So you think it sounds great to live in leisure excess in the warm sun every day, and that does sound good, but like all myths it’s just a dream, or at least it only happens once in a while, retiring in Mexico is a lot of work sometimes. 

Only yesterday I read my morning horrid scope and it basically said “go forth and slay the dragon today, you’re good” – now that’s not unusual for us Aries to see in print because we’re expected to slay the dragons, it’s our thing. But yesterday I could feel it in me that I could do it, so I set forth.

I began by exploring some new housing areas in case I get evicted from my castle and found some nice ones for sale, but nothing for rent, I began to wonder if it’s like the old Gracho Marx styck “I wouldn’t live in a Fracc that would rent to someone like me”.

Anyway with a bunch of that under my belt I picked up the mail for the day at the pool supply and found some late arriving Christmas cards and exciting news from not only Webb County TX motor vehicle license dept, but the IRS – that will make your lips numb every time. So I hurried home still feeling the power of the day within me and started with the IRS. They still think I owe them some money from ’05 and I’m quite sure I don’t, so we’re doing this long distance mail dance where they send me forms to sign basically saying “ok, uncle, I quit, you’re right, find check enclosed” – which I promptly round file and send another copy of proof positive I’m right – the check is NOT in the mail.

This day I could do no wrong so I decided to call an actual human at the IRS in Utah – now I was approaching delusional, but the day was mine and I dialed – and dialed – and went through menus, recorded messages etc. until finally one dumped me? – hey folks, you could have done that 20 minutes earlier and saved us both the grief. So, the answer is in the mail which of course is pony express out of the LCS via a traveler to the homeland where it will be mailed. So the score at this point was dragons 0, me 0, I was unbowed.

I opened the mail from the motor vehicle guys expecting to find a sticker but instead found my check returned because it wasn’t from a “local” bank and no proof of TX insurance, the tension began to build.

The whole story here is that I bought the Jeep right before I moved here and it had plates on it that expire 1/08 so when I got the title I chucked it in the safe and forgot it, then in Dec I got the form to renew the sticker and I promptly sent for a new sticker with a check for $63.80 drawn on Compass bank with my Laredo address. Although at the time I thought the plate number didn’t look right, but quickly forgot about it until a week later when I remembered to check and sure enough, the paperwork and plate on the Jeep don’t match.

Now, in TX I’d have gone over to the HEB and straightened it out or at worst downtown to the tax assessor’s office – but now I’m 700 miles from the nearest HEB or the county courthouse driving a car with plates that don’t match my paperwork in a foreign country. Just imagine getting stopped and trying to explain this one, I figure at the very least they’d confiscate the car and chuck me forthwith into a Mexican jail – so there was/is a minor level of concern here approaching white knuckle hysteria, I DON’T DO JAIL!

I called Webb County, my second government agency for the day, I felt brave, I felt empowered – ok let’s be honest here, I was desperate. After an appropriate time on hold I tried to explain that I live in MX and no longer have NOB insurance because it’s useless down here, but I do have MX insurance which is of course useless up there. And the option of sending a money order was nonexistent as I don’t know if they even have money orders in MX or where I’d get one and it would be in pesos anyway. My story so touched the lady she passed me (off) to her supervisor who gave me a couple of options, get TX insurance, come to the court house in Laredo and bring cash – gee, why didn’t I think of that?

I do intend to make a run to the storage area in TX at the end of the month and will have to get NOB insurance anyway, so it will work out unless I get stopped here before that.

What’s the score? – pretty much a draw, dragon’s still alive and feisty and me still determined to prevail in the end. Once again, if you imagine living every day in carefree bliss in the sun – THINK AGAIN.

An observation; all Mexicans have business cards – really. Well, at least all the business people, it’s amazing and they’re nice ones too, colorful with nice art and fancy print is totally common. Even many Expats have them with email and phone at the very least to pass around, so guess I need to get busy and whip up some.

One last thought for the day; manual labor; I have a graphic demonstration going on next door. The owners of the open lot have decided to build a wall around it and clear it of brush, vines etc. and it’s about like this lot, 80’ X 300’ so, a sizable lot. NOB a tractor or small dozer would probably take half a day to clear the lot and be gone. Here there are two men with machete’s hacking away at the growth day after day. They’re doing a heck of a job, but it will probably take at least a week or two to complete the clearing the old fashioned way.

So, based on my license plate en vinagre (pickle in Spanish) if the blog suddenly goes silent, send pesos and a lawyer – PRONTO.