Potholes on Chapala/Guad highway

Do be careful if going to/from the airport. Their are numerous 3ft round, several inch deep potholes in various places. They are unavoidable if someone is in the lane next to you. Yesterday one cost me two tires and a tie rod end. The two tires on the side that hit the pothole ended up with separated belts. Lucky they didn't blow.

Isn't there some compensation for damage to your car by road conditions? I think so. Call Spencer and save receipts, photos, tires etc.

Failing that, I'd set those tires on fire roll them into the appropriate gob office and close the door. Unconsciounable.

Posted Thursday on TOB:

"just a warning. horrendous pot holes close to el alamo. coming down the hill towards el alamo i hit one at 6.30 am. ruined a wheel. 3 hours for grua to arrive.
heading back to chapala pot holes are even worse from elektra building until about hampton inn. . seems to happen every year.. terrible."

Trailrunner wrote:Isn't there some compensation for damage to your car by road conditions? I think so. Call Spencer and save receipts, photos, tires etc.

Failing that, I'd set those tires on fire roll them into the appropriate gob office and close the door. Unconsciounable.

They would just douse the flames and mount those tires on one of their vehicles.

You can present a claim to get paid back, usually they deny you and then you need to file an administrative suit but if it is big money it could be worth it.

The American past time of tarring and feathering public officials is more fun and seems to get quicker results.

Actually it probably would be good  if all the people who had problems would go that route, that maybe an incentive for the state to fix the road..
I have heard from a lawyer that someone sued in the Chapala municipality for hurting him /herself because of a hole in the sidewalks and won..so that may be one way to get them to fix the roads and the sidewalks..

Ahhhhh.........well they probably have me on that friggin photo radar camera doing 120kmh in that 60kmh zone.......jaja.

I hope you do it, Bob.
If the cost of paying out claims was more expensive than fixing the f#^!)ing roads, there might be a change in priorities. I can only imagine how many people have been killed due to the crappy roads and disrepair. Even a firefighter was recently killed in a crash due to layers of gravel on the roadway.
People should hold their feet to the fire, they get away with so much.

and the kid on his moto swirved to go around a pothole and his comapnion was killed..

And you guys argue Trump vs. Hillary all the while living in Mexico and driving on crappy roads, having your homes broken into, dealing with incompetent local governments and it hasnt hit you yet??? Maybe you are worrying about the elections in the wrong country, grow some balls, learn Spanish and plan to be a citizen to vote and demand changes.

Thank you for telling us what we should be doing and how we should be living our lives. I always appreciate when someone does that, especially when they do so in a condescending and insulting manner. Did you learn how do that in a How To Grow Your Business course? Or do you already have enough business so you do not have to present yourself as polite and professional on public forums?

Well said Spencer.

¡Exactamente, Spencer!

Who is that cranky old boot, anyway?

Lady Otter Latté wrote:Thank you for telling us what we should be doing and how we should be living our lives. I always appreciate when someone does that, especially when they do so in a condescending and insulting manner. Did you learn how do that in a How To Grow Your Business course? Or do you already have enough business so you do not have to present yourself as polite and professional on public forums?

Who peed on your wheaties? What a grump. I agree with everything Spencer said.

Intercasa wrote:And you guys argue Trump vs. Hillary all the while living in Mexico and driving on crappy roads, having your homes broken into, dealing with incompetent local governments and it hasnt hit you yet???  Maybe you are worrying about the elections in the wrong country, grow some balls, learn Spanish and plan to be a citizen to vote and demand changes.  

Word.

funny Intercasa, there would have to be decent candidates to make any changes..then the systm would have to be changed and corruption done away with..Good luck on that one..

it's funny that Zad asked who peed in my Wheaties. That is what I thought when I read Spencer's post.

I find it sad that very few of us have learned Spanish. The problem is that we do not need to. I really wish I could speak better Spanish. Spencer was able to do it and I am ashamed that my Spanish is so bad.

So sadly I think that many of us deserve the words spoken by Spencer, I know I do.

Well most people arrive here after 60 to relax and enjoy the last chapter. They aren't interested in going back to school and busting their brains trying to learn a new language especially when there isn't really a need around here. Most people I know who are bilingual down here were exposed to Spanish at a young age by either a parent or grand parent. I have yet to meet anyone around here who had no previous exposure and became fluent after 60. I do know one fellow who lived in a very remote part of Mexico and learned quite a bit because they had to but they are far from fluent.

I agree, CBob.
Pete, none of us "deserved" Spencer's words. They were unnecessarily harsh, rude, and unprofessional. He did not create a separate persona for this board but posts as the professional he is. He makes a nice living for himself and his family from the kinds of people he sneered at in that post. He and several other posters see no problem with that. I see several.

Lady Otter Latté wrote:I agree, CBob.
Pete, none of us "deserved" Spencer's words. They were unnecessarily harsh, rude, and unprofessional. He did not create a separate persona for this board but posts as the professional he is. He makes a nice living for himself and his family from the kinds of people he sneered at in that post. He and several other posters see no problem with that. I see several.

Au contraire! I think that those who relocate to a new culture, with all that that entails, and refuse to assimilate, deserve what they get. This is not a resort for the comfortably numb, it is a unique community in which you voluntarily chose to live. If I was to walk into the 5-and-dime on main street, USA, unable to speak the language, I'd think, 'Oh! my bad', and not, 'if these people want my money they had better do a better job accommodating my linguistic inadequacies'.

I hope I die before I get old.

CanuckBob wrote:Well most people arrive here after 60 to relax and enjoy the last chapter. They aren't interested in going back to school and busting their brains trying to learn a new language especially when there isn't really a need around here. Most people I know who are bilingual down here were exposed to Spanish at a young age by either a parent or grand parent. I have yet to meet anyone around here who had no previous exposure and became fluent after 60. I do know one fellow who lived in a very remote part of Mexico and learned quite a bit because they had to but they are far from fluent.

My spouse and I did bust our brains after 60, took the original Warren Hardy course in SMA, took LCS Spanish courses twice and worked on recorded computer courses.  We did all the preliminary work to acquire citizenship and went to Guadalajara for some of the final steps, where we encountered a bureaucrat with an obvious resentment of old gringos.  He either had a speech impediment or a very odd accent, but he was very difficult to understand and insisted on a conversational Spanish test from two hearing impaired applicants.  End of effort. We didn't even know there would be a Spanish fluency test.  That was a few years ago. We settled for being Permanente and getting by in "sort of" Spanish.  Even if I had acquiered citizenship, I would not have felt comfortable getting involved in politics.

I think CBOB's idea about raising a ruckus over the potholes is actually a good one since fixing them would benefit all residents, but I'm going to leave it up to him to carry the torch forward. I did come here to enjoy the last chapter and getting into a lawsuit is not my idea of enjoyment.

Some people can learn languages late in life but it is usually people ho speak other languages as the second language is the tough one to learn, it is the one that teaches the brain to disconnect from translating as you go which is a trick the brain has to learn if you are ever going to be fluent .
As Cbob mentions most people do not want to invest the time in learning a new language or culture which really means practicing on a daily basis but it is also true that some people just cannot learn because of the way their brain is wired or because of poor hearing so there are many reasons why people do not learn,
It is everyone´s business to learn or not to learn. People who do not are handicapped and at the mercy of the facilitators which for me was the strongest incentive for learning.

Mexican politics are complicated and learning how to navigate the sysem is tricky and frankly pretty useless as it is the same on all sides... so unless you are someone who wants to get something out of the system good luck to anyone who tries to figure it out..

Look at all of you! Beautiful! Intelligent, Passionate and Focused! You wont fight to change one party and fix their errors and stick your cronies in, nor will you be begging for a job where you dont have to show up as compensation for supporting your candidate.

The Spanish part is a requirement for citizenship, you dont have to be perfect but speak enough, that was what I meant by that part as it is an important step in the citizenship process. You need to speak enough to be able to have a conversation with the guy when you apply.

By being citizens you have the choice of involvement and how much, vocally and actively supporting a candidate or issues or maybe just at the polls, even if you aren't citizens you can support local charities, provide jobs, support scholarship funds and use your life experiences to encourage the youth of today to do the right thing or be different, be different from the masses who always seem to end up the same.

Lets give back to our community and set a fine example to the locals. I have children and will have grandchildren here, I have a very long term commitment to my community. It pains me to see the apathy and injustice propagated by those who should be helping the people. This can be changed but it wont be overnight and it will be the result of a properly planned and executed strategy. In Mexico people seem to vote for colors and not proposals, this needs to change as well as have sanctions for not doing as promised.

Many, many foreigners can be citizens by 2018 simply by living here 5 years. We all have time to prepare. I am trying to help people prepare for that. I just hired a guy that worked at the SRE office which does the nationality applications. Now we have an inside edge.

I remember what us Americans in the greater Seattle area, Mount Vernon, to be exact, thought of all of those "Dumb" Mexicans who came to the US and never learned to speak English. And I have seen angry Americans in our local WallyMart get mad when the lady at the cash register couldn't understand his English.

What little Spanish I learned was to show respect to my Mexican neighbors, the same ones I might have badmouthed had they come to the US and not spoken English.

Why is it that most Mexicans who come to the US learn English, yet most of us don't speak Spanish. We should be ashamed of ourselves. Oh, and it's never to late to learn another language, just a little harder. I know I am still trying without too much success.