A BIT OF BAJA LIFE...

Originally published in Western Outdoor News the Week of Jan 26, 2009


One of the most common questions I get down here from friends and clients is, “Well, can I mail it to you?”

Now, I live in La Paz, Baja Mexico. It’s the capital city of the state of Southern Baja. With almost 250, 000 gente (people), this isn’t exactly a sleepy little pueblito. It’s a hub of business, agriculture, tourism, and fishing, not to mention the site of a university and the seat of government.

Therefore, it comes as somewhat of a surprise to folks when I respond, “No, you’d better not mail anything to me.”

I mean, for those of you who have visited or spent any time in the Baja, when was the last time you saw a mailbox? Think about that for a moment. Despite the rising cost of postage, Americans take mail for granted. Ergo, when you put a stamp on something and drop it in the red and blue box, you can generally count on it getting where it’s going in a timely manner.

I know we have a post office in La Paz (hidden behind two taco carts), but has anyone ever seen a mailman? Ever seen a postal truck? I know they sell stamps. I know sometimes people get mail!

Indeed, most of my friends don’t have an address to their homes. Instead an address is given as, “2.4 km a Carretera a Pichilingue” (2.4 kilometers on the Pichilingue Road) or “Colonia Revolucion Entre Altamirano y Iglesias” (Neighborhood of Revolution between Altamirano and Iglesias streets). You don’t get an address. You get directions.

Sure, mail gets delivered…sometimes. When I first moved to Baja, my folks would mail me things like magazines (Sports Illustrated, Time, Western Outdoors) and things like vegetable seeds and tools.

Three weeks later, I’d get a battered box that looked as if it has dragged behind a truck. As I found out later, mail from the states went to Mexico City first. There it was searched for “contraband and subversive materials.” Then it would get forwarded to me in Baja.

The flower and vegetable seeds would be confiscated. They left me a rubber mallet. My Sports Illustrated (What no swim suit issue?) was gone as was Western Outdoors, Time and others. But they left me National Geographic and Mad Magazine. (Western Outdoors is subversive?) This was almost 15 years ago and it hasn’t gotten much better.

That’s “if” the parcel was sent rush or special delivery or air mail. Regular mail rarely ever got to me. Once I got it 6 months later. Well, I got the envelope, but nothing was in it.

Local mail, if you can call it that is truly comedic. Again, have you ever seen a mailman?

If you ever see long lines outside the offices where you pay your electrical, phone or cable TV bill, that’s people standing in line, sometimes for hours. It’s because it’s easier and more reliable to just pay the bill personally.

My own bills get delivered by a guy on a bicycle. With a basket on the front like you had in 2nd grade. He is paid by the phone or electrical company. No uniform. No specific training other than knowing how to ride a bike is needed.

He rides by and throws the envelope at your front door or place of business. If it falls in the street. OK. If it lands on the steps, OK. If it flies into a tree. OK.

It’s NOT OK, when they shut off your electricity for not paying your bill because you never got a bill. There’s no notice. There’s no “please submit your late payment” letter. One day your phone, gas or electricity is just shut off.

Now you must go stand in line to pay the bill…and another fine to turn your service back on. If you didn’t get your bill, it’s not their problem. They gave the sack of bills to a guy on a bicycle!

Two weeks ago another guy on a bicycle came looking for me. He was from the Mexican IRS. He said he “lost” the notice telling me I had not paid $71 dollars in taxes on my last income tax. But, he had diligently been trying to find me ON HIS BICYCLE for two weeks.

But, he was sure happy to find me now. And, according to him, it was my lucky day that I had been found. If I didn’t pay my $71 by noon, I’d lose my business license!

Oh joy. Only in Mexico. I should be used to it by now! We can only laugh most times.

The Mexican postal service recently ran an ad asking people to “mail” in suggestions on how they could improve service. I’m sure folks ran right out to put pen to paper.




That’s my story. If you ever want to reach me, my e-mail is riplipboy@aol.com.