[A/S] Mexico: what you need

["Sandy Noyes" <boojum@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Folks -

For those thinking of going to Mexico be warned that you will need a passport.  With the passport you 
get a visa from Immagracion at the border and then pay for it in a bank.  As you will probably want to 
get pesos from the cash machine go to a Banamex which has the best exchange rates.  Be warned that 
the peso is denoted with a "$" sign in Mexico so when the cash machine says $200 it means about US
$21.  I use a debit card which looks like a credit card to the bank machine.  I tell the machine it is a 
credit card when it asks and get the limit for a credit card which is much higher than the daily limit on 
a debit card. 

Dollars are accepted in Mexico an in some places preferred but I always offer pesos first as I think it 
impolite to do otherwise.   YMMV

Knowing some Spanish will also help.  Even very bad Spanish is better than none at all and the folks 
down there appreciate it a lot if you try.  Don't forget, their English is usually worse than your Spanish, 
if they speak English at all.  Some Indians do not even speak Spanish.

That water in Baja is safe as far as I know.  It has never made me sick.  But, many Mexicans in Baja 
drink reverse osmosis filtered water.  There is a parasite which is the major cause of stroke like 
collapse.  Medical attention must be immediate to not suffer from long-term effects.  The parasite 
grows in your brain to about the size of a fingernail.  Whew!  I have not heard of this in Baja but I am 
drinking filtered and bottled water from here on out.  I am too young and cute to be a vegetable.  
Carbonated beverages are always safe: beer and soda.  Ask in restaurants about the water if you are 
not sure.  The law says ice cubes must be made from filtered water and are.  Block ice is not made from 
filtered water.  

I eat where the locals eat as they get dysentery just like us so they avoid the places which make them 
sick.  You may have short term discomfort from changes in the bacteria in the water.  You'll get over it.  
I always get a touch of it when I get back to the states.  Go figure.

So, get a passport, pay for your visa (about US$20), drink filtered or bottled water, soda or beer or 
coffee, learn some Spanish and be pleasant to the folks down there.  That really turns them on.  They 
are very friendly folks and my experience is that they are not quite as dishonest as we are.

If you get down to Mulege look me up.  I would love to see you.   I will be at the Orchard or Oasis RV 
park.  Most likely the Oasis.  I'll buy you dinner.

L8R