BajaNomad

Baja dreams and nightmares

Osprey - 12-25-2013 at 07:07 PM

Baja Dreams vs Nightmares

The T.V. news this holiday season gave me sweet dreams and ugly nightmares. U.S. holiday shoppers are staying at home, buying on line in record numbers.

My best dream about all that showed me the UPS guy or the U.S. Postal Service guy dropping off, right here on my patio, lots of Christmas boxes full of goodies. A very real dream because here at the end of the Baja California peninsula we don’t get mail delivery, ever.

Several years ago my wife’s daughter sent us a Christmas present box to the only address we could give her. The box came back to her in Texas the FOLLOWING CHRISTMAS (minus a few small gift items).

I could see me with a cold Pacifico in one hand, scissors in another, ripping and tearing at the many boxes of $19.99 wonder gadgets; shrinking hoses that fit in your pocket, marvels of engineering openers and closers, almost free things that were developed only because we sent men to the moon. I would begin to swoon over the state of the art latest fishing equipment and lures, modern summer fishing togs that fit.

Reality bites when I awaken and remember that we have not received a box or letter here at the house since we moved in almost 18 years ago. They don’t deliver mail here and I don’t blame them. We have some crude street names and signage but the houses, the lots, have no numbers. Our post office is a guy’s house in the older part of town and he just can’t get around anyway.

Before you start to think this post is a complaint permit me to inform you that my wife is able to keep us busted (mail or no mail) just with her Kindle. She has bought and stored more books than the Library of Congress downloaded against our credit card.

All things considered perhaps Mexico has inadvertently saved my butt from credit bankruptcy gone viral. Soooo, if you’re in gadget shopping heaven in your U.S. home, please don’t tell me how wonderful are the Incredible Shrinking Hoses you Can Put in Your Pocket, and the new 7 Way Screwdriver/Planer or the 35 piece Samurai Kitchen Knives are workin’ out for you.

alacran - 12-25-2013 at 07:14 PM

P/O boxes (C/P) work great for me for many years in Mulege (you have to call the postmaster and ask if there is any mail)

mike odell - 12-25-2013 at 09:40 PM

Jorge, remember the Flowbe, that attaches to your shop vac that cuts your
hair? I bought one along with a Bassomatic from Ronco some years back.
I think I loaned you the flowbe, since you no longer have much hair, could
you get it back to me, as I still have some hair, and I'm getting a bit shaggy
looking. I found my Bassomatic, Felipe had it the bar making blended Margaritas.
Still looking for my erector set though. I should prolly go see our mail guy,
maybe its here in town by now.

Osprey - 12-26-2013 at 06:17 AM

Mike, the tuzas and the mice ate your Flowbe. Scorpion, any package, letter or box over 16 ounces goes to Mexico City where they open it, check it, and if it's anything of value they take it. I'm not looking for letters since I have fast letters, the Internet. The thing with packages is that you can never guess what the Mexican postal inspectors in Tijuana and D.F. just gotta have more than I did when I ordered it.

Floatflyer - 12-26-2013 at 07:13 AM

I decided to do a test case for shipping a package to BCS. Back in mid October I ordered a few items from an online r/c model company by the name of Hobby King. The international warehouse is located in Hong Kong and if you order something out of there it takes a week, mas o menos, to be delivered in the USA.

My order was for about $23 plus $5 for shipping, my limit to gamble that I might or might not ever see the ordered items. I made the delivery address our P.O. Box in Los Barriles.

Much to my surprise 31 days after placing the order my package showed up at the Post Office!!!! The package probably weighed less than 16 oz and it was not opened.

Just goes to show you that sometimes things work as anticipated down here, but don't count on it ALL the time.:tumble:

monoloco - 12-26-2013 at 07:41 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by alacran
P/O boxes (C/P) work great for me for many years in Mulege (you have to call the postmaster and ask if there is any mail)
We had a PO box in Todos Santos back in the days before the internet was available. Sometimes it worked well, but one year we received a Xmas card on the 4th of July.

durrelllrobert - 12-26-2013 at 09:02 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by mike odell
Jorge, remember the Flowbe, that attaches to your shop vac that cuts your
hair? I bought one along with a Bassomatic from Ronco some years back.
I think I loaned you the flowbe, since you no longer have much hair, could
you get it back to me, as I still have some hair, and I'm getting a bit shaggy
looking. I found my Bassomatic, Felipe had it the bar making blended Margaritas.
Still looking for my erector set though. I should prolly go see our mail guy,
maybe its here in town by now.
...or how about that special device that you just screw on your bed and it does all the cooking and cleaning for you?

woody with a view - 12-26-2013 at 09:12 AM

wasn't the Bass-O-Matic a sushi making device? before Ginsu ever came upon the scene?

Woody, just for you!!!

bajaguy - 12-26-2013 at 09:21 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BQFv83QJ2Y
Quote:
Originally posted by woody with a view
wasn't the Bass-O-Matic a sushi making device? before Ginsu ever came upon the scene?

watizname - 12-26-2013 at 10:13 AM

Pretty soon, you'll just be able to get a 3-D printer, order the CAD design off the internet, and print whatever it is you want in your home. :light:

BajaParrothead - 12-26-2013 at 12:47 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by durrelllrobert
Quote:
Originally posted by mike odell
Jorge, remember the Flowbe, that attaches to your shop vac that cuts your
hair? I bought one along with a Bassomatic from Ronco some years back.
I think I loaned you the flowbe, since you no longer have much hair, could
you get it back to me, as I still have some hair, and I'm getting a bit shaggy
looking. I found my Bassomatic, Felipe had it the bar making blended Margaritas.
Still looking for my erector set though. I should prolly go see our mail guy,
maybe its here in town by now.
...or how about that special device that you just screw on your bed and it does all the cooking and cleaning for you?


Gee whiz Bob, mine broke many years ago and I can't seem to find a newer model.

Ken Bondy - 12-27-2013 at 07:21 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by mike odell
Jorge, remember the Flowbe, that attaches to your shop vac that cuts your
hair? I bought one along with a Bassomatic from Ronco some years back.
I think I loaned you the flowbe, since you no longer have much hair, could
you get it back to me, as I still have some hair, and I'm getting a bit shaggy
looking. I found my Bassomatic, Felipe had it the bar making blended Margaritas.
Still looking for my erector set though. I should prolly go see our mail guy,
maybe its here in town by now.


The Flowbee changed my life. I have been using it for more than 25 years now. Bought it from an infomercial I saw in Anchorage while chasing brown bears and salmon (photographically). Haven't paid for a haircut in all that time, figure it has saved me about $20,000 in haircuts. I bought a backup about ten years ago, never have had to use it. But it's there just in case.



Backstory to that photo - I mentioned my haircut technique to an office I was consulting for a number of years ago. They couldn't believe it, of course, ("...it sucks your hair up into it and then cuts it??? Yeh, right..."). So I brought it in and did a demo. they took pictures, of course, and pieced this one together. The head is mine, wish the body was.