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WARNING: Personal, off-topic, long, and boring:
> Hey, ya gonna give us a blow-by-blow of your Mexico trip?
Ah, Toby, you know how to break a guy's heart!
It was Mexico Or Bust...and I busted! Never got farther than 30 kilometers down
below Juarez.
What happened was that I did battle against the Mexican bureaucracy...and they won.
At the vehicle registration point, 30 kilometers into Mexico, I was required to produce a
Visa or MasterCard credit card in order to get a permit for my car. Well, the day before, I
apparently lost my credit card in Gallup, New Mexico, so I had none to show them. The alternative
was to post a $350 (U.S.) bond, of which $200 would not be refundable. If I had parted with the
$350, my wallet wouldn't have had enough left in it for me to have a nice two-week vacation.
So, (sniff), I turned around and came home.
Mexico is strange to figure out. On one hand, la mordita ("the bite") is alive and well.
I had to buy "una cerveza"--a beer--for two bureaucrats at the Mexican border in order to
get my visitor's permit, but farther on down at the vehicle registration place I ran into
honest, incorruptable, and absolutely inflexible civil servants. It's enuff to confuse a guy.
BTW, American Express traveler's checks are not widely accepted in Mexico. I had to go to four
different Mexican banks in Juarez before I found one that would cash them. The vehicle registration
joint wouldn't accept my American Express credit card either.
Oh well, I'm already planning my trip to Mexico next summer. Want to look some places over
as potential retirement spots. Still love to travel in Mexico in spite of this colossal
flub-up.
Well, coming home early gave me time to work on chores around the farm. Whoopie!
Best...
Phil
dillard@suu.edu
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