It’s not all bad here in the United States. I have already raved about the Thrift store bounty ad nauseum. But a few good things to report and some not so good – read on:

I was trouble shooting some problems at a neighbors business. I am the Vista “expert” round these parts (1500 total souls). I made a call to the local Internet server – come to find out my neighbor whose connection I am stealing (with permission) via a strong WIFI signal could get 3 megabit plus connection speed for the same cost as he has been paying for 256k connection – boy were we excited as I have been guilty of overloading his system on several occasions or generally stepping over the bounds of my welcome ;-( via excessive bandwidth demands.

Now I reported to him an opportunity to increase speed by a magnitude or more for a paltry sum.  Today we are running at 3.5 mega bit connection speed. Faster than I have ever operated on the Internet – it is fun! He came over a little while ago glowing about his speed – you gotta love that.

Then the other day I bought some beautiful midsized (about 6 to a kilo) avocados for 25 cents each or $1.50 a kilo. This is less than we were paying for avocados when we left Mexico (paying about 18 pesos a kilo). What it is coming down to financially speaking is four major things are less in Mexico right now – Medical and dental, property taxes, skilled labor and inexpensive fuel. Of course those four categories can amount to a lot of one’s annual expenses. Some food is lower, some not. If you need to buy something major like an appliance or electronic device – you will save in the United States.

Someone commented late (in other words on an older Blog entry this:

“Comment:

Re: “the dogs bark incessantly, people play music at all hours of the day and night and they throw trash and pollute the beautiful river that flows at the south end of our lot with impunity.

You have far more patience than I.  You’ve just described every reason I would studiously avoid the place. And the people may be “nice,” but that just isn’t enough. And I’ve lived in Mexico half my life. The degree of pathological self-centeredness, lack of civic spirit, inconsiderateness, and just plain ignorance is something I have never gotten entirely used to. The music in particular is awful, just awful. Banda takes the cake, right down there with rap and other noise.”

I love Mexico, but it is a qualified love that is easier to see from the side of the pool sort of speak. It isn’t for everyone. The people that ‘make it’ in Mexico are a resilient and eclectic folk. Crossing the borders to take advantage of the pluses and avoid some minuses is perhaps the ideal situation – perhaps.

Maybe I have been too long at the faire (In the U.S.). But I think Michael Dickson and  Eddie Willers eloquently present the pluses and minuses of Mexico living (I love those guys); speaking of which you HAVE to read Eddie’s account of a failed attempt at crossing the Mexico/U.S. border by an Englishman living in Mexico. It is a well written diary of a failed border crossing.

http://www.eddiesayshola.blogspot.com/

In the mean time we are still here in New Mexico hanging with my good friend Jake the Leatherman and contemplating our next move – So Stay Tuned – it only gets better!

A survey found that 89% of American adults believe sending text messages while driving is dangerous and should be outlawed. Is it just me or do you all wonder what the other 11% are thinking? The California Senate passed a law against texting while driving. Do they really need a law for this?

There has been a lot of talk on the Forum about some new laws on the Federal books – As I understand it, at the border without the slightest probable cause the U.S. authorities can seize your computer and hold it until such time they have determined you do not have child pornography, terrorist plans, or whatever on your laptop.

More recently it has come out that the federal government has been using its system of border checkpoints to greatly expand a database on travelers entering the country by collecting information on all U.S. citizens crossing by land, compiling data that will be stored for 15 years and may be used in criminal and intelligence investigations. Apparently they already had been doing this for air travelers.

“People expect to be checked when they enter the country and for the government to determine if they’re admissible or not,” said Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy & Technology. “What they don’t expect is for the government to keep a record for 15 years of their comings into the country.”

A  Federal Register notice states that information may be shared with federal, state and local governments to test “new technology and systems designed to enhance border security or identify other violations of law.” And the Homeland Security Act establishing the department calls for the development of data-mining tools to further the department’s objectives.

Bonnie L. Rutledge, Vermont’s commissioner of motor vehicles said the following, “A person opts to go over the border, their information is going to be collected and held anyway,” she said. “If you don’t want to go over the border, you don’t have to” There’s some Gestapo logic.

It should be said that I have nothing to hide. But, this bothers me a lot. The other day in the Capitan Library I read an article in New Yorker magazine about an Arab family that was detained in jails and prisons for more than three months with no explanation and then released suddenly – again with no explanation. How can this happen in a ‘free’ country? Did the U.S. learn nothing from the Japanese Encampments from World War II?

Is the United States gathering too much data? The potential of misuse or inept interpretation of said data is starting to infringe on the freedom the U.S. holds as a symbol of their empire.

The home of Berwyn Heights, Maryland Mayor Cheye Calvo and his wife, was raided July 29 by a SWAT team and county narcotics officers after authorities intercepted the FedEx package. Officers shot and killed the family’s two Labrador retrievers during the raid. Calvo called his town “Mayberry inside the Capital Beltway,” It seems like perhaps Berwyn Heights’ equivalent to Sheriff Taylor needs to disallow all those Barney Fife’s ammunition for their weapons. Andy wouldn’t allow Barney to chamber bullets if you recall.

Later two men were arrested. One was a FedEx deliveryman. Apparently the deliveryman would drop off a package outside a home, and the other man would come by a short time later and pick it up.

You have to wonder how the police couldn’t have determined that this was the Mayor and his family dogs BEFORE they stormed the house. “Our dogs were our children,” said Calvo.”

Is the United States becoming a collector of too much data? Are our privacy and individual rights going down the tubes in the name of Homeland Security?

These information gatherers claim individual rights overlook a lot of social reality. Insurance companies with the assistance of state motor vehicle department computer data can dun the populace for millions of dollars for unneeded insurance policies to protect the people from uninsured drivers – which by the way is a premium on my insurance.

All the computers are talking to each other sharing information while people are not. They avoid others while engrossed with their cell phone screens, iPods and Blackberries.

It surely can be said that I prize my individual liberty, and that I lean towards a riskier reality in the name of privacy and individual freedoms, but even the citizen more compliant and willing to sacrifice privacy should be concerned about the loss of freedom. Freedom is becoming a luxury that belongs to the powerful at the expense of “the unempowered”. Stay Tuned!

Cooperation seemed to be the key to getting behind the stern veil of the woman behind the counter. Simple kindness and humbleness would not be enough. She had to be met on her own turf with determination and an underlying cooperativeness. We were about out of options having been turned away by phone from Colorado and our choice to not pursue getting ‘legal’ in Nevada was forced by rigid insurance rules and high costs.

Each document we presented to her was not valid based on one small town condition. In a town of 1500 persons the infrastructure is both personal and limited. People know people; the faces around town are all familiar. There isn’t money for electronic water meter readers or house to house mail delivery.

Three people read the water meters each month. They tried Palm PDA’s to enter the water meter data, but after a few failed recordings where the personnel had to retrace the reading route they went back to paper. The U.S. Post Office deemed the community too small to afford postal delivery. By law they supply P.O. boxes. That detail had become our problem.

Apparently the ONLY document that displays an actual physical address rather than a P.O. Box number is utility bills and television service bills; we had neither. Our tax bills and bank information only showed the P.O. Box number – no physical address.

The clerk shook her head from side to side. “You are bohemians. There is no solution for you.” Talk about feeling helpless, hopeless -  unempowered. It seemed that we had reached an impasse.

To me logically the house could be tied to the P.O. Box – it was. I pointed out this detail but to the clerk this was not acceptable in as much as it was not described in the list of acceptable documents specifically.

The woman meant no harm. She didn’t even see me. I thought for a moment and firmly retorted, “You are shaking your head assuming there is no way to make this happen. Surely we can find a solution.”

After some tenuous moments the clerk came out from her shell with no clear explanation, but we gladly accepted the turn-a-round.   She said to go see Scottie at the bank across the street and tell her Dorothy needs our bank statement with the physical address, “She’ll know what I need.”

Emcouraged we did this and returned to the City Hall office. Now it was five minutes to three – closing time. I thought after all this the clerk would take the time to finish this – but no. “We are closed.” This was the second day attempting to complete this transfer of title from Colorado to New Mexico and to get a legal registration and license plate. The DMV would be open tomorrow Wednesday – the last day of their work week. The thought of having to wait five more days was disheartening.

We showed up early Wednesday morning with the statement from the bank and the rest of the necessary documents. My new friend Dorothy and I talked about Mexico. She told me about a trip she made in the early 70’s to Guadalajara as she completed the necessary paperwork and handed me a shiny new New Mexico license plate – success. While our luck was holding I thanked her and said I was going the two blocks home to bring back my trailer to get it registered too. Dorothy jokingly said, “Don’t push your luck.” This was exactly what I was doing. We got a shiny new plate, title and registration for it as well.

The point of this long winded story is for all of us to realize that while the details may be strictly written, success or failure is still a personal matter. If the clerk or official behind the desk or counter wants to make things work, or not, they have the power; a successful encounter in situations like this require almost physiological skills.

There can be more to it than simply being patient, polite and humble. We can argue the correctness of all this but the fact remains you need to yes be patient and polite, and work with the people on the other side of the desk or counter. Listen more than you talk. Look for ways to encourage officials to want to help you and make your ultimate goal possible. I think that is the key – encourage not only a willingness to help, but a desire to partner in making the process happen.

Multiculturalism and cultural criticism in a troubled world is certainly a challenge, but the red tape you encounter even in your home town can be challenging.

It seems like the red tape continues to grow as the world becomes more dangerous and populated. We adventurers that want to traverse borders and live life a bit, or more, larger than the norm will continue to need to develop advanced people skills. Stay Tuned!

Continuing with our quest for legal license plates…If you have been reading along, car insurance and registration has become quite problematic since 911; lapses in insurance can get you a ticket in some states (Nevada as example). You may find your registration is not valid unless you have continuous insurance etc.

Of course the insurance companies have seized the opportunity to bludgeon people with regulations that make it near impossible to only insure when we expats are in the country – grrrr.

We opened a number of bank accounts in Las Vegas where there are a lot of banks and we have an address available. Additionally establishing residency in Nevada alleviates state income tax filing. But when it comes to car registration and insurance in Nevada – ouch! It is expensive and insurance is mandatory without pause.

Again, if you are reading along you know we have a small casita in Capitan, New Mexico where most of our state-side possessions are located. We decided we needed to expand upon our paper trail here in New Mexico in as much as it is an easier state to register cars, or so we suspicioned.

Obviously we have some advantage being able to pick a state or three to establish location (residency) for these processes. I assume most expatriates either retain a residence in this country or use their children or other family members for some of these details.

There are also mailstops and commercial outfits that help along the way for a price. Our mission (since we accepted it) is to establish processes that are the most ‘workable’ for the least amount of money – makes sense – no?

Now there will be those of you that stick to the letter of the law that might question our moves or it isn’t even a question that we operate outside of the norm or even the law. State law or rather multiple states laws add to the confusion and the difficulty to be law abiding.

All that disclaimed I continue to describe our process as a point of information with the ongoing caveat – don’t try this at home.

We do own a house, now for some ten years plus, here in New Mexico as well as having interest in a house in Las Vegas. We no longer own property in Colorado other than to hold a note on some property. All of our legally registered vehicles and some expired are registered in Colorado. We had hoped we could just renew our vehicles with Colorado by mail – this became a problem and had no future attached so we looked to Nevada or New Mexico. Again, Nevada was complicated and expensive, and nearly impossible to be in compliance in our situation.

Monday we started attacking the possibility to register one car here in New Mexico to see how the waters might be. Capitan, population 1600, actually has a Monday through Wednesday motor vehicle department where you might find the clerk there during those days or she might be on vacation, or at the bank or closed for lunch; rather a Mexican flavor to their operation

I should say here that living mostly in Mexico for the last few years has girded my loins for this type of casual operation – we took it in stride when on Monday the motor vehicle department was closed because the clerk was on a day’s vacation. The following day our first encounter with the clerk was a bit strained as we were attempting to do something outside the normal process.

The clerk explained that two pieces of ID showing our local address were required to establish that we live here in order to register our vehicles here – essentially this has to be home. When we presented the anomaly of multiple homes in differing states things started to go downhill rapidly. Oh and we mentioned we have a house (or two) in Mexico as well – oooops!

Like Mexico they wanted utility bills in our name at the address of the house to verify residency, or perhaps something showing we had a child in the school system, a voter’s registration or a bill from a cable television service – more oooops.

We bought our 1100 sq.’ house with two garages sitting on four city lots in the middle of the city of Capitan ten years ago. It was purchased for its investment potential and immediate storage capability. This while we were building a house on some acreage ten miles away. It has remained a storage depot for lo these ten years – an investment well maybe one day? We discussed my feelings that a house is a home not an investment so there you go on that.

The house itself is a marvelous real adobe casa with 12 inch thick walls. It is restorable in our minds, but certainly not livable with no water or electric capability as well as it being much in need of repairs. But, again our need at the time was the couple thousand square feet of storage – I have already mentioned numerous times my buying habits – Anita is not totally innocent here but let’s not even go there – we just have a lot of stuff.

So that is a long winded explanation as to why we were at the counter at the little motor vehicle department without all our ducks in a row. I do pretty well thinking on my feet. I suggested that while I agree that we are an unusual situation surely there is a way to confirm we have a home here in town (for the last ten years), we have a mail box (PO box – no local delivery) and as of the day before a local bank account.

The clerk just shook her head, “I have guide lines I have to follow. Since 911 – 2001 – things have gotten very complicated, and it gets worse every day.”  I asked her to tell us exactly what would suffice as residency. She read the law describing documents that might suffice. We have title to our house which has our names on it. She agreed this would work along with our property tax statement. We would walk back home (2 blocks) and get the deed.

Come back tomorrow for the rest of this story – it gets still more complicated. Stay Tuned!

One of the things I really like about Capitan, New Mexico is the community spirit. It is much like Ursulo Galvan, Xico, Veracruz, Mexico where we also live.

In America community is hard to come by any more. We had a rousing meeting last night. The main issue centered around  a 120 foot cell phone tower that is already under construction in a residential section on the west end of town. Apparently it is in the more affluent area of town.

We live right in the middle of town just mere yards from Smokey the Bear’s Museum and burial site. There are approximately 1500 plus people here as there are in Ursulo Galvan.

The meeting was interesting. A City Hall meeting room was filled to capacity and then some. It was a unanimous group opposed to the 120 foot tower which had been tacitly approved by the City of Capitan Mayor and Trustees. Many issues were brought up in a lively discussion between a representative of the cell tower company and the village people.

The cell tower company is willing to cease the project if they are reimbursed some $35,000 already spent on construction – ouch. No telling where this is going to end up?

The bottom line as I see it is approval was given without giving proper notice to the people living contiguous to the little plot of land as well as little notice to the community at large. All still I think at the end of the day that tower will be completed where it sits and the town’s people and local government both will have learned some lessons with that tower standing tall as a constant reminder.

Capitan has a GREAT library for such a small community (an indication of community spirit). There was a recent $220,000.00 upgrade in the building as well as shelves etc. We, as most of the community, contributed to make this happen – a good thing where our contribution pays back many fold.

Even though we are scaling down (what a joke that statement is getting to be) we bought ten or so books from their 25 cent sale table. One book I thought I would bring to your attention. I have many copies of this book – but NEVER could pass up getting a fine copy for a quarter. I checked on Ebay and they still sell for ten dollars and up with shipping – a place I have bought a number of copies.

I buy copies to give away like Gideon Bibles. “The Good Life” by Helen and Scott Nearing which touts “…Sixty Years of Self-Sufficient Living” is a book I have read over and over.

On the back of the copy I scored from the library, “A prophetic account of the creation of a self-sufficient little Walden…that has been an underground bible for the city-weary.” Newsweek. An apt description that can coda into a push to becoming a Mexico expatriate habitant. A good read indeed. Stay Tuned!

A couple of years ago I posted this Blog entry. My storage space got huge from over 500,000 words and photos so I dumped a couple years of my Blog entries.I have a lot of new readers. So I am reposting this shortened version with a simple link to some of the photos.

_______________________________________________________________________
Yesterday (January 2006), six of us loaded up in Miguel & Veronica’s big Dodge van and took a two hour scenic drive through mountain passes and many small Mexican communities (Municipalities in Mexican terms). Our destination was Huatusco a coffee-growing region some distance directly south of Xalapa and Xico, our home base here in Mexico. Like most of our area between 1989 and 1994, Huatusco suffered a serious economic depression due to low coffee prices on the International Market. The economic base of the entire area, even those municipalities that are not suited to growing coffee, revolves around coffee production.

Our mission was to visit Bambuver located at Rancho Xocotla. This is a bamboo research and commercial center where many varieties of bamboo are grown, studied, processed and sold.

Miguel & Veronica have a large stand of some thick bamboo on one of their properties. You probably read a couple blog entries back where just days ago Anita and I visited a nearby bamboo town where we purchased a bamboo shelf system and began developing more of an interest in bamboo material.

Veronica, knowing we have deep environmental roots, asked us if we were interested in learning about some environmental paneling systems made of bamboo; of course we said yes. A few weeks prior, Veronica had been to Huatusco on a field trip with a group from a Congress (convention) for Bambu (Bamboo) she attended. I have been doing my homework on the subject of bamboo since the invitation.

Huatusco is a town with a population about the size of Coatepec – 35,000 people. From our short visit my impression was that it is a more prosperous area than Coatepec. It is the commercial hub for eight surrounding municipalities. The community is composed of a small group of large landowners and merchants and a much larger group of small farmers, peasants, wage laborers and unemployed. There are also several indigenous populations represented in the area. I saw lots of folks with cell phones and some high end vehicles. Huatusco has one of Mexico’s leading worker-owned coffee cooperatives with about 2,000 active members who farm the densely forested mountains that are part of the Eastern Sierra Madre mountain range.

Huatusco actively promotes the use of environmentally sustainable agricultural practices. Here coffee and bamboo are produced near the Pico de Orizaba National Reserve, a 47,780 acre protected refuge that is home to Mexico’s highest peak, an isolated volcanic cone reaching 18,793 feet above sea level. You may have seen photos of Orizaba I have taken from the Campo. Huatusco’s shade coffee fields and bamboo stands provide a buffer as well as a crucial habitat for animal species found in adjacent forests. Like most of our area Huatusco is part of the very important bio-diverse forests. While coffee is chief, bamboo has been shooting up with its development at Rancho Xocotla.

I had always thought of bamboo as the yellowish ½ inch or so, hollow pipe, pulpy wood that was mostly used for cheap lawn furniture and fishing rods. Believe me when I tell you it is a far broader topic.
I took 138 photos yesterday – I have provided a  link to a folder of photos (not all 138   LINK TO FOLDER >>>>>

Entire Huatusco Folder

In town we asked several times for directions to the bamboo ranch. Upon arrival at Rancho Xocotla on the edge of town the scene is initially rather unimposing. As we unloaded we immediately noticed a rather foul smell that turned out to be decomposing coffee pulp (pulpa in Spanish). There was a large area of low covered mounds of pulpa that was assumed to be compost for bamboo plant fertilizer – later I was to find out that they also develop and sell Abono Organico (organic fertilizer) replete with earthworms. There is a sign in front of some of the mounds that reads. “Lomricomposta” or earthworm compost. I noticed on their web site that this is sold for $1.20 MX or about 12 cents for 2.2 pounds.

A small group of workers were watering and attending to young bamboo plants. We gravitated to a building that had some bamboo trim. This turned out to be an experimental building that was built with different methods of bamboo construction. Inside it had photos, truth windows and some bamboo products. It was obvious this was used as a meeting point where tours and guide information would be provided.

I checked my GPS to find that the altitude was 4100 feet and the electronic map showed it was directly south of Xico. I have read that 4000-5000 feet with a lot of rainfall is ideal for growing bamboo. Our semi-tropical region certainly meets these criteria.

We had to phone for the administrator to come and meet us. All this was happening in Spanish. Miguel is a German national that speaks fluent Spanish and of course German, very little English). Veronica is a native of Ursulo Galvan and speaks some German, less English and of course Spanish. So I was not privy to much of what was going on at this point. Eventually the administrator showed up and began a guided tour that was informational and awe inspiring at the same time.

We learned that the bamboo like to grow in groups, clumps or groves if you will. Sons do not survive without mothers and the plants fraternize closely with one another.

It can be written that standing in groves of massive bamboo stands is a sensual experience. The beauty and power of this rapid growing material has to be seen – words cannot describe it. I won’t go into the scientific detail or the growing process with the limited time and experience I have had, but rather share that this visit made a powerful impression on me. The Ranch brochure reads “Simpre Verde” translation is Forever Green; this indeed is a two word description of the scenery. I will never feel the same about bamboo and I will continue to expand my new found interest in this special plant.

After the enlightening, comprehensive guided tour through the many groves of different bamboo species, we drove to a nearby processing area where we again were given a guided tour of how the bamboo is processed, dried, treated, cut, culled, categorized and then stored for sale. There was an opening in the cement floor for display of using bamboo in a manner of that of rebar to re-enforce cement. There were panels in various stages of construction to demonstrate how bamboo can be used in wall construction, as trusses, as post and beams and more.

With the addition of 100 bamboo plants as passengers, we drove into the center of Huatusco where the famished group ate at an economica cocina within the Mercado (basically an inexpensive kitchen with a counter). The chief cook and bottle washers were all VERY nice. A very good black bean, rice and mole plate with an endless supply of handmade tortillas were ingested by your cyber host, La Senora and mi hijo (our son). Miguel, Veronica and sister Elle had other dishes to all our complete satisfaction. Food and drinks (including cervezas for Miguel and me) for six and tip came to $22 US.

Back on the road and headed out of town we stopped at Los Cocuyos Hotel & Golf Club Resort where we continued our fact finding tour. Here we were cordially shown rooms that varied in nightly cost from $82 US to $283 US. This was in part to see what was offered as Miguel and Veronica are building a luxury hotel situated on the main highway between Xico and Coatepec. And the Resort prominently displayed bamboo decorations and features including an entire entertainment pavilion built with bamboo – very elegant and impressive; situated in the middle of the golf course; no, nothing like this in Coatepec, our nearby comparison city.

We loaded up and headed back stopping in Xalapa for a few items from Home Depot and finally Sam’s Club before arriving back in Ursulo Galvan at 9:30 PM – whew! An interesting and fine time was had by all. Stay Tuned!

Our Carrier Car in Capitan, New Mexico

I noticed the weather in Xico is virtually the same as here in Capitan today – High 78 low 58. It must be a beautiful morning back home because it certainly is here.

We are still adjusting to the time change –even though it is but an hour later than Las Vegas. We are sleeping in our garage and showering and doing kitchen duties across the street where we are renting the little one bedroom guest house of our friends.

Across the alley are our friends George and Pearl. They usually sit out and have their coffee in their front yard.

Our Neighbors George & Pearl Enjoy the Morning

Capitan is a small community not much bigger population wise than our Colonia Ursulo Galvan in Xico. There are more infrastructures with a library, fire department and municipal offices. But all still it has a small close feel where people know and care about their neighbors.

Lots of people ask us when we returned and how we are. Tuesday there will be a community meeting to discuss a cell phone tower that is going to land in the center of the residential section – there are parts of technology that I hate – those towers for cell phones are one of them. In point of fact I dislike everything about cell phones and wish they didn’t exist.

I can’t have a conversation with a person possessing a cell phone where their eyes are not often averted to the little screen on their phone. For some it must be a diversion from having to look people in the eye. When went on vacation with a couple a while back – names with held to protect the guilty – the woman peered into the tiny screen of her constant companion nearly continuously as if she were waiting some important news – a report on a family members health, the drawing for a lottery or some breaking world news. You have to wonder what these people did with their hands before cell phones – smoke cigarettes I suppose.

I take particular exception to having to wait behind people at stop lights and signs while they get connected or answer some important call in traffic. It bothers me when I come up on a car going 45 drifting into lanes – the driver deeply involved in conversation let the attention to driving hang.

In grocery stores I hear people talking to themselves in the isles – actually into their cell phones. They certainly have put new meaning to multi- tasking. I wonder if these fone fanatics have time to appreciate a morning like this – hmmm. I will remain one of those, “You don’t have a cell phone!” people and instead smell the roses.

More mundane things – mowing the lawn, unpacking, packing and in between checking on the Olympics. Hope your day is starting out as lovely as ours. Stay Tuned!

We left Las Vegas Friday morning loaded down to the axles with STUFF.

Our Thule carrier was stuffed with clothes and sleeping bags we had vacuumed down skinny. When we got to Boulder Damn (or is it Hoover I can’t keep up), the military pulled us over and made us open that tightly packed carrier.

This did not put me in a good mood. I grudgingly got out of the car and started unlocking the container – the officer asked me what my problem was? I explained that this container was tightly packed and would be difficult to reseal.

The military officer snapped at me that he wanted that thing open and further asked what my problem was. I explained again that I wasn’t happy about unpacking.

The by the book soldier said, “I don’t like your attitude! If you don’t want to open it we can handle this another way.”

I wondered what would that be bamboo shoots under the finger nails, maybe a little wash boarding action? Perhaps they would simply blow up the container as a potential bomb threat?

I explained, “Look I didn’t say a word to you. I am doing as you requested. So what is your problem?”

We went back and forth like this for a couple more ugly exchanges. He made me take a couple things out of the container and then said, “Close it up,”

I’m sorry – whatever the U.S.’s problem is with security their needed Gestapo tactics can be done with a little politeness – like I am sorry to inconvenience you but…. But no this guy was a hard…anyway.

Other than that bobble the trip went without a hitch in spite of the huge payload. We had time to set up before it got dark. After we went over to a local restaurant and had drinks and French fries. Went to bed early and got up late.

Today we connected up with friends. I hung out with Jake the Leatherman. Then Anita and I started tackling mowing the lawn – ugh – We are talking knee deep grass. My buddy George loaned us his lawn mower – an auto push type that is a workhorse. We will finish it tomorrow.

So we start the third leg of our five leg trip to America – in a few days we will head up to Colorado for one last load of stuff. Aside from being a bit slow – things are going as planned for the most part. We think we have most of our banking issues in order for another year We certainly have a lot of new goodies to go with some old to haul to Mexico in September.

Life is an ongoing adventure – if it wasn’t – well I wouldn’t have anything to do with it. Stay Tuned!

Our Little Casa Above Xico is a Home not an Investment!

So far Mexico wants to believe its real estate market isn’t tanking like much of the U.S. market. It is more difficult to ascertain the actual status of the Mexican market primarily because Mexican real estate is far less organized and pricing often has little to do with reality; not that the U.S. market was a lot in touch with reality in the last few years.

Here in Las Vegas each new polished ‘Real Estate for Sale Guide’ blatantly exposes the falling prices and huge bank owned inventories. As I write this I would guess the market has reversed value levels to four plus years ago – and dropping. And regardless of what the real estate agents spin the bottom has not been reached yet. It is a blood bath here.

Just this morning, as almost everyone these days, the Today Show had a segment on the falling real estate market; this time explaining the changes in attitude and terms of the banks. Now they are requiring 20% down payments (the magic number when I first started by buying houses in the sixties). You aren’t going to see home equity loans for a long time to come and we are advised to not think of our homes as piggy banks any longer. Depreciation is a consideration – as it should be. The party is over.

We consider ourselves lucky to have sold our house last September. We had a waiting list of buyers – a different time. But then I priced our house at replacement value less depreciation – while the real estate agents were encouraging us to sell for $50,000 more than we asked. I balked at the idea feeling it was not realistic and unfair –chalk one up for me.

As far as I can tell math is not the typical Mexican’s strong suit. I have mentioned several times that few homes are financed – but that has been changing. Lucky for Mexico their late attendance to the financing party might have saved them from some of the mess the U.S. is facing with many, many upside down home loans.

Most of the real estate gobbled up by gringos was bought on the basis of comparable property in the U.S. If you could buy a beach front property for $200,000 in Mexico that would have cost $2,000,000 in the US – it was a good deal – period. Some areas of Mexico have followed the U.S. home feeding frenzy; places like San Miguel, Ajjic and along the Baja. Those gringo invaded, irrational price escalation locations, will surely feel some of the pain the U.S. is experiencing. But most in those locations bought in ‘right’ and will only perhaps lose a percentage of what they had in their head as home value.

I could write a lot about how “I told you so.” But to what avail other than a pat on my back from mi esposa. People are going to have to go back to thinking their house is a home and not a financial instrument. The fall from grace of real estate is probably a good thing in the long run – but it sure is ugly here in Las Vegas right now. Gordon Gecko was wrong when he said, “Greed is good.” Stay Tuned!

We have been away from our home in Mexico for 9 1/2 weeks. I stay connected via many Blogs I read as well as the chatter on Viva Veracruz Forum.

Since life goes on even when you have a plan we have made adjustments to what we loosely call a schedule. I reported a few days ago my laptop broke – we are waiting for its return spending more time in Las Vegas than originally planned.

We have bought more stuff than we planned- we actually spent time considering buying a house in the oppressed market – coming to our senses on that one (we don’t really need to own another house) – we started looking at cars; coming to our senses on that eventually as well.

I wrote about the disease of consumerism which brings me to what I am missing from home by now. I miss Bueno Juju our little parakeet. I traded up from my 22” monitor to a Samsung 24” over the weekend (more consumerism). Testing its quality I viewed a bunch of pictures I had taken at home. There was Juju bird, lots of beautiful smiling children with brown faces and white teeth. We viewed some shots of our two little casa’s and of course Mount Orizba which stands tall over our Rancho del Cielo casa. I got homesick.

We paid 21 bucks to get into see the film “Swing Vote” Saturday. This was a moderately entertaining picture that brings to bear the mostly absurd election process (in this case even more over the top than reality). I left thinking I have got to get back to Mexico where U.S. elections are a blip on the reality radar screen.

Is it just me or are you too confused about a depressed economy where a couple of fluff magazines can pony up 14 million dollars to take baby pictures of Brad and Angelina’s twins? This essentially has to mean that they sell enough magazines, gossip rags, to afford to spend 14 million dollars on baby pictures – what is wrong with this picture(s)? Stay Tuned!