Getting grounded is an important part of safely operating first world electronic equipment in a developing nation. What does this mean to you and me here in Mexico? It is safe to say it means more to me than most in as much as I have an electrical/electronic background; but that said it should be important to all.

The reasons for grounding one’s home electrical supply are important to understand. Grounding an electrical system provides certain levels of safety to humans and property.

What it also means is as a renter I am probably your worst nightmare – if you happen to be a potential landlord of mine.

I am out to protect my electrical/electronic equipment, but more importantly the safety of my wife, other family and friends – for that matter anyone that might cross the threshold of my abode.

When I tell you that having proper grounds is a matter of life and death – believe it.

A long time ago the U.S. entered modern electrical times, the “Age of the Electric Outlet with the Little Red Button Which Pops Out!” or GFI ground fault interrupt. A GFI receptacle is almost unheard of in our part of Mexico. I have accepted the risk and that fact; however the totally groundless household electric is still riskier to everything electronic, life and limb.

There is a vast amount of technical data to support the grounds of my claim.

You may be elated with your Mexican rental or casa purchase while overlooking the lack of grounded circuits (represented by three prong ac receptacles) figuring you can just buy a couple handfuls of ‘ground lifters’ that will enable you to plug your three prong plug devices into a two prong source.

A typical Mexican solution is to install three prong sockets without actually connecting the third post to ground – essentially providing false confidence.

A Mexican electrician might argue casa electrical current is alternating – thereby not requiring a plus and minus. So what are we talking about here: In theory in an Alternating Current system there is no “plus” and “minus,” so the two wires should be interchangeable. However, the real world is a bit more complex than the theory. Other issues crop up and cause trouble.

Sometimes a household appliance or electronic equipment will fail for no apparent reason. And sometimes when you reached for a light switch, a long spark would leap out to your hand and shock you senseless! What the heck?! It takes a huge DC voltage to make a long spark. Why are high DC voltages appearing on your AC power lines?

The sparks occur because of a little-known fact: all the world is a gigantic electrostatic generator. There is a down flow of charge going on everywhere on earth. Thunderstorms pump charges that filter upwards everywhere else on earth. Depending on the height of your circuitry above the earth’s surface, depending on the area covered by your wires, and depending on whether there was a thunderstorm above you at the time, there might be a fairly huge DC charge on your electrical distribution system.

This charge might be several hundred volts; enough to zap computers and delicate electronics. Or… it might be many tens of thousands of volts, enough to create enormous sparks which jump across switches and leap out of wall outlets, wall switches, across transformer windings, etc. Your electric power system is acting like a sort of capacitive “antenna” which intercepts the feeble current coming from the sky and builds up a huge potential difference with respect to the earth.

In addition to the above, you would find an unsettling phenomenon whenever lightning strikes your electrical distribution system. The lightning impulse-voltage spreads instantly throughout your whole electrical system, which not only can explode every single electrical/electronic device plugged in at the time, but can create lethal arcs many feet in length that reach out to “touch” you or your loved ones or friends should they be anywhere near those wires within the walls.

There is a simple solution to these problems: connect your system to the earth – get a ground. Drive some long metal rods into the earth, and connect the grounded wire to three prong receptacles. That way, lightning currents will be directed into the earth rather than spreading throughout your power lines. Also, the clear-weather sky current can no longer build up a high voltage, excess charges immediately leak into the earth.

Installing a proper ground throughout a house is a far easier process during new construction than after the fact.

These days we gringos want to bring our hair dryers, room heaters, Cuisnarts, blenders, Vita mixers, electronic telephones, microwaves, music systems, televisions and video players, computers and more to this charming Country whose electrical supply systems are advanced to circa 1950’s electrical technology in the U.S. – oops and ouch!

I often bring a number of rather odd things to any potential rental or casa purchase – a compass, a GPS and a ground detect and electrical wiring fault detector. I said I was a landlord and real estate agents worst nightmare.

Remember back last July when Anita and I were running with bulls and partying with the natives in the streets of Xico? We happened upon this townhouse – it was in a good part of town, was dripping with charm and it had a ‘For Rent’ sign on the gate.

The landlords are a terrific family – really gracious, educated and thoughtful people. They had paid for and represented our potential rental as having three wire receptacles. The Jefe explained that he had an electrical contractor install a three wire electrical system – assured us it was there. I pocketed my tester upon being given this assurance to avoid looking like Inspector Gadget. The physical three wire receptacles were there but that is where it ends – read on.

After paying first and last month’s rent we received the keys. We started to move things in. I decided I better check polarity and such on the receptacles before I plug in my brand new TV. The tester showed an open ground. One by one I checked the entire house – there were no grounds anywhere.

We entered a dialogue with the owner. He came to the rental where we showed him our tests. He asked if we would go to his restaurant and check that electrical system. It was a worse still in that one outlet was groundless and had the polarity reversed – more confusing to what was becoming a debacle.

We obviously have a problem. We meet today at 11 AM to discuss the situation – This is playing out like a electrified Mexican novella – Stay Tuned!

What is the deal with Mexicans and light fixtures? Everywhere I turn in Mexico there is a bare bulb staring me in the face. It is so common to see a pair of wires hanging from the ceiling with a socketed bare light bulb that when you see an actual light fixture it is shocking.

We have taken quarters in town while we remodel the Calypso Casita. Our new town house is lovely, charming and has at least one hanging bulb in every room.

Notice the hanging front porch light in an otherwise charming entrance. (Enlarge Here)

We took possession a couple days ago. First order of business for upstanding environmentalists is to change any and all incandescent bulbs out for conpact fluorescent lights or even the newer LED bulbs. Having lived for the last five years in stark lighting conditions I had forgotten just how many light bulbs there are in an average two bedroom, one and a half bath home – yikes. People have at least taken the Bible line “Let there be light” seriously.

Armed with several 8 packs of compact fluorescent bulbs and the last two of my three pak of LED bulbs we headed off to the new digs.

There are a lot of recessed lights in the new Calypso rental. There we find those strange little bright ‘bulbs’ that plug in – you know those small tensor halogen squeezed glass type bulbs. I have yet to discover how many watts they draw but they run hot and replacements are expensive.

Even with the rather upscale recessed light every room has at least one hanging wire bare light bulb as well as out of doors on the patios. Why oh why do they not see this as incomplete construction?

I should add that many of the recessed lights need bulb replacing. Consider yourself lucky if you even get light bulbs in a newly rented Mexican casa.

We have stayed in many hotels in Mexico, even brand new hotels, replete with wire hanging bare light bulbs. Here is a tip in that regard by the way: In your out of the ordinary items to carry when traveling in Mexico, include one of those standard light bulb adapters that provides a plug in the lamp socket.

We have stayed in some Mexican motels that have no electrical sockets. This and a light duty extension cord can get your laptop, electric razor, or possible even a hair dryer going; the hair dryer may bring the motels power grid down however. You can tell the Calypso’s don’t always travel first class.

I ran out of compact fluorescent bulbs. I mean there are a LOT of light fixtures in this two story abode. Anita is talking Chinese lantern type covers for the hanging bare bulbs. I don’t need a fortune cookie to see a lot of those paper globes in my future. 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!

Upon returning from the United States to our home in Mexico the first order of business is to put into play the many items purchased. Each visit includes the gathering of things to make life more comfortable south of the border; or dare I write life more north of the border like.

Some of these enhancements are things that have yet to reach the south of the border shores. We are still buying and bringing down color corrected compact fluorescent light bulbs for example.

Five years ago I assumed Mexico was the recipient of all those unwanted and unsold stark white CF bulbs; and further that here in Mexico we would not see the new color corrected versions until the stark white supply was exhausted. Mexico being the refuse center for the U.S.A.’s dated technology.

Now five years hence I still see almost all CF bulbs in Mexico white; stark, brutish, green casting, and inelegant, albeit power savers. Surely the supply of unwanted bulbs would have run out? The truth my friends remains unanswered.

But a new twist and better idea is on the horizon – the LED light bulb. Oh they have been around and by now most have heard of them. They have virtually replaced any other bulb technology in the flashlight market place in the U.S.

On one of our shopping sojourns in the U.S. I spotted them; a blister pack of three round globe LED light bulbs that would accommodate a common light socket. Be still my heart. If you have been around here anytime at all you know we are environmentalist types. This kind of thing just gets my juices flowing – OK I know just a light bulb but….

The price tag was steep; fifteen U.S. dollars plus tax for three 40 watt lights bulbs. I held a package in my hands, thought ouch that is a lot of money. I looked to Anita and said in my best whining voice, “I just have to have these. I know they are expensive. But I have to have them.” Into the shopping cart they went.

I removed the bulbs from the large blister pack and tossed them in a catch all box for the trip home. They were not an issue crossing the border – nothing was this trip.

O.K. I am home with some new state-of-the-art technology light bulbs. I installed one near my desk where I work with the computer.

The light emitted was warm enough, technically rated at 30k. In layman’s terms the color is warmer than stark white – very pleasant really. But, the lumens (or light brilliance output) were far lower than I would expect from a 40 watt light bulb – huh?

Truth in advertising – oh my.

The package actually reads that these bulbs will replace a 40 watt bulb. Here we have to assume the clever market people meant it would fit in a 40 watt equivalent standard light bulb socket; not that it would produce the equivalent light (lumens) of a 40 watt bulb – deceitful is a kind description here.

That said the color of the bulb is pleasant, the lumens seems to be equivalent to a 25 watt incandescent bulb although the light source is more directional.

I read complaints about premature failures. I just got ours lit up so I have no comment or comparison there. They should last ten years with average use. I will get back to you on that – stay tuned.

We started using compact fluorescent bulbs when they were fifteen dollars each. They were heavy and did not fit in most ‘standard’ light fixtures. They produced about 60 watts equivalency while using 13 watts. These LED bulbs use 1.5 watts while supplying 25 watts equivalence.

One pleasant aspect of the bulbs is they operate completely cool – they give off little if any heat. As a replacement in a refrigerator they will help reduce cooling costs as well as when used in rooms that need to be cooled down with air conditioning or evaporative coolers.

For the last few years we have been enjoying LED flash lights and even a LED Coleman lantern. Battery life is incredible and they work as advertised.

We are once again pioneering. Reading on the Internet the opinions of users I was reminded of the kinds of responses made when compact fluorescent bulbs first came on the scene. I predict that the LED light bulbs will one day be very much the standard. They are or soon will be a good thing. Stay Tuned!

Tonight and tomorrow are Mexico’s equivalents to July 4th – Independence Day.  Anita and I are in Sota La Marina about 140 miles south of Brownsville.

We left Capitan New Mexico at 6 PM Monday night – simply not wanting to miss the Independence Day celebrations of our adopted Country; truth is we were getting homesick. We had a three hour rest at a Rest Stop otherwise driving, driving, and driving.

We arrived at the International Avenue Bridge number 4 entry at about 2:30 today. We got a green light and parked around the side of the Aduana Office. We went in and had my 6 month FMT within 10 minutes.

We drove through Matamoras in our Veracruz plated Jetta without a hitch.  A mile or so before we hit the new improved Aduana Customs point we switched drivers after rehearsing our stories.

We were bringing a Jetta load of items we need or wanted to have here in Mexico. Also Anita had left Mexico six weeks ago without checking out. FM3 holders are supposed to have their visa stamped for departures and re-entry.

We planned on checking Anita out of the Country when we left but the trajectory of the exit from Mexico to the United States did not include passing any place that we could check her out; this quite frustrating. At the time we agreed we simple would not check her in either thereby nullifying leaving Mexico. I should add here parenthetically that this is often done – no departure – no return documented. No harm no foul I suppose. Please do not email or comment that I am  a thoughtless lawbreaker – honestly we tried.

So I stopped after getting a green light (no inspection required – a crap shoot of green or red light). I needed a maximum length 6-month FMT visitor’s visa until I apply for an FM3 visa (a one year permission slip to be in Mexico). Armed with my new passport this took ten minutes from start to finish. We were off to cruise through Matamoras proper and on to the Aduana (Customs) station about 40 kilometers south on Highway 101.

We hashed over our story(ies) regarding how Anita came to get me at the border and explanations for things like two new televisions, a weed eater, telephones, car parts – well you get the idea – stuff.

After signs advised that we would soon be at the Adauna station we pulled over and Anita too the driver’s seat. Our Mexican plated car is in her name – so she would do the introductory explanations.

We were motioned on by a few inspectors. The final one motioned for us to roll down the window.

“Are you two on Vacation down here?” All the while his eyes gazed over the piled stuff stacked to the headliner behind out seats.

Anita in her best righteous and yet sweet indignation replied. “No, I live here!” She directed her answer to her alone. I said not a word.

“OK go ahead.”

Of course I am translating all this as it was spoken in Spanish (Mexico Bob would write it in Spanish but he is a star at that).

There is a new group of border and custom people – it was reported that 700 people were replaced. I can attest to their professionalism and kindness. All the officials we encountered were very nice. The girl at the FMT counter even spoke a little English – a first.

We are currently resting before joining the party out on the streets of Sota La Marina some 140 miles below the border. We will join the celebration. Viva Veracruz! Viva Mexico! Stay Tuned!

In case you hadn’t heard foreigner’s possession of guns in any shape or form is prohibited in Mexico. It is no small task to get a gun in Mexico, at least legally. There are no commercial guns stores – those who want guns for self-protection or hunting must petition to the Mexican defense department. Intense background checks including psychological exams are carried out.

Yesterday in Capitan, New Mexico there was a community wide garage sale. Lightening ones load is a prerequisite to living in Mexico.  We have been slowly moving to Mexico – for the past five years actually. Part of the mission we accepted when traveling to the U.S. this time was to get rid of many things; we had more of a  focus on this than the previous half dozen or more returns to the U.S in the last five years.

There was a measure of success. We didn’t meet all the goals, but generally you haven’t set the bar high enough if you do meet all your goals.

We are not displeased with what we did accomplish. I made a few observations such as Ebay sucks. We have been doing Ebay since its inception in September 1995. In fourteen years Ebay has evolved into something barely recognizable from its humble beginnings. The very user friendly start-up electronic garage sale has turned into a complicated jumbled mess of thieves, mass marketers and rules upon rules. How something that started out as great fun has turned into mire is mind boggling.

We have seen a certain malaise cast over people in the U.S. The economy is tanking, Obama is letting the little guy fail while bailing out big business, insurance companies and banks. It appears on the surface that the people are stunned, distrustful and dissatisfied. The Country is in an angry mood.

The bulk of the money we acquired at yesterday’s garage sale was from the selling of guns. For several reasons I decided to unload my arsenal.

In my defense most of my collection when purchased was considered a useful tool or an investment. When I became a full on vegetarian twenty plus years ago the useful tool aspect diminished greatly; the investment potential turned out poor with all the gun laws anf frowned upon attitudes that have grown over that twenty year time period.

My hope was to turn my weapons into plowshares – I wanted to sell enough guns to buy a top of the line weed eater. That was accomplished. We sold every gun we set out.

“Let Us Beat Swords into Plowshares”
A gift to the U.S. from the USSR presented in 1959.

Possessing a gun in Mexico for a foreigner is totally against Mexican law and besides I hadn’t shot one of those guns since selling our ranch in Colorado. The truth is I won’t miss them.

I am not a gun control advocate per se. I don’t think there are enough guns in private hands to overthrow a repressive government these days; and used correctly and with respect for hunting laws  gun ownership can certainly can be a fine  (notice I didn’t write ‘gun sport’ don’t even want to have that argument here). This was a personal choice.

Guns don’t fit our life style from here on out.

Tomorrow we will go to Appletree Hardware store in Ruidoso where I will complete the metamorphosis from weapons to plowshare. 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!

We returned to New Mexico this week. We accomplished all of the tasks on our list for a visit to Las Vegas including: getting my passport, signing on for social security, getting my Canon lens repaired and our truck computer exchanged; we also bought some electronics.

The latest outboard hard drives are one tera byte and larger (1024 billion bytes) – a whole lot of storage for the same price of half that size a year ago. Also bought some 4 gigabyte memory sticks for under $10.00 US. A couple of fine VIZIO monitors and more.

But the thing we have really been after and were unable to find in Mexico is a Cuisinart or  Krups ice cream maker. Those who know us know we don’t eat ice cream – but we have been wanting to make Mexican sorbets every since watching a Rick Bayless PBS episode where he demonstrated preparing Mexican Jamaica ice.

We found a Cuisinart ICE-25 at Fry’s Electronics (small appliance department). We made some lime ice for margaritas in Las Vegas – to verify the machine worked of course. We will have a report on the Jamaica sorbet when we get back to Mexico.  In the mean time here is a recipe that includes some tequila.

Here in Capitan, NM we are listing things on Ebay and working on preparing sale items for a city wide garage sale next week-end.  Happy Labor Day weekend to you all – Stay Tuned!