After Art's last Spanish class on Friday afternoon we caught a local bus and returned to Aduana. But not before Art tripped on a step at the bus stop and skinned his knee! Holding a tissue over it until we arrived had stopped the bleeding but at the airport Art diverted to the washrooms to clean up his knee with soap and water, which involved walking the length of the airport and back because we missed the washrooms halfway down!
Back to Aduana with Gillian's letter of explanation with only a 10 minute delay. We had thought that they were going to give us the required forms but no:
After reading the letter, examining the Ministerio Publico report and the photos of the stolen Jeep and the bad guys pickup making their escape (which impressed the officer no end!) we were directed to the Banjercito (a sort of Federal Bank) to explain to them and try to get our import permit cancelled.
We had seen the banjercito on the way to the airport, it was back the way we had come,near the Marina. Back out to the highway to catch the next southbound bus, only a few minutes wait.
Gillian managed to spot the building in time to get off the bus, we climbed the steps to the main doors to see the guard inside with a key in his hand. The sign on the door read: Hours 8:30 - 15:00 Monday to Friday. Art looked at his watch; 15:00 on the dot. Then the guard opened the door! Hurray
Nope, he was letting a man out and relocked the door :(
Back to the rig, greeted by two happy dogs it was time for a very late lunch. Oh, and to properly clean the knee and apply some antibiotic ointment.
Insult to injury: This afternoon Gillian realised that our ladder, a combination 8' Step and 14' extension ladder was missing! Art had moved it away from the side of the rig, where he had put it while working on the fridge, and leaned it up against a palm tree behind the rig.
A few days ago a neighbour had a pair of runners go missing over night.
Saturday 8 March 2014
Thursday 6 March 2014
The Cell Phone Saga
First, let me be clear: Art hates smart phones. Which for someone who built his first radio at the age of eleven is pretty strange. He says he refused to have a phone that is smarter than he is! He doesn't like the touch screens. He wants real buttons to push and switches to switch.
Art had a motorola flip phone quad band opened for use with any provider. We don't use our cell phones a lot and neither of us have a plan, just the pay as you go. Art found that a $100.00 Rogers card lasts him the full year.
We have sim cards for Mexico, USA and Canada and even got one for Ireland when visiting there last summer which he was able to use in Portugal the following week. On the return from Europe he left it in the seat pocket on the plane when changing in Toronto. Never been seen since. Fortunately it still had the Irish chip in it with only a few euros of time left. Unfortunately it had all his contacts in it.
Back in Victoria he eventually got around to thinking about buying a new phone. Gillian had spotted one in a the store (tiny Best Buy outlet at Mayfair Mall) so he had no more excuses. There he found an inexpensive new Samsung phone ($49.95) which they unlocked at no charge! Art was delighted and bit by bit began to add to the contacts list. Two weeks later it malfunctioned! It somehow appeared to have re-locked itself, reporting "unrecognized sim".
Back to the store. They had no idea what had happened to it and were unable to unlock it again. They offered him a used Blackberry that someone had traded in. Reluctantly, he accepted. It had no charger but the charger for the Samsung worked with it. The store did not want the Samsung back so for some reason Art decided to keep it rather than have them throw it out so took it home and tossed it in a drawer.
Now it gets interesting. But dinner is ready, I haven't finished my Spanish homework, so:
To Be Continued.
Gillian had an unlocked quadband smart phone as well as an old Mexican cell phone so when we arrived in Mexico we put Art's Telcel(Mexican) sim card in her smart phone and she continued to use her old one.
This served us well enough, throughout our time in Zihuatanejo though Art continued to get frustrated with the smart phone and had it not been Gillian's he probably would have thrown it in the sea long since.
In Puerto Vallarta, bemoaning the loss of his contacts, he decided to see if his new but non working Samsung, which somehow had been loaded into the Motorhome along with all our other electronic devices, could be coaxed into at least coming up with a contacts list.
He removed the sim card from the smart phone and inserted it into the Samsung, and turned it on. There was still a charge in the battery! However, there was nothing in the contacts list! But neither did the the Telus logo that had always come up before. In fact, there was a lovely little Telcel icon showing a connection!
He tried to call Gillian's number: It started to connect, then nothing. Gillian's phone remained quiet. Then we tried the other way--she called him, same result. Next dial *333 and up came the automated Telcel system giving his balance! Strange. Oh well, it was a good try. We'll try perhaps later. We had once before had this sort of thing happen while using the smart phone.
Gillian went off to do some grocery shopping while Art and the dogs stayed home. Suddenly he remembered something he had wanted Gillian to get at the store. Why not give the Samsung one more try before transferring the sim card? He dialed her number and it began to ring. I mean her phone really began to ring. It was plugged into the charger on the dinette bench opposite Art! By the time he got up and around to pick it up it had stopped but a missed call showed.
When Gillian returned he related what had just occurred, that he had forgotten that he was almost out of Becel (all of which he had brought from Canada!) but she had remembered him mentioning some days ago that he was running low and she had bought some margarine for him!
Anyone interested in an old troublesome Blackberry?
They say "if someone hands you lemons, make lemonade".
Maybe I should cut it up it into 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937. . . pieces and make a Blackberry Pi.
Art had a motorola flip phone quad band opened for use with any provider. We don't use our cell phones a lot and neither of us have a plan, just the pay as you go. Art found that a $100.00 Rogers card lasts him the full year.
We have sim cards for Mexico, USA and Canada and even got one for Ireland when visiting there last summer which he was able to use in Portugal the following week. On the return from Europe he left it in the seat pocket on the plane when changing in Toronto. Never been seen since. Fortunately it still had the Irish chip in it with only a few euros of time left. Unfortunately it had all his contacts in it.
Back in Victoria he eventually got around to thinking about buying a new phone. Gillian had spotted one in a the store (tiny Best Buy outlet at Mayfair Mall) so he had no more excuses. There he found an inexpensive new Samsung phone ($49.95) which they unlocked at no charge! Art was delighted and bit by bit began to add to the contacts list. Two weeks later it malfunctioned! It somehow appeared to have re-locked itself, reporting "unrecognized sim".
Back to the store. They had no idea what had happened to it and were unable to unlock it again. They offered him a used Blackberry that someone had traded in. Reluctantly, he accepted. It had no charger but the charger for the Samsung worked with it. The store did not want the Samsung back so for some reason Art decided to keep it rather than have them throw it out so took it home and tossed it in a drawer.
Now it gets interesting. But dinner is ready, I haven't finished my Spanish homework, so:
To Be Continued.
Gillian had an unlocked quadband smart phone as well as an old Mexican cell phone so when we arrived in Mexico we put Art's Telcel(Mexican) sim card in her smart phone and she continued to use her old one.
This served us well enough, throughout our time in Zihuatanejo though Art continued to get frustrated with the smart phone and had it not been Gillian's he probably would have thrown it in the sea long since.
In Puerto Vallarta, bemoaning the loss of his contacts, he decided to see if his new but non working Samsung, which somehow had been loaded into the Motorhome along with all our other electronic devices, could be coaxed into at least coming up with a contacts list.
He removed the sim card from the smart phone and inserted it into the Samsung, and turned it on. There was still a charge in the battery! However, there was nothing in the contacts list! But neither did the the Telus logo that had always come up before. In fact, there was a lovely little Telcel icon showing a connection!
He tried to call Gillian's number: It started to connect, then nothing. Gillian's phone remained quiet. Then we tried the other way--she called him, same result. Next dial *333 and up came the automated Telcel system giving his balance! Strange. Oh well, it was a good try. We'll try perhaps later. We had once before had this sort of thing happen while using the smart phone.
Gillian went off to do some grocery shopping while Art and the dogs stayed home. Suddenly he remembered something he had wanted Gillian to get at the store. Why not give the Samsung one more try before transferring the sim card? He dialed her number and it began to ring. I mean her phone really began to ring. It was plugged into the charger on the dinette bench opposite Art! By the time he got up and around to pick it up it had stopped but a missed call showed.
When Gillian returned he related what had just occurred, that he had forgotten that he was almost out of Becel (all of which he had brought from Canada!) but she had remembered him mentioning some days ago that he was running low and she had bought some margarine for him!
Anyone interested in an old troublesome Blackberry?
They say "if someone hands you lemons, make lemonade".
Maybe I should cut it up it into 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937. . . pieces and make a Blackberry Pi.
Tramites! (Paperwork)
Yesterday (Wednesday) after Art's Spanish class finished at 1:00 PM we visited the insurance office here in Puerto Vallarta and took along our very good friend and Spanish teacher, Melchor, to help with translating. We didn't want any misunderstandings.
The big problem is if course we have none of the original documents which of course they require. Essentially, what was resolved was they would forward the file to Mexico City for them to advise the local office. I must say that the staff in the Qualitas office here in Puerta really tried to help and were very understanding and sympathetic. They also directed us to the airport so see Aduana there. (Customs) about the loss of the temporary import documents and windshield hologram as well as of course the theft of the Jeep.
The Jeep not being recovered is going to be expensive: Customs can consider it sold if not found and not taken out of Mexico and therefore subject to import duty which is very high. We have heard that it is 40% of their assessed value. This amount is not covered by insurance
What we need to have done is: Duty paid, then have our temporary import permits cancelled. Otherwise, Gillian would not be allowed to bring another vehicle into Mexico.
Back to the rig for some lunch and give the dogs some much needed attention, then we caught the bus to the airport. -First we walked towards the big building marked ADUANA. Of course this was only for exporters, so back across the parking lot to the main entrance as directed by a helpful security guard. At the arrivals entrance another security guard directed us to another in a small cubbyhole who dialed an extension for us and we spoke to an agent.
He arrived shortly and we discussed the problem. He said we would have to call an 800 number to request the forms we would need and that he would return in a moment with an address to send to forms to! We weren't really sure what he meant but hung around for maybe 10 minutes and he returned with a paper printed in English and pointed out a small paragraph that we had to read and understand, then he would return in another ten minutes!
True to his word, he was soon back with an explanation that we had to write in Spanish an explanation of how and why the documents and the Jeep were missing. We would then return with this letter and he would have the forms that we needed to fill out! Art said that it would probably be tomorrow. He said that he would be here. All the staff at the airport was very courteous and helpful. It was now approaching 5:00 PM and Art hadn't eaten much for lunch and was hungry and sore from standing: All the preceding discussions had taken place at the arrivals gate and there was no seating available.
Back at the rig he soon took care of that and began composing the required letter. We then emailed it to Melchor asking him if he would please put it in Spanish for us. We could probably have managed ourselves but again, we wanted no misunderstandings!
So now we are waiting for that, then probably Friday after class we will catch the bus once again to the airport.
Now as to why Mexican customs charge duty for stolen but not recovered vehicles: It would appear that many foreigners who could not be bothered to take their vehicle out of Mexico, or no longer wanted it would do just that: Sell the vehicle (which is illegal) then report it stolen so they could get the temporary import permit cancelled properly.
As our Zihuatanejo musician friend Jimi Mamou is fond of saying, "Aiii, Chihuahua!"
The big problem is if course we have none of the original documents which of course they require. Essentially, what was resolved was they would forward the file to Mexico City for them to advise the local office. I must say that the staff in the Qualitas office here in Puerta really tried to help and were very understanding and sympathetic. They also directed us to the airport so see Aduana there. (Customs) about the loss of the temporary import documents and windshield hologram as well as of course the theft of the Jeep.
The Jeep not being recovered is going to be expensive: Customs can consider it sold if not found and not taken out of Mexico and therefore subject to import duty which is very high. We have heard that it is 40% of their assessed value. This amount is not covered by insurance
What we need to have done is: Duty paid, then have our temporary import permits cancelled. Otherwise, Gillian would not be allowed to bring another vehicle into Mexico.
Back to the rig for some lunch and give the dogs some much needed attention, then we caught the bus to the airport. -First we walked towards the big building marked ADUANA. Of course this was only for exporters, so back across the parking lot to the main entrance as directed by a helpful security guard. At the arrivals entrance another security guard directed us to another in a small cubbyhole who dialed an extension for us and we spoke to an agent.
He arrived shortly and we discussed the problem. He said we would have to call an 800 number to request the forms we would need and that he would return in a moment with an address to send to forms to! We weren't really sure what he meant but hung around for maybe 10 minutes and he returned with a paper printed in English and pointed out a small paragraph that we had to read and understand, then he would return in another ten minutes!
True to his word, he was soon back with an explanation that we had to write in Spanish an explanation of how and why the documents and the Jeep were missing. We would then return with this letter and he would have the forms that we needed to fill out! Art said that it would probably be tomorrow. He said that he would be here. All the staff at the airport was very courteous and helpful. It was now approaching 5:00 PM and Art hadn't eaten much for lunch and was hungry and sore from standing: All the preceding discussions had taken place at the arrivals gate and there was no seating available.
Back at the rig he soon took care of that and began composing the required letter. We then emailed it to Melchor asking him if he would please put it in Spanish for us. We could probably have managed ourselves but again, we wanted no misunderstandings!
So now we are waiting for that, then probably Friday after class we will catch the bus once again to the airport.
Now as to why Mexican customs charge duty for stolen but not recovered vehicles: It would appear that many foreigners who could not be bothered to take their vehicle out of Mexico, or no longer wanted it would do just that: Sell the vehicle (which is illegal) then report it stolen so they could get the temporary import permit cancelled properly.
As our Zihuatanejo musician friend Jimi Mamou is fond of saying, "Aiii, Chihuahua!"
Monday 3 March 2014
Still here in PV
Not too much since the last post.
Lots on our minds as you can probably imagine, though the Olympics helped to keep our minds off our troubles for a while.
Surprisingly there has been a bit of good news; through lots of advice and suggestions from RV.NET Art got the fridge working! It seems that a thermal switch had failed and the cooling fans weren't working. A jumper using 2 inches of wire (white) and a couple of connectors took care of that. Now they run 24/7 and the fridge is cooling better than ever. That may also have something to do with the fact that the two vent covers (which we had removed in Zihuhatanejo to try to improve air flow) had been safely stored . . . . . in the back of the Jeep and are therefore missing!
Art's Spanish classes are progressing fairly well, even though an inability to really concentrate and poor sleep most nights still affect us. This is the last week of classes, we'll likely stay here until the middle of next week at least.
We will seeing a lawyer just to make sure we don't miss anything and will also probably see the insurance company again this week. They won't proceed with the claim until either the Jeep is located OR two weeks have past since the the theft. Tomorrow will be two weeks.
Besides the occasional Bandido wanting our Jeep, the Mex 200 has a large number of overhanging tree branches and other obstacles. We heard one loud bang which we didn't investigate until we were in the RV Park in Puerto Vallarta.
Haven't had the nerve to test it. Visions of it getting stuck in the "out" position.
Did I mention that the electric entry steps are stuck in the retracted position? Fortunately we have a folding plastic stool that sort of works. It took Tia a week to figure it out poor girl.
More to come.
Lots on our minds as you can probably imagine, though the Olympics helped to keep our minds off our troubles for a while.
Surprisingly there has been a bit of good news; through lots of advice and suggestions from RV.NET Art got the fridge working! It seems that a thermal switch had failed and the cooling fans weren't working. A jumper using 2 inches of wire (white) and a couple of connectors took care of that. Now they run 24/7 and the fridge is cooling better than ever. That may also have something to do with the fact that the two vent covers (which we had removed in Zihuhatanejo to try to improve air flow) had been safely stored . . . . . in the back of the Jeep and are therefore missing!
Art's Spanish classes are progressing fairly well, even though an inability to really concentrate and poor sleep most nights still affect us. This is the last week of classes, we'll likely stay here until the middle of next week at least.
We will seeing a lawyer just to make sure we don't miss anything and will also probably see the insurance company again this week. They won't proceed with the claim until either the Jeep is located OR two weeks have past since the the theft. Tomorrow will be two weeks.
Besides the occasional Bandido wanting our Jeep, the Mex 200 has a large number of overhanging tree branches and other obstacles. We heard one loud bang which we didn't investigate until we were in the RV Park in Puerto Vallarta.
Haven't had the nerve to test it. Visions of it getting stuck in the "out" position.
Did I mention that the electric entry steps are stuck in the retracted position? Fortunately we have a folding plastic stool that sort of works. It took Tia a week to figure it out poor girl.
More to come.
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