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Mexico is a special land with special people. The country is beautiful from unending sandy beaches to southern Rocky Mountains (including volcanoes).  The people are economically non-aggressive.  It is very refreshing to live with people who do not always want more.

Knowing a little Spanish is good. Knowing a lot of Spanish is better.  At least know your numbers.

This is not the USA.  The laws are different: the concept is Napoleonic rather than English.  That is, you are guilty until proved innocent.  You can go to jail for things like a small auto collision.  This is the reason for the Mexican Insurance.

You can read many tour guides or other books on Mexico for sites to see and a better understanding of the laws, history, and culture.  This is sort of a hit-and-miss list of items that I have seen.

There are thousands US citizens within 200 km of the US border in Mexico.  The density of Californians is so high in Baja that Baja is hardly Mexico any more.  On the mainland, the number of snowbirds is overwhelming.  You can find native Mexico in a few fishing villages but it is getting more difficult.  In the heavy tourist areas, the Mexicans will beg money (or worse).  They do not beg in the native areas.  I stay away from the rich American tourists.  I am not rich.  Living in Mexico is easy and very inexpensive.  Food is cheap especially if you like fish.  There is a peace in Mexico that you find nowhere in the Estados Unidos.

Entry To Mexico – See Mexico Driving

Return to the USA – See Mexico Driving

Identification and Passes – See Mexico Driving

Maps and Locations -- See Mexico Locations.

President Vincente Fox

Mexican President Fox is seriously trying to improve his country.  You will see more advertisements to visit Mexico than in the past.  The tourist pass is a fixed price and there is no more fish bowl on the table for you to tip the official just to get your pass.  Fox has fired anyone in the corruption line.  So those of you who have heard about the banditos, etc., get a life.

Mexican President Fox is working very hard to improve travel into his country as this is serious income.  The land ownership by Americans is increasing due to improved rules on land ownership.  Many Mexicans think he is not doing enough.  You will see more advertisements to visit Mexico than in the past.

Even with the new president, the rule of the land is still the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.  I do not think that will change in my lifetime.  The primary reason for poverty in Mexico: under-funded schools and corrupt government.  The land has the resources and the people are hard workers.

The USA and Mexican States

In Mexico, the USA is called los Estados Unidos or EEUU for short.  Mexico is composed of states and be named the United States of Mexico.  The Mexicans call Caucasians from the USA, gringos.  There are legacies on the derivation of Gringo but in general the term has a more pejorative north of the border than it does south.  It is easier just to say than NorteAmericano.

Mexico is a foreign country – always carry your passport.  This is my statement, not a legal requirement.

You have heard about the graft?  Not today.  The reason for the bank trip for your permits is that the Mexican officers are no longer permitted to accept money.  The tourist pass is a fixed price and there is no more fish bowl on the table for you to tip the official just to get your pass. Fox has fired anyone in the corruption line.  So those of you who have heard about the banditos, etc., get a life.

Money

Almost any Mexican will happily accept an American dollar.  Two years ago, the exchange rate was 10 pesos for $1.10.  Now it is about 11 pesos for $1.   This means that the Mexican dollar is devaluing: use your pesos in Mexico – do not save pesos for the next visit.  There are online sites giving the current exchange rate.  In general the merchants want to exchange 1 peso for 10 cents.  Good before, not so good now.

Border stores (‘Casas de Cambio’) list their exchange rates on the sidewalk.  Use the best one.   ‘Compro’ means buy.

Mexican Economy

There are many poor in Mexico.  There are many rich.  The problem is that the rich control the laws and make sure that they keep the money.  For example, a person may have 10 fishing licenses.  He buys 10 boats and equips them for fishing.  He then rents out the boats to the local poor fisherman.  When the fisherman comes in, the owner gets a share of the catch.  The problem is that he gets 75% of the catch, which he sells to the highest bidder.  This is either the local co-op or maybe the nearest major city processing plant since he can afford to own a truck for transport.  The fisherman who has the 25% has few choices.   The local co-op is already overloaded.  His friends and family can eat only so much fish.  He stays poor.  Then, of course, there are the commercial fishing boats encroaching upon the waters reserved for private fishing.

Land ownership rules in Mexico are confusing at best.  The people are uneducated and often buy land without proper title.

Small villages are composed of several very extended families.  Everyone knows everyone.  They live as close as they are able to how they have lived for centuries.   Schools, medical centers, and police exist everywhere the community is large enough.  Public education is often available but the pregnancy rate of early teens is overwhelming.  The majority of people are Catholic and the Church discourages birth control.  Mexicans are not so arrogant as gringos when it comes to standing up to the Pope with birth control.  Birth control is not so available both for stores and for cost.  Seeing an unmarried teenage woman with one kid in arms and another trailing behind is common.

In the USA, going to a wedding without a gift is gosh.  In Mexico giving gifts at weddings is unusual.  When it comes to the wedding, those that are able (‘patrones’) contribute to the wedding.  This is their gift.

Weather

Mexico like any other large country has various climates.  They have mountains and beaches.  Most of the tourist areas are on the beach and so the description here describes the tourist areas: beaches.

The weather in Mexico is beautiful from October to April.  It is hot the remainder of the year.  I mean really hot.  Like Yuma or Parker.  In the winter the weather is what everybody claims but does not have.  Temperatures vary around 70 degrees in the winter down to the 40s at night in the winter.  Since we are talking beach, the humidity rises with the heat.

The TV Weather Channel ignores Canada and Mexico.   I mean the maps simply cut off the colors and lines.  This is really stupid on their part considering the number of customers that they have in these areas.  If they do not want to talk about the weather that is OK.  Clearing their maps makes you switch to CNN or Fox when you want the weather.

Watch the surf.  The storms and the tides make the surf seriously vary.  If you park near the shore, you can get a good bath of sea water when a storm comes up.  You can also sink into the sand if the tide covers your wheels.  Less obvious is that the salt spray will cover everything near the beach.  This salt is exceedingly corrosive.  You want this washed off within days of its accrual. There are many Mexicans available to wash your rig before you leave.  Wash the roof!

Food

Mexican food is eaten by many Mexicans and they are still alive.  So, if you are hungry stop at a little roadside stand where you see others eating.  The food is good after you get a littleused to peppers.

Tortillas

Many people think that tortillas are the Mexican equivalent of bread.  This is a mistake.  Tortillas are the Mexican equivalent of knives, forks, spoons, and napkins.  Make sure you know whether you want corn or wheat.

Bimbo Bread is the equivalent of Wonder bread: it is everywhere and just about as tasteless and nutritionless.

Communication

The telephone company in Mexico charges rates higher than you are used to paying.  About 40 cents per minute to call Mexico.  About 90 cents per minute to call the USA.

American 800 numbers sometimes work and sometimes do not.  Mostly they do not.  Remember to dial the US country code: '001' before any number.  Sometimes the American 800 number will work when dialed as 880.  In general I do not try.

Mexican Pay Phones

Pay phones accept:

The phones return change but maybe not as much as you would like.

There are prepaid 50- and 100-peso cards – they cannot be upgraded.  10 pesos per minute to a US number.  The card is discarded when exhausted.  You will find a lot of exhausted cards lying around.

The pay phone is always paid at the phone.  This means that you need to insert coins for a local call when you call an 800 number.  It also means that the call will be terminated when the time for a local call is exceeded.  Use a Mexican prepaid card even for 800 numbers and you will not be disconnected until it runs out of time.

I do not call out often so I use the prepaid cards.

If you have an USA AT&T card, you can get a Mexican ‘800’ number to call.  Before you go to Mexico, obtain the Mexican taller number from the card vendor.

To make the call in Mexico:

·        Put a Mexican prepaid card in the slot.

·        Dial the AT&T Mexican number.

·        Ask the operator to speak English

·        Give the American 800 number (this determines your rate)

·        Give the Calling card number (about 13 digits – this may be electronically requested)

·        Give the number that you want to call (this may be electronically requested)

·        Talk

·        Hang up

·        Remove your Mexican card

Other card companies have a similar process. 

The reason for putting the Mexican card in the slot is that the call will be charged but at the local call rate.  If you put money in the slot and the call is connected, change is not returned.  If you exceed the time during the call, you will be disconnected.  Using the Mexican calling card instead of coins prevents this.

Cell Phones

You can tell your cell phone company to enable your service in Mexico.  Do this with care:

The charges vary between $1 and $5 per minute.

There are very large cell transmitters near the US border on the Mexican side.  When you drive near the border, you may be picked up by one of these.  If so, you will be charged the Mexican rate and can receive a serious bill at the end of the month.  Do not even think of contesting this bill if you authorized Mexican coverage.

I find my Cingular service (Using AT&T towers in Mexico) had service in many areas.

Your AT&T cell phone will work in Mexico but there is no contract with the Mexican service. If you try to make a call, it is intercepted by a Mexican operator who does not speak English. If you receive a call, after 30 seconds the call is intercepted.  Hopefully this will be corrected within the next year.

DSS / Dish TV

Dish or DirectTV work just fine in Mexico. The best way to find a satellite is to look at their tables for further north in the US.  Find a couple of such cities and note the value changes as you go south.  Extrapolate the values and you are in good shape.  I hear that DishTV will turn you off if you tell them that you are in Mexico but that may be a rumor.

Unlike cell phones, which are mostly line-of-site, the TV satellites transmit sort of a cone onto the USA.  Therefore, when you go south to Mexico, it is possible to 'see' the satellite when you are outside its transmission range.

If you are in a park, look at your neighbors setup.  Dish and DirectTV use different satellites so make sure you know which you have and what you are looking at. Also note that if you are a DishTV owner, the DirectTV people will call their system 'Dish' and not understand why you can not use their settings.

I bought one of those satellite signal finder meters.  Sometimes even the best of us need help.  The meter is good if you suspect the trees or mountains are in your way.

The settings in the table indicate Azimuth, Elevation, and Skew.  Skew is only necessary for Dish 500 systems and you need local network programming.  That is, the primary Dish aims at the 119 satellite then on the secondary 110 satellite.  The Az/El adjust for the 119.  The skew gets you the 110.  If you do not need the second satellite, ignore the skew.

Internet Access

Internet access is limited so it is a good idea to have this figured out before you get here. AOL exists down here but is almost always a long distance call. I call to Yuma or Tucson but you can use the Mexican numbers. If you use the Mexican numbers there is a surcharge. This offsets the lower cost of the local number. There are AOL access numbers known to the locals that are not in your AOL Mexican number list. For example, Hermasillo has a number but AOL does not list it.

Email

If all you need is email, get one of the Sharp Wizard PocketMail machines.  They are quick, easy to use, work just fine at any Mexican or USA pay phone and can hook up to your PC when you want to keep organized.

Laptop

Using these for only email is a waste since you have to log onto your ISP, run your mail up and down and then log off.  It is a good thing to learn how to use 'automatic Email' (AOL) or POP3 access to save time on the line if email is all you want.

I do all of my finances online.  I download my credit and bank statements.  I upload my payments.  In addition, I do all of my appointments and purchases on line.  I make my RV park reservations online.  Sooner or later we shall all do it this way.

Donde Esta el Baño?

What they did not teach you in Spanish class.

Baños

In my entire trip through Mexico I saw one house with inside plumbing – and it still had the wastebasket.  The CRA RV park has inside plumbing.  The wastebasket?  Mexicans do not throw their toilet paper in the toilet.  Instead it is placed in the wastebasket next to the toilet.  I remember many years ago while working in the Peace Corps training center that the wastebaskets were always filled with toilet paper -- used.  This seemed most unsanitary to us gringos and there seemed to be no way out of the problem:  the people did not speak English and we did not speak Vietnamese and the Federal coordinator was either not around or too busy to handle such mundane problems.  It turns out many plumbing systems around the world cannot handle paper in the toilet.

Toilet?  The definition is seriously stretched from American ideals.  Like I said, one house had inside plumbing.  The remainder had outhouses.  The worst outhouse you have seen in America outclasses any outhouse you will see in Mexico.  One I used this morning had a nice abode shell.  No door.  And no toilet – just a hole in the ground surrounded by wooden planks.

Oh.  And the next question after “Donde esta el baño?”  is: “Tiene papel?”  Almost all outhouse that I have seen have no paper: you supply your own or ask your host.

Throw out Yo, Tu, Nosotros, Vosotros.

Et Tu, Brute?

Formal and familiar forms of reference are very concise in Mexico.  They are different than I learned in class.

I have met many members of Sara’s and Gordo’s families.  In all cases (within the rules above), the references were immediately familiar.  I was also given guest privileges instantly that would take serious time in the states.  For example, I was offered free use of the family car (pickup) and anything in the house.  Not only could I use a bed, except that I have a respirator, offense would have been taken for not accepting a bed.  In all cases of family that I have seen, there is one bedroom with a series of beds made up adjacently.  I have not figured out who gets which bed.  I am sure there is a rule for it and I would break it the first time I tried.

Hijos de su madre.

Careful here.  In many places this is a way of explaining that the children were born in the first marriage and you are talking to the husband of the second marriage and he is not from Mexico. I had rented an apartment in San Jose.  My neighbors were Mexican.  I first met the kids and addressed them in Spanish.  I next met the father who introduced his wife and then the kids using this term.  The mother was greatly insulted and immediately left.

In Mexico you never use this term (the nearest equivalent in English either refers to a female dog or a rough-cut file) unless you are seriously looking to be hurt.  Macho is not just another word in Mexico: the behavior is taught to boys the first time they can sit up.

You do not learn the language over night

I have spent the last six months, with a few one-day breaks, living with people who know no English.  My Spanish is better than it was before but not good enough to be understood by most Mexicans.  Without Sara or Gordo to translate my words, I would not survive.  Both of them get upset when they think I have learned a word and the next day I have no idea what they are talking about.  I have heard “Aprendas la lengua” muttered as they walked away.

To me, this is severe culture shock.  I have seen lives of which I have not even heard about in books.  I have seen poverty that most gringos could not imagine.  I have seen people with such love of family and country that they would be given awards in the USA.  I am accepted into family because I am a close friend of one of their family.

The language, though simple in structure and is basically Latin with a twist, still has an overwhelming vocabulary.   And the vocabulary is significantly smaller than English.  Look up Pico.  It means anything from a bird's beak to a mountain top to a penis (colloquial).

For dummies like myself, the absorption of the culture along with the language has me feeling schizophrenic.  It is like I have two lives: one back in the USA somewhere and the other here in Mexico.  I cannot translate the language.  I either think in Spanish or I think in English.  Since my Spanish vocabulary is so limited, I get to dead ends fast.

Religion

Mexico is predominantly a Roman Catholic country with Christians making some inroads.  So, of course, are the Mormons.  Everywhere you see shrines to the Virgin of Guadeloupe.  The Mexicans adore her and sign the cross followed by a kiss when they see one of these shrines.  You see placards on inside and exterior walls of homes.  I saw one home in Obregon that had such a large shrine that my initial reaction was that they had left their Christmas decorations up.  Then I noticed the turquoise blue/green and knew otherwise.

I think that the Pope and right-wing Christians would be overjoyed with Mexico: no sex education, no divorce, no birth control, and no abortions.  Well, all of these exist but at such a low rate that you encounter them with difficulty.

Thinking along different lines you see a very large number of teenage girls dragging along a toddler and a baby in their arms.  The birth rate to mothers of 12 to 14 is abysmal.  There are no husbands in these cases as marriage is permanent (remember: no divorce) and the men have no intentions of a permanent relationship.  I have no idea what the STD rate is but I would expect it to be very high in the cities.

Gifts

I have heard from unreliable sources that the Christian orphanages in-country are severely overloaded because the Catholic orphanages will turn away babies born out of wedlock.  In any case, donations to these orphanages are more than welcome.  Think in terms of diapers, wipes, clothes, anything paper, and simple school supplies.

If you are one of those gringos who feel sorry for everyone who has less than yourself, take your pity home.  These people are very happy with what they have.  Giving them more will ruin their value system.  If you are inclined to give, give to the local schools or the local church and not to individuals.  The church knows who needs things the most and you are less likely to be looked at as another wealthy gringo with pity on his mind.

Oh.  I have given many things to many Mexicans.  I often give them things for which I have no use.  For example, I had a piece of tempered window glass that was the wrong size and you cannot cut down tempered glass.  I offered it to a Mexican friend and he proudly carried it back to his home.

Did he need the glass?  I doubt it.  Did he have use for the glass?  Maybe.  But there is a different attitude here.  If you give something of value to a total stranger and they can use it, like children's clothes, they are pleased with the gift.  If you give a friend something, they will accept because they will consider it an insult to you if they refuse a gift that you believe is valuable to them.  Not really quite the same as how I grew up.  I grew up believing that you refused a gift for which you had no need.  This permits the giver to give it to someone who does need it.  Here the receiver can walk away with the worst possible white elephant and leave you thinking that he has proudly walked off with the most valuable present of his life.

Telephone Companies

MovieStar

I have nothing to say about Moviestar other than they are a pain in the neck.  Every time I crossed the USA/Mexico border Moviestar sent a text message to my T-Mobile cell phone.  Every time.  And these cost me money.  Moviestar (like most Mexican companies) think customers are fodder and not real people.  They just laughed when I asked them to stop.  So I went to T-Mobile and stopped ALL foreign traffic.  No more Moviestar.

Telnor

I suspect the "Nor" is for Northern.  In any case it is the local telephoneservice provider.  Land Lines.  You can purchase calling cards for use on pay phoones.

Prodigy

And you thought they were dead?  I thought so until I moved to Mexico.  They are Telnor's DSL provider.  If you can get a Telnor telephone line, you may be able to get DSL for your computer.  Slow but it workds.  If you have a problem both a Prodigy and a Telnor minivan show up to help.  If you get any help at all.

TelCel

Cellular Service for (at least) northern Mexico and I suspect the entire company.  Even the little kids have cell phones.  You buy a card for so many pesos and you mnay get more if there is a promotion.  You dial the magic number (^333) and enter the scratch-off code and instantly have minutes. A peso a minute for local or a text message.

ZTE Banda Ancha de Telcel

This is a nightmare right out of Steven King.  But I wanted Internet access and this is the easy way to do it.  Sort of.  After 7 hours in 3 trips to the San Luis Telcel office (only the main office handles this stuff).  Maybe someone sort of speaks English.  Nobody understands their product.  Their Guru could not install peanut butter on bread.  And they will say anything and promise anything (except high speed) to get you to buy their product.

After multiple attempts we got it installed on my PC only to discover that they needed a Mexican credit report.  Back and forth for 4 hours before I gave up and left thinking I was through.  No.  They contacted one of my references and claimed they were laible for me not completing the contract form that I signed.  We went back and completed the operation.  I now have USB Aircard access to Telcel Internet.

I have encountered few dial-up lines slower than this access.

Their Software is a nightmare.

  1. You need to connect manually every time.  Automatic does not work on Vista.  Manually works but you may have to guess which of the lines are available.
  2. The ICONS have no captions are are certainly not obvious.  The one you need is the magenta circle on the left.
  3. The software installs itself as a CD drive containing a CD.  You would expect it to install itself as a modem.  Sorry, Charlie.  It reinstalls itself regularly.  It finds the first drive letter that it thinks it can use and installs itself to that location.  It finds different letters at different times.
  4. Since the Telcel software tells WIndows it is a CD drive, Windows give it CD drive priority.  This is tolerable if you are doing absolutely nothing else on a relatively fast PC.  Normally a modem is configured to WIndows as a "time sensitive" device getting higher priority than normal devices.  This means that if you have anything running on your PC, the Telcel software degrades rapidly.and may just get lost (see below).  The consequences for it getting lost are very bad.
  5. If you have a drive already at that letter, Windows moves your drive to a different letter.  If you have programs referencing those drives, you are in trouble.  Chaanging drive letters in Windows is not hard but changing the program references is hard.
  6. Periodically the Telcel software gets lost.  When this happens, it unloads all of the resident drives, including itself and reinstalls itself -- maybe to a different drive letter.
  7. All of the resident drives then announce themselves to Windows as if they just powered up: and WIndows may assign them new letters.
  8. And in this case the Telcel software does not work since the Telcel software thiks it is on its original drive letter.
  9. Had enough?  You can tell WIndows to assign letters of your choice (except the Telcel) by going to WIndows help and giving "Change Drive Letter".  Leave two empty for Telcel and move the others up.  This solves your problems except for the random Telcel assignments but it has two to choose from and will generally not bother the rest of your system any more.

These people are nuts.  I have never seen anything implemented as poorly as the Telcel wideband.  And slow.  I can go to breakfast and it it before the CNN or MSN newspages will load.  I mean in 45 years of programming consulting I have seen many stupid things.  Up until now, the dumbest thing I ever saw was a COBOL programmer using an "Alter Goto" to change the location of a data field.  Sort of like this problem: levels of dumb.  Using "Alter Goto" was always a bad choice.  Using it for data control was compiler-depenant.  But it worked for him most of the time.  When he brought it to me to fix, I needed to take a break before I let go with some unprofessional expletives.  This Telcel  Banda Ancha software is bad also in layers.  WIthout getting into the internals, the concept is just plain wrong.  Sort of like using train tracks for an airport runway.  It might work most of the time but the amount of changes to the airplane are overwhelming.  But the really bad part of this program is that it adversely effects your entire system.  It is bad enough that it needs to run by itself on a system designed to run multiple programs simultaneousely.  But if not run by itself, and sometimes on its own, it causes Windows to play musical chairs with its drive letters.

I cannot say enough bad about this program.  Do anything possible to avoid using Telcel for Internet access,





Please Email me with your additions and corrections.

Written:  2003          Updated:  October 7, 2009          Go to Top