3/30 Life in Mexico Update

[jhwalker]

Pretty wonderful.
Most projects are complete. The casa is looking good, casita looking good.
We are are going to pick up a car that can deal with the 3.5 miles of 'dirt' road that we cover -- we have beat the Escape to death.

[jhwalker]

Tomorrow morning we will visit a couple where the husband recently had a stroke of similar severity as mine. My former physical therapist set it up. I forget how horrible/scary the initial post-stroke months were. She thinks that it may help him to see that I am semi-normal after 15 months and Terri will commiserate with his wife and prep her for how much worse it will be as he begins to recover and moves from the ''I'm so happy I survived" phase to the "woe is me, life is not fair" phase...

[SonicVenum]

Glad to here the projects have gone well! Seeing the other guy may also help you realize how far you've come. Kind of a turning around to look back at the base of the mountain you've been climbing.

[jhwalker]

Glad to here the projects have gone well! Seeing the other guy may also help you realize how far you've come. Kind of a turning around to look back at the base of the mountain you've been climbing.

Yes. Terri says if I start 'faking it', she will bust my bubble...

[jhwalker]

So, we were shaken down on the way to visit the stroke survivor. I paid 400 pesos to avoid "our Escape being taken away.". A car sticker was out of date. My bad. However, the transito did not know that I am friends with the mayor, and I shoot guns with his boss.

The act of saying 400 pesos would 'solve the problem was a crime. My paying it was a crime But it turned out that there was a history of him shaking folks down, so
I was assured that I would not do hard time for my crime.

[SonicVenum]

Wild west, I tells ya.

[Tetge]

When I was just a child, we used to go to Mexico a lot since my dad grew up in San Diego, out on the island which still could be reached at that time by a ferry boat, which was exciting for a kid, at the time. In any case, in the late 1940's and early to mid 1950's, there were a lot less tourists and all transactions had to be handled with pesos as charge cards such as VISA were not yet around. Also, English was not widely spoken due to the fact that many people would not travel in such a dangerous and wild country at that time. There were stories of Mexican jails and shakedowns, and, at one point, way back, my brother and his friends shot down to TJ from high school, or maybe early college, and were refused entry into Mexico because they had long hair. They were told to snip it off to an acceptable length if they wished to enter the country. They were young and broke, so they no doubt never thought to treat it as another shakedown, and, as I recall, they purchased some scissors and snipped off some hair and entered the country and acted like ugly Americans and got drink and sick as such are wont to do. But, none of that group has ever wished to return to Mexico because of the experience, and, BTW, they were shaken down a few more times after they got in country.

In my case, what I remember from over 50 years ago, is that as soon as we were on Mexican territory, my dad used to begin bribing various officials and law enforcement to promote our case. So, we were waived by long lines and given deluxe treatment as my dad always said that the Pesos involved were relatively trivial to him, as back at that time things were much less expensive in Mexico than in So Cal, and, money was the answer to successfully navigating a trip to Mexico. It was funny seeing all the folks suffering in endless lines when we went by after just arriving at the stoppage.

So, things have not changed it seems. Mexico remains Mexico, which, when one considers it, should not be happening, as they have had plenty of time to switch to English and act like the Canadians. It must be that Indian blood because they are stubborn and they like to do things their way. And, of course, this is, in part at least, why Trump is building the wall, or, is he?

[xbacksideslider]

When the Mexican-American war was ended and the US cancelled $15M in Mexican debt to release claims to CA, NM, AZ, TX etc., some dumb ass Harvard grad (probably) at the State Department in DC failed to insist on a straight line westerly across from New Mexico to the Gulf of California. In drawing the line where they did, the US lost control of all of the Colorado River and of Baja.

Mexico's loss, in my opinion.

[jhwalker]

As we approach the end of September, we have had 3 days of heavy rain here. It'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''']]g the integrity of the casa. We have water standing in some of the halls.
With the rain are massive electrical storms. We often lose the city-supplied electrical power
The solar, and battery backups are working well. Keeps things interesting, but nothing like where folks are dealing with hurricanes and earthquakes.

[jhwalker]

As we approach the end of September, we have had 3 days of heavy rain here. It'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''']]g the integrity of the casa. We have water standing in some of the halls.
With the rain are massive electrical storms. We often lose the city-supplied electrical power
The solar, and battery backups are working well. Keeps things interesting, but nothing like where folks are dealing with hurricanes and earthquakes.

Must have dozed off during that post yesterday. It rained again last night I love the rain and the green look of this area, but ready for a break...
A friend came over with a cool little drone and took pics of the casa and property -- as soon as he sends them to me I will post up one way or another. I'm installing a 25 kw power conditioning box that will add another layer of protection from the fluctuations (surges and drops) that are part of living out in the country in Mexico...