If you thought this was going to be about golf’s long shot – it is not. This is about the long drive from Xico, Veracruz to Las Vegas Nevada and back. Round trip is four thousand miles through four states and two countries. We did it in five weeks.
On the return trip the first part within the United States can lull a driver into a confidence that is better not acquired for the second part – the drive through Mexico.
Leaving Las Vegas is like visiting a casino on Saturday night – crowded and exciting with lots of cars and people, and bright lights.
Arizona is a land of many textures. Flagstaff has to have the longest ongoing road work project in history unless it is beat by the new bridge at Boulder dam. We were startled at 12% sales tax rate in Winslow, Arizona. In spite of the bad press Arizona is a lovely state to drive through especially if you have time to stop at the Grand Canyon.
New Mexico is more of the same but includes the humongous Very Large Array satellite dishes. These grande platos listen in on deep space (radio astronomyobservatory). They are a sight to see even from the highway – better still close up with a visit to the visitor’s center. Remember the Jody Foster film “Contact”?
VLA dishes shot taken near our car on the highway. (ENLARGE)
Many of the mountain tops are peppered with giant electric windmills slowly turning in gentle winds. In the little town of Carrizozo, New Nexico just 20 miles from our casita in Capitan we were delayed in traffic while two propellers were trying to make a turn that required some maneuvers.
You had to be there to get a feel for how BIG this is. (ENLARGE)
There is no better place to doze while driving than meandering through Texas (this is not an endorsement of such behavior). I mean Texas is a snooze with little more than miles and miles of flat unappealing land and a few giant grasshoppers that are in fact oil well pumpers.
There is danger from driving 875 miles though Texas. It can dull your senses for driving the next 600 miles through Mexico – yikes! The Mexico drive is 100 miles longer than the Indy 500 and no less daring at a sluggard average speed, slightly more than a quarter of the average speed of this year’s 500 mile race.
Driving the highways of eastern Mexico is a dangerous challenge likened to going to war. Only the stout of heart should attempt this.
Trucks will pass you at 80 mph like you are standing still. There is almost always a road warrior that challenges reasonable survival practice by passing on blind curves or beginning a pass climbing a hill. Apparently solid yellow highway lines are meaningless to many Mexican drivers.
We encountered an older woman driving a small car packed with people – head on. On a main highway with a posted 110 kilometers speed limit we both had to come to complete stops; ending nearly front bumper to bumper as she came to a screeching rest on our side of the highway.
Now when these insane drivers get close enough to see the whites of their eyes you will never achieve eye contact. They seem to assume that by diverting their stare they become invisible – no eye contact no foul, no matter how heinous the traffic violation or how close to death you all may have just come.
We saw huge trucks lying on the side of the road turned over like belly up dinosaurs. Ambulances stalk the roadways rushing the injured for repair – sadly some are totaled. It is dangerous territory. Slow moving tractors and the occasional tiny moto (scooter) or burro can clog a lane – often when there is only one to be had.
Want to get from there to here? Do not count on the signs or most maps. Truly we have seen three steel plated signs pointing in three directions mounted on the same pole, with the exact same name imprinted on all. In Xalapa for example there are signs leading you to Coatepec. You follow wide-eyed looking for confirmation and further instructions.
At an intersection there suddenly is no indication of direction? Assuming nothing must mean continue straight; then out of the corner of your eye you spy a Coatepec this way sign off to the right. It is obvious some road engineer (warrior) forgot to provide instructions for that turn. It is easy to get lost for an hour or more wandering aimlessly around Xalapa. We have done it, and we live in the area!
We are more confident now after nearly six years and having seen just about all of it – but to gain sure confidence is a path to disaster because just when you think you have seen and know it all a new anomaly will erase that notion.
The horn always works – the tail lights probably do not – Mexico has no such thing as equipment violations. If it can move it is ‘legal’. Those seldom if ever used emergency blinkers you have in your car – here they are used often as a license to park anywhere or to do some insane maneuver like doing a 180 in a busy intersection with no more regard for sensible behavior than “You must have seen my warning lights?”
Many of the roads are in disrepair. Carrying a spare set of shock absorbers and perhaps even springs and ball-joints is a good idea. Do not plan on averaging distances covered anywhere near that of which may be covered in America – figure at best half the distance for the same time frame.
On the east side of Mexico you will have no problem obtaining gas. “Pemex filling stations” abound. Buy no less than a compass for your dash and better still a GPS. Get pesos at the border; dollars are rarely accepted below 200 miles down in Mexico. DO NOT come here without Mexican auto insurance. We have written plenty about “mordida” (being stopped for a contrived traffic violation), as well as preparations for meeting immigration and transportation inspection events.
Like the last three or four round trips to the United States from our home in Mexico, we had an easy time of it with officialdom. In fact this time other than showing our passports to enter into the United States and my obtaining a tourists visa re-entering Mexico we had no inspections or delays from any authority. Everything went smoothly.
Even at Hoover dam where we have been harangued in the past, we were greeted cordially in Spanish; assuming from our cars Mexican license plates we hailed from there – no one wanted to bother with why we were in a Mexican plated car. The United States should be credited with the fact virtually all border people and in this case personnel at Boulder dam are bi-lingual. A feature you will not find typically in Mexico.
We have mentioned that our Mexican insurance covers us in Canada and the United States as well as all of Mexico for about a third the cost of just U.S. auto insurance.
Do not drive in Mexico at night – good advice – not always taken by us. However this time we adhered to that and were thankful as we had several risky to downright dangerous encounters.
We are home and ready to get back to writing about living in Mexico – right after I do something about the jungle that has become our yard. So Stay Tuned!
Soon we will head back to Capitan. New Mexico – population is about 1700. A smaller city than Xico, Veracruz by nearly a factor of ten.
Capitan has all the romantic trappings of small town America; Smokey the Bear hails from Capitan and a museum and proper burial site and even “Smokey Bear Days” happens there.
The people are right leaning; their children bright faced spend almost as much time with 4H projects as they do computer games. A close knit community where if you haven’t lived here for generations you probably will be an outsider regardless of the amount of years you will settle there.
We have had a small adobe house in the middle of town for about 12 years – so we are new to the party.
There are a disproportionate amount of pickup trucks and if the wind is headed in your direction it will smell a little like a stable regardless of where you are in the town. But, not a problem as horses and associated farm animals are very much the norm.
We wrote about some of the glaring differences between Las Vegas and our part of Mexico. There are fewer when one compares Capitan to Xico as one might expect greater differences in small town versus bright lights, big city. However differences do exist.
Small towns, no matter where, seem to be steeped in novella type situations. The good ol’ boy network is strong and strains to remain pure to that end.
In Xico we lived for a while near a small town newspaper editor whose lot in life was to challenge the authority – this is typically not popular and that was no exception for our neighbor.
Here in Capitan our next door neighbor recently ran for mayor. He lost by 100 votes which to hear him tell it was a landslide loss. Of course this is relative to the total vote which is never big in a town of 1700 or so total souls. Our neighbor is new on the scene with a mere 12 years under his belt – not going to beat out those with generations of local history.
But, in Capitan the living is easy and the people adjust to differences, learning to live with their fellow man, quite simply because you have to. It is easy to run out of opportunities to make new friends in a small fish bowl. Better to learn to live and let live.
This can be said of Xico as well. People have lived there for many generations. The Suarez’s don’t do battle with the Valenzuela’s like the Hatfields and the McCoys, they simply ignore each other and drive on. I suppose that is a good thing?
Capitan has a big small town July Fourth Parade. At least as many towns’ folk participate as watch. High school bands, fire engines, horse trailers, the big truck that digs electric poles for the power company and just about anyone with a Jeep or vintage automobile or a horse is in the parade. Flat bed trailers pull groups of Obama supporters dressed in Uncle Sam attire and other flat beds, not too close, that support The Tea Party. You have seen these parades. Essentially Norman Rockwell-esqe.
Small town America parades are much the same as the many religious and war memorial parades that occur in Xico. Everyone loves a parade. Going back and forth between countries is bound to present many parade ‘opportunities’.
We are somewhere in the U.S. enjoying their July Fourth holiday and parades. We plan on getting home to Mexico before the BIG July Celebration where Mary Magdalene or Mary of Magdala, our patron saint, will be revered and celebrated. The best of both worlds is a retirement luxury I suppose. Maybe we will see you in Xico. Stay Tuned!
Rolling Stone Magazine’s 2004 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time listed the Rolling Stones’ tune “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” at number 100. It would have been higher on my list. I loved the blending of the London Bach Choir with a rock band – I have always liked that harmonious amalgamate.
Right here you might be saying, yeah, OK what does this have to do with Mexico? This is not as far disconnected as some of my fellow wordsmith Steve Cotton’s metaphors (I love that guy’s writing).
You definitely cannot always get what you want in Mexico. We folks from the United States have been spoiled beyond our wildest cravings by the accessibility of all things.
Try as we might we were NOT able to find a mechanic and then a part we needed for our BIG WHITE Ford F350 – it is diesel and full of pipes, hoses, wires and greasy mechanical things that still bear the tags, “Made in Mexico”. But, the beast is a stranger in Mexico regardless of what those “Made in Mexico” tags might lead you to believe.
We had no less than seven hombres and innumerable auto establishments involved with trying to get that behemoth blanco truck moving. “You can’t always get what you want.”
During our recent trip to the United States I mailed off the part I suspected (from the very beginning; I might pat myself on the back about that if it wasn’t useless) from Las Vegas, Nevada to somewhere in Florida. In what seemed just moments (a few days actually) Victor called to report my part was in fact defective; and for 325.00 he would send me a replacement.
You can imagine that at that point, some 4 months since the truck went idle, that $325 US bucks was a small price to pay should that really resolve the problem – I mean I had more Mexican’s under the hood of that truck than you can get in a Volkswagen.
I had them send the part to New Mexico knowing we would arrive there about the time the part would get to the western side of America. There were some hoops to jump through to finally get that part in our hands but it happened and off it went to Mexico in the Jetta with hundreds of pounds of other stuff and our collective 250 pounds of bodies.
Since our return I have been repairing a few things that decided to revolt in our absence. I installed a new power supply we bought at Fry’s in our desktop. That worked and so did all the minor repairs I had done.
You see I decided not to rush up to the street and install the replacement primary computer module in the Big White Truck. I wanted to be prepared mentally for whatever might happen after the install.
More lyrics from that great Stones tune, “We gonna vent our frustration – If we don’t we’ll blow a fifty amp fuse.”
I had already replaced 60 amps worth of fuses that had a meltdown in our absence. So after five days since our return I embarked on the Big White Truck project.
Vicente came over and stuck his head under the hood. Now I had a witness and perhaps someone that might help assuage any disappointment.
At #110 on the Rolling Stone list is Otis Redding’s, “I’ve Been Loving You Oh Too Long”. “Don’t make me stop loving you now… (Another GREAT tune). I wanted the love affair with that Big White Truck to continue; it has been more than ten years.
Within 20 minutes I was ready to turn it over. It roared into action as if it had been rode hard and stabled wet the day before. Hallelujah!
As the Chorus ends:
“You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometime, yeah,
You just might find you get what you need!”
I didn’t get what I wanted, but I did get what I needed and life is just a little better today. Stay Tuned!
We are winding down our stay in the U.S. – well so I would like to think. The truth is we may be here until the end of the month; but we are ready to go home. The glitz of Las Vegas and the charm of Capitan have not assuaged our preference to be in Mexico.
The good news is I received my U.S. passport – now I can get out of Dodge and ride to South of the Border.
Because a passport wasn’t necessary when traveling by car to Mexico until June 2nd of this year I didn’t bother getting one. Then the last two years I was spending more than 6-months in Mexico so the FMT visa was not sufficient. I needed at least an FM3 Mexican visa to stay beyond 6-months.
To obtain a Mexican FM3 visa requires a U.S. passport. Now that I have a U.S. passport when Anita goes to renew her FM3 I will apply for one.
Getting the passport was pretty painless and quite quick; less than 4 weeks from start to finish. Included was a pamphlet titled, “With Your U.S. Passport, the World is Yours!
I just saw the passport as some people regulating where I was allowed to go and that I was required to have it simply to enter the “free country” I was born in, served in the Army and worked within for my entire adult life up to retirement. Of course this is the libertarian in me coming out.
One included document explaining some details of possessing a passport was written in English on one side and Spanish on the other – Oh how I wish the Mexican government was as accommodating.
But, then if I were to get any wish it would be to not have to get permission to leave/enter the United State and Mexico. But I will stop complaining now and be happy I have this important legal document. Stay Tuned!
After a career in the music business I opted to do some writing; certainly a more peaceful and arguably a more sane approach to making a living. As is typical of writing, supplemental income was often necessary. An adjunct to that need for seeds was the desire to experience by way of doing rather than simply writing as an observer.
I drove a bus for damaged children that had been rescued from terrible home situations to learn and then write about those children’s lives. I did a day’s work as a pizza delivery person to describe a day in the life…; I have flipped hamburgers and steaks; Anita and I operated some mobile espresso carts selling coffee and scones at fairs and events; that all started from being the wine & coffee editor of a state-wide newspaper. Not long ago we picked coffee berries for a day when I was writing about the entire Mexican coffee experience – from vine to cup.
That brings us to now: if you are following along we are currently in Capitan, New Mexico where we have an old real adobe house on four lots with two garages stuffed with the possessions we have yet to bring ourselves to a place to give up. That day is coming soon however.
We are camping out more or less; sleeping on an air mattress atop a wooden futon frame surrounded by boxes of our stuff. We have a compost toilet setup but lack water and electricity. We are here trying to reduce our load. I listed my BMW motorcycle the other day. We will spend the month of September selling on Ebay and where ever; more on that later.
We did just trade two very large old implement wheels for a 4-panel room divider we want to hall home to Mexico – the wheels were never going to cross the border – but that’s yet another story.
We have some friends that operate a scrumptious restaurant and rental cabins business located on the main highway 380, the local stretch is also known as Smokey Bear Boulevard. Curt and Linda are a two person operation with the occasional helper.
The Horsemen’s Grill – Capitan, New Mexico
I just finished one of Curt’s experiments in cooking for breakfast. A fettuccini noodle and egg concoction that hit the spot; sometimes being someone’s food tester can pay off.
The other day we stopped by the Horsemen’s to say hello. They were busier than a hen with ten chicks. I have no idea what possessed me; I offered our services to do the dishes which were precariously stacking up.
Anita and I dawned aprons and started at it, which brings me to the point of this diatribe. I was amazed at the amount of wasted food remaining on those stacked spent plates. At the Horsemen’s Grill you will find $16.00 Pizza Supremes, Cowboy Steaks for $15.95 (Cowgirl Steak $12.95 – she’s smaller), and Top Sirloin & Alaskan Crab for $21.95.You can get a Tomato Quesadilla for $6.95 which we are finding to be the low end price of the restaurant food chain in the U.S. The cost of dining out here is taking some getting used to for us Mexican diners where 100 pesos (about $7.50 U.S.) can get you a couple fine meals with drinks.
I figured that there were perhaps $4.00 to $8.00 of those Cowboy steaks, Cowboys beans, baked potatoes and salads left on quite a few plates as we whittled down the stack of dishes – very few plates eaten clean. We are talking a vast waste of some spendy fine food.
Couldn’t Resist Photographing this Sign at the Horsemen’s Grill
You can be assured that in our part of Mexico this does not happen. Oh there might be some left over tortillas and beans, even part of a tamale or quesadilla; but no way will those remnants end up in a landfill. That foodstuff is going to feed some dog, cat, goat or pigs for certain.
I recently saw a freewheeling hombre with a scooter pulling a cart loaded with a couple of garbage cans. He would drive to the local restaurants to pick-up their scraps for his hogs. Nothing goes to waste in Mexico.
Scrap Food Collection System – Puerto Escondido, Mexico
A family of eight in Mexico could be fed with what a family of four left on their plates as we lowered the pile and waited for tables to be bussed at The Horsemen’s Grill – did I mention that this is a wonderful place to eat? But, please eat all your food. There are children starving in Mexico. Stay Tuned!
Buying a Car in Mexico can be very dicey. Like buying Mexican real estate the process has similarities and great differences as compared to buying in the U.S.
Two weeks ago, after looking for two weeks, we found a new to us 2008 Jetta. It was for sale in Xalapa. Here is some of how this Mexican adventure went:
A visit to a dealer will be different in that they are not extremely aggressive like their U.S. counterparts. All our visits to the dealers were much more relaxed with little sales pressure. And no, they won’t be giving you $60,000 pesos cash for your clunker towards a shiny new taco mobile.
We visited a Volkswagen, Toyota, Ford and Nissan dealer. In all cases we found the sales people to be professional and pleasant. There were no high pressure sale attempts. In fact, we had to seek out help most of the time followed by no pressure to buy.
The new car dealerships seem to carry few used cars. I suppose the trade-in values are such that most simply sell their used vehicle.
You do not see a lot of older cars in our area. I believe the roads are so bad that cars only ‘live’ for 5-7 years rather than the 10-15 years a U.S. car might survive. If you decided to buy used in Mexico – don’t go back too far – 3 or 4 years old tops.
Like most things Mexico the regulations and safe guards for buying a used car do not exist. You will not find CarFax vehicle history reports. There are no laws about rolling back a speedometer. Physical repairs, paint jobs and frame straightening are not expensive in Mexico. You will want to check over a used car VERY CAREFULLY.
On a number of occasions I have written that Mexican folks often say “yes” to any question regardless of the validity of that affirmation. Talking with people selling cars is no exception. If you ask if there is a spare tire – check to actually see it – when you get it home and it is not there will be too late.
This goes for conversations on the phone prior to meeting to see a vehicle. Twice we called on cars that we thought were listed at the very high end of value. We asked if they were negotiable on the price, “Si!” In both cases once we saw the vehicles and discussed price, we were told the asking price is it – period. Reminding the seller that they had said on the phone they were negotiable drew blank stares.
In many towns there is Saturday or Sunday used car markets where you can go and see a lot of used vehicles at one time. Meeting people other than at their house can be a problem if you later find the car’s VIN number(s) are wrong or the vehicle had been stolen. You may very well be arrested for possessing a stolen car and at minimum will go away without a car or your money. Apparently the motor number and a number on the body as well as the VIN on the door or on the dash top will all be checked.
If an engine has been replaced and the number does not match – there will be a problem. So be sure you know where the seller lives and check these numbers out carefully. Best situation is to go to the Hacienda (motor vehicle department) with the seller; there all the numbers and documentation will be checked as well as a physical inspection. Anything less could be fraught with problems.
We were fortunate to find a car with just 8000 miles on it. The owner was the Volkswagen factory in Pueblo where the Jetta is made. The seller was a VW executive living in Animas (the Beverly Hills of Xalapa). He gets a new car to drive every year with an opportunity to return it or sell it and make a few pesos. We looked at the car in his garage. He was also one that agreed to possible negotiations on the price – but when we were getting down to it – his only willingness to deal was that of discounting the cost of tax and license. This amounted to 2000 pesos ($160.00 US). The Jetta was like new. We agreed to buy it.
The three of us drove to Liverpool Mall where we withdrew 5000 pesos for a deposit. We did not arrive there with any large sums of money – another safety caution. Our seller is an account executive for Volkswagen. He had a prepared deposit statement; just fill in the amounts.
It took us about 5 days to get the money in cash with many visits to ATM machines. Getting more than 100,000 pesos together is no small task; a story perhaps for another time. Just counting all those bills is no small project
We took a bus to Xalapa and then a cab to Animas and the seller’s casa. He counted the bills in accountant fashion; writing down the bill count of each denomination and then using an adding machine. He had all the paperwork together. The three of us drove over to the Animas Mall where there is a motor vehicle Hacienda.
The seller had already been to the office to ascertain what was needed. We brought an FM3, proof of residency and passport. We were never asked to produce a driver’s license or proof of insurance – different that. More copies were needed – right across the hall a copy place.
One person went with us to inspect the car – checking for numbers including a stamped in metal number under the back seats. They actually take a piece of paper and with a pencil lead sideways they trace copy the numbers using that as the proof. They are very critical about this.
We got the plates and the then previous owner mounted them for us. We drove him the few blocks home and away we went with our new car.
We are currently in Capitan, New Mexico with our new used Jetta – it was a smooth 1500 mile drive from Xico to Texas to New Mexico. If you see a dark red 2008 Jetta with Veracruz License plates from here to Las Vegas and back to Brownsville you’ll know it is me. The experience was good and the deal looks good even compared with the U.S. ‘Cash for clunkers’ rebate. We are happy. You can be too using the aforementioned cautions. Stay Tuned!
In the news this morning: OJ’s going down, court house step sales, higher unemployment, bailouts and political fallout and plenty of cop outs. The world seems to be in such a mess right now.
It is difficult for me to understand how things that seem to have taken quite a while to get to this point can have such a sudden downfall; almost universal and all falling down at the same time. I guess that is why they call it a crash.
A friend reports that he doesn’t want to look at the stock market – it is too depressing and such a rollercoaster ride right now. Most are hoping that at the end of the rollercoaster ride we will all be returned to a state of rest; hair blown and pulses beating wildly, but back to whence we started – not likely to go down that way this time.
Being back in Mexico helps as we currently aren’t getting channels and channels of radio and television reports of impending doom; I know they are out there in waves all around us. In Mexico we are blinded by the glare of the shiny blade just about our necks – blinded by a certain peace and tranquility.
Our previously living food is said to be better tasting when it hasn’t been traumatized before death. Avoiding a lot of this interim bad news is perhaps the same – a good thing. Do I really need to know from minute to minute about how bad things are? I think not. Turn off your radios and televisions. Hug your kids, hold your wife and enjoy the day.
Are you too in Mexico? U.S. dollars, should you have any, will go farther right now with the peso sagging against the ravaged dollar – there’s a bit of good news.
Our neighbors are already poor – they are geared up for disaster as they live the life style daily. They can still smile, hug their kids and go about their lives in a ‘business as usual’ fashion. The news they get about what is going on outside the Hood means little more than that of an evening television novella. I’m OK, you’re OK or we just don’t know any better. I have to go feed the Hood chicken’s that come to the safe haven of our yard – so they may remain calm…Think Peace and good thoughts and Stay Tuned!
Tropical? Shot from my office window this morning (ENLARGE HERE)
We have made a lot of treks down to our tropical paradise here in Xico. To date all of our trips down have been in our VERY LARGE Ford F350 truck. It is a full four door vehicle with a full length truck bed stuck behind – we are talking big and long. I have written about some of our encounters with small, narrow lane, quaint Mexican roadways – oh my gosh!
The good news to many is we can haul a lot of things – border control and Mexican Army allowances required – and thus far they have been generally cooperative.
But space allotment aside this does not come without problems. Relying on the kindness of expats towards one another to get needed stuff down here is part and parcel to the process of being here. On one occasion Bonnie and Charles hauled down our mail that our neighbor Manny was kind enough to send from Colorado to Louisiana. We had never met Bonnie and Charles up to that point – the kindness of strangers.
We have brought down some large items for others. We brought a mig-welder and a huge drill motor thing for our friends Harvey and Mati (well for Harvey . That gesture caused a Xico local Englishman to ask us to also bring him a welder on our next trip as well as some Volkswagen parts. We barely knew Andrew the Englishman but we did like him very much. At the same time fronting him more than $1000.00 and allotting a large amount of our large space was over the top in our minds.
I did offer to get the car parts as a compromise. But the list of parts did not come until just a couple days before our departure from the U.S. This when we agreed and asked for the list several months prior. In the end we didn’t get the parts and Andrew no longer speaks to us ;-(
Another trip we brought down a 22” computer monitor that was eventually to be driven down to a vacation spot 500 miles southwest of Xico. Our truck clutch decided to wear out. A combination of circumstances prevented us from completing that delivery (a long involved set of circumstances). A house of cards had been developed including our relying on another party scheduled to visit to bring us a clutch plate – they didn’t come and the monitor remained with us for nearly a year – undelivered. This put a strain on a good friendship.
People see that BIG truck of ours and just can’t imagine how we can’t bring this or that for them. I would probably think the same thing and yet we never seem to have enough room to haul our own STUFF. I mean all the trips we have made down here and we are still stuffing that white monster to its gills.
The good news is this time we brought nearly as much stuff for others than for ourselves. The difference being it was mostly things for the poorer Mexican Nationals in our neighborhood.
In our little town of Capitan, New Mexico there is a lovely little neighborhood thrift store that operates essentially to help fund a marvelous local library. We shop there a lot. The local people of a town of a mere 1700 people (about the size of our Ursulo Galvan Hood) all know by now we come and go to old Mexico. In casual conversation during many visits to the thrift shop to both give and purchase we described our lives here in Mexico to the lady that runs the thrift shop. We told stories about the wonderful people we live amongst here. The lady after hearing our reports about the good and impoverished people here at one point told us to pick out any clothing or whatever to take to the people in Mexico – a very kind gesture and sign of hands across borders. We did pick out some things that we thought would be appropriate and well received here.
While in Capitan our good friend and neighbor George connected us with Pasty Campbell who was in need of some Vista operating system computer assistance. What started out as an effort to help a friend with their support of a local person became a new friendship with Patsy and her husband Paul. Patsy operates an embroidery and t-shirt business. Here again we eventually told our stories about our lives here in the Hood and in Mexico generally. Patsy and Paul offered up a large load of brand new shirts and lightweight jackets. Later on they also gave us a BUNCH of silverware for the locals here.
This trip back we brought the laptop computer that Hollito our Blogging friend from Germany had sent to us in Las Vegas. Hollito some months ago decided he wanted to donate a computer to the Camacho family here in the Hood – hands across borders and oceans. We came bearing gifts . For some inexplicable reason I had packed the power supply separate from the laptop itself. We delivered the laptop with an explanation that soon I will find the power supply.
In a short time I brought the supply. There on the sofa was 13 year old master Estaban with the lifeless laptop computer on his lap. He already knew where the power would plug in and how the wireless card went into the box. I was impressed at his quick study and warmed by his enthusiasm. Right away I could see this kindness from a stranger in Germany was going to impact this Mexican boy’s life.
We are still delivering stuff as we slowly unpack the stuffed truck. I hope to capture some photos of the happy faced recipients. I am sure you can imagine how delighted some of these folks must be. It was amusing seeing a number of people running around in their new clothing on Sunday.
My friend Vicente proudly wore his “I have a Honky Tonk Attitude” t-shirt. Very colorful including a cowboy hat and boots I asked Vicente if he understood what the shirt said – “no”. Of course he knew it was something about cowboys – he liked that Actually I’m not sure what a Honky Tonk attitude is – but it did look good on him.
Being a delivery service has its ups and downs – but these few things we brought for our friends and neighbors made this the best trip so far. We experienced the warm hearts of the givers and the delighted people whose lives are so hard able to have a few things to brighten their lives - a get together of spirits by way of this small delivery. It is a good thing after all – Stay Tuned!
Writing about events in our area here in the States, I have to mention that this is the last day of the five day “Golden Aspen Motorcycle Rally.” We have been sharing our streets, restaurants and hotels with thousands of beautiful chrome, guttural, two and three wheeled motor monsters and their riders.
Here by the thousands these folks seem to be respectable, enjoying great weather and massive motorcycle camaraderie.
The cast of characters seems to have changed a lot over the years – almost as if motorcycling has grown old along with me. Every year I remark to Anita (so she reminds me) that it seems as if the riders are getting older and older. My theory is only older folks have enough dough anymore to afford the cost of these gleaming motor toys.
Back in the 60’s I well remember dating a blond bombshell whose bedroom was adorned with a huge poster of Brando astride a Triumph motorcycle looking like a young wild one. Even if you aren’t as old as me perhaps you have seen the 1953 classic film “The Wild One.”
Thinking back that Triumph was only 650 cc’s, small by today’s standards. Now the burly machines almost all sport 1000 cc plus throbbing motors. I rolled out my classic 1000 cc 1994 BMW R100GS and cruised up and down Smokey Bear Boulevard. Realizing I didn’t have a legal license plate on the “Bumble Bee” I made the ride short – but it was sweet getting some wind in my face.
Returning home I pulled right in the garage where the classic German ride will remain at rest until we next visit New Mexico.
I am watching riders zoom down Stanton Street returning glances to the Ryder Cup match finals on television in our little one bedroom rental house.
Tonight I am scheduled to go to my friend Paul’s to watch Green Bay and Dallas play football – did I write I am no longer a football fan – well… Stay Tuned!
One of the things I really like about Mexico and New Mexico is the North American Indian history that is all around.
From a small child I always seemed to be rooting for the Indians. I thought Tonto was a more important element than the Lone Ranger. As I got older and learned about such things as ethnic cleansing and prejudice my heart went out to the North American Indians who seemed to have gotten a bad deal when their homeland territories were commandeered by Europeans that landed on North American soil.
As an early nomadic people I admired their ways of life. Realizing full well there were good and bad Indians just as there are in every race and society. Now days in Mexico we live amongst Mexican Indians and share our lives with the Apaches here in south central New Mexico.
My amigo Jake Wolfhart has a shop full of turquoise, silver, leather, feathers and beads; much of which has been made by Navajo and Apaches living in the Southwest. Next door to Wolfhart’s Trading Company is OSO Art (Oso is bear in Spanish by the way). Before we leave I plan on doing a photo shoot to tell you the story of that terrific shop. Suffice it to say Oso Art continues the Indian art theme.
Since being back here in New Mexico this trip Jake and I did some trading. I wanted to get some of our larger items off inventory – like a large water storage container that was taking up a lot of real estate on our long trailer. Jake got the new tank and I got a beautiful turquoise bracelet – good trade. Jake who has a generous streak as long as a brave’s braids has also given Anita a beautiful turquoise stringed eye glass holder, me a beautiful turquoise and amber necklace and he gave us leather bracelets. I also received a dandy cowboy hat from Jake as a regalo – all this while we are scaling back.
Suffice it to say the style, colors and aesthetic nature of Indian art and artifacts appeal to me. This extends to the Mexican architecture with its earthen qualities and array of colors.
Living in Apache Indian Country we are close to The Inn of the Mountain God’s Casino and Hotel (and golf course). We are treated to harvest celebrations and Powwows. Jake had a stack of flyers promoting the 2008 Rio Grande Pow Wow. We will be spending time with our Mexican Indian neighbors in Ursulo Galvan missing the Pow Wow. But it feels good to know it is happening in our area.
I don’t blame the U.S. today for the abuses to the North American Indians that occurred more than 100 years ago – not a lot anyway. But we feel lucky to live amongst them. I should report to Babs, Steve and ya’ll we are just days away from heading home after staying many weeks longer than anticipated NOB. Stay Tune for the trip.
