Mike Humfreville - 4-19-2005 at 09:48 PM
On a recent trip to Bahia de Los Angeles we spent way longer than I had thought we would and we were running low on cash. In Baja?s central desert,
cash is hard to come up with and we owed our friend for our rooms. We had paid for only a few days and used them for three weeks. We asked him if we
could use Pay Pal and he agreed. It?s great having the internet in so many out-of-the-way places along the peninsula.
So that gave us a couple hundred extra bucks to get home on but still we needed to fill the 40 gallon tank of Vaca Blanca and eat and pay for a hotel
for a single night en route to Ventura, California. Before we hit the Pacific coast we were broke again.
?No biggie.? I thought as we pulled into San Quintin and stopped at our usual ATM. I was surprised when I fed my card to the machine and was quickly
rejected. I went across the street and got the same response. We sat in the car for a while and pondered. What would we do? Here we were in
Mexico, and the card doesn?t work. We have only a single debit card and know there?s money in the bank but, regardless, what do we do?
Mary Ann says ?Let?s go to our favorite place just outside of town. Maybe our friends there will loan us enough to get home.?
I didn?t like that idea. It just didn?t set right. While these were personal friends of long standing, we didn?t live nearby, across borders
actually, and I didn?t want to ask for that kind of support. But we sat and thought about it for awhile and had no alternatives. I started the Vaca
and we headed to our friend?s place down the road. They live in a rural area and it a dirt road and when we arrived they heard us and came to the
door before we could knock. ?Come on in.? They said. ?What brings you here??
I made small talk and hemmed and hawed before I faced the music, embarrassed. ?We?re broke and our card doesn?t work. I hate to ask you for money,
but don?t know what else to do.?
Our friend leaves the room and returns with a fistful of money. ?How much do you need? Are pesos OK? Or dollars??
I figured we needed a maximum of $100 to get us through the night and across the border the next day. $200 was pressed into my palm. We ended up
needing it all to get home. A few days later we mailed them their money back.
This event epitomizes the trust that occurs on a moment?s notice in Baja. Mexican to Mexican; Mexican to American, American to Mexican and American
to American. It?s just so damn rewarding to be spending time in an environment where trust is so prominent. Trust is just as meaningful on the
northern side of the border as well. But sometimes living in smaller communities feeds the trust factor. It?s just better when we know who we?re
dealing with.
I guess that could happen anywhere.
But it happened to me in Mexico.
Bruce R Leech - 4-20-2005 at 04:32 PM
People don't realize that this is a vary common occurrence here in Mexico. in fact about 20 % of our card customers have the problem with there card
not working. the problem is after you are in Mexico and use your card once or twice some card company's put a automatic hold on your card to be sure
it hasn't been stolen. the solution to this is to call the 24 hour 800 number on the back of the card and answer your secret question and tell them
that your card is not stolen and you need to remove the hold for the rest of your trip. by the time you git bask to where you need to use your card it
will work fine. we go through this several times a day .the other thing you can do to avoid this is to call that same number before you leave and tell
them that you are going to be in Mexico and to expect charges.
Corky1 - 4-20-2005 at 05:27 PM
Bruce,
That is very good information.
Thank you,
Corky 
Mike Humfreville - 4-20-2005 at 05:56 PM
We really haven't determined the cause of the problem, but I suspect it wasn't a problem caused by anything Mexican.
Before we left on our trip, Mary Ann went to the bank and told them we were going to Mexico so they WOULDN'T turn the card down if they saw charges
from south of the border. It is my belief that they did the wrong thing and disabled the card before we ever left.
Then there's another small detail that my paychecks were not mailed to our bank on a timely basis because of some unidentified mix up. At some point
near the end of our trip, our account may have been overdrawn and that could also have caused the problem.
What I've learned was that the next time we won't tell the bank we're going to Mexico. We've never told them that until this trip and this is the
only trip we've had this problem.
But the bottom line is that we continue to learn that every time we have problems in Baja we have the opportunity to meet wonderful folks that, like
so many of us, are wanting do be part of a solution.
Bruce R Leech - 4-20-2005 at 06:04 PM
I love your attitude Mike
trust
mulege marv - 4-21-2005 at 05:42 AM
i have found that when it is obvious i need help, someone is always there to lend a hand. when its not so obvious all i have to do is ask. i think its
more of a frame of mind than it is trust. people here like people, and will go out of there way when they know someone needs help. it has certainly
changed my way of thinking, even in my short time living here. i would NOT think of driving by a car along side of the road with the hood up or a
flat. in the good ole' USA, never thought twice about it (like everyone else). "treat others as you would like to be treated" i think my mom use to
tell me, but it seems to work better in Baja. So i guess my point is it could have happend anywhere, but your odds are alot better here.
Me No - 4-22-2005 at 08:25 PM
bruce is right. some financial institutions charge EXTRA if you use too much over a certain time frame. 
Saludos
tim40 - 4-24-2005 at 07:23 PM
Tracey and I sure enjoyed tasting tequila with you last night Mike. Look forward to other times in the future. Tim
Mike Humfreville - 4-24-2005 at 08:27 PM
I don't know whether it's trust or wanting to help or just having more time, it IS more likely to happen in Baja (and many other places that are not
to time strapped as we are in the U.S.
That's certainly not a criticism as that's where I have chosen to live the majority of my life and to raise Mary Ann's and my children. But we are
still in a time warp north of the border and just don't have much of that commodity.
tim40 - It was nice meeting you guys. I could'a taken a little less tequila and felt better on the drive north. Lot of good stories though and way
hard to walk away! Stop by for a visit!