MEXICO AND COMPUTERS UGH!!

By now you know that my knowledge of computers is minuscule (plus, I am really dumb).  What I do know is that one cannot live today without a computer, especially if you are living in a foreign country.  Make that country Mexico and the problems multiply.  You cannot do much on a computer without internet and in Mexico, it is sort of hit or miss.  Sometimes it goes out completely.  Normally just for a few hours except when I had that fight with Telecable over my bill and I was without internet for days.  Even when you do have it, it is sometimes too light a signal, so when I am using my Magic Jack for international calls you sometimes get every other word, or it just dies mid sentence.

I need a computer for communication with the outside world, both email and my Magic Jack phone.  It is also essential financially.  I check my  accounts, move funds, pay bills and of course there is my blog (my baby).  It started as a means for friends of mine around  to keep up with what and how I was doing in Mexico.  To my amazement, I have picked up readers all over the world.  Who ever you are in Brazil, Alaska, and Russia that reads this stuff, I would appreciate it if you would send me a message.  My email address is lagunalary@aol.com .  I really did not know how I could survive without a computer.  I was about to find out.

The past few weeks have been hot.  We are still waiting for the heavy rains.  One day last week, I used the computer in the morning working on  a still unfinished blog.  Some take me a month;  this one I will knock out in a few days.  I had bridge that day and suddenly had to shower and leave for bridge.  I forgot and left the computer on.  Elvis happened to stop by (forgetting that it was my bridge day),  I thought I would be home shortly, but bridge went on, and on, and on.  He wound up waiting an hour for me to get home.  By the time he left, I just had time to change to go out to dinner with Patty.  We finished dinner late and she came by here for one more glass of wine (maybe two).  By the time she left I was really drunk, but did have the presence of mind to shut off the computer.  It has been on in a very hot room for 14 to 15 hours.

The following morning I tried to turn it back on, but just got a black screen.  I left it running hoping something would pop up later.  When I got back to it, it was really hot and still a black screen.  I unplugged it and put it near a window on its side to cool it off.  When that did not work, I stuck it in the refrigerator (not very long, really)  Still nothing.  I called a friend of mine and he said maybe I needed a new fan underneath (mine died a long time ago) and to get some compressed air to clean the vents.  But I decided to take it immediately to the computer store who fixed it the last time it overheated (last summer).  The shop is about 12 blocks away and when I got there the steel door had been raised about a foot off the sidewalk and a fan was set under it.  I yelled, but no one answered.  There were three numbers on the door to call in case it was closed.  No one answered the first two numbers and someone's mother answered the third number.  In her broken English, I got the impression that her son was at school, but she would call him and have him get back to me.  I went across the street to one of my favorite restaurants that I seldom visit because it is so far from my home.  I had just seated myself in a lovely patio of trees and flowers and ordered an ice tea (while still studying the menu).  My phone rang and it was the computer guy who told me to go back across the street and yell under the door or  just bang on the door as someone sleeps in the back.

Finally a tall bald American man appeared and said, ¨´Yes, What do you want¨"  I explained my  problem to which he said he knew nothing about computers, but the computer guy usually arrives between 10 and 12.  It was now 11:00.  I told him I would be across the street having lunch and would try later.  By that time the door was fully open and another American was seated at a desk,  He said that he too knew nothing about computers, but "Cheynne" should be there between 1:00 and 3:00.  I left my number and asked that he call me.  In the meanwhile I took the bus to Office Depot and bought a new fan and a can of that compressed air.  I tried both and turned the computer back on and sure enough I had a screen.  I was thrilled for about 15 minutes and then it died again.  I tried the spray can (no one told me that you have to give one squirt in the air to get rid of the water before turning it on the computer), so some water did go through the vents.  The computer guy did call and say he would be there the following day sometime between 10:00 and 12:00.

It remained dead.   The following morning I called to explain that I would be there a little after noon as I had a Spanish class at 11:00.  Sure enough he was there.  He asked it I had taken the back off yet.  My first thought was to say "Are you crazy?"  but instead just answered NO!  He played with it for a while and pronounced that it looked like the video card was fried.  He could fix it, but it would cost almost as much as a new computer and would still be an old damaged machine.  He gave me a list of what I needed for a new computer and then told me "Do not get Windows 8,  you must find an old Windows 7",  He said that if the mother board was still intact, he could transfer all my information and systems to a flash drive and install it in my new computer.  He wanted 250 pesos for the flash drive, but said if I gave him my old computer he would not charge for the transfer.  He sounded like a deal to me.

My friend had just purchased a brand new car a few days earlier and I was pretty sure he would be out tooling around in it.  I called and asked if he would be anywhere near a Wal Mart or an Office Depot.  He said they were just on their way to Costco and would pick me up on the way.  We went first to Costco.  I was shocked to find that they were not buying anything but a hot dog and a pizza (One of the little luxuries of having a car, I guess).  .Costco had no Windows 7 computers and neither did Office Depot.  Walmart had two models with Windows 7. (I never did find out if Windows 8 is a bad system, or if it was not compatible with my old one).

 You would think an old model would be on sale, but no, instead they were offering a gift of some sort of electronic device.  I had no idea what it was and knew I would never figure out how to use it, so I offered it to my friend who drove me there.  I selected what I thought was the better of the two and the girl wrote something down on a pink pad and told me to pay at the cashier.  Armed with the receipt, the girl left for the back of the store.  We waited at least 45 minutes for her to return.  She had to find a guard with a key to get to the warehouse (Was it in Guadalajara?).  My friend dropped me back at the computer store.  No one answered any of the three numbers, but it was still open and I left it with the tall bald guy who lives there.

To my amazement the kid (he is just 17) called to say it was ready before 11:00 the next morning..  What I did not realize is that he wanted another 800 pesos to "format" it.  Nothing to do but pay it.  When I got it home, I first had to get my internet to recognize the computer.  It wanted a security code.  If I ever had one, I did not remember.  I called Telecable and for all the awful (but true) things I have said about them, I got an English speaking person within 5 minutes.  He told me to type "1" twenty six times as the security code (Is that dumb or what!).  At that point my computer wanted me to register myself.  I struggled with it for half an hour and also realized that I had no icon for AOL or Magic Jack.  I called the kid, but no answer, so I called another computer guy who was recommended to me.  He spoke perfect English and said he would have someone there in ten minutes (maybe 20).  Unfortunately the guy he sent spoke a little English consisted of "HELLO,  how are YOU"  I tried to explain my problem (he had to check with his boss) and finally I got my AOL (in English) and Magic Jack (or so I thought).  Another 300 pesos and he was gone.  By that time I was sick of the whole scenario and decided to go to a bar and get very drunk.

The next morning I turned it on and decided it was time to check email and my Magic Jack messages.  I then discovered that I had no sound.  I suddenly realized that the computer had never utter a word.  No tune when you turn in on and no "You've got Mail!!"  I knew enough to check the speakers and had them at high volume.  It also had a mute, but it was off.  I called the first kid and he had no idea and said I would have to bring in down to him.  Twelve blocks each way in the hot sun!  It seems that if you press function and F10 it mutes the entire computer.  Who knew??  Happily I took it home, but when I connected Magic Jack I found that the phone still had no sound.  I found "menu" and got to the sound controls and finally I can hear on my phone.

It will be a while before I figure out this Mexican key board.  It has an extra letter "ñ" and the punctuation marks are in strange places.  Some are under letters and instead of the capital key, you use a special key marked "Alt Gr" (who knows?)  There may be errors in the postings, but then none of them are perfect.  Besides all the hassle and trips to the computer shop, it is the cost that really upset me, but it could have been worse.  What if I had lost everything on my old computer.  Not only photos, but I have about 600 pages of two unfinished (and as yet unpublished) novels.  I had Carbonite that is supposed to save all your information, but none of the computer guys here seemed to know anything about it.  If Pamela is still reading my blog (she tried to teach me all about computers over 20 years ago) she will not be surprised to learn that decades later computers are just as confusing and frustrating to me as they ever were.

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MEXICAN MEDICINE

The first question people ask of me when they hear (to their horror) that I actually live full time in Mexico is,
"What do you do about medical problems?"  You may be surprised to hear my answer,  "It is wonderful. but the problem is you have to pay for it yourself".  Luckily it is cheap compared to the United States (all medicine is cheap compared to the United States!).  Without divulging much about my personal life (you may have noted that I do not!),  I will say that I have had the occasion to visit a hospital here a couple of times.

Let me begin by talking about the Mexicans or Nationals as they are called here.   For the most part, they do not trust doctors or hospitals and if possible, will self mediate.  There may even be witch doctors or shamans here.  You can't go two blocks in Puerto Vallarta without passing some sort of pharmacy.  There are three kinds.  We have the ones that dispense prescriptions drugs (with no prescriptions necessary), and the Farmacias Similares that sell sort of unauthorized generic drugs  or maybe just similar in chemical compounds but produced in kitchens.  They are much cheaper.  You can buy a Viagra like pill for about $2.00 (or so I have been told, I really would not know!)   Most popular with the Nationals are the homeopathic pharmacies. They sell herbs, lotions and concoctions that have been used here for centuries (maybe even thousands of years).   Although most of my Mexican friends swear by them, I have so far stuck to the drugs I know (and I know a lot of them!).

The doctors are wonderful and all I have met speak perfect English.  There is a woman here in Puerto Vallarta by the name of Pamela  who disperses medical advice by email.  She will answer medical questions or can refer you to a doctor or hospital.  She knows every English speaking doctor here and will even make the appointment for you and email you a map to their office.  This is of no cost to you.  Now she may get a kick back or referral fee from the doctor or hospital, but it is free to us. She has recommended a dermatologist, podiatrist and a heart doctor to me.  All were excellent and quite reasonable.  I had three skin cancers removed and one had to be cut out and sent to a lab for analysis.  I had to go back for the results and to have stitches removed and I think the total bill was about $100.00.  I think Pamela may have first sent me to Dr. Lupita at the hospital a few blocks away, but then everyone I know goes to her, so maybe someone else did.  She is so good she is authorized or approved by several medical insurance companies in the U.S. (just not by mine = more on that later)   She is my regular doctor for "whatever":.

The hospitals are as clean, orderly and neat as any you will find anywhere.  In fact my hospital room (yes I did spend a few days there) was as nice as any I have been in.  It was a large private room with a large window with a nice view, a T.V., dresser, a few chairs and a large tile bathroom.  Nurses were on call in less than a minute and most spoke some English.  They were all very kind and extremely accommodating.  Of course once I was up and wandering the halls I found that there was only one other patient on my floor.

After my first visit to emergency, I discovered the "Clinicas"  They are always next to a small pharmacy.  You just walk in to the pharmacy, make an appointment and go next door and sit in a chair until someone comes out and calls you.  Sometimes I am the first one there and sometimes there will be six to ten people waiting (I walk on and come back later).  My first visit there was when someone told me about the vitamin B shots they got there.  Vitamin B is supposed to give you energy and strength and when I was worn out by one of my moves, I stopped by.   The shot cost 20 pesos (maybe $1.50).  You have to buy the medication and I think a weeks worth of shots might have been $30 or $40.00.   Many such medications come already in disposable syringes.   At first I thought I needed my FM3 card (or residency card) but since then no one has ever asked for it.  I thought that they must be government sponsored, but I was told that they are privately funded.  Whatever, it is nice for us "poor people".

Mexican Nationals who is gainfully employed are also covered by a sort of Medicare program (except they have no co-pay).  They do have very powerful unions here that promote most of these programs.  If the National is not employed (farmers, poor people, etc) they can still get medical help by other government financed clinicls.  The medical service is pretty bad there I am told.  They have to wait for hours and usually there are no specialist and sometimes they don't have the necessary medication.

You may recall my bad fall a couple of years ago went I was first taken to Emergency ("Fear of Falling"), well I wound back up in emergency last November.  I was hospitalized for five days.  No surgery and other than pain killers, no costly drugs (that I know of) but I was on an IV.  When I was finally told I could go back home, I wondered about the bill.  I gave them the information on my insurance in the U.S.  Yes, I am definitely old enough for Medicare, but I elected to go with an HMO (with smaller co-pays)   They did ask me for a  down payment of 20,000 pesos.  I never saw the final bill from the hospital, nor did I see one from the two doctors that attended me.


The nice lady who handles payments, was very helpful and rather attractive.  His name is Esmarelda (a pretty name too).  She contacted my insurance company and at first was told that everything could be handled by email.  she said she would take care of it.   This turned out not to be true.  She called me back into her office for my insurance company was now telling her that they would only deal directly with me.  They would not only accept a claim by email, but had forms that they would only mail to my address in the U.S.  This took about two weeks.  I had Donna pick them up and she had to UPS them to me.  This took another week.  Esmarelda filled out the forms (with some help from me) and submitted the claim. We were told it would take four to six weeks.  They admitted receiving the claim on January 11th  and for months there was no action at all.  Finally they did contact me to ask for copies of all the tests the hospital had performed (I do not know why the hospital did not send them before).  Luckily I had already forwarded them to my primary care doctor in the States.  Then they needed proof of the payment I had made so I scanned my bank statement and sent that off.

Nothing happened and no one would return my calls.  Finally I got through and found that they had settled it and the checks had been sent to my address in the U.S.  I sent Donna off again and she found two checks, but no explanation of how much they allowed nor any mention of the money I had already paid the hospital.  I knew how much they sent in dollars, I just did not know what I owed in pesos, so I was off to see Esmarelad again.  All this took five months.  I was shocked at the bill they expected me to pay.  It was far higher than I had expected and much less than what the insurance company sent me.  Esmarelda set up a meeting with the hospital administrator.  After going over all the charges, the major bill was from the specialist who did finally come to the emergency room and then saw me each day I was in the hospital.  His bill was more than I would have expected in the U.S.  We went round and round and then I said,  " Look, I would like to settle this now, but if you prefer, you can work with my insurance company for another six months"  That is when he said that he thought they could settle for the amount the insurance company sent.  They does leave me stuck with the 20,000 pesos that I already paid (four months rent for me!)

The "specialist" had way over charged (maybe because I was an American, maybe because I had insurance).  He finally agreed to lower the bill somewhat (I will not be gong back to him).  Dr. Lupita who stopped by every day to see me never submitted a bill at all.  We agreed to an amount in pesos, but it still left me stuck with the 20,000 pesos.  Maybe I should have haggled longer, maybe I should have just stone walled them and refused to pay.  What could they do to me?  Well, maybe a lot since I am a guest in a foreign country.  I have to look on the bright side.  At least my insurance company did pay most of it.


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