Clothes for the nation

Three Amigos - fishing tournament shirts

Mexico is kinda unique in North America.  

Unlike its northern neighbours, who love t-shirts emblazoned with sports team logos or various rock stars, Mexico relies heavily on political events to clothe the nation. A favourite giveaway during election time is a t-shirt with the name and slogan of a political candidate featured prominently, perhaps accompanied by a photograph.

Political rally for the Governor and Presidente

Even though we are residents, not citizens, and therefore cannot vote in the elections, we have on several occasions been offered a t-shirt from a political party, but we can’t wear them. 

As non-citizens, we are not allowed to be involved in anything political. 

 Fishing Tournaments

Another source of free t-shirts for locals is their employers. Many tour boats, or fishing charter boats, outfit their crews in white, long-sleeved t-shirts emblazoned with the boat's name. It’s a great way to keep the crew looking professional and to advertise the boat to tourists.  

The long-sleeved style is the preferred shirt when working out on the sun-reflecting water. They are hotter to wear, but do a better job of preventing sunburn. We know from the half dozen or so times we have gone fishing with friends. We usually returned in late afternoon, hot and sweaty, and relatively burn-free.

Winners in Ladies Tournament 2015

A free t-shirt also comes with every entry fee for the numerous annual fishing tournaments.  

There are the standard white fishing shirts for the regular tournament and the prettier pale pink shirts for the ladies-only annual tournament that took place this last weekend.  

A boatload of our friends participated in the ladies’ tournament last year, and judging by the photographs, they had a heck of a fun time.  Of course, with fishing, there are always copious quantities of cold cerveza, bringing smiles to all of the participants.

Crews and participants, long-sleeved shirts

With the political giveaways, the locals are pretty savvy. It’s a fairly common strategy to profess support for different candidates until the t-shirts have been handed out. We were out walking the other day, and spotted a clothesline with several t-shirts drying in the sun. Wow! We could go back at least nine years of political candidates, from all parties.  And best of all, they are free.

Different political candidates represented here.

We have amassed our own personal collection of free t-shirts gifted by business friends who wanted to spread the word about their company: restaurants, bars, and breweries.  

Hey great!  Free clothes.  Thanks.

Hasta Luego

Lynda, Lawrie, Sparky, and Thomas

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