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Sam's Choice....almost good! Doctor to patient: "try this med and let me know about the really bad side effects." Restaurant: "Sorry about our poor service but good help is hard to find and I am not paying that much." "Our cell phone service is usually bad but it is inexpensive." "Our produce looks old and wilted, because it is!" TV reception is poor but so is our programming.

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I have been selling off a lot of our household items...both decorative and functional...with some success and some failures.: The best places allow my payments from sales to be picked up any day that they are open vs the ones that allow a certain day per week. My picks are for the ones that enter the items so that the items that are sold are easy to identify...I have experienced one Bazaar that couldn't find my items and would not pay for those that were missing....I will not use them again. I like a Bazaar that "thanks" me for bringing in items vs the ones that pretend they are doing me a favor taking the items. One Bazaar displayed the items so poorly that they didn't sell...but when moved to another Bazaar...all items were gone within a few days. One place showed my items so poorly that even I couldn't find my own stuff. Few will pay for clothing, shoes or books. Toda Bueno has been my best market for my items so far.......They use volunteer workers who want to be there rather than "have" to be there. Their suggested retail prices have been fairly accurate for quick sales....negatives: poor parking, no pick up of large items, and smaller sales space than some other outlets. I won't name the bad outlets as they just are not good business people but it is not deliberate on their part. Some places look and act as if they had no other use for their space so a Bazaar was the next best choice to leaving it empty. Fred Habacht

AutoZone was my choice.

We drive north frequently; prefer the San Luis Potosi route; take the west bypass (49D). We stay at the Sheraton 4 points hotel in Saltillo; nice hotel with restaurant and it is pet friendly. There are 3 crossings at Laredo; Bridge 1 is usually the shortest wait time but it is Sentri lane only, Bridge 2 (the busiest), and Columbia. Get the CBP Border Wait Time app for your phone and check the wait times before you get to the Columbia cutoff and make a decision. I have used all 3; Bridge 1 and 2 are both accessible without going through the center of Nuevo Laredo, use the road along the river to the east. Columbia is a reasonable crossing if you are going directly north without visiting Laredo. Google maps has good routing to all 3 bridges. Just a note that you can use Global Entry in the Sentri lane as long as the vehicle is registered in Global Entry; I doubt that you can use Nexus.

"Life remaining" is subjective. They can check for bad cell(s) and/or stress test it. Also check your charging system's performance. But in my opinion a 6-year old battery is pushing it even in the mild Lakeside climate. "Most battery warranties are for no more than 3 years.... sometimes as much as 5. That should give you some indication of what they may think of a 6-year old one. Also most folks don't 'watch or maintain' their batteries if they are unsealed, leading to failure due to low water levels causing a cell(s) to go bad.

Do you know if LTH can test a car battery to determine life remaining? My battery is 6 years old.

Link doesn't seem to work.

I've had good luck with batteries from the LTH store in Riberas.

Thanks Rick. Yes, some machines have a limit but I found that the ones attached to banks generally have higher limits and feel safer. The one at Pancho's in Riberas has a limit of 3,000 peso withdrawal per transaction. Doesn't mean that you can't put your card in again and again until your home bank limit is reached but it's going to cost you.

Yes all 3 ports have TIP removal; Bridge 1 and 2 at the CIIV/Banjercito building on the south side of the river road between the 2 bridges; Bridge 2 keep in the far left lane at the toll booths; Columbia there is a little Banjercito booth on the left just before the toll booth.

At the HSBC in the Laguna Mall, I use my debit card from a Canadian account and always get the option to accept or decline the Canadian dollar exchange rate. When they show the conversion, you are looking at the BOTTOM of the screen to choose decline or accept. To decline, you push the button on the LEFT side of the screen at the bottom and to accept you press the button on the RIGHT side of the screen. If you decline, they do not show you another rate, it has just always been a better rate than what they offered in the first place.

As usual, the details are as important... There are two ways to get thru San Luis Potosi up to Matehuala... the old way and the newer way. Take the latter. Leaving Lakeside, and on the Chapala highway to Guad, take the Macrolibramiento 15D right, signed as to Zapotlanjo. This gets you heading north on 80D and skirts Guadalajara. Later after going through/around Lagos de Marino and when approaching Villa de Arriaga, go straight... not to the right. The sign at the intersection will say SLP 20 and Saltillo/San Luis Potosi straight. Don't go right which says 80D Queretaro. This road (straight) skirts SLP to the west/nw, becomes highway 49D and exits out north of SLP onto highway 57 north to Mathuala. For many, Mathuala is a good place to spend the night before heading to Laredo. From Mathuala stay on 57 north to the outskirts of Saltillo. Take 40D right towards Monterrey; just prior to Monterrey, and at a toll booth, be in the right lane only to take the Periferico Nuevo Laredo Cuota (40). This skirts Monterrey to the west/north. At the north side one will take highway 85 north to Nuevo Laredo. As you approach N. Laredo others have suggested taking the Colombia crossing. It is well to the west of Laredo and is signed off of 85 well. That crossing is easy but, crossing the border going north, I find the 'normal' N. Laredo crossing just fine... they separate trucks from autos. This route will dump you off right downtown Laredo Tx on I35 and not out in the boonies. Your choice of course. P.S. This route uses 57 and NOT 54. Also, there is no 54D as "D" designates a toll road/cuota. 54 us not a toll. Also, you surely do NOT want to take highway 54 out of the north side of Guadalajara to Zacatecas! Slow, slow 2-lane going through curves uphill behind trucks and buses.

The best and fastest route is San Luis Potosí, Matehuala Saltillo, Monterrey cross at Colombia, the booth to get your TIP back is very easy to find, As you drive through the complex you will see a small white building on your left, there is an area to pull off the road in front of the building, that is where you return your TIP. After you exit the US customs head north on the 225 it will take you to I-35 or you can go right on the 1472 which will take you into Laredo, as you enter Laredo there are lots of hotels right along I-35. I usually stay at the Days Inn which just about the first motel you come across.

My dear NMM, thank you for your empathy, if you have serious feelings, I will give you my mailing address so you can send me money..feelings are cheap.

I looked last night I took 20,000 from USAA and 20,000 from Capital One. USAA was 1076.19 and Capital one was 1075.40. I also get the ATM charge refunded by USAA so considering the Refund from USAA it was a little cheaper. But still the exchange rate was better than the 17 peso per dollar offered by the bank. Hitting Decline or now Sin Conversion saved quite a bit. Declining I got 18.59 more or less so I made 1.59 pesos per dollar. Changing 1075 more or less I gained more than 1500 pesos from USAA and Capital one. A little over 3000 pesos just in exchanging money. Just clicking the right button. I roughly rounded in my calculations But I did that calculation right... Right???? Let me know

With respect we/you/I all have opinions about what Ajijic is, was, and the future. For the majority of you who have posted do not get to vote...just whine whine whine. You whine about Walmart, you whine about Omar, The Radisson Bue hi rise, you whine about the traffic, you whine about Telmex, the restaurant on the pier, the seats on the malacon, The Mexican mail, etc etc etc. Ajijic lost its charm many many years ago when the first Gringos "found" the place, latter it became a Gringo ghetto when the last Mexican village house was sold for under $40,000usd (1990's) and a couple of Gringo speculators were busy remodeling the properties (1 couple are still around to day). Many of you are carry the "luggage" and "guilt" from NOB, you whine about the USA government, but never refuse your SS checks . Fortunately most of us were not Refugees, we came here on our own freewill, attracted by the Climate, Cost of living and Cultural...and able to move on if we so desire. Lets face reality , abuse of land regulation at lakeside has gone on for "ever" , its part of the "Culture" . A case in point is the encroachment of the many Mexican owned stores/business on the Cararretera. And YO 1 for your information most of the owners at Nimue are Mexicans......PEACE