http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/tully-mars/ en Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:00:38 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/images/insignia/misc/rss.jpg http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/tully-mars/ http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/tully-mars/2779-theyre-back.html Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:05:09 GMT Woke up this morning and found the cruise ships have returned. I found this to be the view out my bedroom window- Image: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3588/3608265904_d502af53a7.jpg?v=0 Myself I could live here the rest of my life, never see another cruise ship or tourist and be... Woke up this morning and found the cruise ships have returned. I found this to be the view out my bedroom window-



Myself I could live here the rest of my life, never see another cruise ship or tourist and be completely content. However the town has been being bleed dry due to lack of income. So this is a bitter sweet day for me. I am glad that so many will be so much better off with the income the tourist bring.

Many in Progreso are happy today. For that I'm glad. ]]> Tully Mars http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/tully-mars/2779-theyre-back.html http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/tully-mars/2289-dropped-weight-first-time-ever.html Sat, 11 Apr 2009 17:45:13 GMT Yesterday for the first time, other than in a course, I dropped my weights. During an afternoon dive my BC decided it no longer wanted to hold any air at about 55 ft. I started the dive off a boat in Akumal. One DM, a nice couple from the mid west, a local lady who was on her 20th dive and couple... Yesterday for the first time, other than in a course, I dropped my weights. During an afternoon dive my BC decided it no longer wanted to hold any air at about 55 ft. I started the dive off a boat in Akumal. One DM, a nice couple from the mid west, a local lady who was on her 20th dive and couple from Spain who got cert'ed year ago and hadn't dove since. In the boat I noticed the Spanish couple were having trouble putting on their masks and fins and just in general looked confused. The water was choppy, I say 8-10 ft. Once we all hit the water and started our decent I noticed the local lady was having issues, couldn't seem to descend. So at 25ft I went back up and helped her down. Once she got to about 30-35 ft she was fine. At around 55 ft I noticed I was having problems with bouncy. I'd put a little air in my BC and in within a couple seconds I find myself sinking again. I rolled on my back, put some air in the BC and immediately saw bubbles headed to the surface. A little trouble shooting and I realized it was leaking air at the inflator tube connection over my left shoulder. I messed with it a little and realized it's a lost cause. I gave up and spent the rest of the dive vertical and swimming up. After mess with the BC I did a quick head count and noticed everyone’s spread out quite a ways and the DM is 60-70 yards in front of everyone. A few minutes later the local lady came and grabbed me and pointed to the Spanish couple. They were headed to the surface, quickly headed to the surface. I went up to check on them and with hands signs got they couldn't stay down. So I grabbed both of them and took them back down to 55ft, wasn't a problem I had 15lbs of lead and no air in the BC. Got them both vert. and let a little air out of their BC and everything seem fine... for about 5 mins then they put air back in their BCs and started ascending again. I spent the whole dive herding them and swimming up. At about 42 minutes they started up again and I just let them go as I saw the dive boat above. The local gal and I spent a couple more minutes at 45ft then went to 15ft for the safety stop. I spent the 3 mins at 15ft still swimming up and once it was time to surface I dumped the weight. Thought about dumping sooner but didn't want to find myself on the surface and unable to descend again.

So first time in nearly a 1000 dives over about 20 yrs. I dumped it yesterday. I'm running different options through my head this morning and wondering if I should have handled the situation differently. One thing’s for sure... my legs are tried as hell this today. ]]> Tully Mars http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/tully-mars/2289-dropped-weight-first-time-ever.html http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/tully-mars/415-gustva-watch-crazies.html Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:53:53 GMT Fay missed me and drenched Florida making four separate land falls. I watched Fay as she hooked north, missing me by at least several hundred miles. Last night as I shut down everything Gustva's storm track was predicted to directly hit Cuba and then most likely hook north, as Fay did. This morning while walking the beach I noticed several houses having their windows boarded up. When I returned home I checked in with my Internet sources and found Gustva's decided on a more western track. Currently must models have it passing between Cuba and the Yucatan. If it stays there I'll be fine. If it dips southwest over night I could be in line for a direct hit. Yet again I'm preparing, though I've really been prepared since mid June.

On another note- Why do I attract crazy people? I'll admit I'm a little crazy myself. Just how crazy is debatable. But for some reason since moving down here I keep finding myself involved for one nut case after another. Several weeks back I had a friend send me an e-mail. It's first paragraph was I need you help with this and that, I know how to get a store we both wanted to go to. The second paragraph was- "Oh, BTW our friend died last night." The third paragraph went back to I need your help with these things also. I found this goofy.

More recently I met a lady who's putting the finishing touches on a very nice beach front house. She calls me up and asked me questions about how this or that should be done, I give her my advice and then she says "No, I want to do it another way." She can do her construction how ever she wants, makes no difference to me. But why does she call me if she already knows what she wants to do? Several times I've gone out and redone things the way I suggested they be done to begin with. This morning she called asking where to get plywood to cover her windows, specifically where to get it the cheapest. I'd just got off the phone with my friend who's local and he had called around this morning looking for the best price on Plywood. I told her and again she said "No, this other place is cheaper then that." Again why call me then?

She has a Mexican guy building her a pool. I asked her if she's paying his health ins. and whether she has a written contract with the guy. "No, why?" Because Mexican labor laws are very different then those in the states or Canada. Here once you hire someone you are responsible for them. If you hire someone the day before Christmas Vacation you have to pay them for the two week vacation. If you let them move into your home for any length of time they can claim what amounts to squatters rights. They simply claim they are dependent on you. A real estate friend of mine spent three freaking years getting a family out of a house she let the work man stay in while he did the work, he moved his entire family in. I told this lady about this and she said "Oh, it won't be a problem, I'll just fire him if it becomes a problem." She also said he's staying there from Mon. until Sat. she feeds him everyday. And when she goes up to Philly in Sept. he's going to be house sitting. Well, best of luck with all that. I'll bet anyone $100 when she gets back this guy and his family are living in her house

Mexican Labor Laws - hiring and firing employees in Mexico ]]> Tully Mars http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/tully-mars/415-gustva-watch-crazies.html http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/tully-mars/378-partys-over.html Sun, 24 Aug 2008 17:43:46 GMT At 11am local time the party ended. The party started early Friday evening in the house next to me. It's my understanding this was a Quinceaña, a coming of age party for a 15 year old girl. The live bands started Friday right after a thunder storm cleared. I'm not sure how many bands were involved. I'd guess six maybe seven. I do know in between bands there was a 15-20 minute period of, not really silence, but an absence of pounding bass. Other then those breaks the music never stopped and I rarely slept.

This morning when the music stopped, yet again, I glanced out to see the stage and sound system being disassembled. At first I figure another band was simply setting up. When a truck arrived and they began loading the large stack type speakers I was pretty sure the end was in sight. In a matter of a half an hour the stage, lighting rigging and sound system was loaded and gone. I swear I saw Foreigner once and they had a smaller stage, speaker stacks and light show. Foreinger also didn't play for 40 hours either.

Other then the noise the party guest were seemingly everywhere and very drunk. Not only drunk but in my opinion very rude. Early last night I found three Mexican boys sitting on the hood of my truck, each with a 40oz. beer in hand. I told them, in Spanish, "please don't sit on my truck, thank-you." They left but as they did I heard what amounted to "Fucking gringo asshole, fuck him his mom's a whore." I made sure my alarm was set. At 3am I hear, barely over the music, my alarm go off. I went out to investigate. I feared maybe the young men from earlier had decided to screw with my truck. What I found was a young couple on my truck, quite possibly having sex and it seemed completely oblivious to the sound of my alarm. I told them "get off my truck!" They finally stopped, fell off the hood and stumbled back to the party... or possibly the beach. I didn't really watch where they went, just made sure they went.

I really expected, based on other local parties I've witnessed, this party would end tomorrow morning. I've seen several of these, not at this sound level mind you, last right up until Monday morning. Usually the music stops around 6:30 or 7 am. Everyone begins throwing stuff into vehicles, people all hug each other and their gone in a half an hour or so.

Yesterday I noticed most of the vehicles had plates from the state of Chiapas, which has to be a good 15hr. drive from here. I assume this is the reason for my early respite.

I'm hoping this is the last party of this vacation season. Vacation season here in Progreso, for the Mexicans, begins July 1 and ends in a late August. My good friend here tells me the schools start up again tomorrow morning. I've been here almost exactly a year. During that year the town has been a very typical sleepy Mexican fishing village. Almost empty at times. During the winter there is a large group of US and Canadian snow birds. Then during Semana Santa (a two week Mexican Easter holiday) the town had what seemed like a lot of people. Nothing has compared to July and August.

I'm looking forward to Sept and most of Oct. hopefully my town will return to it's sleepy self. Sleep is a precious commodity. Hopefully I'll be getting more sleep myself. One can hope. ]]> Tully Mars http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/tully-mars/378-partys-over.html http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/tully-mars/331-approval.html Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:51:59 GMT I been approved for another trip around the sun down Mexico way. I had my appointment this morning at IMN. Yesterday I'd been told this was a mere formality and I should be prepared to pony up the grand. Everything here is done in cash so I hit two ATM's this morning using two separate accounts on my way to the appointment. I'd decided late last night given the circumstances I was pretty much in a corner with no good options. The least adverse option was to simply pay the fine, breath in, breath out and move on. But I figured I'd jump through the hoop, however pointless several sources told me it would be. Anyway I went and stated my case to the supervisor this morning. I started by telling him it was completely my fault for not understanding Spanish well enough to know what the document said. That I should have known the Visa was not stamped in the correct place. He asked me several questions, mainly if I liked it here and if I plan on staying, if so how long, whether or not I have any local Mexican friends etc.... I answered all questions in what best could be described as "Spanglish." In English he said "I see. So you problem is then man at the boarder crossing stamped the fifth page instead page three, correct?" "Yes, I should I have known this was wrong. I've since read the visa and clearly says in Spanish the initial stamp needs to be on page three." He said "And you didn't read through this at the time because you don't read Spanish then, right." "Yes, I still don't read Spanish well but I'm working on it." He stated "Yes, but the officer at the border should be trained to know which page is correct, it would be good if you engage in our culture and learn our language. But you are not required to do these things. You are require, by law, to have the Visa in the correct order. I can not, even though I believe this was not your fault, reduce the fine to zero. I can see what I can do." He then picked up the phone and began talking. I caught most of it. Basically he said this is clearly not his fault, I need to know what the minimum fine is and how to enter it in the system so he is charged that amount instead of the maximum which he is now being charged. He talked to the person on the other end of the phone briefly and then began typing into the computer at his desk. In the matter of two or three minute he told me "I'm not allowed to completely remove the fine, all I can do is reduce it. In this case the minimum fine is $253." I was thinking well that sure beats a grand. I thanked him. He told me my new paperwork would be waiting for me at the down stairs office and I left. When I got down stairs they explained I needed to take the paper work to a local bank and pay for both the visa renewal and the fine, then return with the receipt and pick up my new visa. I took the paperwork and left for the bank. While walking to the bank I notice the visa renewal- 1172 pesos and the fine 253 peso. Holy crap! My fines been reduced from $1000 US dollars to 253 pesos, or about $25 bucks. So much for all those "sources" who told me I was wasting my time.

So I'm cleared to spend another trip around the sun down here in the sun.

I'm hoping this is the beginning of a new pattern, one where it's more paradise and less shit. ]]> Tully Mars http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/tully-mars/331-approval.html http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/tully-mars/315-just-another-shitty-day-paradise.html Mon, 18 Aug 2008 23:17:41 GMT Just another shitty day in paradise. I used to have a large coffee mug with that on it. I bought it in the Philippines and used it for about 5 1/2 months on my first West-Pac. A week out of San Diego, my home port, my ship did a hard starboard turn and the mug slid off my desk and shattered on... Just another shitty day in paradise. I used to have a large coffee mug with that on it. I bought it in the Philippines and used it for about 5 1/2 months on my first West-Pac. A week out of San Diego, my home port, my ship did a hard starboard turn and the mug slid off my desk and shattered on the deck.

Lately it seems every turn I take is equal to that mug smashing on the deck. I noticed a pattern a few weeks back. First I came down with Dengue Fever. To say it was unpleasant would be a huge understatement. Being ill I let my pool maintenance slide. Not smart. It's taken me at least a week to get it back in Ph range. For a while I had what looked like a chemical cloud for pool water. I then found myself having relationship troubles, which was really odd being that I'm not in a relationship. I'd explain that in more detail but I don't understand it well enough myself. The next day someone side swiped my truck in a parking lot. hit and run. My cost- $1000. Today I went down to pick up my new FM3 visa only to find out I've been fined nearly $1000 dollars because the guy who stamped my visa at the border last year stamped the wrong page. And I was suppose to know which page was right because?

I find myself at a cross roads, I feel like I'm getting 1000 dollar'ed to death. I've filed an appeal with immigration. I have an appointment with the head guy tomorrow morning. I've been told this is a waste of my time, but figure why not at least jump through the hoops before handing over a grand. If I didn't have two dogs I'd just leave and move elsewhere. Costa Rica, Belize, Chile all sound good. But dogs are a problem with all these countries, or so I've been told. Plus if I leave and don't pay the fine I can never return to Mexico, least not without paying the fine and any interest it gathers. I can't see myself never returning to Mexico.

I've also considered packing it all in a joining the Peace Corps. Again the dogs. Also considered cashing in a few things and selling (at a really large loss) my truck, buying sailboat and pointing it in a direction. Which direction? I think I'd figure that out once I got the boat.

All and all for living in paradise it's been a pretty shitty time lately. ]]> Tully Mars http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/tully-mars/315-just-another-shitty-day-paradise.html http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/tully-mars/94-condo-sale.html Sat, 26 Jul 2008 18:10:19 GMT The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part

Tom Petty- the Waiting


I recently did some wiring for a close friend's family. Hooked up 110w to a water pump to supply fresh water to the condo's plumbing system. Down here they pump water to the roof where they have a couple tanks for storage. I basically did this job in between down pours and thunder storms. The building here is falling down/apart. The only way to get on the roof was to stand on the balcony and step on a window A/C unit and take a somewhat leap of faith onto the roof four story's up. Due to the tropical weather of late this job, which should have taken a couple hours, took a couple days. Up on the roof lugging a tool bag, squalls move in and the thunder starts. The back down to the truck and safety. So yeah, kind of a pain. But I finished it. Turns out the waiting was the hardest part. Well, that and hopping onto the roof and back several times.

When first asked if I'd do the job I was told this condo is for sale or rent and has a great view, two story's, five bedrooms, three bath and could easily be turned into two units. The penthouse has a large palapa roof. I asked what they wanted for the place and was told 135K. Seemed kind of high for down here but it sound really nice, so?

When I got there I looked around for a few minutes and thought "you couldn't pay me to spend one night here." What a crap hole.

The view is decent, but there's no beach in front:



The penthouse's palapa is falling apart and is a complete loss, there's green mold growing on the inside and it stinks... like vomit in your mouth bad:

Once inside I found the unit hadn't had anyone living there for at least a year and birds have invaded through broken windows and holes in the palapa:



If you look closely you can see bird crap all over the rug and a dead bird in the middle of the shot on the floor. Again the smell, mold mixed with dead birds and bird crap. Not a good mix.

As I was working on the job the lady who's managing the condo showed up and asked what I thought. I tried to be nice, but basically told her it needed massive maintenance and really you could get me to take the place only if you paid me. She said "well they're asking 135k but I think I could get them down to 75-80K." I basically said "best of luck with that."

I was kind of worried i might have offended her but this morning she showed up with a thank-you gift for doing the job. I won't take any money from this family as they've helped me so many times over the years.

Here's what she brought me:




I like it I have one just like in my bedroom, now I have a matching set, this one's hanging above my TV in the living room. If you look close you can see the crack running down the wall, my house is falling down too:lol:

So if anyone out there would like to throw 75-80K away on a worthless condo on a non-beach in Mexico, drop me a line I'll hook you up.

I'm waiting. ]]> Tully Mars http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/tully-mars/94-condo-sale.html http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/tully-mars/24-la-buena-vida.html Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:03:51 GMT No more journals, huh.

Well maybe it's time to accept things change.

Maybe I'll go from a crazy life to the good life.

Yeah, probably not- sanity's probably not found by changing where you rant about your mundane life.

But I still miss the journal system. ]]> Tully Mars http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/tully-mars/24-la-buena-vida.html