Chayo's Parcel

Us looking for any possible way to slow Trojillo and his noxious construction, us knowing full that no parcel along this coastline is legitimate, we arrange for Chayo to become the owner of parcel #29, the direct southern neighbor to Saul's #30. It's almost all rock, this parcel. The only thing its initial owner, an ejido member from up in the mountains, had going for him was its proximity to our adversary.

A small amount for down payment, the bulk stretched out over time. That's how almost all the recent trading of these bogus parcels has been going down. That's how Gutierrez has been doing things, something down with a promise for later. Right now this "turned mad with greed" speculator has put himself on many hooks.

How this parcel #29 had accumulated value, in our minds, went like this: Trojillo, having as little respect for the eco system on the other side of his south fence as he had for that on his side, had chopped down most of what was there. This, I'm guessing, perhaps to improve his view. Then he'd had another roadway built across his parcel, this so he could close the historic road, an illegal act, but nothing new to him. To facilitate this redirecting of traffic he'd had to chop down even more of the trees and bushes on this neighboring parcel, all of this without prior approval of the original parcel owner, whom, when he'd learned about this - went into angry fit!

He'd threatened to place a demanda, our lawsuit, against Trojillo. And he'd asked Chayo to fence off this new roadway. Chayo wanted no part of the other man's fight, even though he dearly wanted to do such fencing. Chayo didn't think that this country Mexican would ever go through with his threatened demanda, because, well, he was from up in the mountains and he had very little money, and putting demandas against someone costs money.

Seeing how parcels change hands is a lesson in looseness, itself. A handwritten agreement with a couple of witnesses and paper ownership is transferred. After us getting these loose documents in hand, we wondered how any of this would hold up in any form of legitimate court system. But, here we were in Mexico....

So we got our hands on parcel papers, which aren't all that reveling. It's 100 meters wide by 1000 meters long, approximately. There's a map of this and then in a square that fills about a quarter of this one page document there's the layout of the whole parcel scam, with #29 indicated in red. There they are, all these thin slivers of land, all of them of approximately the same dimension, their heads hard to the coastline with tails running way up into hard-rock mountains.

Along with all the other things Trojillo has been pulling with his unwanted presence in the area, we had reason to be suspicious that he'd played fast and loose with his fence lines. It was obvious to us that he'd laid these out in blunt-nose, pie-wedge fashion, the deeper his parcel went, the wider it got. Where the historic high-tide pass cuts across, easily it's 300 meters wide. Where he'd fenced along the coastline we were sure that he was encroaching on the federal tide zone. And, too, we suspected that one corner of that monstrosity that he was constructing was doing the same.

We determined that a survey was in order. Through Sr. Yee we were put in contact with an engineer who was reputed as the very best. Not too long after putting out the word on this, on a Sunday, middle of the afternoon, into our camp came walking Chayo with a surveyor and his assistant in tow.

In the shade of my workshop palapa we arranged chairs, offered light beverages. This gentleman presented his credentials and bid the job at what he claimed to be his absolute rock-bottom price. It wasn't that cheap but we went for deal anyway. Half down, the other half when work was finished and we'd have completed survey or plano in hand.

Chayo, this enginero and his sidekick head off to look over job site. They weren't prepared to go to work right then, just wanted a quick look around. It being Sunday they ran into that inflamed schoolteacher, El Gordo the Great, Trojillo. As they were assessing Chayo's property line Saul brazenly approached what he considered this encroachment. Only a few words were expended before he realized that he was talking to someone that knew the law and couldn't be bowled over. He beat a quick retreat into his disaster zone, not wanting to hear ideas that ran counter to his; the above here all according to Chayo. Trojillo hadn't expected this parcel ownership change.

Chayo came to visit the next morning just aglow with violations that this engenero had tipped him to. This gentleman was sure that Saul's fencing along coast was in violation. He'd also told Chayo that any structure that even came up close to the federal tide zone needed approval from SIMERNAP, this not an easy or cheap thing too do. He was sure that Saul's gateway, the one blocking historic road, was, legally, way out of line, and equally sure that his new road construction was an infraction, also. The survey hadn't taken place yet but we sure seemed off on right footing.

Marcia, Chayo and I were all hoping that Trojillo had been so brazen as to have moved the corner marker, right there on coastline, to better align his illegal well project. If he had done that, and that well proved to be on Chayo's parcel, well, let's say that would have really been frosting on the cake.

It didn't happen immediately, like I'd hoped it would, like it was supposta, but a little over a week later this survey does get accomplished. Chayo'd worked with them. His initial report back to us wasn't as damaging towards our mutual enemy as we'd hoped it would be. That corner marker hadn't been moved. Rats! But Trojillo's south fence did make a dogleg that, as it went deeper, cut across Chayo's line. And, without question, Saul's north fence was way off track, and, in fact, a huge pila that he'd recently constructed to catch the saline water that his windmill pumps, laid on parcel #31.

We had enough, though, to accomplish what would definitely slow this clown down, and maybe even stop him. The day that enginero handed over Chayo's drawn up plano was the day we'd initial our hard demanda.

Email: david@dondavidonbaja.com