Ed Hulett -> Mimi Gallandt wrote:
 EH> Mimi Gallandt -> Ed Hulett wrote:
 MG>> Ed Hulett -> Mimi Gallandt wrote:
 EH>>> Mimi Gallandt -> Ed Hulett wrote:

 MG>>>>>> I got my passport 2 years ago. They've been
saying that you are
 EH>>>>> going to
 MG>>>>>> have to have a passport very soon now for at
least 8 years. Once I
 EH>>>>> move
 MG>>>>>> to my friends house and get a little freed up
cash I'm going to
 EH>>> get a
 MG>>>>>> Sentri card. For $122.00 a year you don't have
to wait in the
 EH>>> Customs
 MG>>>>>> lines, there's a special line for Sentri
members. Being a somewhat
 MG>>>>>> assertive person I generally get passed most
Mexicans because when
 EH>>>>> I say
 MG>>>>>> Con permiso they notice my chair and let me by.
I know it isn't
 EH> the
 MG>>>>>> experience of most who post here, but my
experience with Mexican
 MG>>>>>> nationals is very positive. When they see
someone in a chair they
 EH>>>>> can't
 MG>>>>>> jump to offer help faster if they tried. I
don't go into TJ
 EH> farther
 EH>>>>> than
 MG>>>>>> I have to because the gang violence is getting
real bad there. I
 EH>>>>> shop at
 MG>>>>>> the UETA (at one time I actually could remember
what that's an
 MG>>>> acronym
 MG>>>>>> for) Duty Free shop. They have unbelievably
good prices on nearly
 MG>>>>>> everything. I bought my CD player there for
$10.00. At any rate if
 MG>>>> you
 MG>>>>>> purchase anything at UETA you have to take it
into Mexico and then
 MG>>>> you
 MG>>>>>> can come right back home. There are two of
those one way metal
 EH>>>>> spinning
 MG>>>>>> things you have to go through. At the second
one the Cab Drivers
 MG>>>>>> standing around there always help me get the
spin to start and
 EH> they
 MG>>>>>> never get upset that I don't hire one of them
to get a ride to
 MG>>>> Avenida
 MG>>>>>> de la Revolution (the main tourist street).
They understand that
 EH>>> most
 MG>>>>>> San Diegans are very aware of the gang violence.

 EH>>>>> I've seen several commercials on TV that say it
will be soon (I
 MG>> can't
 EH>>>>> remember when they say) that to cross the border
*back* into the
 EH>>> US you
 EH>>>>> will need the card to make it easier.

 MG>>>> Yes, you don't need any paperwork to go to Mexico, you need it to
 MG>> come
 MG>>>> home. The crossing that I use, the San Ysidro border is
the busiest
 MG>>>> border crossing in the world. It's like O Hare airport except for
 MG>> cars
 MG>>>> and pedestrians. Tijuana has an International airport, but why
 MG>> would I
 MG>>>> bother using that?

 EH>>> It's the same way with the Canadian border. Going from here to
 MG>> there is
 EH>>> a breeze, but coming back you better have a passport or the little ID
 EH>>> card or it will take you some time to prove you are a US citizen.

 MG>> That's good to know. Canada's border used to be pretty porous.

 EH> Actually, it still is. Much of the border is wilderness. They recently
 EH> found a drug smuggling ring bringing pot from BC into Washington. There
 EH> were several pounds of pot stashed along the path that crossed the
 EH> border. The DEA, Washington State Patrol and RCMP did a joint operation
 EH> to round up the smugglers.

The Mexican border used to be like that and I suppose there is still some
to a lesser degree, but the Cartel thugs are too busy killing each other
and the occasional innocent tourist to be getting much of it across the
border. A few years back the government made Border Patrol's job harder by
merging Customs and Border Patrol into the same department. Now we have our
already too burdened officers even more burdened.

-- 
L'Chaim,
Mimi

fcpnmimi(at)cox.net

http://www.myspace.com/fcpnmimi

"Anti-Zionism = Anti-Semitism"
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
". . . You declare, my friend, that you do not hate the Jews, you are
merely 'anti-Zionist.' And I say, let the truth ring forth from the high
mountain tops, let it echo through the valleys of God's green earth: When
people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews--this is God's own truth.
Antisemitism, the hatred of the Jewish people, has been
and remains a blot on the soul of mankind. In this we are in full
agreement. So know also this: anti-Zionist is inherently antisemitic, and
ever will be so..."

Golda Meir once said, "There will never be peace until the
Palestinians love their children more than they hate us."

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