Goin' to Mexico

dreadnut

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Anyone remember that Steve Miller tune, "Goin' to Mexico"? Anthology double album, with Boz Skaggs, Paul McCartney, Lee Michaels, etc., best album Steve Miller ever made.

But I digress. My next gig is in Mexico, way down in the Yucatan Peninsula in a Mayan village by the name of "San Francisco el Grande'"
This is the third year in a row I'll be dragging my trusty old D-25M down there to lead music every day next week in the after-school Bible club. Can't wait to get back there and see "my kids". All 400 of them :D

And the old Guild sounds just a nice in Spanish as it does in English, she's really a multi-faceted old girl:D

So, you know I've been on the Nursing Home circuit from previous posts. I've also done a lot of kids music. Isn't it cool how music transcends geographical and age boundaries?

BTW, we did an open mic gig last Friday nite at the coffeehouse, what a hoot. We did all 60' & 70's stuff mainly, some more guys came and joined in, one guy put one of his handmade instruments in my hands, a birdseye maple bouzouki. So at one point we had a guitar, a mandolin, a bouzouki, a bass going, along with some vocal harmonies of course. :D
 

Mr. P ~

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drednut said:
Anyone remember that Steve Miller tune, "Goin' to Mexico"? Anthology double album, with Boz Skaggs, Paul McCartney, Lee Michaels, etc., best album Steve Miller ever made.

I sure remember that song, and I agree that the album was Stevie Guitar Millers best work. Right after "Goin to Mexico" is the best recording anybody has made of Robert Johnson's "Come on in My Kitchen"!!

I made a Cave Diving trip to Akumal, about 7 miles North of Talum. Some wonderful people around there.
 

West R Lee

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My gosh P, you mean you went to another country, underwater, underground.....in the dark? Were you under the influence? :D :shock:

Wow, that really does sound exciting. Something tells me you had all of the potential risks well calculated. Most exciting thing I ever did was coach my prize armadillo to win the Lake Travis Open Armadillo race! Had my labrador chase him around the yard for days, he was the greyhound of all amadillos! Name was "Lightning".

West
 

dklsplace

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Hey dred, I see you posted this morning...are you part of the group from Sunshine that had all the medicines confiscated by the Mexican authorities at the airport?
 

dklsplace

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Yes...my Mother-n-law & some other friends attend Marc's church & I received an email prayer request this evening...

Mexican Customs confiscated our Missionaries Drugs at the boarder and won't release them!

Our Church again this year sent a team (including medical doctors for necessary surgeries) to Mexico to Share Christ's love and expand the Kingdom to the people there.

The Mexican Custom officials are not being very cooperative. They are still holding the drugs. Every time they tell the team what they need to do to release them, the team meets their demands then the customs officials ask for something else. Pastor Pablo and another person went to the airport to try to get them released. Customs said they wanted the doctor’s license faxed. After it was faxed they then decided they wanted the doctor to come to the airport. When the doctor got to the airport (a two hour drive) they changed their mind and said they needed a letter from a Mexican Senator authorizing the release. All of the government officials are in Merida due to the visit of President Bush so they haven’t been able to contact a senator.

Tomorrow morning (Tuesday) two contacts are going to be made from here. Rick and Barb’s son Eric is going to contact the Mexican Consulate to see if they can help. Eric is a Special Agent with the Department of Homeland Security. Also, Rick knows Vern Ehlers and is going to contact his office to see if he can help.

The team was able to perform three surgeries today using local anesthesia. The surgeries they have scheduled for tomorrow need to have the patients completely under. These are the drugs they need from the airport.
 

West R Lee

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That is a shame. You know, I'm curious as to whether or not this is backlash from the U.S. crackdown on illegal immigration? Not that authorities have ever been real trustworthy there, but my gosh, these folks are there to help their own people.

Maybe Dred can help the cause with his fabulous Guild music? :) I'm sure he'll give it his best shot.

West
 

West R Lee

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Reads like the English translation would be "blackmail". Yes, I've always known that they were corrupt, I was just wondering if there it has gotten worse due to animosity towards Americans over the so called crackdown on illegal immigration?

West
 

Guildmark

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Certainly likely these days, I guess.

Not so much blackmail (nothing threatening like that) as simple bribery, though; a little palm grease. I have worked for two companies in my career that were Mexican-based. Both had line items in the budget for mordida. In fact, the US may be one of the few countries in which this is not customary. Sometimes the money is listed as unofficial fees. I've seen it itemized as donations, too - like to city park services, or orphanages. It's simply a time-honored way of getting things done in some cultures.
 

Jeff

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Sigh !!

Proverbs 17:8:

A bribe is a charm to the one who gives it;
wherever he turns, he succeeds.



So far this thread would seem to cover two of the three Forum taboos fairly well; Politics & Religion, now if we can get Darryl or Coastie to check in on Sex it'll cover all three.

I just bought another strap so I'll probaby get off with just a warning.
 

Jeff

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Mexico, Never really been but I'd sure like to go.

My company held a conference here in the late 70's. Mexico City Greater Mexico city is maybe the Largest city on Planet Earth, population 19 million. Mucho serious air pollution issues.

One if the best travel experiences of my life. Unbelievable modern metropolis, complete with slums, 800 year old documented culture, Huge pyamid complex an hour or so out of town. the place blew me away.

Mariachi bands with guitaroons & trumpets were common in the touristy areas.

Had my first experience with Margaritas served in iced crystal pitchers in a downtown high rise penthouse, within spitting range of 8,000 ft above sea level. Several hours of the trip aren't all that clear in my memory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico_City

[img:200:150]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/96/Torre_Mayor_005.jpg/200px-Torre_Mayor_005.jpg[/img] [img:180:280]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9c/MexicoWTC.jpg/180px-MexicoWTC.jpg[/img]

[img:640:480]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Mexico_bellas_artes_palace_1.jpg[/img]














Mexico has much treasure.
 

dklsplace

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Seems the official word is that the drugs will not be released to the team, but will be given back to them when they leave the country. Sounds pretty strange to me, but I won't hold my breath until it's a done deal.
 

dreadnut

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Yes, my group is one and the same. This is our 4th year going there and this is the first year the meds were confiscated. (Strange, most drugs are travelling the other direction across the border :lol: ) At any rate, they've proceeded with the surgeries and etc. with minimal pain meds - my wife is on the medical team and called me last night - all the scheduled surgeries will be done but they really had to scramble to get anesthesia, etc. locally.

We're meeting them down there this Saturday for week 2.

And I think if one of our doctors had had a roll of $20's to hand to the customs officials, the drugs would have been allowed in. Not necessarily how we want to do business on a church function, but I bet Father Mulcahey would have observed that sometimes "God works in mysterious ways'. :wink:

I'm the chef for week 2, hopefully they don't confiscate my tools of the trade (knife kit) which is packed in my checked in luggage.

Last year they looked at my guitar aircraft case and said "What's in the case"? "A guitar." "Musician?" (He plays air guitar for a minute) "Go ahead". :D
 

West R Lee

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Had they confiscated the Guild, I would have had to have gone to the United Nations! :wink: I'm sure they'd solve the problem lickety split!
:D
West
 

dreadnut

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Yeah we got back from Mexico OK, and nobody got sick on my cooking! :D

I'll have some photos when I get them down loaded.

Our medical team got the drugs back at the airport on their way back into the US, but the Mexican customs officials actually had to load them on the aircraft, our doctors were only allowed to visually identify the proper suitcases were being loaded on board :?

At any rate, they got resourceful and obtained the meds locally (Cancun and Merida Hospitals) and were able to perform all the surgeries that were planned as well as one emergency 8) Our veterinarian was going to use the same meds so he couldn't do any spaying a or neutering or any other animal surgeries, but he and his two vet techs walked around the village and vaccinated hundreds of horses, cows, pigs, goats, dogs, etc.

Week 2 was after-achool kids club in San Francisco el Grande, there were about 450 little Mayan kids there every day M-F. As well as doing songs and skits and other activities, we brought in clean drinking water and we're going to begin setting up home filtering systems to deliver good drinking and cooking water to their homes. These folks are living real basic - thatched huts, the clothes on their back and some livestock living in their yard, a couple of bicycles if they're lucky.

Anyway, there's a product being built near me that will provide a lifetime water filter for about $50.00 per home, and installing them could be a cottage industry for some of the locals. We're pretty excited about getting the wheels turning on this projrct, we did a bunch of water and local rock (filter media) sampling while there.
 

Graham

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drednut said:
Anyway, there's a product being built near me that will provide a lifetime water filter for about $50.00 per home, and installing them could be a cottage industry for some of the locals. We're pretty excited about getting the wheels turning on this projrct, we did a bunch of water and local rock (filter media) sampling while there.

Something like that seems awful reasonable in what we take for granted.

Maybe one day LTG can get together and "sponsor" some stuff like this. I have read about many different initiatives that I think are worthy causes, of course we all ahve our favorites, but Guitars Not Guns and stuff such as that would be good to do as a group effort, IMHO. Once or twice a year if this board could donate something would make us all feel good.

Welcome back dred. :D
 
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