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| Communications in Mexico |
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On the Sea you really are an alien trying to phone home. Calling family,
getting a weather report, sending and receiving a fax, all things we take for
granted can be a real pain in the &*! when cruising in a foreign
country. The situation in Mexico is improving and there are numerous methods
of communication, though not all of them will necessarily work at any given time.
VHFAs in the states, channel 16 is used for hailing and emergencies. Some popular anchorages (like La Paz) use channel 22 for local ship to ship hailing. Cruiser's nets are often run in the mornings, Monday-Saturday, usually 8:00am or 8:30am on channel 22 or 68. I highly recommend tuning into these nets. You can get weather reports and find out what is going on in the local cruising community.
TelephoneThere are Telemex payphones everywhere. Even the smallest towns usually have a couple. If you have an AT&T calling card, then using the phone is a breeze (but expensive). Just dial 001-800-462-4240 and follow the instructions. NOTE: A large surcharge (as much as $6.00) will be tacked onto each call using AT&T. The least expensive option is to buy pre-paid phone cards, called Ladetel cards. They come in 30, 50 and 100 peso cards. Calling the states with either of these methods costs about 10 pesos a minute (less at peak times). Avoid at all cost the many phones labeled "Call USA". In my experience they are a phenomenally overpriced rip-off, and often don't work well. I recently got really nailed by one of these phones. It is the
only phone available at Puerto Escondido (over at the Tripui
trailer park). This particular phone clearly listed the rates (10
pesos, or about a dollar a minute for the US), and there were no
alternatives, so I went ahead and used it. However, when I got the
bill, I had been charged almost 7 dollars a minute! Imagine my shock to discover that
a 15 minute call cost more than $100!
CellularInternational roaming will work in Mexico only if you have specificly contracted with a Mexican wirely company to handle the roaming.
FaxIncoming and outgoing fax service is available at most of the Marinas. This can be a very effective way for people to reach you from the states. The marinas announce on the morning net the names of the boats that have faxes waiting.
HAM/SSBIf you are a HAM, there are a number of nets sporadically available. Even if you are not, consider getting a shortwave receiver with single sideband capability so that you can listen in, particularly on the weather reports. There are several receivers in the $150-$300 range that will do the job.
InternetInternet Cafe's are starting to appear throughout Mexico. In La Paz you can use the local Internet Cafe operated by Baja Net. In addition, Marina de La Paz has dialup access available at their InfoMar mini-market. In Mazatlan there is an Internet Cafe in the Golden Zone, as well as dial-up access from the marinas. Loreto also now has local internet service.NOTE: The Internet Cafe (Cafe' de Internet) in San Carlos went out of business recently. However, Gary's Dive Shop is now offering internet access, and their service is reported to be excellant |
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