Oso
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2637
Registered: 8-29-2003
Location: on da border
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Mood: wait and see
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The SEMARNAP Samba
Due to popular demand (all 3 of them)
The SEMARNAP Samba
By Oso
First online 7/13/99 www.bajanet.com
?Forget San Diego,? said Nigel, ?you can get your tourist card and fishing license in Ensenada.? Well, Nigel should know, I thought. He?s lived in
Ensenada off & on for years. It was only halfway through the ?dance lesson? that I realized one crucial detail; Nigel doesn?t fish. He?d never
actually done the SEMARNAP Samba.
It began with the surly, suspicious slob at Migracion (which, of course, is on the wrong side of the street, going north back to the border, with
exactly one available parking space). ?Where do I get a fishing license?? I asked in English, not wanting to let the migra know that I spoke Spanish.
?Maybe you get from boat captain,? he said, waving me out the door. ?Well no, actually I plan to surf fish mostly,? I said. [At the time I didn?t
know a license was not required to fish from shore.] ?Maybe you go Anthony?s Bar. Maybe round there.? He said, his body language indicating that
maybe I go and do something vaguely immoral and physically impossible to myself, further assistance being clearly beyond his responsibility or
inclination.
Well, Anthony?s Bar (the one with the gorilla) is sort of near where the guidebooks [circa 1999] say the Secretaria de Pesca may be found. Only it
isn?t there anymore and it isn?t the Secretaria de Pesca anymore. It?s the Secretaria de Medio Ambiente, Recursos Naturales y Pesca (SEMARNAP), and
it?s on the second floor of a small commercial building at the corner of Ave. Guadalupe and Calle Segunda (second street). Only you won?t find any
street signs saying Calle Segunda. If you find any street signs at all [rare], they will say Cabrillo. Despite both guidebooks and local maps
showing 1st, 2nd, 3rd streets, those are not their official names and they are not marked as such. Ave. Lopez Mateos is ?understood? to be AKA ?1st
St.? and so on.
Once there (2 hrs later), and feeling safe enough to use my reasonably fluent Spanish, I found the young lady in charge of sporting licenses and was
shown a chart with prices for 1 day, one week, etc. As the price was the same for one month as it was for 2 weeks, I chose the former.
?Do you have the forms?? She asked. ?I?m supposed to bring the forms? You don?t have them here?? I naively asked. ?You will have to get them at
Hacienda,? she said, referring to another bureaucracy, the Secretaria de Hacienda. ?It?s just around the corner,? she added helpfully, handing me a
slip of paper denoting two copies of form number 5. I walked around a rather long block searching for an elusive governmental monolith. What I found
was a small storefront selling children?s notebooks, school supplies and yes, government forms.
?Only two copies?? asked the pleasant matron behind the counter, ?They usually want three.? I was not about to argue and since the cost per form was
only a few cents, would have bought dozens, if necessary. Returning to SEMARNAP, I presented the forms and relayed the store clerk?s opinion that
three copies might be required. ?Is it three?? the young lady asked a co-worker. ?Yes, I think so.? I waited for the forms to be typed up in
triplicate, glad that I had not tried to save 50 centavos and been sent back for another. When she returned to the counter, I reached for my wallet.
?Oh, you don?t pay here.? She said. ?You have to go to BANAMEX?.
?Excuse me, Miss, you sell fishing licenses here but you don?t have the forms and you don?t accept the payment? I asked, incredulously. ?That?s
correct.? - ?So now I have to go to the bank??- ?And then come back here?, she explained with a smile.
In my usual gringo mode, I would have been steaming by now. But, once I got off the nightmarish San Diego Freeway and across the border, I had
determined to let nothing upset me. I needed to change some currency anyway, so almost amused now I went off to BANAMEX, some several blocks away,
took a number, paid 166 pesos and returned to SEMARNAP with a receipt, where I waited for the Srta. to get the Liciensado in charge to sign off on the
forms and present me with my license.
?Thank you,? I said, ?and do you have any brochures with the regulations, limits and such?? ?They?re on the back of your license?, she said. And so
they are, in microscopic print.
Being a guest in another sovereign state, it was definitely not my place to make comments regarding efficiency. As I reflected on the process, it
occurred to me that all of this might have a purpose. What, you may ask? Well Mexican Gov?t employees don?t make very much money and since no one
had even hinted at a mordida, there are probably few perks either (in this particular branch). One perk might perhaps be a bit of amusement to
lighten the day. What fun it must be to teach dumbfounded gringos to dance in circles. What expressions on their faces! And the short ones in
Hawaiian shirts, how red they get! The whole process had taken about 4 hours and with the right attitude, had been an adventure in itself.
All my childhood I wanted to be older. Now I\'m older and this chitn sucks.
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Natalie Ann
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2819
Registered: 8-22-2003
Location: Berkeley
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Oso
And the short ones in Hawaiian shirts, how red they get! |
  
Thank you, Senor Oso, for that delightful tale!
Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.
.....Oscar Wilde
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Bruce R Leech
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6796
Registered: 9-20-2004
Location: Ensenada formerly Mulege
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Mood: A lot cooler than Mulege
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the problem is that in Mexico no bureaucrat can be trusted with even a few pesos.
Bruce R Leech
Ensenada
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bajalera
Super Nomad
Posts: 1875
Registered: 10-15-2003
Location: Santa Maria CA
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That's a good one, Oso! Thanks . . .
\"Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest never happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects.\" -
Mark Twain
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Mexray
Super Nomad
Posts: 1016
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: California Delta
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Mood: Baja Time
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Oso...
A couple of years ago, I too, tried the 'dance' in Ensenada...
Started at the Port Capt's office...was directed to 'Secretaria de Pesca' at some mid-town address...they had of course moved from there some
months/years before! A kind soul nearby directed be to their 'new' office, back down near the waterfront. When I finally found someone to help me, I
was also told that they had no forms, and I would have to go fetch them as you did...
Well, having invested a couple of hours at that point, I said to hell with it, and boogied on down the road to Mulege! I really don't do all that
much fishing, but I had decided to try and be 'legal'. After that run-a-round, I just gave up and decided to go 'barefoot' on that trip.
It's really a shame, as the Mexican Govt. could probably earn far more pesos for the treasury if they only took a look at what they are doing to scare
away 'customers'...They could easily adopt a system like the State of Calif uses here above the border that is so easy and available for anyone
needing a license! It always amazes me how such a large county like Mexico, in this day and time can still operate with it's multitude of 'offical'
power-centers that operate like they are still in the 1800's! Go figure, cell phones, internet, Sat TV, but one still gets the 'cha-cha dance' when
you deal with the government!
According to my clock...anytime is \'BAJA TIME\' & as Jimmy Buffett says,
\"It doesn\'t use numbers or moving hands It always just says now...\"
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bajajudy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6886
Registered: 10-4-2004
Location: San Jose del Cabo,BCS
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Great Story!
I know that there have been a lot of posts about fishing licenses in San Lucas but I have to tell you that it is a piece of cake to get one. You walk
in, fill our the form and pay the guy. End of story.
[Edited on 5-22-2005 by bajajudy]
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mrchuck
Junior Nomad
Posts: 82
Registered: 11-6-2002
Location: Gun Barrel City, TX
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| Quote: | Originally posted by bajajudy
I know that there have been a lot of posts about fishing licenses in San Lucas but I have to tell you that it is a piece of cake to get one. You walk
in, fill our the form and pay the guy. End of story.
Judy, you are "WRONG"!!!
1- you MUST go buy your forms at a paper store FIRST before you go upstairs to the PESCA office. This paper store is NOT close by.
2- Then you go to the PESCA office and get your forms filled out by the PESCA OFFICER. BUT YOU CANNOT PAY HERE!!
3- You must now go to the STATE GOVERNMENT"S office over by the 7 Crowns hotel, which is over a mile away, and with no close parking! Here, you pay
the cashier, get your forms stamped paid.
4- Now you must return back to the Pesca office, find a place to park, go upstairs again, and sit down and the Pesca Officer will complete now, and
only now, the rest of the paperwork and give you your copies of the individual fishing license, and boat license for fishing.
This is NOT and easy process, and I really doubt you that you have really gone and got one.
I suspect you are just "mouthing off" something that you haven't personally done.
And this exact procedure has been in place for several years now.
Saludos,,,,mc
[Edited on 5-22-2005 by bajajudy] |
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Baja Bernie
`Normal` Nomad Correspondent
Posts: 2962
Registered: 8-31-2003
Location: Sunset Beach
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Mood: Just dancing through life
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OSO
Thank you so much for showing the folks that when I say someone is a good storyteller I also mean they can really sling ink.
Please continue to amuse and inform us.
My smidgen of a claim to fame is that I have had so many really good friends. By Bernie Swaim December 2007
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Eli
Super Nomad
Posts: 1471
Registered: 8-26-2003
Location: L.B. Baja Sur
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Mood: Some times Observing, sometimes Oblivious.
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Thanks Oso, you really do know how to put togeather some fun reading, hope to encounter more of your stuff here soon.
Also, most pertanit to life in Baja and all of Mexico, good way to let new comers be aware, so they don't get all frustrated with a system that is not
likly to change anytime in the new future, along with you outstanding scence of humor, ah yes, nicely done in deed.
I have gotten so use to this system in dealing with government, I take for granted the trip to a papeleria that sells legal forms and the bank, been
doing it for years to pay my taxes, immigration, whatever enter reaction with goverment, I would assume this would be the procedure.
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Tucker
Senior Nomad
Posts: 664
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: El Centenario, BCS
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Immigration and other Government Offices
that take in money require the "form five" receipt document. For folks who use these services regularly it might be best to buy at least a years
supply. It saves one trip to the government office.
\"I think it would be a good idea.\"
-- Mahatma Gandhi, when asked what he thought of Western civilization
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Santiago
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3499
Registered: 8-27-2003
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Thanks for that reprise from the Amigos board - I remember reading it then and making sure I got my licenses/permits before going down - but then I
don't have good stories to tell like you!
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bajajudy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6886
Registered: 10-4-2004
Location: San Jose del Cabo,BCS
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Sorry Mr Chuck but I certainly have gone and gotten one although it has been a couple of year. It was certainly an easy process then. That reminds
me, I better go get a new fishing license as mine has run out.
I am not in the habit of mouthing off. so relax por favor
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yankeeirishman
Banned
Posts: 1070
Registered: 3-5-2004
Location: Kalifornia
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why bother with them?
I do all of my legal needs, on line. I can have my fishing license, boat, whatever.....BEFORE I enter Mexico. Here...go to the site I deal with:
http://www.bajabound.com/before/fishing.asp?r=mexonline
What control freaks there are here. Don\'t believe that post you just read!
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