cookj5

I have to say, Mijo, yours is the most succinct post I have ever seen. There ought to be some sort of award for this.

When lived in L.A., my car was broken into one time and stolen another. When I moved to Portland, OR, my car was stolen, my garage burglarized, there was an armed standoff next door between the cops and some car thieves, and we had a drive by shooting on our street. Nothing like that has happened to me in my 13 years living in Mexico. I guess 3rd World is a bit broader than a lot of people think.

I had my wallet stolen several years ago at Soriana in Chapala. They were very good, I didn't even have a sense of anyone immediately around me. I only had a small amount of cash in the wallet, maybe $300 pesos, but it also contained my Oregon drivers' license. That was irreplaceable and its loss meant I had to get a Mexican drivers' license, no small deal at that time. Fortunately, my wallet also contained my LCS card, and just like MtMama, I got a call that the wallet had been found. No money left, of course, but it contained the all-important driver's license. I learned some lessons from this: 1) When I go anywhere that requires a drivers' license, Immigration doc, or credit/debit card, or substantial cash, I carry them in a security wallet that fits down inside of my pants with a metal loop that fits around my belt. Very difficult, if not impossible, to steal. 2) I also carry a normal wallet in my regular pocket as a decoy. It contains a small amount of cash and my easily replaceable LCS card. 3) I pay cash for everything and never use the credit card except for on-line purchases on secure sites. I never use the debit card except to take money out of an ATM inside of a bank. Except on those occasions, I keep both cards safely locked up at home. I would never consider carrying them around in my regular wallet and using them for everyday purchases. It's way too easy to get the cards stolen and then be cleaned out, just like MtMama. If anyone thinks my strategy is just too inconvenient, consider the inconvenience of not only losing very substantial amounts of money but having to replace all those important cards and documents. Given Murphy's Law, such a theft would naturally occur at the worst possible moment.

Many of the underlying conditions which make covid-19 so deadly, like diabetes and heart disease, are closely related to obesity. An hour hanging out in the Ajijic Plaza will confirm that a very large number of expats here are high-risk. Why do you suppose they sit in close groups, maskless, chatting and laughing? They don't appear to be either ignorant nor uneducated. I guess there really is no cure for stupid.

I haven't seen any evidence from a reputable scientific source that says HCQ is good either for prevention OR for treatment. In fact, there are a number of studies that indicate it can have negative effects, including death, on people with certain underlying conditions. As one doctor said, just because a drug is helpful with one condition doesn't mean it is effective or safe for another. As he said, aspirin is good for headaches, but he wouldn't prescribe it for someone with a bleeding disorder. The FDA, the CDC, Dr. Fauci at the NIH, and others all advise against it. But sure, go ahead and use it. I'm sure at least 5 of the 6 chambers in your six shooter you are putting to your head are empty.

And, if the government is chronically short of money, because people find ways to shirk their taxes, you will also see no positive improvements. This is a circular argument that ends up being a little too convenient for those who just don't want to pay taxes.

The real question is will there be any enforcement? I see lots of people with no masks and no social distancing. A lot of them are expats who damn well should know better, particularly since they are almost certainly in the high risk category.

One whole side of my family comes from Texas and my father and brother were born there. I am reminded of the old joke: "If I owned both Texas and Hell, I'd rent out Texas and live in Hell."

I did not mean to say that masks offer no protection to me, although I can understand that my wording implied that. However, they do offer greater protection to others from me, than the reverse. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/06/21/880832213/yes-wearing-masks-helps-heres-why Also, if you have been infected, but are asymptomatic, how can you say "I know I don't have it, I don't know if they do." Unless you were tested only a few minutes ago, and before you interacted with anyone else, you could well be an unintentional asymptomatic carrier, spreading covid-19 like Typhoid Mary (assuming you don't follow protocols). While I can say that I have not experienced temperature checks in small shops, I also have not visited that many during the pandemic. I have certainly been checked at Walmart, various restaurants, my doctor's office, and some other locations. I would agree that if the government is going to require an expensive gadget to check temperatures, they should be provided free to small businesses or. alternatively, some sort of financial aid in buying them. Otherwise, compliance will be low. The governor's message does sound a bit harsh. However, I have seen numerous previous statements from him about how people are not abiding by the protocols. He has particularly focused Tapatios who load up on the weekends and holidays and head out for attractive spots like Lake Chapala. The clear implication in the previous statements has been that voluntary compliance is great, but other action may be necessary if it does not happen. I read in his message a lot of frustration and anger at the irresponsibility of so many who should know better, unless they have been in a coma for the last few months. The time to stop a spike in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths is before it gets well under way, not after. We have certainly seen this in the irresponsibly late closings and early openings in some states up North, with the inevitable tragic consequences.

Relax about the traffic tie ups. I about a week, you will suddenly find the streets mostly empty and driving on them a breeze. Yeeha!

There seem to be some assumptions here that it is only the local Mexicans and visiting Tapatios who are ignoring the necessary protocols (mask wearing, social distancing, etc.). While it is true that I see less and less Mexicans obeying the protocols, I also see many expats doing the same. When I visit local restaurants, as well as the Ajijic Plaza, I regularly see groups of expats sitting closely together, or standing closely together chatting, and not wearing masks. Often they are talking loudly and laughing, potentially spreading covid-19 for a considerable distance in all directions. I am a regular at these places and many of those I am describing are also regulars, some of whom I have NEVER seen wearing a mask, even at the height of the earlier shutdown. Those who do wear masks, often don't wear them properly, but let them hang from one ear or down under their chins, or with their noses uncovered. We should police our own behavior before we take exception to the behavior of the local people. We should also remember that wearing a mask is more about protecting others from ME than protecting me from others. I have no particular right to behave in ways that endanger others, Mexicans or expats.

Mainecoons, I couldn't agree with you more about the tidal wave of plastic waste that is overwhelming our world. There are rafts of plastic junk floating in the Pacific that are bigger than whole states in the US. Various kinds of plastic are ingested by wildlife, which ends up killing them. This mindless, wasteful destruction has got to come to an end. I know that banning plastic bags and a handful of other items won't solve this, but we've got to start somewhere.

I bought my used Mexican car there and was very satisfied. Often, in Mexico, you do get what you pay for. Taking a chance on some of the other options may end up with big problems down the line. S&S checks everything very carefully and you can count on them. They will also take you over to Guadalajara to look for a car, no charge, and keep looking until you find what you want. They make sure all paperwork is in order and the car is properly registered and plated before they deliver it to their lot in Riberas for you to pick up. They also offer the service to re-register your car when needed. Saves a lot of standing in lines and going to different offices and I found it worth every penny of their fee.

I vote for porn star. You' probably had a lot more fun back in the 80s than the desert Island survivor

While I don't have any photos of the Sparling Tailed Woodstar, I have quite a few of other hummingbirds that frequent our area. They were taken at the home of the woman known as Flossie the Hummingbird Lady. Flossie has since moved back to the US and lives in a nursing home now, but she still loves hummingbirds. I told Flossie's story and showed several species from her yard in my blog, Jim and Carole's Mexico Adventure: https://cookjmex.blogspot.com/2013/01/flossie-hummingbird-lady.html

Mexico has been mixed race since the beginning of of the Conquest. Hernan Cortez had a child by his indigenous translator/mistress La Malinche. The child may have been the first mestizo (mixed race person), or at least one of the first. Shortly after the Conquest, the Spanish began importing large numbers of African slaves to work in the sugar haciendas. People from the Far East began appearing very early too, brought over by the Manila Galleons. Spanish men had children by women of all these various races and the different groups also intermarried. People with a purely Spanish or European background have always been a minority in Mexico. The vast majority of Mexicans are mestizo.

That's why they say you will catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

This link is to a story that ran on Michigan Live. They got four experts on infectious disease to rank 36 different activities as to the level of safety from covid-19 and some things you might consider before engaging in them. The experts didn't always agree on their threat rankings, so the rankings were averaged and disagreements noted. I found it very useful, since most of the activities are similar to what expats might consider here at Lakeside. https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2020/06/from-hair-salons-to-gyms-experts-rank-36-activities-by-coronavirus-risk-level.html?fbclid=IwAR05qyKn9vrwze-laHSHO1Nb93wHH1OanQUW2oZhDjXlnGh66dReIGCG5nM

Just keep in mind that properties here are still way over-priced IMHO. There was a several-year buying frenzy that drove up prices until just before covid-19 hit. Clearly, the pandemic has flattened the market considerably, if only because the traffic from the US/Canada skidded nearly to a halt and real estate offices still appear to be closed. However, in my experience from the 2008 crash, it took several years before the market began to look good again. Some of the conditions of that time also apply now. There is virtually no mortgage system here, at least as you would understand it up north. People nearly always pay the full price up front. By doing so, they have no monthly payment and therefore don't feel the pressure to sell, even in a down market. Also, since they have sunk such a large part of their net worth into the house, and often have paid additional large sums to remodel, they tend to be very reluctant to drop the price. Thus, a house can sit on the market for years, as I have seen many do. I think your "wait and watch" suggestion is the best policy.

This guy looks like someone who is always sticking his nose into everything.

I was wondering the same thing. How about responding to the request rather than standing back and throwing spitballs. Or, just refrain from responding.

The problem is, without large scale testing, you don't know whose contacts to trace. There are doubtless many folks walking around who have been exposed and perhaps even infected who are not yet showing symptoms or who are asymptomatic but contagions, This is the real reason for wearing masks. They are to protect others from the wearer, more than to protect the wearer him/herself. Those who go about in public with no mask because they "aren't afraid of the virus" or are "exercising their personal sovereignly" are irresponsibly endangering others.

donenrique, please contact me at jcmx07@hotmail.com so we can discuss this further.

Well, if I am still looking in mid-summer, before you go back to Mexico City, I'll be in touch. Thanks!

Can you pm me with the years of the laptops and what OS they have? Also, do they have 13", 15" or other size screens?