RickS

Spend the night in El Paso.... close to the Santa Teresa crossing. Spend the next night in Jimenez (or a bit sooner in Camargo) at 385 miles. Spend the next night in Zacatecas, another 380 miles. Then on into Ajijic at 225 miles and 5 hours. Do NOT take hiway 54 from Zacatecas to Guadalajara although it looks like it would be shorter. It is shorter in miles but not hours as it is full of curves and is 2-lane. This entire route is on either cuota or 4-lane free.

There are some at Lakeside that will do this for a fee plus expenses. Other’s might ‘buy’ it from you and do the same but I don’t think that is what you are referring to.....

With any dentist or dentista I would use, appointments would be necessary unless just for something simple like a cleaning. All can be contacted from the US. I just did that to two different dentists. Add Dr. Barragan’s office to your list but don’t expect to just walk in without an appointment, as stated above. You have been given about the top four dentists in town (yes, I know others could be added to the list but how many choices does one need!).

IMO, unless there is some ‘immediate’ news of some kind of nefarious happenings on any given road in Mexico, no road is any better, from a ‘danger’ standpoint, than any other. If you choose that route, cross at Santa Teresa in the western suburbs of El Paso. It is all cuota; there is a bypass of Chihuahua City.

Agreed... even coming down through Chihuahua is better than using 15D it appears.

SOP for large banking institutions. BoA is not my fav....

Are you suggesting that, even if one declines their ‘bad’rate offer, that they will still not give the “Visa rate” of the day on your withdrawal but rather a rate that still gives them a $500 peso profit? I usually check the Visa rate when I get home and I don’t believe that I have seen this happen to me.

YES

If I knew those 'statistics', yes, I think that would have been helpful. Alas, I and I doubt many readers here will have that kind of info at their disposal. BTW, it is nice that you are trying to help....

Not knowing exactly what 'mentally unstable' might mean, wouldn't any of the facilities at/around Lakeside be a candidate? Do they not take in, let's say, dementia clients?

My Amazon US tells me 'that' it has been shipped and an arrival date, but I must track with the appropriate carrier to 'watch' the progress of the shipment. All of this is in the US for me....

Frankly I don’t think this is an appropriate question to ask of anyone on a Board. Is it safe? Compared to what? I think that if there were/are many occurrences of mishaps on this road in the wee hours it would be one thing, but to suggest that any of us can predict what a given night might look like.... well not me.

re:HSBC The first time this happened to me (last year) I ‘foolishly’ said ‘yes’ as I assumed that if I said ‘no’ they would just cancel the transaction. Later on these Boards I read that one could say no. From then on I have declined and gotten a better rate. Haven’t used them lately so am glad to hear they have quit that. My hometown bank refunds the ATM charges so I don’t really have to shop around.

Well I guess there’s no harm in asking, but......

when one says “small” are we still talking about a jet or maybe a turbo-prop?