More Happy Chickens!

And now back to our regular programming.

A couple of posts back I mentioned the phenomena of happy chickens in the fast food restaurants of Tuxtla. The first restaurant I feature obviously doesn't believe in subtleties. It is literally called Happy Chicken. Although I never ate there, the sign reassures me that their chickens die in a blissful state, knowing that by sacrificing themselves for my nutritional needs, these chickens attain the highest level of Pollo Heaven.


The chickens of Pollo Campero have open arms suggesting a welcoming sentiment. Little do they know, although these chickens may be the welcoming committee today, unfortunately, tomorrow they'll be the nuggets.



These two photos were taken from the window at Kentucky Fried Chicken. KFC also has the name "Chickylandia" on their signs. I suppose it is because their usual promotions don't compare to the competition on the Happy Chicken Scale. So, KFC has taken it a step further by painting some of the chicken's preferred activities on their windows. A chicken driving a car goes a long way to explain the quality of the driving here in Tuxtla.

La Boutique del Pollo is a nice combination of French and Spanish. The concerned staff of La Boutique are clearly also fighting for chicken's rights to drive motorized vehicles as you can see from their signs. Obviously, Chiapas is a very progressive place.

My neighbourhood, Colonia Teran, has a slightly different take on their perspective of chickens. This restaurant has chosen a political theme. I suppose one way to strike back at Bush, Cheney and the rest of the neocons is to PRETEND THEY ARE CHICKENS AND EAT THEM!

Actually, due to the placement of the apostrophe, it must be a chicken belonging to an American (since they are meticulous about the finer points of English grammar on signs here in Teran). I have no fear that anyone will steal and serve my chickens. When the subject of 'gringos' comes up, people are quick to point out that as a Canadian, I am not a gringo.

* I should note that the idea for this post came from Heather. As far as I know she never posted anything about Happy Chickens on her blog, but I feel she deserves some credit.

In Other News

About a month ago, I was sleeping in after a particularly late night (4:30 AM) and I heard an extremely loud crash. This is nothing unusual. My coconut palm rains death down upon me every time there is a little wind and the height of the tree results in a crash comparable to two or three bunkerbusters. After a few minutes, I noticed a lot of shouting and people banging on my door. My fuzzy state of mind was eventually brought to the realization that coconuts wouldn't bang on my door or call my name. I answered the door to see two workers trying to help a bloodied and dazed Gilberto (he had fallen from a ladder while cleaning the roof). My brain switched to high gear and I immediately began to help get him to a car. Weeks later, he is still recovering from dislocations and fractures, but he is in much better spirits. As I was enjoying some pineapple homebrew with them (seriously), his wife asked me if I knew what his job is at Coca-Cola. I replied that I didn't. "Seguridad de Trabajadores" - In other words, he is responsible for the safety of all the workers at the Coca-Cola plant. I laughed uproariously and blurted out, "¡QUÉ IRONÍA!". Besides being an expression (How ironic!), it is also a major promotional campaign for the beer company that makes Sol, a very popular brand. The look on Gilberto's face was a combination of trying to look annoyed and trying not to laugh, especially as his wife and kids burst out in laughter as well.

Today, I held a garage sale. It went quite well and I met lots of really nice people while getting rid of the vast majority of my things. One group consisting of a young man and three young women came three times and I got to know them a little. When they had finished bartering with me the second time, Lenin (really, that is his name) offered to trade me his younger sister or friend for my computer. He might have been in more hot water with her had I not taken the pressure off by suggesting it would be a deal if he threw in an extra hundred pesos. Hell hath no fury . . . . Later they came back to buy more stuff and he made a second attempt this time offering his pregnant wife with the words, "dos por uno" or "two for the price of one." Eventually he had offered me all three of them. I am thinking of coming back with some laptops and starting a business.

But the last bit of news as my five, faithful readers may know, is that I am leaving Chiapas. On Tuesday, I fly out of Tuxtla for Mexico City. On Wednesday, I will be on a flight home to Victoria. Thus my blog will soon come to an end. If I am not too busy, I will post once or twice more, perhaps reflecting upon my time here.

I will probably begin a new blog. When that happens, I will post a link on this one in case you are interested in see what kind of trouble I can get into in tranquil Victoria.