We are weenies!
15 December 2011 | 24 19'N:110 20'W, Costa Baja
Larry
Nelda and I had a great time a Bahia Ballandra Sunday night. It is a totally different place when the winds are calm and the sea is flat than when the wind is over 25 knots and boats are draging anchor all around you. It really wasn't very excitting which is just ok by us. We came back to La Paz Monday morning as we were having some work done on the boat. We have had a number of new and exciting experiences which is a code word for highly frustrating and exhausing encounters in the last few days. The first was our trip to the post office. We talked to a number of cruisers and they all said it wasn't a problem but then again anything is easy if you know how. We get to town Monday only to find it is a holiday. All the banks are closed so we assume the Post Office will be as well, the good news is we were wrong, its open but it is like no post office we have ever been to. It looks pretty much the same on the outside but inside there are packages sitting all ober the floor. Anything goes in Mexico and they aren't neatly wrapped, many have duct tape holding the cardboard on. At the counter at a kind of card table, are two women that look like your mom. They are friendly but don't speak a word of English except to say "No Customs Stamp". Yep, we need a customs stamp to mail the boxees. So it is off to the customs building which we find on the map and it is 7 miles away, almost in another city. We decided to hail a cab and the trafic is horrible because of the holiday parade but the kids are all dressed up and look so cute. We finially get a cab and "No Englaes" is all we can understand. Thankfully, our daughter Rachel has been able to get the data plan on my iPhone turned back on so I type in "Customs" in the stranslation program and it comes back with "Aduanas" for "customs administrative building". So I think how cool is this and say it to the driver, he looks like I have lobsters comming out my ears. I finally show him the word on my phone and he just laughs and says "Si" and off we go. As we get close I can't see any other cabs so I quickly type in that we need to return to the post office and can he wait for us? He reads it and smiles, "Si". The Customs building is not even a building at all, is in the parking lot of the Customs building and you get there through an alley. Nelda walks up the the next representive and says Englases, and she smiles and say, "A little" Oh good that is all we need, a little. We what we soon find out is they h ave to look at everthing so we have to cut the box open, now I know why the US Post Office won't allow duct tape but that was the only tape we had as well. So I cut the box open and Nelda has individually wrapped each item in the box for the person it was going to. The customes gal just winces. The first item is old plecan bones we found on a shore of a bahia, nope those aren't going anywhere. The first thing on the list of items that cannot be shipsed isn't explossives, it's animal or plants apparently dead or alive. Nelda is about to have a breakdown as we start to take the indiviualy wrapped packages out of the box, the customs gal breaks the rules and doesn't make us un-wrap everthing as everthing we are shipping is soft and she feels it and says "Ok". And she doesn't want a stark raving mad woman to deal with either. But now the box I way to big and I have to do some on the fly origami and cut the box in half but we don't have any packing tap with us. The woman looks at us and breaks the rules again and lets us use her tape she uses attach the official lables to the packages. She is very nice. With the boxes stamped we are off to the Post office. The cab is there waiting for us and off we go. It cost 130 pesos or $10 US for the entire ride including the wait. In this part of Mexico there are no meters in cabs. They tell you how much it is going to be and you deciede whether or not you want or need to get there that bad. We have never felt over charged as it is much less than the states and you don't feel bad sitting in traffic watching the meter eat up your wallet. Back to the Post Office, we confidently stride in because with my new found friend, iTranslate, I can say anything in Spanish. So I say "Necesitamos un numero de seguimento y entrega rapida." The lobsters are back!!! I am crushed as there goes two years of Spanish and iTranslate right down the drain, but thinking quickly I show her the phone and she laughs just like the cab driv er and says, "Exidite" and hands us a form that thankfully is in Spanish and English. We sumit the the form and she smiles, takes all our money and the presents are on their way. Now some of you are not recieving presents for Christmas becasue we don't know you well enough and some of you won't get presents from us because we are still afraid to go back to the Post Office. Hopefully that will change. By the way, it is cold here. Look at the picture, it is about 60 degress and the wind is blowing. Nelda and I put the enclosure on Diamond Girl today so it is like sitting in a solarium. We are officially weenies.