It’s that time of year when houseguests start showing up in Mexico, actually they began arriving a few weeks ago. That’s great news, we love having company from up in the Frozen Tundra. For first timers, here is a handy guide to your duty as an incoming: bringing us stuff. I have a client/friend part-time resident who travels down with her guests. She meets them at the airport and hands each a suitcase telling them “This one is your responsibility and good luck with Customs.”

In Cabo it’s not so bad anymore. The influx of new stores a few years back means we can get more of the products we need. I may be showing my age, but I remember when guests had to smuggle in frozen turkeys for Thanksgiving dinner. Now we can purchase them (and the cranberry sauce to boot) locally, but there are still things that are hard to get in Mexico and it is a great help when our guests can cart them here.

Thanks to on-line shopping we can now have a variety of needed items shipped to your door for you to schlep down with you. Do not be surprised when little packages begin to pile up on your doorstep. Please expect that when we issue an invitation. Just in case your host is shy, here are some things that are still difficult to find in Mexico, and which will put you high on the re-invite list:

• If your host drinks decaf coffee, whole bean decaf of a reasonable quality is impossible to find here. My favorite is Jose’s Vanilla Nut decaf. You cannot bring too much.
• Chocolates. Yes, Chocolate was the Aztec’s gift to the world. But quality chocolates are harder to find here (other than during Christmas season). A nice box of truffles will have your hostess in a dither.
• Scotch or whiskey. Both are horrifically expensive here, you are allowed to bring in a bottle per person duty-free.
• Books. Some of us have ways of getting books down here, but English language books and magazines are rare and costly. Current DVDs, magazines and CD’s are also appreciated.
• Various beauty/health items, such as face creams are much more affordable on your side of the border.
• Anything “As seen on TV”. I have a friend burning up bandwidth on Facebook extolling the virtues of a chopper she picked up when in LA a week ago. We don’t see it on TV, or if we do, we can’t order.
• Electronics. From I-Pods to FLIP cameras, you can get it cheaper up there, if we can even get it at all. Digital photo frames are unknown in Mexico.
• Parts. This may be a car part, or a whatchamacallit for the dryer, or any other appliance. Parts are always a problem and if we have someone coming in, that’s a real blessing. These may not be for your host, we share our mules. That’s part of the joy of being a community.
• Anything from E-Bay. Hey, we have that addiction too! We’ll just ship to your address.

Your host or hostess will surely have a list for you, or will just start ordering. I often need my guest to bring printed materials such as business cards. Yes, you can get them here, but often at a higher cost than in the U.S. These are the strange things your host will hope you will volunteer to tote in your luggage. That’s a good thing. Not only are you going to get a vacation in paradise, you’ll have plenty of room in your luggage to bring souvenirs for the folks back home. The oddest thing I ever had carted down was a live-autographed football for our administrator who is a HUGE Tom Brady fan, a steal on e-Bay, but the seller did not ship internationally. Luckily, we had someone coming who could tuck it in their bag. When they arrived you would have thought he was a combination of Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. You can’t put a price on that kind of gratitude.

Welcome, MULE. We love you! And you will love your job, once you’re here basking on our beaches and enjoying our warm way of life. So lugging a few pounds of contraband (legal, of course) doesn’t seem too high a price, does it?

Carol Billups is Broker/Owner of Realty Executives Los Cabos in Cabo San Lucas. She loves to put clients in touch with their dream home in Mexico. She  is the real estate columnist for Los Cabos Magazine and the Real Estate Co-Ordinator for the Los Cabos Now talk show on Cabo Mil FM, Los Cabos only radio station.sd You can read more of her articles on www.reloscabos.com or contact her at loscabos@realtyexecutives.com. Her phone from the US or Canada is 1-760-481-7694 or in Cabo at 044-624-147-7541. You can search hundreds of listings in all of Los Cabos by visiting her website www.lovecabo.net

© 2010 Carol S. Billups