A Flamingo in Mexico: Janet McEwen

In Sam Peckinpah’s epic film The Wild Bunch a memorable scene has the gang reach the Mexican border. Ben Johnson snaps: “It just looks like more Texas to me”, only to have Jaime Sanchez reply: “Ah, you have no eyes.”

Sanchez is right: he had no eyes. For Mexico is one of the most thrilling countries in the world. It is, of course, too vast to make generalised comments on; but the area around the beautiful town of Mérida and perhaps as far as Campeche on the east coast is one that the visitor vows to return to—even before they have left it.

To get the bad news out of the way first: I flew from Dublin to Atlanta and from there to Cancún. This was my fourth visit to this marvellous country and yet it was my first to the much-lauded Cancún. I hated the place. Nor do I even consider it to be part of Mexico. It’s more like one of those creepy places in no-man’s land that you might come across in an H.P. Lovecraft story. I’m sure that some people like the glitz and phoney glamour, but for the life of me I don’t know why. I far preferred my trip down the coast to wonderful Mèrida (a city of a million yet with the feel of a welcoming big town (go figure) where I was blessed by having time to spend with some old friends that I had been with in Venezuela last February. If you read this column regularly you may recall my mentioning The Right Move Abroad group. Also, you probably know at this stage that the particular curmudgeon who writes these articles rarely has a good word to say about anyone. However, grinding my teeth in anguish I have to admit that this group are amongst the most professional and solid I have ever come across. Not something I say lightly. And that includes their delightful PR lady, Dubliner Noelle Brooks. Take a bow, Noelle. I’m in awe of you.

I’ve been at this game so long that cynicism almost becomes like breathing, but this crowd are just great. And no. I’m not on commission, you in the back row there. We’ll leave aside the fact that they sell property in Turkey (ugh, how did that happen?) and just admit that they represent some great stuff in India, Venezuela and Egypt, to name a few. So it was great to see them again. I was hoping that Conor Johnson, whom I had met in Venezuela’s beautiful Margarita Island was among the crew, but unfortunately—for him—he was in the dreaded Turkey.

Sorry, guys. Just the way I feel about that place. Not just because of personal experience but also because I never really recovered from seeing Midnight Express.
However, we went on down the coast to look at the Flamingo Lakes Resort, right in the heart of the Yucatán Peninsula, that is being built there at the moment. I’m going to leave critical faculties behind here because what is there not to like about that incredible blue sea and mile after mile of untouched white sand beaches? And if you’re not the reclusive type like me (mainly because nobody wants to talk to me anyway) you’re a skip and a jump from the livelier areas. Ah, you know something? I don’t need to believe in God because heaven is here. The Mexican people are so warm, welcoming and inquisitive about other cultures that this is a place I could think about spending years in.

On top of that, as we approached Flamingo Lakes Golf Resort a flight of flamingos took off with unconscious, soaring majesty across the ocean. Does life get any better?

Well, yes, it did, actually.

In what seems now to be a seamless transition I looked from the flight of these magnificent creatures to the lady that I was interviewing. What can I say except that she would rival these wonderful creations in her own way? Tall, slim, elegant and sophisticated, she seemed the personification of the unconscious beauty of the flamingo. And before you think that my prose has become too purple let me mention that her boyfriend—yes, sorry guys, you heard that right—has five fishing vessels here in Ireland. I hope to pursue this, as what the European Union is doing to these hard-working men deserves an article all on its own.

“I was born in Sidney, Australia”, Janet tells me. “My dad, Frank, is from Dublin and my mum Miriam came from Drogheda. But they met in Australia.”

“Dad had a trial for Manchester United and played in the reserves for a few years before going to Shamrock Rovers, then Drogheda United, then it was on to Australia.”
“I was born in 1972 and came home, as I think of it, about six years later. I went to the Sacred Hearts School and after my inter-leaving I went on to train as an air traffic controller in Dublin Airport.”

Janet has a very direct way of looking straight at you that in someone else could be disconcerting, but the warmth in her eyes takes from that and you find yourself feeling that you have known this person for all of your life.

She goes on: “After nine months I realised that I didn’t like the job. It was a little impersonal and I’m more of a people person. So I moved on to the Jersey Islands and worked in the capital of Jersey, St. Helier, in Laura Ashley’s boutique. After two years I had become restless again and moved back to Dublin where I had my first experience with sales, selling industrial office cleaning equipment. This was in 1994 and was the first time that I realised what I really wanted to do.”

At this point we broke for something to eat and, if anything, when away from being questioned by a goon like me, she turned out to be funnier and more open than in the more formal set-up. She seems to be the kind of admirable person that we see too few of. She’s passionate about her work in Mexico and the other areas that her job takes her to (although, I trust, not Turkey—please don’t tell me that anyone gets excited about Turkey) and she went on:

“In 1996 I went back to Australia, doing sales work for radio companies. One of the more fascinating pieces I did was working for the Japanese Sanna Finance and dealing with finance brokers and it was there that I was promoted to Industrial Sales Manager.”

I swear, I never had expected to be interested in listening to stuff about sales, but this lady’s enthusiasm could light up Dubai’s new sky-reaching tower.

“At the beginning of 2007 I took a break and decided to really travel Australia, Turkey [aaarrrgghh!!] and Dubai. At the end of ’07 I answered the ad for the Right Move Abroad as Business Development Executive. Here I feel really contented and ambitiously hungry at the same time. I’m with an expanding company that is going places.”

Janet sums up pretty neatly how I feel about the Irish who are out there grafting and making a difference. She may be unconscious of it but it seemed to me that she cares more for her clients than would be true if she were just going through the motions. I admire her intensely—both herself and the many others that this country, despite its faults—are now producing on an ongoing basis.

May I wish you all the very best for the future, Janet. It was a pleasure to meet you.
For further information you can contact Noelle Brooks Public Relations on either 011 353 (0) 868067474 or email at: noellebrooks@eircom.net. Also The Right Move Abroad at 011 353 (0) 1 8666168 or check out www.therightmoveabroad.ie.