cool - i've only been snorkeling in Maui..
but i want to give scuba diving a try..

..and at this point it's a matter of when..
which is ~the end of July.

are there any casinos out there.. don't think there are.. just wonderin'

edit: just googled - and found "Winpot"... the only one down there..
dunno if it has card games.. you know anything about it?

my kiteboarding instructor (Paco!!!) told me that they just opened one on the island but he said he didn't know much about it. I am sure it's not worth playing but could be a fun diversion.

cool

kiteboarding sounds fun.... hmmmm..

so what exactly did you send stars to reopen your acct.?
voided check(?), lease with your name on it(?) and receive a phone call at your place?
did you have to get a land line out there? if so, did you use Vonage/Magic Jack?

would you say it's easier to fly into Cozumel and take the ferry or better to fly into Cancun and take a cab/bus? after second thought, i think i'd prefer to avoid Cancun, so i might have just answered my own question there..

i had the bank just print a piece of paper that had my acct #, the address as well as my name and had the lady sign it. i sent that, along w scan of my passport, a lease, and a utility that was in the landlords name (which i just pointed out was same as lessor on the lease agreement and that it was a place w all utilities included) to send to stars. place already had a phone line in so they just called it and that was that.

if u have a bunch of stuff def fly into cozumel, its more expensive but prob worth it if u have a lot of crap. if u fly into cancun (what i did) u have to tax cab or bus like 45 min south to playa del carmen then take the ferry over (which takes another 45 min) then take a cab to ur place.

I did basically exactly this. I sent bank statement, utility with landlord's name (same as lessor), copy of my lease, ID and I used a land line in someone's office. *However*, they insisted that since my lease is only one month, that I send them a new lease as soon as my current one expires or else I lose my account privileges. Oh yeah, and a new bank statement. Not exactly what I expected..

thanks^
i'm looking to move to Playa.. but i think i'll prolly just fly into cozumel and take the boat across..
i've found that the flight will cost around $200 for the 1425 mile trip...
but the cab from the airport to PDC will cost ~$110 for the last 34 miles.



hm that's news to me..
at what point do you think they are "ok" with your status that you are able to not send them new leases and possibly travel around?

yea the taxi ride from cancun to playa cost 800 pesos which i think was a pretty good deal comparatively.

Hows the area on the north end of the island? Very seriously considering moving to Cozumel with my gf and a friend that plays professional poker as well come January and currently Peninsula Grand is looking like the leading candidate but 0 clue about the neighborhood it's in. Think it's gonna be ~2k/mo which from what I've seen seems higher than most places, but it looks sooooo nice and I really think I'd feel safer etc. if I end up in a developed condo instead of a random house in teh middle of town, not to mention I can't imagine moving to paradise and not having the sweet ass ocean view.

Have you looked into this^ J?
Did you ever get neteller/MB hooked? Or withdrawal anything yet?
How did you get money onto those intermediaries? Through Bancomer?

Thanks for all your help again..
been talking to real estate peeps and i'm starting to get antsy..
just wanna get the move over with..

yea, so i got the preferred checking account but i sure as hell can't figure out how or if i can actually send to bofa. i am now thinking its some weird mexican subsidiary of bofa or something bc the online thing wants you to use a 'clabe' which is a mexican banking code that only mex banks have and i called bofa and they were clueless. gonna go by bank today i think and inquire. altho now that ftp has dissapeared i dont have any money to withdraw anyway! how exciting! neteller is not going to approve me. moneybookers is working, just waiting for my deposit to clear so i can make a deposit from there onto ps and make a withdrawal.

Is it because you are a US citizen that Neteller doesn't like you?

hmm k
so transaction fees aside...
it looks like getting a moneybookers account is the way for US refugees to deposit money onto Stars...
and then i'm assuming you just ship a wire to your bancomer.. bancomer > back home..

do you know if you can set up a mb acct./make a deposit while you're still in the states?
Or do you have to be out of the country?

sorry to hear about FTP.. i just read about it ..
so idk what's goin' on with it.. i hope ya didn't have a lot on there..
i haven't asked ya what stakes ya play or what games for that matter..
i thought ya played mid to high for some reason..
gl

can someone elaborate on process of opening a MB account and what's required?

can someone confirm: stars -> mb-> mexican bank -> cash/wiretoamerican bank somehow

hows the kitesurfing?

excited to check out mexico after the series and give it a try. ty for all the helpful info so far

i would assume stars can just ship X amount of pesos to your mexican bank acct. ... but to get money on the site you would deposit via your current acct.>mb>stars... i could be wrong.. but that's the assumption i'm under currently..

also pretty sure you have to set up the MB acct. in the country you're in..
so if you already set one up in USD you'd have to open a different one in pesos with a different email.

Why can't you use an FM3? It takes 3 weeks and it comes with a photo ID card...

i think they changed the FM2/3 status thing as of late..
*a real estate agent told me that ~ a few weeks ago

The only thing I've heard is that they were going to make it way easier to get it. It may have one of your posts. I haven't been able to verify this anywhere outside of 2p2 and I believe this is because it has not gone into effect, but it really doesn't matter. The point is that they're acquirable and I don't see why jsnipes just doesn't get one and send that to Neteller.

i was thinking they might not acquirable.. but idk
i thought the guy i talked to said that they were getting rid of them..
to make it easier for people to get in and stay... but i hear what you're getting at..
i think if you just get a MB acct. you should be all good..

I know what you're talking about now. They will be technically getting rid of the old FM2/FM3 format and titles. In their place will be a replacement for the FM2/FM3 that doesn't require nearly as much paperwork and waiting and probably fewer fees (in order to encourage more people to move here) but will function exactly the same. So yes, at some point in the near future the FM3 will cease to exist, but only to reemerge from the ashes in a different form even better than before.


I should note that last week I called a place that helps you do the paperwork for that sort of stuff and was told it was still an FM3 and that it takes a few weeks.

ah k i see..

THIS IS IMPORTANT

An update/correction to what's been said by me earlier in the thread: You have to have a water, gas, electric, hydro or phone bill in your name to get a USD account at any Mexican bank (this is different from a peso account where you just need any bill). The guy at Santander told me I just needed $1000 USD as an opening deposit, so I added money to my account and asked to switch it over to USD. Not possible without a "real" utility bill. And this was at Santander and Banamex both. I'm sure it's the same everywhere. Just keep this in mind. It will be easy to get a peso account but more difficult to get one in dollars.

How this will work in practice is you'll be able to get your accounts reactivated reasonably quick, but you're going to want to get this aspect sorted out quickly with a site like PokerStars (which requires you to wire all the money to the bank account linked to your account) so you're not making all your withdrawals in pesos. Good luck.

thanks Cafe-
So you can get a peso account first and later switch it over to a USD account provided you have utility bill in your name a 1k?

having any luck on a withdrawal over there jsnipes?
how's life?

bump...

how did you guys approach the 'what are you gonna do in mexico?' question?

was it easy to bump up the standard FMT 90days to 180days?

did they ask to check you bank statements?

were there any hassles having only a 'one-way' ticket?