Oklahoma Jimmy

I met Jim in the Canatlan hardware store on November 7, in the afternoon.  There are many small shops that are ‘ferreteria’, or hardware stores.  However, the one nearest the church is large, well displayed, and has lots of windows.  I also discovered that one clerk, Raul, speaks English.  On this day I was purchasing adhesive for tile and grout.  I had to wait for a few minutes while Raul went to the other store to bring the heavy bags over.

A thin faced blue-eyed older gentleman walked into the store and greeted the cashier with ‘buenos dias’.  Then he held out his hand to me with a ‘buenos dias’, which I returned.  He then switched to English and said I must be the new gringa in town.  The one that is building a house in Pozole.

It was early afternoon.  

On my way out of El Pozole I stopped by the mechanic’s shop and arranged to have my oil changed.  I had bought oil and filter in Durango.  I said I’d drop the car by in the afternoon, and pick it up the next morning.  Juan and Eduardo were waiting on this tiling material to start the tile work in the bathroom.  Once Jim started talking, my work day ended.  All my arrangements went out the window.  

He has the gift of gab.  He begins, he weaves a tale with flourish and innuendo, he goes on to the next topic while barely taking a breath, and he is unstoppable.  And fascinating.

Knowing how it is, that in my life I have told some true stories about myself only to be met with skepticism and outright scoffing, I listened and withheld judgement.

These are the things I ‘learned’.  Raul spoke English because he worked with Jim in construction, and paid for English lessons.  He sent Raul to law school, so that Raul is now a lawyer.

He has $7M US dollars in antiques.  He rented a house in El Pozole to store them, but then felt they were not safe so he bought a house in Canatlan, where he has them now.

He is building a two-family house for himself (upstairs) and Raul and his wife and child.

In order to get citizenship and be done with rushing to the border every six months for visa renewal, he arranged to marry Raul’s single mother.  The arrangement leaves her living independently.  But he has not yet obtained the paperwork; he still makes border runs. Perhaps he said there is a two year waiting period.

Canatlan was established in 1623, November13, by migrants from San Diego.  Hence the name of the church, Sandiego. [and what was the ethnic origin of these migrants, I wondered? ]

The current municipality of Canatlan was started in 1917 (coinciding with a new Federal government?), when it got its first governor.

He retired as a federal judge.

He got his undergrad degree in botany.  He corresponded with a Japanese ‘student’ who wanted mushroom samples in exchange for butterflies.  Many years later he discovered that he had been corresponding with the Emporer of Japan.  Every Christmas he received precious gifts; they are part of his antique collection.

He ‘grew up’ with George Bush in Texas.  He was good buddies with Lyndon B. Johnson.  He is good friends with Vicente Fox, and gathered funding for his campaign for president of Mexico.  And was disappointed when Vicente did not achieve his pledged goals.

He had been a school teacher, and a councilman.  He caused to be written the Mexican Federal Law that allows foreigners to own property in Mexico. 

And then there are all the stories of the colorful citizens of Canatlan.

The guy who opened a sawmill in Durango.  Then the drug gangs approached him to launder money; they bought him an apple orchard.  Then they bought him a spread of many hectares at the border between Canatlan and Pozole.  That man hired a Canatlan man, Jaime, to run the ranch for him.  Jaime had many children, around 14.  The sawmill man had a predeliction towards young girls; he took Jaime’s 12 year old daughter to be his housekeeper.

One day the drug cartel came to his door looking for payment.  The man quickly packed his things that night, and with the young girl in tow, took off to Guanajuato.  As time passed, his still-teenaged housekeeper drew the attention of a young policeman in that town.  She was easily stolen away by him.  The old man died alone in his house, leaving his original wife and children in Durango to wonder what happened to him. 

He had taken out a loan, using the house as collateral; he still owed 30,000 pesos on it.  An enterprising city clerk decided that the acreage was unencumbered, and started selling it off and pocketing the proceeds. 

Thirty years later, Jim wants to approach the old widow and try to make a deal with her for the abandoned ranch land, the part that still holds the liened house.  The original bank no longer exists, so he has to track down who holds the paper now.  He presumes that if he offers to buy it, for pennies on the dollar, they will be glad to dissolve the lien.  [I had to wonder if, after all these years, that lien had been purged]

Then he wanted to show me the house he is renovating for Raul and himself.  He told me a long and twisted tale about efforts to get title to the land.  It is the second lot in from the corner.  He desires the corner lot, as well.  One story held that in the 1970s a man went to the States to work.  He sent back money to his sister, telling her to buy the land.  Gradually he sent back money and the house was built, but never quite finished.

Jim tried to track this guy down, but could find no trace of him in California.  He heard a rumor that the man had a gay lover.  So he guessed that perhaps once in the States, he took the name of his gay partner.  That would explain why the name that was on the title could not be traced to anyone in California.

The sister put the corner lot, presumably also paid for by the mysterious brother, in her own name.  Jim has been negotiating with her for the title, but she has not been cooperating.  What stands there now is an adobe wall and remnants.  There is no house standing.  Jim wants to put a 30-car garage there. (?)

I am sure there was more, that I missed a detail or two.  Like, he pointed to the hill that is the edge of Canatlan and said that the original settlement was on the other side of that hill; some foundations were still visible.

Like his deceased wife, mother of his 3 sons, was native American.

He put into question the real ownership of our community land, Luz de Compasion, and my rights.  He suggested that we look in the Record Clerk’s office to see who is the owner of record.  He thinks I should try to own outright the land my house is on.  He also says that the cost of the Pozole land such as this was about 3,000.  I have to assume he meant dollars.  He switches back and forth between pesos and dollars indiscriminately, one has to guess since there is no chance to break in and ask.

If that is the truth, was Jhampa robbed, or is Jhampa making a good profit on the land?  Jhampa did dig a well and have electricity brought to the property.  But he is selling 20 lots at $12,000 each.  When I bought my house the pesos exchange was about 12 to the dollar.  Now it is 18 or 19.  Ani Tsultrim just bought a plot of land here.  So, did she pay 216,000 pesos, or 144,000 pesos?  She arrives in a week, I will ask her then.

I arrived back to Pozole at dusk, around 6:30 p.m.   I dropped the car off with the mechanics; one of them drove me home.  The ceramic adhesive and grout were still in the parked car.  Juan had gone for the day, of course.

The next day I was too lazy to walk to the mechanics.  I busied myself with clearing out Michael’s house, in preparation for Ani Tsultrim’s arrival (also called JoanMarie by the Vancouver guys, Jhampa and Doug)

The car was returned to me close to 4:30; by then Juan and Eduardo had left.  Their excuse, should I ask, would be that they did not have the materials to work.  They were waiting for the adhesive to begin the bathroom tiling. Those heavy sacks were still in my trunk.

  

I will be lucky if the house is habitable by Christmas.

Midday I called Jim to ask for help in getting a plumber out to fix Michael’s toilet.  I was able to keep that conversation to under an hour.  During it I learned that he was in Washington DC, in the White House storage building, having a conversation with Jaqueline Kennedy.  Jim claims to be a descendent of assassinated President McKinley.  Jackie found a desk she liked, that originally belonged to McKinley.  She said that since he was heir to McKinley, she was asking for permission to use the furniture in the White House

.

Since he is a year older than me, this would have put him in his college years.  When next I see him, I will have to ask where he went to college, or did he spend a summer as an intern in DC. 

He says he is German, first generation American.  But to hear it, the other side of the family came across in the Mayflower.

He spoke more about his ranch in Guanajuato, which adjoined that of his old friend Vicente Fox.  He told a tale about fights with the locals over water rights.  One federal worker came out to survey the land and wells, to try to get to the bottom of it.  His bones were found later, and those of his car which had been pushed over a cliff.  At that point, Jim felt his life was in danger and left for Durango.

So this is colorful Jim.  He could be a harmless ranting old coot.  He could be an invested informant and bridge to the community.  He does not speak Spanish.  I have let it be known that I am available to translate, if he wishes to follow up with any old geezers who hold history that he wants.  Only time will tell.  Just moments ago he revealed his last name, finally.  He said that his father had started the Fisher nut brand, in Texas.  So now, fact checking can begin.