Mexico Road Trip: Why Can't We All Be Like Carlos Slim?
I could get a few odd jobs here and there fishing, continues Poncho, but as you know there are times when there are no fish and no jobs. I was sad that all my old friends left me, but like I said, I wasn’t a quitter. My brother let me stay in his little hut over there, he points, it’s gone now. And I decided I would fish when I could and open a cantina right there. The beer company, wanting to get my business, fronted me five cases of beer and that’s how I started my life over again. That first week I was open I sold five beers…can you imagine that? Some people might say – five beers a week is no business – and they would be right. But I thought five beers are better than four beers and I tried to not be discouraged.
The next week I sold ten beers and each week a few more…not much but my beer sales kept growing each week. Here in Mexico we all buy our beer from a handful of suppliers so in turn we all sell the beer at pretty much the same price…unless you have a fancy restaurant or women to go with it, he laughs. So I thought to myself, how can I gain an edge if we all have to sell beer at the same price?
That’s when I started to make botanas or snacks. My business grew because the clientele liked the snacks…they were free and didn’t cost much to me and it was good for my business. But then I noticed they wanted more food, like meals, and sometimes would go to somewhere else so they could eat. Beer drinkers like to eat, ha! he laughed.
But I wasn’t a cook…I didn’t like to cook. I can cook now because I had to learn, but when the women are here they cook. But back then I had to learn and I did not know how…but I knew some cooks that could cook.
Some were even my friends but they would not tell me how to cook, especially things like garlic shrimp or seven seas soup. A few said they would show me how to cook certain dishes if I would get them drunk, so that’s how it started. I just made real sure that I got the exact recipe down before they got too drunk and had to go home, he laughs, can you imagine?
In season, I would catch my own fish and crab and cook meals in the restaurant, or at least the meals I knew. I still can’t do tortillas and enchiladas very well and those are the easiest things to prepare, no amigo? he laughs. I continued to sell beer and food and one day hired a woman to cook…and from there the restaurant began to grow. Now it’s less of a cantina and more of a restaurant – and I like it better talking with people like you and not drunks, he laughs again.
And now that I’m doing pretty well and expanding the restaurant, guess who are coming back to see me? he asks. That’s right, all my old compadres and old friends that did not remember me when I was in jail or had nothing. So how should I act with them, amigo? he laughs, what would you do?
I shake my head and he continues.
I’m a businessman now, not a criminal or a broken down street person, he continues. So they come in to the restaurant, eat and drink and I give them the full bill…maybe I’ll give one of their kids a free soda. They look surprised and I tell them that its business and that’s it. Sometimes they come back again and sometimes they don’t…but they get the message, he laughs. I do that with all of them except the one that came to visit me in jail…he has remained a true friend. Does that make me a bad person? he laughs again, or did life teach me a lesson and I don’t have to be taught twice? I only went through fourth grade but I have a good memory and head for business, he smiles, and for a person’s character. Life has taught me to be a good judge of character…
Angelica is frowning and I stand up to go.
Great speaking with you Poncho, I say, and we’ll do it again someday. Right now the sun is getting lower and we still are going to the beach.
And I need to speak with the other customers too, he laughs, they must think I’m ignoring them. We shake hands and I head for the beach.
Once again I’m surprised at how much Tuxpan has grown. We cross the bridge and it’s building after building. Tuxpan is now a major port and big ships dock at the entrance to the river. All the way to the beach it’s developed…in the old days I remember coconut groves and buying coconuts on the way to the beach. Those groves are long gone now and are now replaced with car dealerships, restaurants, large homes and stores selling everything imaginable. Progress.
The beach has changed too. I remember when there were only four or five restaurants and now there are maybe a hundred. The beach is developed for several kilometers and a lot of it is staked out by hawkers that put up umbrellas and plastic tables and chairs. Cars can drive on the beach and it is filled with Mexican tourists from Veracruz and other states. I don’t see any Americans or even Germans…it’s not that kind of tourist, spot, ha! The trash and the cars and the crowds are not the type of beach that brings the international set, ha!
This is the same beach that Fidel left to create his revolution in Cuba.
In the distance I can see two huge tankers offshore and down the beach the huge thermoelectric power plant belching out smoke…all a price of progress.
The constant stream of vendors comes in all shapes and sizes; from women selling tamales out of buckets to pick-ups selling corn on the cob or fried bananas out of the back. Some of the push carts are very interesting in the way they are propelled to the way they display their wares. I look up and down the crowded beach and see the tourists buying food and souvenirs, as do we. The Germans aren’t interested in fried bananas or cheap souvenirs, but we Mexicans sure are!
I was thinking of Fidel and why his dogmas will never work here and why he is so disliked and then it hit me! Eureka, that’s it! I exclaim out loud.
The Mexicans are considered to be some of the most creative people on the planet and not very conformist…a good example of their creativity is the steady stream of imaginative vendors going past me.
Surprisingly Mexico is rated the twelfth most competitive country in the world and it could be first if the 40 million street vendors could apply their skills and ambition to more than cheap souvenirs and corn on the cob. Heavy industry won’t do; it always goes to cheap labor places like China and there is always somewhere cheaper. But 40 million small entrepreneurs could change the face of the economy without having to exploit labor. Besides, there aren’t that many jobs anyway…
A Mexican Marshall Plan to the rural and immigrant feeder town zones could even help stop all the pain and agony of the border problems…
Mexico’s future is to unlock the potential of its people; not to build large industries or vast capital fortunes like Carlos Slim’s. He’s even far richer than Fidel, ha! At least Carlos doesn’t deny being a capitalist, ha!
When folks create their own opportunities, they can do anything.
Maybe it’s time politicians on both sides of the border get together and look at what can be done to unlock this vast, untapped potential. It could help slow down the flood of illegal immigration and raise millions of Mexicans out of poverty. It is in the best interest of the U.S. to have an economically viable Mexico…and not the controlled, restricted societies found in Cuba and now being seen in other Latin American countries.
It just makes a lot more sense than building a big wall…
On the way back I’m surprised at all the traffic and hustle and bustle. I just wonder what will happen to Tuxpan when and if a major hurricane hits…there are so few roads out of the city and there are so many people living next to the river and beach in huts and cinder block houses. Even the larger buildings are only reinforced with simple rebar…I must be getting old – I didn’t worry about those things back in the old days!
But I haven’t seen any emergency evacuation routes signs anywhere…where will the people go?
Jack D. Deal
