I’ve said before that Paul and I are happy with our choice of Mazatlán.  But, like anywhere, it isn’t perfect.  I try to focus on the positive here at Countdown to Mexico, but I think once in a while I can give myself permission to rant.

In order to be in the loop with regard to expat goings-on around town such as fund raisers, community events, garage sales, death notices, and things for sale you need to keep an eye on the forums. I have found information on good doctors, veterinarians, restaurants, etc. – but that information comes at a cost to me!

Reading the forums does gives a glimpse into the way others perceive the world.  And I have pretty much decided that a lot of people that participate the most on these forums are defensive, argumentative, close-minded, angry, childish, and rude. Most of the reasonable people don’t even participate for fear of being jumped on.

Here’s a recent sampling from MazInfo and What’s up Maz:

Someone asked what are the taxi rates from the airport and whether there was a cash machine in the airport. Easy to answer, right?  NO!  The responses were all over the place, including outdated information from someone’s visit six months ago that then degenerated into a ridiculous message thread about cash machine charges that was totally pointless.  How anyone could glean anything helpful out of that mess would be beyond me.

Someone asked whether anyone had a rental for a specific period. A few people replied, but one of them owns a B & B so the discussion degraded into whether this is considered “advertising” (which is not allowed) or not.

People participate on the board that have businesses in town.  There has been ongoing chatter and many many messages flying around forever about what constitutes advertising and whether they can even have their business signature at the bottom of the message.  Sheesh!

Oh, and don’t even think about sharing information about someone performing music or giving Spanish lessons or something without a huge brouhaha about whether they have the proper work permits.

Even a simple newbie question about what TV service is best is answered with possibly one or two reasonable answers and a sheaf of angry missives by people who think they’ve been done wrong or that their system is best.

People are blissfully ignorant and cheap, too.  They don’t seem to understand how uninformed it makes them seem if they ask where the Art Museum is or complain when one of the stores rounds up the centavos at the cash register.  Sometimes I just want to scream,  just Google it, damn it!

People will bitch about anything.  How many pelicans are in Mazatlán.  If horseradish is available here.  What is the meaning of the word “monsoon.”  Whatever.

People also can’t spell.  I have had it up to here (I am gesturing at my neck) with people  misspelling malecón, tinaco, Plazuela Machado, Puerto Viejo, and others.  Place names especially are just that, names.  Look it up if you don’t know, people!  It is like a New Yorker writing Cintril Park instead of Central Park… you should just know place names in your community.

People seem to forget it’s a forum for Mazatlán people or people interested in Mazatlán.  Frequently when people post about a storm or quantity of rain or level of humidity, people chime in from all over the US and Canada about how hot or cold or stormy or humid it is where they are and how they can’t wait for some length of time for their next trip to Mazatlán.  Yawn.

So I feel a little better now, getting that off my chest.  I still will hang around to find out about the occasional lemon sighting at Wal-Mart or restaurant closure information, at least for the time being.  Who knows what will happen in the future?