atm - bank of America debit cards

There is no ATM in Mulege. Santander is a B of A affiliate. Santander bank spoke to the community in October about putting one in, and possibly even a small branch bank. Now that Bruce is leaving, we really need that. We have to go to Santa Rosalia which only has two banks; Bancomer and Banamex. These are very poor options, not only because of the inconvenience of having to drive that distance, but also because the service there is unacceptably poor. I know, I know! Mexico teaches you patience, but when it comes to the handling of money, they have to join the modern,international banking world.

I closed my account at Bancomer because the lines are so long, and the bank officers you have to wait for to do almost everything before you can stand in the teller lines, seem not to care. Their systems are archaic and s-l-o-o-o-w. They wouldn't even accept a Bank of America Cashier's Check that I had brought to open the account. Travelers' checks are not an option. They are not honored in most business and you still have to go through the hassel at the banks.

When I tried to use my B of A debit card in the Bancomer ATM, it would only give me 1500 pesos. When I went to the female bank officer to ask why the restriction, she snapped, "the fault is with your bank, not ours." Upon returning to California, my B of A branch refuted that, saying that indeed, my daily limit is $700.00 anywhere in the world. The Banamex ATM across the street from Bancomer in Santa Rosalia wouldn't even recognize my debit card and would give me nothing.

Then the worst case scenario occurred when I brought cash down to clean up my casita and do repairs after the great flood from Hurricane John....I had my truck broken into and lost $4000.00 cash....all the cash I had brought to try and restore my house. No, nobody saw me stash it. Needless to say, I had to head for the border without being able to accomplish much. You may wonder why I was stupid enough to hide cash in my truck? What are the options? Carry it on you in a money belt, hide it in your hotel room, or hide it in your vehicle? I had carried it for five sweaty days in my money belt. It was so very hot while I was working in my house, that I decided to take a chance and hide it in a plastic baby wipes box, under lots of stuff in the truck. The owner of Las Casitas Hotel,where I was staying, in the town of Mulege ,told me, "Park in front of the hotel. There are bright lights and I have a night watchman, all night.. We never have problems here." There was no night watchman and I found out that there had been "problems" there in the past. Reporting it to the police was a joke. The incident happened in the early morning hours of Saturday. When the hotel owner called the police for me later on Saturday morning, they said they would come and take fingerprints. They never showed up. They are only 1 1/2 blocks away. On Monday morning I went to the Policia Judiciales to make a report. I had to wait in line for 2 1/2 hours for the clerk to take my report. All the while, the main cop there did not offer to talk to me. He was busy watching cartoons on TV. When the clerk finally did take my report, she had to keep consulting with the Cartoon Cop. He finally listened to my story. He got very interested when he found out the amount. His eyes widened and he said, "Mucho dinero!"When I asked for a copy of the report, they said I couldn't have one. They hadn't even entered the report into their computer. I insisted on a copy and they reluctantly entered it into the computer and printed one out.

It would seem that there is a rico nuevo spending $100.00 bills like a drunken sailor. No such person, to my knowledge, has stood out.

This is a long story, but be very careful with your money in Mulege. People are watching your every move and they know you have cash to repair your house. They know what you drive and where you are staying. They also know that if they look, they will find it.