An Observation Or Two

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

Today found me at the U.S. consulate.  I could think of other things to do but I needed some documents notarized as we sold our acreage in Terlingua this week.  We only went there twice and as always, the best laid plans.   Oh well, we didn't lose anything and the new owners are very happy to have received such a deal.  

I arrived at 7:30 for my 8:15 appointment.   It was still quiet and I had to go through  rigorous security check.   It's a new facility and all steel and rock.   No penetration there not to mention the state and federal police who guard the place.   I walked in and took a seat only to see a woman about 35 years old, American and with two Mexican children, both obviously from different fathers.  They had obviously taken a bus and walked some distance as their shoes and clothes were a bit muddy.  The kids were bilingual and the mother spoke very good Spanish.   They looked a bit ragged and worn and I was wondering what their story was.  

Well, she was called to the two-inch thick glass window of which there are twelve, and when she returned she started to talk with me.  Turns out she is from Idaho and has spent eight years in Aguascalientes as an English teacher.   She said she was trying to get back to the U.S. but her kids weren't U.S. citizens and she was trying to obtain passports.   I felt bad for her but it appeared she violated the number one rule of traveling to a new destination especially to become an ex-pat:  KNOW BEFORE YOU GO.  So now her problem is getting permission from the two fathers to take the kids to the U.S.  She will likely have to show abandonment and the fact that she wasn't married to either one.  What a mess.  The kids look so disheveled that I wanted to take all three home for a bath and a hot meal.  I was called next, gave the oath that I was telling the truth, got the stamp and off I went.  I won't know whatever happens to her but I worry about the kids.  It has been cold, rainy and just downright ugly out this last week.

My other observation is that many people read these blogs about Mexico and the bad guys.   I followed for awhile and then left them.  First, I really don't think they are a good source of information, are extremely right-winged and the majority of posters are true Mexico haters.   The comments are so foul and vile it is hard even for me to read.   To think someone could have so much hatred for another culture amazes me.  In actuality, the sites are nothing more than a clearing house for Mexican print that have been translated along with some home videos of shootouts and dead bodies.   Imagine if a Mexican wrote and posted a blog about the criminal element in the U.S. posting all the tens of thousands of murders, crimes committed by gangs, cartels and the like and slaughtering the very fabric of the country.  It just wouldn't happen.   As a actor stated on PBS the other night, "my director wondered if our new program would appeal to the American market.  I told him since when does the American market wonder what would appeal to the Brits".  Amen on that.