Cozumel News September 7th, 2015

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Cozumel News September 7th, 2015: September is Last Will and Testament Month in Cozumel, Cozumel Observes National Suicide Prevention Week, Nutrition Discussions in Cozumel, Our Family Vacation in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, The Cozumel Free Glass Project, The Cozumel Sun´s On-Going Garage Sale, ( all in Aurita´s Corner) and The Cozumel Events Calendar, September and October 2015.

September is Testament Month in Cozumel

The Testament Month has become the best opportunity for those seeking to get one’s affairs in order and avoid inheritance conflicts in case of an unforeseen death. “September Testament Month” allows citizens to take advantage the affordable cost with exemption from notary fees. The Board of Notaries of Quintana Roo, take part in this successful annual campaign. It is anticipated that the estimated 79 notaries established in eight of the 10 municipalities will reach the goal to produce at least 4, 800 documents. This campaign will benefit all of Quintana Roo, especially the low-income families, as per the instruction of the Governor.

Cozumel Observes National Suicide Prevention Week

This is National Suicide Prevention Week in Mexico. The System for Integral Family Development, (DIF Cozumel) chaired by Mrs. Gina Ruiz de Marrufo is participating in order to raise public awareness from the perspective of suicide prevention and care. To start the week, this evening at 7 p.m. they will present “Reach out and save lives” at 5 p.m. in the auditorium of the Island Museum.

The Strengthening Families Coordinator, Sergio Faugier García said that suicide is a public health problem that affects millions of people every day and has touched many families in Cozumel.

Data on the progress of efforts to prevent suicide from 2014 to 2015 as well as information on the subject of suicide and how to prevent it will be made available via the media.

Among the activities mentioned for the week, is a workshop on suicide prevention for representatives of the media and students seeking a career in communication as well as distribution of the guidelines for “Saving Lives” in Cozumel supermarkets and main Avenues. Discussions about suicide prevention will be held in the schools, “Luis Álvarez Barret” and “Octavio Paz.” The program of activities this week will conclude with a rock concert at a venue yet to be announced.

Nutrition Discussions in Cozumel

COZUMEL, 6 September.- As part of the program “Nutrición en Movimiento”, the System for Integral Family Development (DIF) of Cozumel, chaired by Mrs. Gina Ruiz de Marrufo, conducted two dietary guidance sessions. These two presentations were given by the Coordinator of the Food Assistance Program, Nazareth de la Llata, at the Center for Youth Integration (CIJ) and the Food Bank “Caritas”.

The first presentation was offered at the CIJ to a self-help group with the theme “Nutrition in the process of depression,” where she explained that often nutrition is only associated with weight control, but adequate nourishment also influences treatment of conditions such as depression, schizophrenia and epilepsy among others.

The second presentation and discussion, “Alimentación correcta” was with the mothers of families of the Food Bank “Caritas” covered the nutrients that should be part of the daily feeding of their families.

Aurita´s Corner

I am Back! First, Happy Labor Day United States! This is the holiday I miss the most because it was the week we attended The Minnesota State Fair. After years of attending the fair, it was more of a feeding frenzy for me. The attractions came second to my pork chop on a stick, roasted corn on the cob, the Mini Donuts, the French fries, LET ME STOP!

Our Family Vacation in Coatzacoalcos, Mexico

Part One

My apologies for taking so long to resume publishing The Cozumel Sun. I have to be able to give 100% to anything that I do, I chose to wait until I was well enough to do this properly. As an example, I tried to keep the Facebook pages going during this time, I landed up posting a hoax and an article that turned out to be old since I was not feeling well enough to do the usual research. I have been recuperating from a cold that spread throughout the family and high blood pressure that combined with the heat wave, left me unable to get it together to come back to work.

Our extended family of seven took our first ever-Mexican vacation. Our vacation started out a disaster! First, we left a week later, which really cut down on available funds. The eight o’clock car ferry did not leave until 11a.m. The wait in the heat was horrendous, we were trapped in line so we could not leave the parking area. The air-conditioned waiting area in the building was freezing. We took our newly adopted Chihuahua Samson on vacation, so we had to take turns caring for him outside in the shade. They made us drive the van up the steep ramp and we wiped out the section above the rear passenger wheel and the lower step.

It was after twelve when we reached the mainland and no sooner did we approach the highway, the van died and a check engine and generator light came on. After a few minutes of trying, we got her started. The vehicle picked up speed very s-l-o-w-l-y-! (Very scary on the highway.) If we turned on the air conditioning, it died. So no air conditioning in weather much hotter than in Cozumel. It was Sunday, and there was no mechanic available. Therefore, we drove on and prayed for the best.

My son Bartolo disputed my wisdom to spend the night in Chetumal and start out for our first goal Escarcega first thing the next morning. He insisted that even after stopping for a wonderful meal at the Municipal Market in Bacalar he could make Escarcega before dark. Note, we had gotten out of bed at 4:30 in the morning to shower, pack the van and get to the ferry by six thirty! It was 9:30 at night when we finally arrived at Escarcega, the first location on that part of the route with a hotel. My son exhausted and a nervous wreck after driving practically blind for hours, promised that he will never doubt my expertise in traveling that route again!

To our delight, the van kept running, lights and all. We crawled up mountains as the van lost more and more speed the higher we went, but we picked up speed flying down them! We never got the van fixed while on vacation, we just kept our fingers crossed. Brings to mind an old friend’s favorite saying, “The Lord takes Care of Fools and Children.”

We made wonderful time the next day and arrived at our first stop Coatzacoalcos, Veras Cruz, Bartolo’s hometown. One of the reasons we ignored the van was that Samson, our newly adopted Chihuahua, developed a cough that was diagnosed as pneumonia. Our first stop was to Veterinarian who administered daily shots of antibiotics for the next seven days.

We had a wonderful time! I was astounded, for some reason I thought he came from a small town. It turns out Coatzacoalcos is a major port city in the southern part of the Mexican state of Veracruz, on the Coatzacoalcos River. The name Coatzacoalcos comes from an indigenous word meaning “Site of the Snake” or “Where the snake hides”. The city serves as the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name.

It had everything that I wanted in our vacation, so I immediately cancelled plans to drive to the City of Vera Cruz. It had miles of beach, giant freighters coming in from all over the world for husband Charlie to enjoy, nightly family activities on the waterfront, a dinosaur park, playgrounds everywhere, carnival rides for the kids, and of course, Bartolo’s biological family that I have been dying to meet.

All the tourists were from Mexico, never saw anyone from the U.S. or Canada visiting or living there. Right in our daily route we found McDonald’s, Domino’s Pizza, Kentucky Fry Chicken, Little Caesar’s Pizza, Chili’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut, and to our delight, a DAIRY QUEEN!

In contrast to our restaurants and businesses in Cozumel that are struggling to survive, every restaurant and business we saw was busy in Coatzacoalcos. We had a wonderful and fun filled visit! I know we will be returning first chance we get! I will tell you about our excursion to a little mystical place called Acayucan, Mexico in my next issue!

COZUMEL FREE GLASS PROJECT

I am still looking for takers of FREE GLASS! It is my fault that this has not taken place. Right before the vacation, we had a contact at the Red Cross and another contact that was able to take this on. We lost their contact information. IF YOU ARE ONE OF THESE PEOPLE, PLEASE CONTACT US! It would be wonderful if a church group took it upon themselves to come and build windows for the poor. As I reported, Peninsula Grand contacted me to donate free glass. They had replaced perfectly good glass on all their balconies with a stronger more weather resistant glass. I accepted the donation without completely thinking it through. It has cost me money for labor to move it and money to transport it, an now to store it. I have had to move it twice already. I have about 400 panes of nice quality glass size 70.5 by 76.5 centimeters. They are FREE to all local low-income families that need them for windows.

Now, if you are not a low-income family, they are yours for the cost of a donation to window project. We can utilize these funds to pay to have windows built and installed in homes. If you have any ideas of how else to distribute this glass, please contact me I am at a loss. You can reach me at auraholguin@thecozumelsun.com or 987-118-4453.

COZUMEL SUN´S ON-GOING GARAGE SALE

This week only my on-going garage sale will be open Monday through Friday the store will be closed Saturday and Sunday. Starting Monday the 14 we will open daily: Monday – Friday 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. and Sunday Noon – 3 p.m.

I need donated second hand clothing, linen,furniture, and kitchenware, pots, pans, dishes, forks knives, etc. Go through your homes and give me everything that you do not need. I will send someone to pick it up if you wish, call me at 987-120-5903 (casa) or 987-118-4453 (cell) U.S. # 386-445-8702. On the other hand, even better, come by and visit! I am at #1081 35 Avenida entre Calles 17 & 15 Bis.

Note: Low-income families have access to the clothing, house wares and other items that I am selling FREE of charge. I will use the money I do make to subsidize the spending related to my projects in the community including food and other necessities

I have hundreds of paperbacks, DVD movies and VHs movies. I would love to have an exchange library in this area. Again, I need help getting all this done!

NEW! I purchased some women’s dresses, tops, and shawls as well as little girl dresses, tops, and outfits (pictured) on our vacation for resale. I also have all my U.S. Perfumes for sale at 50% off. Consider purchasing one for yourself or as a gift!