| A couple of months ago I wrote you
the sad tale of my foiled trip to Toluca.
Shortly after that, I started down the long road to fix the
papers for the bike (Yamaha, Virago 535, 1987 ) so it wouldn't
happen again. I started at the offices of the Transito here
in Cuernavaca. It's a pleasant building not far from here,
a medium size block shape with a wide veranda running along
each of it's three floors. The wickets line the verandas,
the staff hide inside and the supplicants mill outside. I
say mill because there are no line ups, the people just crowd
up to which ever wicket looks most promising. One is often
caught without a required paper or two copies of the receipt
for the water bill, so they must leave the window to obtain
the necessary offering. Rather than wait in "line"
when they return, they worm through the crowd and pass their
papers through the window. There are also "coyotes".
Coyotes are people who are experts in obtaining approvals
from such agencies. They are well known by the staff, who
permit them to flit from window to window much like butterflies
in heat. In short, it's a little chaotic.
Yamaha Virago 535, 1987 in front of the
house.
I needed to pay the Tenencia (Registration)
for 1999, cancel (bajo) the old plate issued in Mexico City,
obtain (alto) the new plate for Morelos and change the owners
name. 7 June 1999, I arrived about 9:00 a.m. to begin
the process of obtaining the necessary papers for my new motorcycle.
I'd been through the entire process before when I acquired
the license plate for the little bike and I considered myself
quite knowledgeable. I found the right window on the second
try, requested the necessary form, completed more than half
of it without help and returned to the window. I was
informed that I would only have to wait 4-6 weeks for a response,
normal. This is normal because they need to check that the
Tenencia had been paid for the previous three years. The bike
is from another state so it takes some time to send the request
to Mexico City and wait for a reply. The government is still
somewhere in the 70's in terms of computer technology.
Monday, 9:30 a.m. I
found myself back in the mill.
On the same day I tried to apply for
a drivers license for a motorcycle. I already have a license
to drive a car, but of course, they're different. I was told
that, because my FM3 (work visa) was due to expire in two
weeks they couldn't justify issuing a license. I think this
means there will be one month per year that I'll be driving
illegally because that's how long it takes to renew the FM3.
We'll see.
Eight weeks after my application for
the new plates for the bike, the results had finally arrived.
Monday, 9:30 a.m. I found myself back in the mill. I
went directly to the right window (actually a back office)
and they cheerfully informed me that I'd need to pay the back
taxes for three years! Remember, I'd been through this
before so I knew how to read the table they showed me and
yes, it showed that the taxes were unpaid. The two previous
years before that had been paid but not the three years for
which I was responsible. "Wait", I cried,"
I have receipts for those three years". "Nope",
they told me "the receipts must be forged", the
record shows. "They must have been obtained by a coyote!
You can't trust those people, and there is no way to tell
the official receipts from the forgeries". "What
the hell", I thought, "how much could it be?"
$1433 pesos ($238 Can), that's how much! So, I did a quick
calculation in my head: how much might it be reduced, how
many trips would it take, how much work would I miss... "Okay",
I thought, pay the damn $1433 pesos, at least I'd be done.
My bike with a view down the street.
So, they sent me to the cashier to pay,
the cashier send me back to Licenses for the policy, Licenses
sent me to Authorizations and Authorizations told me I'd need
prove that the taxes were paid for six years, not three...
Wait a sec, when did that change? 6 years now? What does that
imply? I started to feel dizzy. Their records showed the previous
three years were paid but I didn't have the receipts. Back
to the back office, more explanations and pleadings. Nope,
it had to be six years, there was a new boss on the job and
that's what he wants. I almost converted to Catholicism on
the way back to the window that does the calculations for
the amount due. I should have converted, it couldn't
have been any worse. $3540 pesos ($590 Can)! An increase
for more than $2000 pesos! More than double!
"Wait, wait, your records show that those years have
been paid!" It didn't matter, I didn't have the
receipts. Dead end. 4 hours going from window to window
and that was it, pay the $3540 or forget it.
I commiserated over a beer with a friend
that evening and he suggested that I go into the original
issuing office in Mexico City to try to verify that the previous
years' really had been paid. This is called a "Comprobante
de Pagos".
I did that the next Thursday. I
found the address of the office from a friend of my friend
and started there that morning. I turns out that the
office had been converted to the office of some other government
agency but they kindly gave me directions to the head office.
I zoomed over there in a cab, soon found the right window
and was told that I couldn't make the payment there, I'd have
to go to another office. No problem, I expected a bit
of a run around. The security guard at the front door
of the head office told me I didn't have to go all the way
to the other office, they have a branch office around the
back of the head office! Good news! Nope, bad
news. They couldn't accept it either. Off
to the other office. Fill in another form. Make
more copies. Stand in line (yes, this office had lines).
Finally to the front of the line and hand over the form and
copies, 8 pages in all. They did tell me
that the receipt I had looked genuine. They checked
the computer but nothing showed up. They told me to
check back in two weeks and that was it. I did a little
shopping and dragged my sorry butt home.
Eleven weeks from start to finish.
I have finally obtained legal permission to drive my bike!
On the appointed date I returned to the
office of the Tesoreria in Mexico City to obtain the Comprobante
de Pagos and was directed to the desk of a Mr. Cano.
Where was his desk? I had to pass through a utility
room and a locked door, but there he was. I waited patiently
behind the person who was there before me. After some
fifteen minutes I caught Mr. Canos eye. I showed him
the copy of the request I carried and with a straight face,
he asked me If I could return at 1:00, some three hours later,
he could help me then. I put on my best expression
of shock and disappointment and explained that I had come
in from Cuernavaca and had to return early, couldn't he please
help me now? Well, yes, he could, if I waited
a moment. He left me standing there and walked off to
the back of the office. I began to wonder if he had
just said that he would come right back, but then left anyway.
Some ten minutes later, he reappeared at his disk and after
a few short interruptions, he asked me to take the seat across
for his desk. He shuffled some papers, searched a few
of the many 10 inch stacks of papers on his desk, walked over
to a file cabinet and rifled through a couple of drawers,
returned to his desk and told me the "information was
not available, thank you and goodbye." Okay, calmly,
take a deep breath, big smile. "What can I do?"
I asked. Like many Mexican, he knew a few words in English.
He said he could give me some advice, "A tip."
A "tip", I thought. Was he hinting for
a bribe? His pager had gone off a couple of times during
our talk, it went off again and this time he got up to make
a phone call. I thought that was awfully convenient
so, what the hell, I dug $20 pesos out of my pocket and placed
them in the folder on my lap. He returned and I mentioned
his use of the word "tip". I explained that
in English it has two meanings, to give advice or to give
a little money in exchange for services rendered. He
seemed surprised to hear of the second meaning... However
his tip to me was that I could either make a special request
for him to ask for the records from the central office and
return in a month to see the results (it would only cost $60
pesos) or I could go to the central office myself. I
went myself.
I mentioned his use of the word "tip".
The central office was quite near the
center of the city. A 20 floor building held the office
I needed on the 6th floor. This went quite smoothly.
I spoke to a young guy who set off right away to find the
proof of payment I sought. Ten minutes later he was
able to show that the two oldest years, '94 and '95, really
had been paid! Another ten minutes and he had proof
that '97 was also paid! What about the receipt I had
for '98? There was no trace of it. Three out of
five, it was better than nothing. How much would
they charge me for the other years? Roughly $1115 pesos,
about the same as they would charge in Cuernavaca. Okay,
I asked for a document proving the payment for the years of
'94, '95 and '97. "Could I return next week?"
"Please, no! Can't I get it today?"
"Well, sure, why not." Mexicans really seem
to want to help if you just ask. With in the hour I
had the Comprobante de Pagos and headed for home.
The final chapter had arrived.
I found myself at the office of the Transito in Cuernavaca
again. 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, the 24th of August (
I'll have to mark that day in my calendar to celebrate the
anniversary) I had returned to renew my request for new plates.
I was directed to the back office where I had been told that
the papers would cost $3533 pesos. I presented the Comprobante
de Pagos and began the interoffice shuffle. I
had to make copies of of this, that and the other thing, provide
proof of address, etc. The only hick-up had to do with
the proof of address. The house were I live has two
entrances from the street. The front is Avenida Central
44, the back is Calle 3 S/N (sin numero) Esquina con
Avenida Central. I needed to have a proof of address
that matched the address in my residency papers. Completely
by luck, I had a copy of a receipt with the address I needed.
Off to the races again. By 12:00 I had the request well
underway and we were calculating the amount to be paid.
I think the guy that did the calculations didn't like me.
He tried to over charge by a couple of hundred pesos on a
couple of items but I caught him. I then pointed out
that I'd been offered a 40% discount the last time we went
through this and he gave me the discount without another question.
The total this time came to $1022.82 pesos! A full $2510.20
pesos ($418 Can) less then the last calculation three weeks
before! Ha! I paid it quickly before anything
else changed! Well, as quickly as possible.
It still took an hour to type up the receipts, some 9 pages
of receipts. I forked over the cash and trotted back
to the last window. After another 45 minute wait I had
my new plates and Tarjeta de Circulación.
I'm now legal. This is the first
time since I bought the damn bike back in April than I don't
have to worry about getting stopped. Well, that's not
entirely true. I plan to make another trip to Toluca
in September. Wish me luck!
Doug Hurd, Cuernavaca, Mexico
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