BajaNomad

Pipe Dreams

DavidE - 7-15-2012 at 08:46 AM

One is to formulate a voluntary $, $$, $$$, $$$$ legend to be requested by readers when a description of hotel or restaurants is given.

I've read too many account on other forums (and sometimes even Baja Nomad) that go something like this.

"The hotel is an outstanding bargain. Cheap beyond belief. Everyone stays there"

After numerous pokings and proddings, the price is finally extracted using cyber bamboo splinters "Only a hundred dollars!"

I just watched a video on the Wall Street Journal that features the construction of a ONE HUNDRED NINETY THOUSAND square foot mansion. The time share tycoon building it ran into hard times and admitted "We had to downscale a lot. It's still the same size with 50 bedrooms and 70 baths, but now it is not so unique".

Many expats cannot afford even fifty dollar a night digs. It would be nice, for about ten nights until the month's money ran out. Nothing wrong with having money either. But I get forlorn reading sbout "The Most Fantastic Deal In All Mexico" only to find out it is way way way way way way (is that enough way's?) out of my league. But not right away of course. Getting the price takes dynamite and honey on the tongue.

Mexico is one of the last refuges for people like me. I love the people, I love the country but I must live Mexican campesino 24/7. No El Presidente suites, no six-course extravanganzas, or five dollar shots of tequila. I simply have to do the best I can on what I've got.

I do not begrudge more fortunate people when they converse about their likes and dislikes. I read accounts of five hundred dollar hotel rooms and eight hundred dollar fishing boat trips with great interest. Like accounts of what someone's fifty thousand dollar maxxed out diesel 4X4 does on a desert trip.

But when someone comes along and posts. "Oh my God! That was the best chinese food I EVER had! Twenty different dishes. The price? It was embarrassing! How can they do it?"

This now has grabbed my total and complete attention. There is a chance here for a genuine daydream. Affordable.

So then the extraction process begins. Along the way comes "Gee I'm not real sure but it was something like twenty dollars a person. Harry put it on his credit card".

I always remember there are A LOT of people who read this forum. Lurkers who decide not to participate. Many live in Mexico or want to live in Mexico. They would LOVE to be able to get a handle on affordability. They like me, simply shrug at the hundred dollar a pop bargains, but like me become a little distraught when "price is no object because it isn't mentioned"

Bill Collector - 7-15-2012 at 09:36 AM

Very well written.

motoged - 7-15-2012 at 10:53 AM

Yeah, I wish I had more money, too. ;D

woody with a view - 7-15-2012 at 10:59 AM

Baja Cactus in El Rosario ***** for the room $ for the price = $30/night
Villa Bahia in LA Bay *** for the room $$$ for the price = $60-80/night
Posada Don Diego in Vicente Guerrero ** for the room $ for the price = $35/night *** for the restraunt!

sancho - 7-15-2012 at 01:54 PM

I'm probably emotionally stuck somewhere '89 Baja,
$3 for a case of beer, when turning in a case of empties,
early '80's I remember a Motel in Loreto, I believe
it was called the Salviaterra, $2.75 dollars a nite,
the Hotel Perla La Paz, around around $14, was looking
for a room in Ensenada last summer, a Sat., town full, at a
average Motel called Las Dunas, $120 a nite,
took the Cabo/P Vallarta ferry, '87, $11 for 2 people,
campground in town San Felipe now around $30 a nite

wessongroup - 7-15-2012 at 01:58 PM

Hear ya sancho, try the early 60's .. :):)

Osprey - 7-15-2012 at 03:13 PM

It was fun sometimes to pretend we had a lot of money. One trip to Loreto fishing for a week: stopped in Calexico and bought $2 million pesos = almost $600 bucks. Took 2 rooms at the old mission on the beach, put everything on the card including all meals/drinks/3 fishing trips. Checkout bill = $1,750,000 pesos ($527 bucks). I think the rooms were $25 bucks so we must have had about skitty eight hundred drinks.

On another level: all those hotels around the globe with rooms from $500 to $5,000 a night. I have always wondered just how many bizzillionaires there are to keep all those places in business. Now with lots of T.V. news about public sector benefit packages I'm beginning to think it is not just rich and famous CEOs and their families but government workers from around the world.

Mula - 7-15-2012 at 03:21 PM

Lots and lots of good times in the days without much money.

El Jefe - 7-15-2012 at 04:03 PM

Sounds like you drank the right wing coolaid Osprey. Yep, those damn gubment workers are just as bad as the robber barons. By God we outta swat them down! We should pay our cops and firefighters in the USA like they do in Mexico. That would fix the economy. And them money grubbing burrocrats, all they do is, well, I don't know all day.

Throw em all out on the streets with the welfare queens! We don't need no gubment anyways.

But don't touch us that's already retired. I like my generous pension.

DavidE - 7-15-2012 at 04:33 PM

Mexico has got to preserve the heart and soul of herself. Campesinos and indigenas cannot pay two dollars for a stack or tortillas so they must rely on their milpa, a cornfield. Seed is still possible from last harvest's kernels but fertilizer is costly. I paid almost (eqvt) thirty dollars for a thirty pound costal of 15-15-15 and this is beyond the reach of most.

If you like breads or pastry, it's time to purchase a 50 lb sack of flour. Speculators are going to drive the cost of a loaf of bread (Wonder or Bimbo) to above four dollars and most likely five by this winter. Premium whole grain bread will cost eight to ten dollars a loaf. Same thing for corn. Mexico imports thousands of tons of corn every year to turn into masa. The government needs to get off it's a$$ down here and build a huge fertilizer plant. They also need to make transportation less expensive; three dollar a gallon diesel means nothing when it costs a 22-wheeler four thousand dollars in tolls to cross the country. Or take four times as long, take the liebre road and do four thousand dollars worth of damage to chassis and tires.

Gasoline used to cost thirty cents a gallon. Now it's three dollars. Many people earn ten dollars a day. Does this mean they earned a dollar a day back when gasoline was thirty one cents? A kilo of tortillas cost 12 cents. Now you cannot find a soda for anything under a dollar. Poor people are being driven to a standard of living not seen since the Porfirian and maybe not even then. I remember giving Gilberto a 200 peso coin to purchase a pop for me in 1989. When the peso was at 2240. Nine cents? Inflation has driven prices up nine hundred percent in US DOLLARS?

The only thing I can say for certain is that the wackos have rich fodder to feed fanatic followers. Al Qaeda imams illustrate the evils of western society that prey on the poor. How do you defend against a truth? The USA and Mexico and I daresay Canada, are totally unlike what they were in the 1960's and 70's. If Lyndon Johnson would have attempted to pass MediCare today or even five years ago, it would have failed. What the hell, even Social Security would fail a vote. It's pure Darwinism, with fear and financial lust at the helm.

Could you survive (never mind live) on a social security income? Think about it. There are folks out there that are determined to be the first quadrillionaire.

Lee - 7-15-2012 at 06:44 PM

Kilo of tortillas in Todos $1.20. Organic greens/veggies $10/week. I can catch enough fish to feed myself everyday for a long time. I splurge on beer/tequila at Costco. Living is easy and cheap in BCS.

I don't dream about $700/day fishing excursions or whether the crowd at Rancho Pescadero are happy with their $200-$500/night rooms and $8.00 margs. (I see them on the beach; they don't look happy.)

Oh, and surfing is free. Life really is good for some.

Find your niche. It's there.

http://www.ranchopescadero.com/

DavidE - 7-15-2012 at 07:48 PM

I checked out the presidential suite at the gran bay hotel on bahia navidad in 1997. Top of the tower with its own elevator. FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS A NIGHT.

The tour was conducted before the finishing work was complete. Televisions everywhere even when sitting on the pot. Same for telephones; his and her's.

The bathroom door opened on it's own accord. Light switch sockets were badly chipped out you could see chipped marble past the plate. Weak water pressure. The room had below the window A/C units that hummed so bad you couldn't talk when they were started which by the way made the fluorescent lamps in the bathroom go out for a few seconds. But the faucets and escutcheon plates were gold, the mirrors were beautifully etched and the wind rattled the front french style door.

I actually returned in 2006. Walked up to the poolside bar and ordered a screwdriver. Yuk! It was made from "Florida 7" box orange juice. Seven dollars. The hotel has no beach. Zero. But an overclorinated pool. Huevos Rancheros would have cost fourteen dollars. Fresh squeezed (2 oz?) OJ six bucks. The maseros had white shirts with creases that would have cut bread.

Grand pretend opulence. Was it the baño in the finsiterra in san lucas that had two urinals diagonal each other in one corner?

Luxury to me are neighbors who say Buenas Dias David! and mean it. Luxury to me is going to the store yesterday and having three young men on the sidewalk, stop, shake my hand and ask me if I was visiting. When I told them I have been here for four months they were astonished. I told them I don't get around much. All three wished me the best of health and fortune shook my hand again and continued on their way. Four months and I am barely getting settled in.

I'm sitting here, listening to the surf boom, hiss, and murmur. Louder waves rattle the widows while the loudest cause the house to pop and complain.

Shari, just stopped by and snagged her loaned-out coffee grinder. She then spent time tying up my tomato vines that are loaded both the romas and the beefsteak cannot support more "fruit". I evidently paid correct homage to the god of maize because the original stress test stand is six feet, and the for-real patch is now knee-high. The lettuce patch is taking its sweet time, but slower growing lettuce always turns out sweeter. The cantaloupe planting now has a large re-bar girder crossing it to form a huge trellis if and when the plants emerge. Tomorrow and for the next few days (at my snail's pace) come the fabrication of the white potato and baby potato patches. Four months from now the weather is going to cool and I will be swimming in spuds.

wiltonh - 7-15-2012 at 07:56 PM

Just picked up a guy at the airport in Portland. He had spent 3 weeks in Europe. He was complaining about how little the American dollar was worth over there.

He was on a tour where breakfast and dinner were supplied. He said the cheapest lunch they could find was $40 US and they went as high as $80 US.

Water is not supplied so it cost $10 US for 1.5 liters of water.

Gas was between $8 and $9 per gallon.

Makes Baja look real cheap.

Osprey - 7-16-2012 at 06:02 AM

Jefe, your political bias is shining brightly -- your post indicates you are one world class conclusion jumper. I would love to have you compete at the London Olypics and do us proud.

jbcoug - 7-16-2012 at 08:12 AM

There is a lot to appreciate about this thread. We all long for the good old days when things were cheap. I often think back about how cheap things were and share that info with my students. They are usually amazed by those prices. Then I think a little more and remember that my first job out of high school in 1970, I grossed $250 a month. It's all relative I guess. There was a lot to like in those simpler times. I'd be perfectly happy to have more time in Baja to live like DavidE on a tight budget. It's not all about how much money you have to spend.
John

shari - 7-16-2012 at 08:22 AM

Like Lee said..."Find your niche". Living in baja certainly makes it possible for...ummm....people of lesser means...to live like kings. I count my blessing daily to be able to live in front of the sea, eat abalone, lobster, sushi, fresh fish, seafood, veggies and fruit and be surrounded by caring, loving amigos y familia.

As David mentioned, it is a strain for the normal folk here to keep up with inflation and rising costs of everything, but they are used to struggle and deal with it. We share the bounty when it comes...like spare fish, extra produce and help each other make ends meet.

After I left David's yesterday, I went down to the beach...there were several families like this one carrying bags hoping to find a treasure....pismo clams that wash up on the beach after a big swell....free!

El Jefe - 7-16-2012 at 08:31 AM

Yes Osprey, you are correct, my conclusion jumping was indeed showing on that post. Sometimes I just get a little tired of all the government worker bashing that goes on in certain media and elsewhere. I spent a career working for a city with some of the best, hardest working people I ever met. I saw public funds well spent on all kinds of good services and public works projects. Folks like their services and like their streets and curbs and gutters and parks etc. We tried our best to give them what they wanted.
My bias, government is mostly good. Let's make it even better.
Sorry for the rant.

And sorry DavidE for sidetracking your thread. I try not to do that.

[Edited on 7-16-2012 by El Jefe]

vandenberg - 7-16-2012 at 08:32 AM

Whenever running a little short on funds, I always remind myself that " money is the root of all evil ".:biggrin::biggrin:

Martyman - 7-16-2012 at 08:55 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by wiltonh
Just picked up a guy at the airport in Portland. He had spent 3 weeks in Europe. He was complaining about how little the American dollar was worth over there.

He was on a tour where breakfast and dinner were supplied. He said the cheapest lunch they could find was $40 US and they went as high as $80 US.

Water is not supplied so it cost $10 US for 1.5 liters of water.

Gas was between $8 and $9 per gallon.

Makes Baja look real cheap.


Europe is not cheap but bottled water is cheaper. Pizza in Italy is cheap. $40 included appetizers and wine if you go tothe right place. Sorry pal...your friend is an idiot

tripledigitken - 7-16-2012 at 09:31 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Martyman
Quote:
Originally posted by wiltonh
Just picked up a guy at the airport in Portland. He had spent 3 weeks in Europe. He was complaining about how little the American dollar was worth over there.

He was on a tour where breakfast and dinner were supplied. He said the cheapest lunch they could find was $40 US and they went as high as $80 US.

Water is not supplied so it cost $10 US for 1.5 liters of water.

Gas was between $8 and $9 per gallon.

Makes Baja look real cheap.


Europe is not cheap but bottled water is cheaper. Pizza in Italy is cheap. $40 included appetizers and wine if you go tothe right place. Sorry pal...your friend is an idiot



I think part of the answer was "he was on a tour". You are usually going to pay more for food and hotel when on a tour.

We booked our own hotels and picked the restaurants that looked good or were recommended to us.

Our experience was completely different in 2009 and 2010, in Germany/Belguim and Spain respectively. In both countries for similar lodging and meals the costs were less than road trips in the US. Staying in Best Western level rooms and sit down meals as a reference.

Ken

MitchMan - 7-16-2012 at 09:50 AM

DavidE, I can track with what you have been saying. A lot of people make representations about how good a deal is, then when you get the facts, it really isn't such a good deal, especially for what you are willing or able to spend.

Spent a lot of time over the years thinking about that and observing a lot. What I have determined is this. In Mexico and especially (in this USA, believe it or not), there is a great disparity of wealth and income. It is not that visible often times, but it is all around us. When you go to a super market, or when you stand in line to buy a ticket to go to a movie, go to the beach, go to Home Depot, even when you go to MacDonald's, there are people all around you, dressed like you, walking like you, dressed like you, talking like you, looking like you, and maybe even driving a car similar to yours, BUT some of those people have a ton of money...you just can't see it. Those well to do people are all around us, among us, driving right next to you on the road...and you can't tell.

When it comes to money, those who have a lot of it and those that don't have a completely different reality in their experience in life and in day to day living. You, and I, and most all of us just don't realize that on a moment to moment basis, but it is real and it is going on right now as we speak.

So, when someone you are acquainted with, or even on this forum when there is a discussion about costs of hotels, restaurants, vehicle enhancements, airfares, car rentals, etc., it is often surprising to me to observe what is affordable cost to one person compared to what is affordable to another person. What is a bargain to one person is OFTEN at great odds as to what is affordable to another. The surprise is because of the amount of money one person has compared to another...the difference is often VAST and you don't know that until some little nugget of info is disclosed by some one in a by-the-way, off the cuff comment.

Just for the record, so as not to get political here, I am not and have not (in this thread) made a value judgement as to good or bad, fair or unfair...such valuations are not the immediate point in this discussion.

While at a nomad get together not too long ago, I was sitting next to a nomad talking about food, fishing, and living in the baja. Nice guy, good guy, easy to talk to. He had what sounded like a big home with swimming pool (in the Baja!), he had every single piece of fishing equipment I had and much more, he had a bigger boat than mine, much bigger, he went on and on about expensive wines he liked to drink and the selection that he had at home, the international traveling he had done, etc., etc.,etc. Across the table from us was another nomad who has since had to leave the baja because he couldn't afford to live there! In Baja! We were all dressed the same, we all spoke English the same, we all looked alike, we were all active posters on this forum. All good people, all genuinely friendly. The difference in financial position was vast.

Some guys think spending $275 USD for a one day panga fishing trip is A-OK and quite affordable, I will not do that. I will only use pangueros out of Agua Amarga who charge from $110-$130 USD a day. Now, I have my own 15 ft fiber glass boat and it costs me $29 USD per fishing trip. I seldom go to restaurants because I think it is mostly an unnecessary extravagance (I am a good cook and like my food a lot better anyway).

I will not fly out of LAX to go to La Paz because their airfares are way too costly and their parking fees are robbery. I drive my 12 year old Toyota Echo (40 mpg) to the Greyhound bus terminal at Oceanside, park there for free, pay $16 on the internet for a round trip bus ticket from Oceanside to the Tijuana airport (don't have to pay for taxis coming and going to the border that way), and take Volaris airlines for anywhere from $96 USD to $186 USD for a round trip from Tijuana to La Paz as I buy my tickets only when Volaris is running specials.

Before I got my casita in baja, I often stayed at the Nuevo Pekin in La Paz for $22 USD per night. Old, but well run and very clean with large rooms and good location. Sometimes I stayed at Casa Buena B&B for $55/night because it was closer to the casita as I was having it prepared to move into. I almost refuse to spend up to or more than $100/night anywhere, but sometimes you have no choice. If I can find a place to stay less than $50/night (I like $30/night) when traveling by myself, I will take it...sleep in my clothes if I have to to save a buck.

I don't have to be cheap, I simply like it...and it makes sense.

[Edited on 7-16-2012 by MitchMan]

DavidE - 7-16-2012 at 10:05 AM

I think too many people cannot think think of themselves as being intelligent when it comes to scams, speculation, hoarding, cartels, trusts, and manipulation. They are surely killing off their host. Outsource for profit today, renounce citizenship tomorrow. Buy low, sell high.

It's not the working class versus itself...

It's the working class versus leeches that do absolutely nothing, but scheme to corner individual raw materials, basic foods, and materials, then send their money actually the money that we have been illegally "taxed" overseas. In the states when I pay five dollars for a dollars worth of spuds because of speculation it is a tax. Four dollars to a drone who does ZERO.

But that's capitalism, right? Allow the Bank of Quebéc to drive up the cost of a barrel of US crude through speculation. When you pay a hundred bucks to fuel up your rig, remember you are giving the bank of Quebéc a fist full of dollars for the pleasure. Of course they will come pave your street or put out a fire when called.

The wheat crop isn't even mature yet. Never mind on it's way to the mill. But l-o-n-g before that happens, when a bumper harvest doesn't quite reach record level again, your price for a loaf of bread is going to soar to five dollars.

And corn and coffee will follow. Then gasoline, and natural gas and electricity. Rent. Bridge tolls.

And big time speculators will have a hard-as-hell time deciding whether to install gold or platinum fixtures in their new ski mansion in the Alps.

sancho - 7-16-2012 at 10:23 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by El Jefe
I saw public funds well spent And sorry, DavidE for sidetracking your thread. [Edited on 7-16-2012 by El Jefe]



I don't want to side track either, but El Jefe, if the above statement is correct, it would best serve as a model
for all Govt. positions. It's just that I have NEVER witnessed/
read what you claim, quite the opposite

Eli - 7-16-2012 at 10:35 AM

My days of poverty tripping are hopeful long behind me. I live a privileged life. I do have a budget, but for the most part, I have what I want and live the life I choose to live.
It's pretty easy to spend $1,000 to $1,500 pesos a week for my basic expenses, this does not include rent and I do not (nor do I want to) own a car. I eat really, REALLY well. Most of my meals are eaten at home. I buy most of my food from the local organic market, and supplement with 100 to 200 pesos spent at the municipal market for fruit & veges.
Besides paying rent here, I seem to spend about the same amount to live in VeraCruz as I do in Baja. I have access to much more variety of yummies here than Los Barriles and in general cost of food is higher in Baja.
My rent for the luxury furnished 1 bedroom home here is $5,000 pesos, Internet and cable t.v., stove w/oven, fridge, microwave, blender, toaster, super comfy bed, talavera tile, firm quality mattress, soft quality pillows. Also, clean sheets and towels weekly included, I mean it is nice! It is equal in comfort and beauty with fantastic views as my home which I own in L.B.
Sometimes I splurge and go to the movies and a meal at the mall in Xalapa, taking the bus, I blow $200 pesos on the outing and try to stay out of the mall stores (except window shopping). I avoid Costco, Walmart, etc. way to easy to spend money on stuff I really don't need in these places.

If I get sick, I am basically screwed, my insurance is IMSS, which is not the best option in the world, but this is the life I chose for myself, so I have to accept what I have. Surly, I cannot expect more for me than I offered my workers all those years I was a boss.
Fortunately, in the 24 years I have paid into the system, I have not had to use it for more than a few stitches once and a couple of checkups. Basically I have always been able to wish away my ills. I am sure that someday I will have an illness that I can't deal with like a feral cat laying away in cave licking her wounds, but I will cross that bridge when I get to it.
Travel can really eat up one's funds fast, staying in one place is the secret to not spending much. I just checked my notes, 2 nights in Mx. City, a visit to a museum for a friend and myself, meals, several taxi's, lux. bus to Xalapa came out to $2,000 pesos and change. Pretty pricey and I kept it simple.
I sure could find ways to spend a whole lot more to live and most certainly could simplify my life style and spend less.
I cannot imagine going North of border, I am sure the cost is way out of league.
When I was young, I remember we would average $25 DLLs. a week to live camped on the beaches in Sonora, and this was for my husband, kid and me. Spent about the same w/ renting unfurnished and funky to live in Oaxaca and San Miguel. Those days are long gone by the wayside. They were great, but then again, so is now.

DavidE - 7-16-2012 at 11:45 AM

Some things just cannot be "non public funded".

"Oh the pass has to stay closed until bids are submitted and the low one is selected to plow snow"

"Sorry! You didn't pay your property tax. You'll have to call another vendor to put out your house fire".

When I elected to work for CalTrans for a 6-month limited term thirty years ago in the Sierras, the division boss recognized my skill with auto electrical. Ninety percent of his headaches were with equipment with electrical problems. I got an excellent dose of bureaucratic nonsense there and ten years before that donating my time as a sheriff sergeant. All of the six wheel dump trucks are parked outside at the maintenance stations. Most would not start in OF weather. The diesels were not cranking fast enough to acheive compression ignition. The problem? CalTrans chose to stick with the manufacturer's (mostly international harvester) decision to have two six volt batteries in series. Problem was, both batteries (meaning together) did not develop the CCA cold crank amps of one good 12 volt battery. So I installed a pair of group 31 batteries in parallel. One truck after another started up even in the coldest weather. They went to patch pot holes, seal cracks or plow snow and lay cinders. I did seventeen vehicles on my own initiative. I also started to rebuild alternators correctly as the vendor they were using was an ex failed bartender and could not or would not learn his trade correctly. The district shop foremen went ballistic. "You are not authorized -- you were not authorized to make changes in specifications for state vehicles!". I was called on the carpet. Had to drive to district headquarters. I went into the boss's office. He closed the door. I thought I was going to become soon unemployed. He turned to me and said "After I interviewed what was it, thirty people or so for the position, I knew when I had found a gold mine. They are going to blow steam, Sacramento is going to belch. But you have me, and six maintenance station foremen on your side, so get the hell out of here and go back to work".

I love unregulated private industry. I trust them, those that have no scruples. I remember what happened to the electricity in California. So do the Mexicans who watched with an appropriate mixture of humor and horror. Gasoline is NOT subsidized in Mexico, please pound that past a thick skull. When you own the crude, ship it on your flagged tanker and have it refined by your own refinery it is not SUBSIDIZED. Those that say it is, or should become speculative wish to sit at a desk invest a million of someone else's money, make two million and keep five hundred thousand for themselves for being so smart. They'll pay, or walk!

BTW, a (lady) transita just checked my laser copy driver license in downtown Bahia Asuncion. She flapped the heavy stock photo paper back and forth across her fingers. She wasn't fooled. We exchanged pleasantries and she mentioned seat belt. When I raised my left arm which is a crooked as the Burma Road from that break last year, she grabbed the belt and said "No! No!" I love this town. I drive at 5mph back and forth. Life is too short to go any faster.

ELI, amiga. You touched upon a key. Medical. Fully two hundred dollars plus several banknotes featuring dead Mexican artists go monthly toward the cheapest medicines I can get my hands on. I have to pay a hundred dollars a month for gasoline and hotel to save three hundred dollars over buying the stuff locally which is said to be possible but never proven. This is for life-support cardiac medication. Nobody seems willing to trade yellowtail and dorado for organic sweet corn, cantaloupe and potatoes, so my diet shall become increasingly vegetarian.

Brenda and I have been comparing shopping prices. For sixty three items, about 99% of what I ever purchase anywhere in México, this area of Baja California is 154% as expensive as it is on the mainland. It is expensive to haul stuff, and the spoilage is tremendous.

shari - 7-16-2012 at 12:18 PM

David...excuse me sir...you are mistaken...I'm sure when your corn, cantaloupe and potatoes are ready there will be more yellowtail shared than you care to eat....I shall bring you some black seabass tomorrow that was gifted to Stan and shared around.

MitchMan - 7-16-2012 at 01:39 PM

Eli, you sound like you really know how to economize. I admire that.

MitchMan - 7-16-2012 at 01:44 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by DavidE
I think too many people cannot think think of themselves as being intelligent when it comes to scams, speculation, hoarding, cartels, trusts, and manipulation. They are surely killing off their host. Outsource for profit today, renounce citizenship tomorrow. Buy low, sell high.

It's not the working class versus itself...

It's the working class versus leeches that do absolutely nothing, but scheme to corner individual raw materials, basic foods, and materials, then send their money actually the money that we have been illegally "taxed" overseas. In the states when I pay five dollars for a dollars worth of spuds because of speculation it is a tax. Four dollars to a drone who does ZERO.

But that's capitalism, right? Allow the Bank of Quebéc to drive up the cost of a barrel of US crude through speculation. When you pay a hundred bucks to fuel up your rig, remember you are giving the bank of Quebéc a fist full of dollars for the pleasure. Of course they will come pave your street or put out a fire when called.

The wheat crop isn't even mature yet. Never mind on it's way to the mill. But l-o-n-g before that happens, when a bumper harvest doesn't quite reach record level again, your price for a loaf of bread is going to soar to five dollars.

And corn and coffee will follow. Then gasoline, and natural gas and electricity. Rent. Bridge tolls.

And big time speculators will have a hard-as-hell time deciding whether to install gold or platinum fixtures in their new ski mansion in the Alps.


You got it exactly right.

Cisco - 7-16-2012 at 02:21 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by wiltonh
Just picked up a guy at the airport in Portland. He had spent 3 weeks in Europe. He was complaining about how little the American dollar was worth over there.

He was on a tour where breakfast and dinner were supplied. He said the cheapest lunch they could find was $40 US and they went as high as $80 US.

Water is not supplied so it cost $10 US for 1.5 liters of water.

Gas was between $8 and $9 per gallon.

Makes Baja look real cheap.


My oldest Son is in Europe and has been since 1983.

Wanders from Turkey to Finland.

Never asked him how he does it.

See him a couple of times a year will find out what's up. I do know he has lot's of friends he stays with, these are people that stayed with us in the Coronado house when the kids were young.

It's a global thing. My five year old Nieto speaks three languages and has been abroad for months at a stretch on four continents.

It's just different now than when it was a grand adventure to drive from San Diego to San Francisco.

DavidE - 7-16-2012 at 02:35 PM

Gawd, Shari, I was teasing! I was trying (and failed) to get a response from Mulegé to work up an excuse to go there next month with my cooler and make a major score on the mango áte. Stop into the el boléo and get a sack full of bolillos, haunt the segundas, maybe get a 50 peso* deluxe "authentic" Mexican lunch at la cocina economica, wander the aisles at Saul's dream about pickle relish and Barilla macaroni elbows (Cooked sticky Mexican pasta makes a great additive for concrete - it makes it impervious to salt area and digestion).

*includes all the authentic agua fresca you can drink.

But it's the áte. Spread thickly on a golden brown toasted bolillo. Washed down with fresh brewed café beans from Lake Atitlán Guatemala, that draws me. Four or five kilos of jurél, y cochis wouldn't hurt either.

But mil gracias for the offer of the fish. You know how much I crave it. Mi jardín es tu jardín, amiga. Soon we shall have Black seeded simpson lettuce. The sweetest on earth IMO.

motoged - 7-16-2012 at 03:29 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Cisco
..... My five year old Nieto speaks three languages and has been abroad for months at a stretch on four continents.

It's just different now than when it was a grand adventure to drive from San Diego to San Francisco.


You bet,
When I was five I only spoke one language and my folks wouldn't let me go further than one block !!!! :O:O

Letting your five year-old travel the globe like that is very....uhh ... liberal :biggrin:

Does he ever send you a postcard, or is he more like the older boy who is aimlessly and without apparent means of income bumming around Europe??? :saint: ;D

Eli - 7-16-2012 at 03:39 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by MitchMan
Eli, you sound like you really know how to economize. I admire that.


Mitch, I think, (heck I know) I am privilged and live in Luxury. I expect that somebody always has more, others have less.

Juana, the lady who cleans my house here, 1 day a week, 4 hours top to bottom, including my laundry for $100 pesos KNOWS how to economize. I tried to give her a tip to at least pay her bus fare last week and she wouldn't accept it. I am mortified by how little I pay her.

Juana has a son and daughter living at home and are in college. Juana is a superb worker, so she has work 5 days a week. She watches her granddaughter part time so her daughter can finish college, (she is studying to be a chief). Juana's husband is a beekeeper, so they are a two income family. Also, Juana's son works part time with his Dad.
As gifts, Juana brings me fresh aloe vera and herbs for teas from her garden. I have given her a couple of my paintings over the years as a gift. She is delighted to accept them as I am to share what I do well with her.
When the grand baby was born last year, I paid for the crib, but had to stand my ground to get Juana to accept the gift. When I leave here, I will leave a fat tip. In order to avoid the "yes you will accept this or else" discussion that we have had in the past I think what I will do this time is give it to her stuffed in a card in an envelope.
When I think of the people I most admire and respect on this planet, Juana is at the top of the list. With very little money she has her needs covered. She works well and takes great pride in herself and what she does. She lives within her means and does not think of herself as poor. She smiles easily; all ya have to do is ask her about her granddaughter and a big grin erupts oh her face. She never complains about what she doesn't have. Yep, for sure Juana is one of my hero's, and I am a lucky soul to know her.

Cisco - 7-16-2012 at 03:50 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by motoged
Quote:
Originally posted by Cisco
..... My five year old Nieto speaks three languages and has been abroad for months at a stretch on four continents.

It's just different now than when it was a grand adventure to drive from San Diego to San Francisco.


You bet,
When I was five I only spoke one language and my folks wouldn't let me go further than one block !!!! :O:O

Letting your five year-old travel the globe like that is very....uhh ... liberal :biggrin:

Does he ever send you a postcard, or is he more like the older boy who is aimlessly and without apparent means of income bumming around Europe??? :saint: ;D


Nieto is with his mom and dad (my younger son) who travel globally in business and pleasure.

My point being that getting on an airplane with a small carry-on and going anywhere in the world and being able to function is common now. Still blows me away, anything over 55 in my live aboard monster that peees gas all over Hwy 1 to mark it's territory is beyond me.

Older boy sells (sold. out of work and on three-years unemployment now) computer machinery of some sort to governments. Don't know how much he makes but he lives frugally, has an apartment in Paris that everyone uses while there, a "flat" (whatever that is) in Gallipoli and a house in Brussels.

Christian carries three passports, U.S., French and Belgium and uses whichever one is appropriate to the political situation wherever he is. He still is a spring-board diver and travels for all the master's meets now too.

It's a neat life for him that started at 13 when we sent him to a friends in Finland for six months then back and forth to other countries in a total immersion thing. When he finished his masters at USC in 83 and took one look at the U.S. situation he hauled for Europe and has never come back here to live.

Very interesting to me is that both my kid's are apolitical. They just roll with whatever is happening and change (professions) to make money as the times change.

DavidE - 7-16-2012 at 03:56 PM

Yep, and you can bet your kind heart is seen and appreciated. Money can't buy everything down here. If you don't haggle with a vendor they'll sneer as they hand you an item at full asking price.

Giving someone a gift from the heart is vital. Yes money is necessary, but if you want to touch the Mexican soul give them a gift that comes from your heart. Sharing is one way to do this, and boy is it ever an important part of Mexican culture. It doesn't matter --- you could pour half a soda or beer and offer it. This means something down here.

Bad quote, my man

thebajarunner - 7-16-2012 at 04:26 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by vandenberg
Whenever running a little short on funds, I always remind myself that " money is the root of all evil ".:biggrin::biggrin:


I Timothy 6:10, Paul said "the love of money is the root of all evil"

Often misquoted, and thus out of context has lost its meaning...

motoged - 7-16-2012 at 07:01 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Cisco
Quote:
Originally posted by motoged
Quote:
Originally posted by Cisco
..... My five year old Nieto speaks three languages and has been abroad for months at a stretch on four continents


Letting your five year-old travel the globe like that is very....uhh ... liberal :biggrin:

Does he ever send you a postcard, or is he more like the older boy who is aimlessly and without apparent means of income bumming around Europe??? :saint: ;D


Nieto is with his mom and dad (my younger son) who travel globally in business and pleasure.



Cisco,
Thanks for the U2U :saint:

My initial comment had me envisioning a five year-old merrily traveling the world....teddy bear in one hand a dragging a duffle in the other....traipsing through airports, bus stations, hailing taxis, hustling other five year old-girls, and generally doing the world traveler thing by himself. :biggrin:

As for the older boy....my guess is CIA....yeah, that's the ticket....he's a spy.

Or maybe ..... :?::?:

It's good to know that the kids are alright .:cool:

Cisco - 7-16-2012 at 07:48 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by motoged
Quote:
Originally posted by Cisco
Quote:
Originally posted by motoged
Quote:
Originally posted by Cisco
..... My five year old Nieto speaks three languages and has been abroad for months at a stretch on four continents


Letting your five year-old travel the globe like that is very....uhh ... liberal :biggrin:

Does he ever send you a postcard, or is he more like the older boy who is aimlessly and without apparent means of income bumming around Europe??? :saint: ;D


Nieto is with his mom and dad (my younger son) who travel globally in business and pleasure.



Cisco,
Thanks for the U2U :saint:

My initial comment had me envisioning a five year-old merrily traveling the world....teddy bear in one hand a dragging a duffle in the other....traipsing through airports, bus stations, hailing taxis, hustling other five year old-girls, and generally doing the world traveler thing by himself. :biggrin:

As for the older boy....my guess is CIA....yeah, that's the ticket....he's a spy.

Or maybe ..... :?::?:

It's good to know that the kids are alright .:cool:


Nah, the older boy is just enjoying himself.

I looked back in my e-mails. Last one I had from him he was sitting on the roof of a hostel in Turkey telling me of a ferry he was watching crossing the Bosphorus.

He had been working his area of Italy to Finland when the recession hit and now is on unemployment (three years worth and free health care. That’s what his 50% tax rate brought him while working) and now is just trippin. If notified, he has to be back in France within ten days so trips to U.S. are not a problem either.

Christian’s philosophy is to just enjoy life, whatever, wherever, whenever and it has been good to him.

Point of the thread was money and what it takes to live where and how. Christian is frugal, no drugs, alcohol, tobacco and is extremely fit (disgusts and embarrasses me, both kids) yet enjoys himself immensely. He stays with friends and friends stay at his places. Same thing in Pacific Beach with the younger one. People from all over the world dropping in to crash whether Michael and family are home or not and they have a place anywhere in Europe, Australia, Latin America...for no cost that they can go to also. Good for everyone and the Nieto is exposed to many different cultures, ideas and language.

We need to get back to the barter system and away from the money to a certain extent I think.