THE BURRO EXPRESS

The mail is very slow in Mexico. Very. Things mailed from the States to our post office box in Teocelo have been taking about two months, on average. Six weeks is fast. Three months is not unheard of. Some things don't arrive at all. This is because the mail system goes by Burro Express. A burro is slow of course, sometimes gets lost, or perhaps sometimes just lays down on the job for a week or two. It helps to put CORREO AERO on the letter or package in big letters. I understand this to mean GOOD DONKEY. We all need a little praise I think.

It takes just as long when we try to mail anything to the States from here. Perhaps the system is just overloaded...

Some folks have told us there is a FedEx Office in Jalapa and things sent or delivered from there only take a few days. We tried to find said office one day but everyone we asked did not know where the office was or had no idea what FedEx was at all. We are of good faith, however, that the office is there somewhere and we plan to keep looking.

In many ways it is refreshing not to have fast mail service here and a total blessing not to have a box full of junk mail everyday. It's all part of the more relaxed and slower pace of life which is Mexico. We love it. The "important " business stuff like banking can often be handled on line. Email becomes the way to keep in touch with friends. There are an astonishing number of Internet Cafes in Mexico, literally dozens of them in tiny Teocelo alone. The cost is about 70 to 80 cents an hour. Few can afford a computer of their own but many many folks send email and web surf. It seems the kids here are just as much into video games as their American counterparts. Some Internet Cafes are just for video games but don't worry about identifying which is which. You can hear the explosions and screams from a block away and just about feel the bullets whizzing by your head.

All in all, we are getting to like that burro.

- jim and mindy