MEX-PATRIOT - 04 - Where to Go

These are just my gut feeling, although I have done some research:

• The colonial and old gold mining cities are very attractive if you can afford long distance trips to the DMV and State Department. Their streets are narrow, their altitudes are high, and their water supplies may contain arsenic, lead or cyanide.
• Chapala, near Guadalajara on the shores of Lake Chapala (Mexico's Lake Erie), is a personal favorite. You can find Opera,literature, doctors and dentists in English in Guadalajara Chapala has book, writer's, artist's and card clubs. However, the lake receives effluents from a major river coming from Mexico City. The federal government is aggressively building water treatment plants, but we may not live long enough to drink safe lake water. In addition, drought seems to killing the lake.
• The seacoasts are the victims of hurricanes and malaria--all, except for the Pacific coast of the state of Baja California. This may change with global warming.
• The border towns have resentments against Gringos. Shooting drug wars run all along the border. Live lost near Ciudad Juarez rival deaths in Afghanistan. Even little Tecate has suffered shootouts at the border. Severed heads wash up on Rosarito Beach.
• For my money, the Tijuana crossing is the safest. I've walked across often. It could be dangerous. Know where you are going. Don't walk east from the pedestrian bridge. I lost my Blackfoot Indian friend in thee last year.
• Dom't trust Yahoo weather reports.

MEX-PATRIOT - 03 - Things to Leave Behind

These things will only get you in trouble:

• Guns and ammunition, except BB guns. I know someone eho brought an English Enfield .303, with clip and ammo, down and back, shooting it at Punta Baja. He was lucky.
• Swords, machetes and knives with blades 3" or longer. A man was sent to prison for felonious possession. After a minor legal problem, the police found a long blade hidden in a cane. I think they'll forgive a butcher knife in the kitchen.
• Vehicles without permission from creditors.
• Illegal narcotics or large amounts of prescription drugs. A  woman was recently held in jail for holding several months supply of  prescription drugs.

MEX-PATRIOT - 02 - Ties that Bind

Drop that machete! You don't want a clean break. Life in Mexico is easier with links to the U.S.

• Birth Certificate needed for U.S passport, Mexican Visa, and to process your remains. If you don't have one, get one.
• Social Security card to start benefits and open bank account.
• Money! Don't leave home without it! I recommend $ 10,000 for one person for each year till Social Security kicks in (more if you have existing bills to pay). If you're going broke, bring cash to last until you can get your first SS check. Then go back across the border to set up a direct deposit account (safe from the creditors if you avoid commingling other funds). You may find a bank down here that van handle your direct deposits. You may even find a bank that does not report to the IRS. Remember casas de cambio no longer cash Social Security checks, due to excessive cases of fraud.
• Passport! Don't put this off! If things don't get better in Asia and the Middle East, you might find your application denied because you once dated a Communist.
• Friends will be needed for the driver's license and passport. Don't forget, if you use an address in Boston, or even Dallas, the authorities might try to get you to serve on a jury there.
• Mexican auto insurance is no good without U.S. insurance--but some states will give you a deep discount, if you promise not to drive in the U.S.

MEX-PATRIOT - 01 - Things to Consider

Regardless of your reasons for coming, if living here does not improve your quality of life don't come!

• Mexico is a second world country. Access to cable television and paved roads is not nearly continuous.
• Napoleonic law says you are guilty unless proven innocent. I know of someone arrested for buying drugs without a prescription (served less than a  week). A driver was held in a hospital under house arrest until he could pay for his accident caused treatment. I know three 'child molesters'--one extradited to the U.S. and still serving, the other two served time and got out while I have lived here.
• Mexico is a democracy. The U.S. is trying to become a theocracy. The church is not allowed to influence the government. The vast majority of the Mexicans are Roman Catholic. Most of the rest are born-again and Jehovah Witnesses. Thank God I am an agnostic.
• Mexico is populated by Mexicans--who knew--and Indians. If you do not like Mexi-cans and Indians, you are an American't! We have enough of the latter to go around.
• Mexico is struggling on four fronts: with the drug cartels, with the Zapatistas, with the illegal aliens from Central America, and with the threat posed by terrorists. For the record, Mexicans wear ponchos and terrorists kneel on prayer rugs. The government does not need anymore trouble from Gringos.
• Mexicans are generally pleasant neighbors of good will. I would rather deal with a Mexican than a Gringo!
• Cheer up! If the U.S. Congress does not depolarize soon, the U.S. will become a third world country.

SHEPHERD COMB GRAPHICS

Saddlebag Lake

Links to Shepherd Comb supplementary fotos

SADDLEBAG LAKE COMPLEX FOTOS:
http://picasaweb.google.com/115473256321597465396/SHEPHERDCOMBPhotos?feat=directlink

ISHI PISHI illustrated

Klamath River

Happy Camp

 Sorry! As reported in the story, Conrad dropped his camera in the Klamath. No photographs survived. Isn't that just the way with all stories that involve sasquash, shape shifting, and desirable motorcycle mamas. All I can offer is a blowup of my cover graphics and some Google maps.