Is Mexico Safe?

[DougLaird]

Originally Posted by rockymountainoyster

It has been laid out here in such tiresome detail so many times. This stuff is not rocket science, you don't need to speak Spanish to do it, Banjercito has a phone # you can call at which there is english speaking assistance, I posted that number a few pages back, I am in Chile now and do not have it at my fingertips. This is so simple to do at the border that I really don't understand why people put themselves through the hassle at home. The TVIP runs congruently with and co-terminates with the tourist visa. The first thing you do at the border is to get the tourist visa and ask for 180 days because you plan to be traveling in Mexico for 180 days, say nothing more. With your fresh new visa in hand you go to the Banjercito counter or office and ask for your TVIP, you do not need to show the title, only the valid registration card. All of your paperwork: passport, vehicle registration, and credit card must have the same name on it. If your passport says John Paul Jones then your registration and credit card must say John Paul Jones, not John P Jones or you will have some 'splainin to do. Yes, for the umpeenth and forty two time, they charge your credit card... what they charge seems to be based on the value of the vehicle.... it is nearly $400 or more, it is refundable if you pay attention and close the TVIP when you leave Mexico. If you don't close the TVIP you don't get your money back and you can never bring another vehicle into Mexico as long as that TVIP is open, and you are fined for having an open TVIP after it and your tourist visa have expired. If all of your paperwork is in order you should have no trouble at the border. Why lay on an extra layer of bureaucracy at a consular office in the US. Yeah sure, it is possible to do it on line but it does take more time and things can go back and forth.

100% Correct!

[SchizzMan]

Originally Posted by rockymountainoyster

It has been laid out here in such tiresome detail so many times. This stuff is not rocket science, you don't need to speak Spanish to do it, Banjercito has a phone # you can call at which there is english speaking assistance, I posted that number a few pages back, I am in Chile now and do not have it at my fingertips. This is so simple to do at the border that I really don't understand why people put themselves through the hassle at home. The TVIP runs congruently with and co-terminates with the tourist visa. The first thing you do at the border is to get the tourist visa and ask for 180 days because you plan to be traveling in Mexico for 180 days, say nothing more. With your fresh new visa in hand you go to the Banjercito counter or office and ask for your TVIP, you do not need to show the title, only the valid registration card. All of your paperwork: passport, vehicle registration, and credit card must have the same name on it. If your passport says John Paul Jones then your registration and credit card must say John Paul Jones, not John P Jones or you will have some 'splainin to do. Yes, for the umpeenth and forty two time, they charge your credit card... what they charge seems to be based on the value of the vehicle.... it is nearly $400 or more, it is refundable if you pay attention and close the TVIP when you leave Mexico. If you don't close the TVIP you don't get your money back and you can never bring another vehicle into Mexico as long as that TVIP is open, and you are fined for having an open TVIP after it and your tourist visa have expired. If all of your paperwork is in order you should have no trouble at the border. Why lay on an extra layer of bureaucracy at a consular office in the US. Yeah sure, it is possible to do it on line but it does take more time and things can go back and forth.

Originally Posted by DougLaird

100% Correct!

Well, let's call it 98% correct.

My passport and vehicle registration spell out my first and middle names but my credit card has only my initials. Never had a problem going back to 1992 when I was getting permits for private aircraft. Did see a woman refused by Banjercito at Puente Colombia because her credit card used her nickname instead of her given name. But initials seem to be OK.

I do go with RMO on getting the TVIP at the border ever since a Banjercito paperwork glitch cost me a planned trip Down South 2 years ago. YMMV.

[john3500]

Where can I purchase Mexico map for my Garmin that shows more detail than the Garmin na issue?

[tricepilot]

Originally Posted by john3500

Where can I purchase Mexico map for my Garmin that shows more detail than the Garmin na issue?

I can draw you one for 50 pesos

[fallingoff]

Originally Posted by Haywood

Ah yes, Mexican weather girls. One of my all time favorites, Sugey Abrego.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiL2sc69mtU Remember this one Trice? I first saw it in one of your ride reports some time ago. Thanks again!

thanks for just waisting 1hr of my life.
gotta go now have check the weather in mexico. lol

[tricepilot]

Originally Posted by Haywood

Ah yes, Mexican weather girls. One of my all time favorites, Sugey Abrego.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiL2sc69mtU Remember this one Trice? I first saw it in one of your ride reports some time ago. Thanks again!

Ah, Sugey

Everyone loves a little with their clima

[MikeMike]

Originally Posted by tricepilot

I can draw you one for 50 pesos

Now that, ladies and gentleman, is entertainment!

Hey Hekto, glad you had fun yesterday, and your editing skills will mean that Trice doesn't have to sketch out routes on the back of serviettes.

You are going to really enjoy that route through Xoxocotla, you have some good luck with the weather, just remember to avoid the coast today and tomorrow. Also, with yesterday's ride and the ride you did from Tlapacoyan to Teziutlan on your run from Papantla to Perote (or did you do Tlapacoyan to Altotonga and then to Perote????? in which case you will be sworn to secrecy for that one), you have got some good kms on some decent roads here.

[SchizzMan]

Originally Posted by john3500

Where can I purchase Mexico map for my Garmin that shows more detail than the Garmin na issue?

Originally Posted by tricepilot

I can draw you one for 50 pesos

Bicimapas.com can't beat Trice's discount price but you can download it to your GPS. So, there's that, at least.

I use Bicimapas.

[Bato]

Lyrics

[tricepilot]

Here for the Community Events section of our little corner of the ADV "paper" I submit the following interesting news item: There is an ongoing ADV clampdown on PayPal pleas for any cause.

FYI and general awareness, the moderators have begun to deploy a no-PayPal plea policy for either (1) Donating to a "gas fund" for a rider's adventure and (2) Similar pleas to help people in distress, i.e., victims of accidents or theft. Right here in the IMS thread, the recent RMO effort to help Doña Sara is an example.

This is not an indictment of the worthiness of the cause, rather, a move mandated by the proliferation of these pleas and the use of ADV, a privately held entity, as a platform to generate cash. In and of itself, many of the causes are noble. It's when wrenches get thrown in the gears by a few that the machine begins to grind.

Veterans of the site will remember the Kaneman saga and the meltdown that ensued. Reference "Quit my job to go on a "little ride"....US Tour '07". This is certainly one of the biggest examples of a PayPal controversy but certainly, if the subject ended with Kaneman, we wouldn't be talking about PayPal pleas here today.

The recent effort by our own Rocky Mountain Oyster to help make whole our friend Doña Sara from San Miguel de Allende is an example of the use of this site to bring together like minded souls to assist someone not even connected to adventure riding other than to say one of her students in Spanish school was from such a community, and in the helping, what David did reflected greatly upon that community and, by any sense of the definition, was a noble cause.

It is also important to stress that it isn't the Kaneman thread but the recent promulgation of threads that are including PayPal requests which is pushing the tighter policy. That, and I must stress I have no personal example of the following point being made, not all PayPal requests are on a noble footing.

I am not a moderator, but I do know a few, and they are all excellent individuals with a tough job to do. They have supported the effort in the IMS thread directly, and outstandingly, when the exceedingly rare occasion has popped up where we have had to do some house cleaning. Ergo, I fully support the mods decision on this, as I have an understanding of the context within which they are enforcing this policy. At the same time, I am continuing to cheer what David did for someone who is not even a rider and who lives in Mexico, and who was, I'm sure, deeply touched by our moto community. We have to understand that because of the wide audience ADV has, and where the path of PayPal pleas has led, that the mods have to clamp down, and I support their decision.

If, in the future, an urge to assist someone who is connected to the IMS thread community arises, in any way similar in nature to what RMO put together or even different, I have thought of ways to tackle it off-line and keep the formality of ADV out of it. All this in keeping with the moderators wishes and the ADV policy.

When that happens, you can PM me and I'll share my thoughts.

[slowoldguy]

A bad apple or two can rot the bushel for the rest of us. Shame it has to be that way but, like tricepilot, I can see a need for the policy. Doesn't keep us from sponsoring whomever we want to sponsor back-channel. That being said....my paypal address is brokeassslowoldguy@woohoo.com and I wanna go to Mexico.

[tricepilot]

[WeazyBuddha]

Originally Posted by tricepilot

**SNIP** There is an ongoing ADV clampdown on PayPal pleas for any cause.**SNIP**

Well stated my friend. Quick look-see did not yield evidence of a clamp down. Is this something nascent, perhaps a private conversation amongst the mods (ahead of the actual announcement) that has started to leak out?

[tricepilot]

Originally Posted by WeazyBuddha

Well stated my friend. Quick look-see did not yield evidence of a clamp down. Is this something nascent, perhaps a private conversation amongst the mods (ahead of the actual announcement) that has started to leak out?

I was contacted directly in connection to a re-post I personally did supporting someone else's PayPal link for a downed rider (some will recall the recent biff of Trevor). In addition, I know that David was contacted directly in relation to the aforementioned PayPal effort in this thread on behalf of Sara. He and I traded PMs on that situation yesterday.

Personally I was not contacted about any issues in Ride Reports, and although being a frequent reader of same I do know of the existence of PayPal links posted by some authors, I'm not the go-to guy for how the policy deployment is going in that department.

I will state, for the record, that the moderator that contacted me is probably the biggest asset to ADV behind Baldy, and does, and has done, more for this site than practically anyone I know of. He fully understands and appreciates the good side of the coin, which, unfortunately, cannot be disassociated with the bad side. I can't begin to imagine the workload involved if each individual case had to be studied for it to remain on the site on merit.

[mark883]

I can't believe that no one would want to contribute to my 'Help Mark Ride Aimlessly Drinking Beer, Eating Street Tacos and Ooogling Dark Haired Young Women Tour de Mexico'

I don't really want contributions of money, but I'm looking for volunteers to come to work for me. As little as one day, but a week will get you a autographed postcard from Puerto Vallarta or Mazatlan, and you can help yourself to any Mexican beer in my fridge (sorry PJ- no Indio in Ohio). Knowledge of computers and marketing will be handy.