NEVER TOO EARLY TO GET THE PAPERWORK DONE!

Originally Published in Western Outdoor News the Week of Dec. 30, 2008

If a Baja trip is in your future for 2009, it’s never too early to start getting things ready, especially your paperwork. No sense in waiting until the last minute and perhaps suffering some bureaucratic or logistical screw-up that might de-rail or severely impact that vacation you’ve looked forward to for so long.

As soon as the holiday glow has worn off, get going on your passport. If you already have one, check to make sure it’ll be current to travel in 2009. It must be renewed every 10 years and Uncle Sam will not be sending you a renewal notice.

If you are applying for the first time, since the middle of 2008, you are required to have a passport to travel by air outside of the U.S. in order to enter or re-enter the country. (That’s the important part. It’s fun to get out, but you want to make sure the U.S. lets you back in!)

However, by June 1 of 2009, the full effects of the Western Hemispher Travel Initiative by the U.S. State Dept. will be implemented affecting both land and sea travel. It will require that all persons traveling outside the U.S and wanting to enter or re-enter the country have either their U.S. passport or the new passport cards.

The new passport cards have been in effect for several months now and cost $45 for a first time adult applicant. These wallet-sized cards look like a driver’s license and were meant to facilitate travel for folks who cross and re-cross the border often.

This applies to many commuters who go back and forth to work in either Baja or the U.S. These cards cannot be used for air travel and are strictly meant for land travelers. However, if you’re like many anglers who frequently drive across to say, go fishing in Ensenada or San Quntin, you may want to consider using the new cards.

Right now, the timeline for processing new passports or cards is not long. Estimated time is 3 weeks, but don’t wait. Many people don’t start thinking about their passports until it’s almost time for vacation. Then, there’s a big rush. Things slow down Don’t get caught. Might as well get them for the kids too. They’ll be needing theirs too at some point.

All the info is right here: http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html


The other document you need to consider is your fishng license. Yes, you do need one technically to fish Mexico/Baja waters. Whether someone checks or not, you’re supposed to have one on you. If you’re not fishing, but on a boat with fishermen, you’re supposed to have one as well.

Like many laws in Mexico, sure, it seems like you can get away with things. But, it’s when someone actually decides to check or else decides to enforce it then problems can arise. Again, you might as well take the pre-cautions and have the document ready.

Interestingly, it’s often easier to get a hold of a Mexican fishing license in the states than in Mexico. Obtaining a Mexican fishing license is sometimes as complicated as applying for a mortgage and about as easy to get these days.

The bureaucracy of getting a Mexican fishing license can be staggering. In the states, one usually goes to their local tackle store or variety store and steps up to the sporting goods counter. Five minutes later you walk out with a license. In Mexico, obtaining a license can take days!

Don’t count on your outfitter or charter company or hotel to have them. Often, through no fault of their own, they can’t get them either! It’s a good idea to check and even better if you can obtain them in the U.S.

Many of the better tackle stores that service clients who do long range trips or clients who travel to Mexico carry the licenses. Various travel groups and clubs also carry them. You can also get applications online:

http://www.conapescasandiego.org/contenido.cfm?cont=MAIN&CFID=201203&CFTOKEN=99827794

Personally, I think it’s more economical to just purchase the yearly license. Unlike licenses in the states that are good for only a calendar year (Jan 1 to Dec. 31), a Mexican fishing license is good for 365 days from the time you purchase it. If you don’t know the exact dates of your trip or plan to fish Mexican waters several times this is a great bargain.

Depending on where you purchase the license (there may be a small service charge and the peso exchange rate), the cost of a daily license is about$12. A weekly license is about $25. A yearly license about $50.



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

FILLING THE BAJA SLED!

Originally Published the Week of Dec. 13, 2008 in Western Outdoor News


I guess except for the surroundings, Baja during the Christmas season is a lot like anywhere else once you get used to it. Except for the fact that it’s not cold and there’s a lot of desert around here, it’s pretty much the same. No one is standing in a Santa suit at the grocery store ringing a bell. Unless Santa was in shorts, he’d bake in a furry red suit!

But Christmas “season” has been going on pretty much since November. Unlike the states, there’s no Thanksgiving holidays acting like a speed bump towards Christmas. Once Halloween is over, it’s full turbo towards Navidad! Stores have been decorated for weeks. Christmas shopping began Nov. 3rd.

Christmas tree lots have been up for awhile. They advertise “fresh Oregon Christmas trees” here in Baja. Yes, they come all the way down from the Pacific Northwest. They are a little pricier this year like everything else, but seem to move pretty fast.

I had to do a little errand running last week downtown in La Paz and also in Cabo San Lucas and it’s pretty funny seeing store merchants spraying fake snow in the windows and seeing everyone hanging up ornament balls and hearing Christmas carols in Engish in the larger stores and malls. Every flat-screen TV must have garland wrapped around it. I think that’s big on the Christmas list this year.

But this is the time of year, everyone knows that I’m going to be making several trips north to the states. So, my list is growing longer of all the things my local friends are asking “Santa Jonathan” to bring them. One of my friends calls me the “Christmas burro” because I’m like a pack animal with all the goodies.

It gets longer every year and, of course, I always get the promise that they’ll pay me back if I buy it in the states for them.

There’s the impression in Mexico that things are really cheap to buy in the U.S. Really cheap! Perhaps relative to Mexico prices, it’s less expensive in the states, but an iPod is still and iPod and a Seiko dive watch will never be a Casio.

So, it’s difficult when a friend making 10-dollars-a-day wants me to buy a car stereo, a laptop computer, or an Xbox and promises he’ll pay me weekly for it. They also don’t understand that I just can’t pack a sled full of all the goodies and fly back either. On Dasher! On Dancer!

Customs fees aside, there’s also weight restrictions aplenty these days and hefty fees for extra baggage.

But I do my best. Miguel wants a Dodger jersey. Sergio wants a DVD by Aerosmith. Liliana wants a bottle of California wine. Anita wants See’s candy. Rogelio wants a Laker’s baseball hat. Jacobo wants polarized sunglasses.

Eddy wants a Mario Brothers video game. Javier wants black 501 Levis sized 34 x 32. Sigh…”They must be black and they must have the Levi label on them,” he insists. Big on labels.

I will do what I can and try not to disappoint. But the hardest are the requests from the younger ladies…

“I want the same dress that Yennifer (they don’t pronounce the “J” in Spanish) Aniston wears to the Academy Awards.”

Oh sure, let me just order one of those up.

“I want the same makeup that Paris Hilton wears!”

Sure. I”ll stop by Walmart on my way to the airport. That’s where Paris Hilton shops. Believe me!

“I would like Brad Pitt’s autograph!”

Exhale. Deep thought.

OK, let’s see. I have a marker. That’s B-R-A-D…

I hate to disappoint.

Happy Shopping, amigos. I gotta load my sled.



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