Just a had an adrenaline moment with my online TelMex account. Since the sucky Servicio Postal Mexicano can not deliver your telephone bills (or IMSS statements for that matter if you are a business) on time, you ceck your calendar and see that it’s time to pay but of course you have no idea what you owe. Also, in case you don’t use the calendar option, TelMex calls its’ customers with a recorded message saying that you are important to them and you need to pay now.

So you go to TelMexs’ drive through window and pay there. Just give them your number and get the receipt. But say you have a business, and you need to have the actual bill. Or you are curious and want to see what charges, surcharges and extras they charged you this month. You consult your online account, where you can print out your telephone statements. Unless of course, your log in doesn’t work. Then you are screwed.
1. You try all your login password username combinations.
2. It sends you to the business page. You try there.
3. It sends you to the Mi TelMex page. You are then sent back to the business page. Return to 3

And so on. So you register again. With the new info, you try to log in again. It sends you back to 2

There is a button for online help. You click that and a human called Oswaldo answers you. What is your problem? Can’t log in. Call 1-800 bla bla bla. BIG help there, Oswaldo.

I hate monopolies.

Have a great day, all.

Saw an interesting article on Mexperience.com:

http://www.mexperience.com/blogs/mexicoinsight/?p=227

It seems that there is a new way to register internet businesses in Mexico, up from the old .com.mx ending to a more modern .mx ending. Ie: lawson.mx instead of lawson.com.mx

So get your domain registered today!

I got a call from my oldest offspring last night, cell to cell, just as I was leaving the warmth of my bed to brave Meridas’ ‘heladez’ and midnight traffic to pick up my youngest, who had called just 10 minutes before to say that her ride home had not worked out due to an incident between two vehicles and a rearview mirror where the latter was not used prior to backing up one of said vehicles, resulting in a minor dent which however was enough to put a crimp into everyones’ plans, and when I picked up the phone I could clearly make out Sergio Mendes ‘Mas que Nada’ as he played live, on the beach in Playa del Carmen.
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Riviera Maya Jazz Festival: last day 2day!! http://www.rivieramayajazzfestival.com/new/

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Maybe it’s the heavy police presence. Perhaps it’s the states’ geography. Or, there might be some truth to the persistent rumour that the ‘narcos’ have their families here and an understanding not to go after one another here.

Whatever the reason, Yucatan is the safest state in violence-riddled Mexico, according to the Consejo Nacional de Seguridad Publica (National Council on Public Safety).

The CNSP goes on to say that the level of insecurity is so low that it is on the same level as cities in Holland, Switzerland or Chile.

Behind Yucatan are Campeche, Veracruz, Zacatecas and Tlaxcala.

If true, I can put up with those bothersome ‘retenes’ on Yucatans’ highways and Meridas’ streets.

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One of the joys of adolescence is looking forward to the day you can drive the family car and be free of your dependence on parents and friends to get you from A to B. In the formerly white city, this phenomenon means a visit to the Modulo de Licencias which is run by the police people. There is the main branch at the ex-penitentiary where you can also do more complicated paperwork such as changing vehicle ownership and license plate renewal, and the branch in north Merida, located in the parking lot of the Siglo XXI convention center.

The process involves presenting a series of papers, including, but no limited to, proof of address, a notarized letter that specifies parental consent and responsibility in the case of a minor, and official ID. Copies of everything are required. Once the reception guy has seen your papers, you are assigned a turno, which is a number and then you wait for that number to get called.

Once your number is called, you proceed inside where your papers are checked again and then you move on to an eye exam, which is just looking through the little machine and reading out loud the letters that are shown to you.

Next step, blood type. This info appears on your permit or license and is handy in the case of an accident, providing you have your license on you when you smash up the car. If you don’t know it, a little prick in the finger and your blood is identified right there and then.

Then, fingerprinting. As you can see in the photo above, it is necessary to post a sign advising people NOT to wipe their fingers on the walls; but rather on a tissue given to you for that purpose. It is a great demonstration of the civic values of the fomerly white citys’ citizens that such a sign is even necessary.

After that, a test, which used to be written but is now administered in a separate room by way of a computer program. Here, several policemen mill about and joke with the test-taker in an ambiance of frivolity not to be found in similar situations in places like say, Vancouver.

The fun part after that, providing you pass, is the barralell parking test, which involves another officer watching the future Yucatecan road menace attempt over and over to parallel park between two large plastic drums. This is interesting because a) the barrels are not that far apart, b) you can’t necessarily see the barrels depending on your vehicle and c) the parallel parking is done on the LEFT SIDE, a highly unusual situation in most countries that feature vehicular traffic. You can bang into those barrels several times and if you finally get it right, you proceed to pay your fee and you are now licensed to kill on the highways and byways of the Yucatan.