

Super Prez, who had his own road crew until the current mayor was elected, also came out and expressed his dissatisfaction with the quality of the road. But there was no point in complaining. What was done was done, and when we are ready to complete the sewer system, the road will need to be dug up anyway.

However, because of their gift of the road, the Presidencia felt free to make off with one of our posts for public lighting. They were caught in the act, and I called Super Prez out to discuss this with them. Of course, we couldn’t do anything since they were the law around here, but Super Prez made it clear that we were aware of their actions.

While all this was happening, Super Prez brought his road equipment out to La Yacata and started clearing the roads that hadn’t seen the light of day in nearly 30 years. His workers also cleared off the sidewalk on the first road (before quitting over the hole-digging assignment). Super Prez wanted to get the road to the pozo cleared off so that the materials and workers needed to put up the wall surrounding our most precious commodity could get to the site.

There was quite a bit more to do to make the entire fraccionamiento transitable, but it was a start.

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Check out where it all began in La Yacata Revolution, available on Amazon!

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Tagged as community issues in mexico, road conditions in Mexico, road construction in Mexico, rural mexico

July 10, 2024 · 7:16 am

Pozo Update

The last video of the interior of the pozo (well) ran into a hitch because the water was dirty, and the camera couldn’t get a good picture of the bottom. So Super Prez had a bulto de cal (lime) dumped in and added more water in the hopes that the sediment would fall to the bottom and a clear image could be obtained.

The video was then delayed because the camera broke. Finally, another company was hired, and a video was taken. The results weren’t terrible, but they weren’t as definite as we would have liked.

The camera was able to film to 174 meters before running into the rock that had been demolished but not removed. The supporting tubing was 10 inches rather than 12 inches and of inferior quality. Super Prez said that we could insert a better tube inside the tubing that doesn’t meet the specs as reinforcement. That would also “fix” the damage caused by the giant boulder being thrown in.

The company that agreed to clean the pozo was scheduled to come out the week of Semana Santa. Then, we would see how bad the obstruction was. However, it was a full month later before they finally arrived.

When they did, the truck with the machinery zoomed past me while I was out walking the dog. It barrelled up the road to the pozo and less than 15 minutes later, I heard the machinery hammering away. Super Prez arrived shortly after and took some pictures. The first day (or ¼ day, as it were) went well. The crew did not show up the next day and was delayed the third day with a flat tire. They did finally return and worked about an hour more to remove the debris.

Another video was taken, and the well ended up being 239 meters deep, more than what we needed. Hooray! This information was then submitted as evidence to the water and sewer office (El Sistema Municipal de Agua Potable y Alcantarillado).

So now that we knew the well was deep enough, it was time to determine if there was enough water to support our little community. And for this, we’d need someone to conduct el aforo (water volume study). Super Prez gathered several bids and finally picked a company out of Cuitzeo, about 20 minutes away. It took them about a month to get her, though, with one delay after another. Several times, they sent pictures of the truck all ready to roll, only to call back the next day with another excuse.

I was all for hiring another company at that point, but Super Prez said they were substantially less costly than any of the others, that the were known for quality work, and that we would need that money we saved for other items. So we waited.

Finally, the last week of May, they arrived and immediately started setting up. This involved inserting tubes and connecting a pump. They would pump the water from the depths of the well over several days and determine how long it took for the groundwater to replenish itself. We originally were going for 48 hours, but ended up doing 36 hours with the approval of SMAPAM. After all, we were in a drought, and we didn’t want to be excessively wasteful.

The water was not hot but lukewarm. The pozo dug last year at the intersection had issues with the temperature of the water. It came out too hot to use without mixing it with cooler water. Not this baby.

The quantity of water was phenomenal. For the first 24 hours, it came out at around 13 liters per minute. After that, it remained at a steady 9 liters per minute. We needed only 1 liter per minute to cover the current residents’ needs, so we were all good there.

Mid-way through the aforo, the water analysis people came out to take samples. These were sent to the laboratory, and we’ll have the results in about 3 weeks. We have a lot depending on the favorable conclusion of this final study.

While all these shenanigans were going on, CFE (Comisión Federal de Electricidad) paid a surprise visit to La Yacata and brought some totally expected but welcome news. More to come.

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Not sure what’s going on? Get the backstory from La Yacata Revolution: How NOT to Buy a Piece of Heaven in Mexico.