Driving home from downtown on Sunday, I just had to stop and take a picture of this.
No sign of the passengers. I can only hope that they fell off the cliff. Lately, I haven't been in a mood to suffer idiots gladly.
Now another similar kind of idiot. This road is not far from my house. It is big hill that dead ends at the main cliff side road. Notice a couple of things here. No guard rails. A stop sign. That green bush directly to the left of that passing scooter. Now imagine yourself on a golf cart seeing these same things.
Here we are with our view from the stop sign. Now notice that scraggly looking bush just barely sticking its' head up over the cliff.
This is the view from cliff side of the road looking more directly at that scraggly bush.
It's kind of hard to see unless you embiggen this, but notice the two brown dirt areas just in front of the bush. Those are the rear tire marks from a golf cart.
Yup. Thursday morning I had the opportunity to be on this road and pass this very spot at 6:10 AM. The golf cart was still there, hung up in the bushes. The front tires were over the edge of the cliff. Thankfully the bush stopped the cart from tumbling to the rock below.
Here's the side view. Use the yellow Sol beer box as an identifier.
This is the best side view of the cliff below I could get. I did not want to get too close to that edge.
The police were right ahead of me and pulled over to investigate. I saw them look over the cliff and, judging from their reaction, there was nobody lying on the sharp rocks below. This accident must have happened sometime predawn and the driver ran off. He, and any passengers, were very lucky people. It was probably stolen or the driver had been drinking. Otherwise he would have stayed with the vehicle. Right?
If this cart had not hit that bush, it certainly would have done a Thelma and Louise. Since that area is not a beach, nobody would have known until a passing boat called it in.
Continuing on with today's theme of idiots, let's revisit HSBC for a second. I was downtown Saturday night and quizzed a few business owners about this new dollar situation. None of them are happy about it, to say the least. Even as a business, HSBC will not allow them to deposit any dollars they take in from tourists into their business account. The ridicuality (I think I just made up a word!) of this situation just continues to grow.
Another thing I had noticed recently and didn't understand until now is that a few restaurants have changed their menus. The prices are all given in US dollars now instead of pesos. Makes sense. This will allow tourists to not have to exchange money and the business owner doesn't have to try to keep up with exchange rates. Plus he can wait until he has enough to make a trip to Cancun to exchange it worthwhile. I hope they all don't do this though.
Finally, as some of my eagle-eyed readers have pointed out, there is a new ATM on the island.
This is being opened by a competitor bank to HSBC. I say YEAH! It isn't opened yet and it looks like it will be one of those ATM booths that you will probably have to slide your card in to get in. I'll keep you posted on it.
Somebody else mentioned that the ATM's are giving you the choice to take out pesos or dollars now. I went around to the ATM's on Sunday and used both my HSBC (Mexican account) and credit union (American account) cards and none of them gave me that option. So I guess I don't understand.
There you have it. An update on idiots and idiotacracy. (yet another new word?)
12 comments:
Keep us posted on the dollar/bank situation. I hope it doesn't spread.
Wayne, I love your blog. I think if I came to Isla I'd feel right at home.
embiggen - ridicuality
OMG the word etymology of it all.
Wayne I too love your Blog!
Menus with prices in US dollars?Isla becomes less Mexican and more Cancun-ish every day....sort of sad.
Menus priced in US dollars?
Isla becomes less Mexican and more Cancun-ish every day.
Kind of sad.
Good post!!
I'm interested in hearing more about the USD situation, and how far this will spread? So far, we are still able to deposit USD in our HSBC business acct. here in Cancun, however, rumours are swirling this won't last long???
Oh well... there are other banks that will want our money!
Ugh, stupid tourists. Of course if someone gets hurt out there, they'll try to sue for their own "ridicuality".
The bank situation must be frustrating, but as someone who doesn't deal in any kind of dollars, I don't see the big deal. It's always kind of annoyed me that Mexico accepts greenbacks anyway, if we're in Mexico we should be using pesos. I hate getting American bills in change from vendors, give me my pesos!!! Perhaps this will turn tourists on to accepting the use of the local currency. I wouldn't go to a foreign country and hope they take pesos, I always travel with the currency of the land I am visiting. Just my humble opinion of course.
Life in Mexico is never dull is it? LOL.
Great post.
Canuck, it's not much fun for people who get paid in dollars when their own bank won't change them into pesos. It's not so much a tourist thing that is the issue, it's an issue for people who live there though. You'd be surprised at how many companies pay in US dollars cash.
Billie: mi casa es tu casa. But then you knew that!
Calypso: stick with me. It's a whole new dictionary!
anonymous: you are so right.
on mexican time: your time may be up. I spoke with somebody this afternoon that was just in Cancun today and could NOT deposit $$ in his HSBC account over there.
canuck: I think you kind of miss the point here. This is devasting to everybody involved. Lots of tourists, not just Americans, change their homeland currency into American dollars before they travel. That is kind of the gold standard accepted everywhere. So when they get here and can't use those dollars, everybody suffers. I totally agree with you however that tourists should change their money immediately into the currency of the land they are visiting. My admonishments to people to use pesos is kind of moot now. How are they to use the currency of the nation if they can't get a hold of it? I, personally, do not accept dollars as change from businesses. They try to give them to me all the time...at 10 to 1!! No thanks.
My Way: You got it.
My Way and Wayne- Well, your points kind of lead back to my point. Why are there US dollars here at all? Why would a Mexican company pay its Mexican employees anything but pesos? Doesn't make any sense to me. The only time I want to have US dollars on me is when I am in the US (or a country where the US dollar IS the currency like Panama....awwww, Panama....)
I went to the ATM at the bank last night, and yes - I did get prompted for local or US dollars. I have to wonder why anyone would be taking out US dollars here? It's a weird situation, and I feel sorry for the locals and business people who cannot exchange the US dollars they have at the bank rate of exchange. So odd!
I hope when I leave La Bruja and come to your corner I remember to stop! Thank's for all the pic's and updates of late.Counting the days.
Post a Comment