Thread: Local foods add spice to Bush's 5-country trip

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/n ... ood14.html

Local foods add spice to Bush's 5-country trip
3/14/07

MERIDA, Mexico — Is anyone feeding the president?

At every stop on his seven-day, five-country Latin American trip, including here Tuesday, President Bush has been fixated on food.

It began with Bush's first event in his first country, when he and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva celebrated a new ethanol alliance.

"I appreciate the fact that you're about to buy me lunch," Bush told Silva. "I'm kind of hungry. Looking forward to eating some of that good Brazilian food."

In Uruguay, at a news conference with President Tabaré Vázquez, Bush said he couldn't wait to dig into some Uruguayan beef — something the tiny nation wants to sell more of to the United States.

"You've told me all along how good it is, and after we answer a few questions, we're about to find out," Bush told his host, later praising the country's abundant blueberries, too.

In Colombia, part of Bush's agenda included time with locals growing crops as alternatives to the illegal coca from which cocaine is made. The vendors' stalls were filled with honey, chocolate and coffee.

Next came Guatemala, where Bush hauled some lettuce onto a truck — something he later called "one of the great experiences of my presidency."

"I'm looking forward to the dinner that you're hosting for Laura and me," Bush told Guatemalan President Oscar Berger in another news conference. "I'm not going to talk too long because I might get too hungry."

Later, Bush's stomach was either really growling — or it was a ruse to end the questioning. He signaled an end to the joint appearance by asking Berger what was on tap for dinner.

"We have tortillas with guacamole and beans," Berger assured him.

In Mexico on Tuesday, Bush was down to business with President Felipe Calderón. Among the items on the agenda: a working lunch, scheduled for earlier in the day than locals usually dine.

Bush, speaking Spanish to Mexican reporters as he started touring the Uxmal ruins, said his lunch was good. "I'm full," he declared.

This was Bush's first meeting with Calderón since the Harvard-educated Mexican conservative took office Dec. 1 after a razor-thin victory.

Welcoming Bush to a restored hacienda on the sun-drenched Yucatan Peninsula, Calderón chided Bush for signing a law last year calling for construction of fencing along the long border the two countries share. But he also praised Bush for pushing for immigration reforms and acknowledged that improving economic conditions and generating more jobs in Mexico "is the only way in order to truly solve the migratory issue."

In another pointed remark, Calderón recalled how Bush had promised as a candidate in 2000 to put Mexico at the top of his foreign policy agenda. "Unfortunately, the terrible happenings against the United States people made that — in a very understandable way, the priorities changed," he said, referring to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. "Nevertheless, I believe that it is now time to retake the spirit of those words and to direct our relationship toward a path of mutual prosperity."

While vowing to fight drug-running in his country, Calderón also pointed out the U.S. responsibility for stopping the demand. Calderón has made the drug war a top and visible priority, sending uniformed Mexican soldiers into drug-trafficking centers and extraditing two of Mexico's most notorious drug traffickers to the U.S.

Hundreds of demonstrators marched to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City on Tuesday, attacking riot police with concrete blocks, metal bars and firecrackers and tearing down barricades to protest Bush's visit. Police fired tear gas and pepper spray and hit demonstrators with batons.

I hope he washed the food down with lot's of "local" water!

"Nevertheless, I believe that it is now time to retake the spirit of those words and to direct our relationship toward a path of mutual prosperity

Here's more great talk on the wonderful panacea called the NAU.
I hope BOOSH gets montezuma's revenge from his trip.