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I started a separate thread regarding this same issue as you may see. Yes it does belong here. I live here full time, all the time, I don't go back up to the USA anymore. So, my question is to the techies who can answer a couple basic questions, not the least of which is What is available HERE? Same thing with my posts about the noise or the garbage pickup/plastic bag issue - what can we do HERE??? I realize that so many of you don't live here, you don't think in those terms. Many of you seem to think this board is for theoretical/intellectual discussions. Only if they do pertain to life HERE. I googled Chromebox and all I saw were pictures of little boxes. Where is the screen or keyboard? I need a laptop with memory for 20,000+ fotos and videos. Benno's can order them in English, but I wonder if they will be swamped with requests with this new Windows 10 debacle. So, with all these posts, I still don't know anything new.

https://weather.com/storms/severe/video/rivers-of-hail-paralyze-mexican-city

After getting a huge slew of upgrades to my trusty old Windows 7 which I am perfectly happy with, I just got notice - maybe you have. too - that Windows 7 will not be serviced after Jan. 2020 and that everyone needs to buy Windows 10 PLUS a new computer to run it on. That program was installed on my computer without my permission a few years ago. I hated it and had it removed. I'm not interested in going through yet another learning curve to just keep doing what I am already doing. Plus, the sales pressure... now I understand why all the techies at my job (I retired 12 years ago) hated MS. Other thing is I live here full time and never go back up north, so I would have to buy a new laptop here. I'm aware that Benno's keeps a few in stock, but still... Techies out there, please comment.

Storm caused rivers of ice in GDL, check it out! It was so nice here, a little blustery wind... https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/6/30/1868539/-Unusual-hailstorm-buries-Guadalahara-under-an-accumulation-of-up-to-four-feet-of-hail?fbclid=IwAR0y-q8lla2zcYQkbPNCeHzTi7k2fSDd_5gNmcLmvnWMj_3UOKYe5ITkuxU

Gracias, I would like to stay right by the Union Plaza in Guanajuato, there is a great hotel there. Looking at a map of Guanajuato is pointless. The local maps are very inaccurate and have cutesy drawings for tourists. There is no "north" indicated. The streets wind in every which direction, and at least half of the "streets" are actually andadodores, or "walking streets" or alleys, not open to car traffic. The difference is not indicated on maps including online! So parking on the outskirts of town and taking a taxi would suite me better. I would like to leave the central driving to a local driver! I'm happy walking once I get there. Meanwhile, I'm searching "pensiones estacionarse" Certainly someone must have had some experience with them.

I just bought a car after being here for 12 years without one. I have considered driving to a few of my favorite cities - Guanajuato and San Miguel, mainly to save time. I've been there on guided tours, but that really makes your own navigation abilities get rusty. But the drives seem safe and easy on the toll roads most of the way. But.. I would like to park the car in the outskirts of those towns because driving in the historic centers would be quite challenging, especially in Guajajuato, whose maps look like a plate of spaghetti! Not ready for the tunnels! I'm wondering if there are any covered and secure parking lots at the outskirts of those towns where it would also be easy to catch a taxi to the hotel. I'm also thinking of Zacatecas, but you can drive all the way into the center there, doesn't look too treacherous. Please remember, I haven't driven for 12 years! Gracias!

I have chatted with more Mexicans around town, mostly women who take care of the house. Some had not yet thought of this issue but said it was a very good question. Adriana at El Granero showed me a plastic bag that was made from corn, not plastic, which is truly biodegradable. Great! But can the company making them suddenly produce enough to satisfy the sudden spike in demand from most of the shops or homes in the whole state of Jalisco? She said they were available online. Another woman told me when she was a girl, everyone wrapped up their toilet tissue in newspaper. But there aren't many newspapers left, and the ink itself is toxic, not to be recycled. Large paper bags don't exist here. Another vendor told me he thinks the whole thing is a scam. A few years ago someone was putting out "biodegradable" plastic bags, but it turned out they were just thinner plastic that still never decays. Not a solution! Another vendor told me the cardboard carry out containers cost 10x as much as styrofoam, so that cost will be passed on to consumers. I still don't see how they are going to box up an entire roast chicken with all the dripping sauce! Most bathrooms, especially in MX, don't have room for a bidet, and someone thinks the govt. is going to subsidize this?? LOL!! MX is a Low Government country, everyone is on their own. Does bidet use apply to poop, sorry, I had to ask. What do you use to dry off all that water from your bottom? More tissue?? A $40 USD kitchen composter would cost around $900MXPesos. That is a whole week of wages for a lot of people here, not a viable solution and I doubt those things are available here anyway. And what would you do with your kitchen compost if you don't have a yard or garden in the first place? Not a solution in MX. I eat a lot of yogurt which comes in containers that are very reusable but not recyclable. I have saved mine to carry to El Granero to buy bulk food and store it at home, or to store veggies from the tianguis. But I don't need more new containers so I put them out IFO my house on tianguis day with a sign from my maid saying in Spanish: "These plastics are to be reused many times, please don't throw in the trash. Think of the environment." My neighbor snaps them up every week and used them for lunches for her husband and son, and they must throw them away because she always wants more. I want to share them with everyone, they are very handy.

Wow. Some good suggestions here but it seems many posters here are not aware of the Mexican household lifestyle. Bidets??? To keep from using toilet paper??? Are you people all aware that you CANNOT even flush paper down the toilet in MX? Few Mexicans or gringos in less expensive housing have the fancy water systems that allow for flushing toilet paper. Do you think Mexicans can afford to install bidets in their houses??? Huh??? I've traveled all around MX, stayed in nice hotels, ate in nice restaurants, and they ALL have wastebaskets by the toilet for the used toilet paper, which has to be disposed of somehow. My own house is like that. Almost every house I've been in here has bathroom wastebaskets lined with plastic bags from the tiendas. The only places where you know you can flush your toilet paper is when the DON'T have a wastebasket by the toilet, and that is very rare. You can't put that kind of loose waste into a big garbage can. The garbage workers handle all that stuff by hand without gloves! I don't even use a garbage can to put in the street here. I take out 4 small bags of trash per week. Singles and couples don't generate enough garbage, hopefully, to need a big trash can! The plastic bags are very convenient for small amounts of trash. Empty garbage pails get stolen. Please remember we are talking about MX here, not up north. Also, if people had the space for a compost heap, don't you think we/they would already be doing that? The recycling of kitchen waste is a great idea so we can contribute to a municipal compost heap. In the mild climate of MX, there is much greater risk of vermin getting into your food scraps. I've seen rats around town, you don't want to leave food scraps around! MX has almost no sturdy paper bags to be found anywhere. Remember the trees they come from? If shops can no longer use plastic bags for customers, wouldn't it follow that you won't be able to buy them either? That would be an extra expense for many financially struggling Mexicans. So I'm still not seeing a solution to the garbage disposal issue which in MX, revolves around plastic bags. I think this law was thought up by men who have never done a lick of housework or have never taken out the trash in MX. Yes, let's move in the direction of using less plastic, but the plastic issue has to be connected to the trash disposal issue as it is in MX, not up north.

The new GR states that local businesses have until July to use up their stashes of disposable plastics because they soon will be banned from use. While I heartily support environmental measures including reducing use of disposable plastics, I have the following questions: How are we supposed to collect and dispose of used toilet tissue without these bags? This is necessary in most of MX and most people re-use plastic bags for this purpose. Same goes for organic waste saved for recycling. There would be quite a risk of household contamination without being able to seal the containers used for such purposed. Even if you used solid waste baskets, at some point you have to put this stuff in the street for pickup. What are we supposed to use for this purpose? Think of the garbage workers who have to handle this stuff! I tried leaving my glass/plastic/metal recycling in a plastic bucket outside my house but the container got stolen twice, so now I have to carry it to the local drop-off points. I frequently buy roast chicken and have wondered what kind of container to bring to put a very hot roast chicken in. The typical hard plastic containers wouldn't work. I've already asked the help to not use the styrofoam, only the plastic bags, but without those, what? These new rules will be a severe culture shock for the many small businesses which feature take out food and beverages. There is little alternative to take out containers other than to actually serve the food in place and use washable dishes. But that is not feasible for a tiny take out stand. I hope some genius will invent a truly biodegradable material to use for take out food. Until then, what??

After 12 years of living here without a car, I have decided to buy a car! So I need a No Estacionarse sign for my garage door. I've been in a couple of shops that had only small ones made of plastic. I would like a larger durable metal sign. Where can I find one around here? gracias!

I had an emergency hip replacement from Dr. Gonzales (Jorge) in 2008 after I fell and landed on my hip. Funny thing, I had already seen him and we had determined that I needed a hip replacement (partially genetic problem, partially from having had a dance career). So he was already familiar with me at the time. He and his very handsome assistant surgeon did a great job on me. Yes, I recovered without pain or extra physical therapy and was so much better than limping around like i was after doing so much hard work of moving. But I was unable to sleep on either side for an entire year. Fortunately, I had tempur-pedic foam pads on my bed making it possible to sleep on my back in comfort. You just have to slow down and have help for 3 months, then it all gradually comes back, after a year you don't even know you had it.

There is fresh, thick smoke in the area described above. I can see it from my roof. Sort of behind where the little chapel on the hill is. Winds are WSW.

I took these fotos from my roof (except for the one with the palm tree, in my driveway) within the last hour around sunset. It's coming our way slowly towards Ajijic. Winds forecasted from the west through tomorrow morning. Someone told me it was a controlled burn (out of control?) where they are planning to build a new subdivision. Any truth to that?

It was with a Tour Group from https://casakin.org/ They organize tours of spiritually significant locations in Yucatan that combine travel with meditations, ceremonies, and teachings. Great hotels and food as well. It was a much younger group than the tours organized out of Ajijic. I was the Elder! The Maya were known for their brilliance at mathematics and astronomy. They had/have 17 calendars which measure different things. They knew that on Dec. 21, 2012 there were powerful astronomical alignments which portended the ends of a 5,125, a 10,000, and a 26,000 yr. cycle. You might ponder how they knew what was going on 26,000 years ago without all of our "modern science." That famous date was the end of these calendars. The Maya never said the world was going to end on that date. This tour focused on the connection between the lost continent of Atlantis and the Maya culture.

What we all noticed very obviously was the weird echo reaction there. When someone would clap loudly near the big pyramid, the echo sounded like a completely different thing, like a bird call. That seems to indicate an energy vortex. I understand there is also one near Ocatlan, can't remember the name of that place... - Tono Focal? There is also one on a private property in Ajijic where I went to a Full Moon ceremony. You make a loud sound which echos, but the echo sounds nothing like the original sound, more like an electric sound effect. But, yes, if you are tuned in, you can feel the energy fields at the pyramids.

Hola! I would like to share my travel videos of a tour I recently went on which included a Mayan spiritual guide to fill us in on the more esoteric aspects of the Mayan pyramids that are not easily accessed by conventional academic knowledge which mostly consists of academics digging up and trying to understand ancient ruins often quite out of context. The Maya did not die out, there are millions of living Maya descendants and there are lineages who have kept the cultural wisdom intact. That is also how the danzantes learn their art and how to make their costumes, and the significance of it all. I've talked to several of them directly about that. Mayan Cosmology is multi-dimensional, consistent with Quantum Physics which is barely known by the modern masses. There are living Maya descendants who know what all the "mysterious" picto-graphs really refer to. All in all, a fascinating trip on all levels! Mostly young people, too, what a change from the Lake Chapala gringo scene. All the pyramids were resonant to ultra-high frequencies and all the pyramids of the world resonate with eachother. Uxmal is a large site so I had to make 2 videos! In all the archaeological sites I have visited, they say that what we see today is but a tiny percentage of what is really there, still unexcavated. These sites were once thriving large, advanced cities with highly educated and conscious people. The Spanish Invasion destroyed a lot of all pre-hispanic culture in Mexico, but through the strength of the family bonds and lineages, some truths have been passed down. Here is my 2nd video slideshow of Uxmal:

I just tried that # after going to the print shop to print out my document and return home. that is a wrong # ! But, by cosmic synchronicity, I ran into a friend (while walking back from the print shop) that was familiar with that notary and recommended him and confirmed the general location. A Mexicana recommended a couple others in Chapala. So I will wing it with a taxi, I think I know where you are talking about, just above Century 21 Real estate, no? Gracias!

I don't have a car so I was hoping for Ajijic. I re-confirmed that the Notary only needs to have the official stamp, nothing else needed. Gracias!

Very sorry to say, both of those were the stores that I dealt with. Did you all buy phones there or do you just go in to buy time?

Gracias, this is the first thing that has made sense to me. I had a 1-yr. plan in the US and could forget about my phone but it always worked when I needed it. Silly me to think I could expect the same service here. Wouldn't the shop owners KNOW that they can't pay for 1 year? Why did they lead me to believe I was paid up for a year if you can't do that? So, in other words, even if you PAY up front for a year, you still have to go in every month to renew it??? Sounds crazy to me, they did not explain that. And the couple always have sort of a "fishy" vibe about them when I go in there, they did NOT explain to me that I need to come in every month. If I had known that I wouldn't have bought a 1 yr. plan. I did have 2-month saldos on my last phone. And they did tell me that "everyone" gets those saldo messages from Telmex even if they are paid up?? WTF???

Gracias, Ferret. Of course I was assuming the notary would be Mexican since we are here in Mexico! All they have to do is witness my signing a simple document from PERS confirming that I am still alive, very simple, I already have the document. I have found that most professional Mexicans speak English, and I have already confirmed with PERS that a MX notary is OK. There is no one in Ajijic?

Can anyone recommend a good licensed notary located in central Ajijic. I need to send an official document up north. Gracias.

bmh, gracias, but maybe you did not understand my problem. I paid for a year so I would not have to keep paying every month. So why would I keep getting messages that tell me I have no saldo? I think the scam is that the SHOP never put the $$ in my account, that would be the scam. When I go back, I think they put 1 month in, it works once, but the problem always returns. And shouldn't they have given me a receipt for the purchase and the 1 year deposit? I am not blaming telcel but both shop owners for lying to me.

i am on my 4th MX cel phone in about 5 years, OK, one got stolen. Always problems, and now it is starting to occur to me why. It also occurred to me that most gringos here are visitors or still visit the US where they could buy a cel phone; probably few actually buy them here. I have had non-stop problems with mine. I was told by one shop owner that Telcel no longer supported Nokia so I had to buy a new phone, so I bought a cheap MX phone because I rarely use a cel. After a year, it never worked either. I was told I had to buy a new smart phone, that Telcel won't support "older" phones anymore. Smartphone got stolen. So I went to a different shop, bought a older Nokia model (whose programming is much more logical than the MX phone) and lo and behold, it worked with Telcel! But then, it was not working either. I rarely use a cel phone so it takes time to realize this. When I was unable to make calls, I always received a msg from Telcel saying I had no Saldo, or money left in my account. But... I had paid for a whole year so I wouldn't have to keep going back and recharging it, what a bore! Now I'm getting the picture that they are also scamming me. I went back twice for this same reason and it seems they "fix" it by putting in a few pesos for a month. Now it is happening again. They tell me "everybody" gets the message that they have no saldo. I tested it with my maid yesterday and when I call her # she gets a message that SHE would have to pay to take the call! So, something is up!! Plus I still get the msg that I have no saldo. I called my bank and they are sending me a receipt of the charges when I bought the phone for around $4370 pesos which was supposed to cover the phone AND a year's service. They never gave me a paper receipt. What to do now? This ever happen to anyone else out there? Should I threaten to denounce them? What is the solution? Gracias!

Sheesh! It's amazing how off topic these threads go. I'm not about to start working on my machine myself. TX for the tip about the repair shop in San Juan. But I don't have a car! Was just getting ready to go out and look to buy one before this gas problem kicked in. For now, I've still got other modes of music, gracias a Dios.