Greasing the wheels

[Jax]

ugh....texans....

Grrrrrrrr . . .

[ScubaRob]

MX was crazier than I had expected, I was over there this weekend and saw armed police with assault rifles every few minutes.

They were there 2 1/2 years ago also. I even saw flat bed trucks loaded with police with automatic assault rifles.

[amascuba]

ugh....texans....

Because rednecks in Florida are better than rednecks in Texas?

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Absolutely

[snakedoc]

If we can wait another 10 years, everyone from Mexico will be here. Then we can have the caves to ourselves.

And I pray for the day when little Texas redneck boys and girls and little Florida redneck boys and girls can sit down at the table of understanding and tolerance, join in a meal of grits and pickled pigs feet, and shout to the heavens, " Cave diving together at last, cave diving together at last, thank God Almighty we're... oh lawdy lawd, dem pigs feet is a goin right through me faster than Grant went through Richmond, be right back... "

[Sludge]

oh lawdy lawd, dem pigs feet is a goin right through me faster than Grant went through Richmond, be right back... "

FYI, down here it's "Sherman going through Atlanta."

[DA Aquamaster]

They were there 2 1/2 years ago also. I even saw flat bed trucks loaded with police with automatic assault rifles.

Gun stuff:

There isn't a semi-auto assault rifle so "automatic assault rifle" is redundant. An assault rifle is by definition selective fire and thus capable of full auto fire. It also normally shoots an intermediate powered round to facilitate control in full auto fire but there are still a few in service that fire the 7.62x51 NATO round.

The liberal press however applies the term to any rifle or carbine that looks military, evil, or black - but that's a position of either ignorance, or a desire for political correctness in the form of the chosen anti-gun terminology/rhetoric.

We just got back from 8 days in MX and while I saw many 12 ga shot guns (mostly Remington 870s and Mossberg 500s) and several Uzis (a 9x19mm caliber sub machine gun) I did not see any "assault" rifles.

The Mexican army uses the German H&K G3 as well as the new and indigenous FX-05 and the Mexican federal police use a variety of weapons such as the G3, AR-15, the FN FNC and the MP 5 sub machine gun. Thus the Uzis were a bit of a surprise and it appears the Uzi seems to be the preference of some of the local police forces.

I'm not sure what the security check points between Playa and Tulum were for, but they never bothered us.

-----

Predjudice stuff:

My Spanish has been unused for 25 years and it was substantially degraded. However I noted that even my really poor efforts to use it were rewarded with a warmer response from the locals, many of whom suddenly spoke much better English. That's no different than how we respond here, except that fewer of us are multi-lingual so I am not took quick to criticize.

People do mention theft at dive sites in Mexico but the same thing and the same discussion occurs in N FL, so my preventive efforts are the same in MX as they are in N FL. I dislike Mexican locals who steal as much as I dislike N FL locals who steal, but I don't tell people to avoid N FL just because a small percentage of the locals are dirt bags. Thus I don't tell people to avoid MX either.

I suspect some of the animosity toward Mexico is a product of fear of the unknown or lack of knowledge of a culture that is different in many ways, since we as Americans (in general) tend to view our values as superior and then try to impose them on others. Some of it though just might be predjudice, but I'll leave that for you to decide.

Which I guess makes me a liberal gun nut....

[MORGAN]

...and pickled pigs feet... "

We eat pigs feet up here in the north, too - at least those of us who are at least partially French Canadian do!

[MORGAN]

FYI, down here it's "Sherman going through Atlanta."

FYI, up here it's "faster than sh!t through a goose."

[tflaris]

The original post was highlighting the bribe/corruption situation that I experienced.

It is not a reflection of the Mexican culture or people. I'm not naive enough to believe that corruption doesn't exist everywhere.

In addition my wife is Puerto Rican and fluent in Spanish. She is also extremely charming. Trust me.

No reference was made to local person exhorting myself or anyone else in our group. The claim was against the Federal Police.

Over hearing conversations from our driver additional monies where paid out while we where there.

I'm sure experiences vary from person to person and from trip to trip. We experienced the best of hospitality from everyone we encountered the only negative experience was the one I originally posted.

Power corrupts and absolute power absolutely corrupts.





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