TomZap only has Spam left

Attachment from drumstiix, the biggest Spammer

Even if it is music (his music)

Very little conversation left because most vacationers and snow-birds have gone home to avoid Semana Santa which is early this year. The usual spammers below are fishing for the last hanger-on's that are still here. Some of them are much worse than others with very few almost welcome. Just kind of pitiful to see this last minute fishing. Pretty soon it will almost  grind to a halt.

Bistro Escondido is still open

by Costa Girl

Barra Blues Band tonight! 9pm @Backstage Bar

by drumstiix

H&R Rock at Albatros

by Nancy M

JACK'S PLACE WED

by nohans

Golf Cart Rental

by D & D

BISTRO GIGI

by giselle

Esmeralda's Restaurant

by ladydi

Chido Rivera Band @Chido's Bar ..... CHIDO!! 

by drumstiix

BBQ DAY / Last Call @ La Oficina

by aaron

Music this week

by Lucy's Paradise

TomZap message board strikes again

Only on TomZap could a request for work for one of my neighbors dissolve into antisemitic comments which produced deleted posts and a battle of sorts with the moderator who is not really a moderator but the wife of the board owner who works full time and has no time to read the board.

The response I got from "Fast Eddie" (much slower than most) was how much to clean 2 lots.

My answer was we would have to see the lots for an estimate

"Fast Eddie's" answer ...... non existent.   So I sent him a PM so we could talk off the board.   Again no answer.  I finally told him to forget it and I won't subject a friend to his crazy ups and downs.   Also thanking him for selling us the new washing machine for 800 pesos.  Not a full cycle BTW.

That's when wizard "Fast Eddie" came back about me trying to JEW him down on the washer price. Hey Eddie .... this is the 21st Century and you can't say things like that without consequences. Of course someone jumped in with Christian me down and another come back I don't remember .... but that started the complaints coming in and posts being deleted and no reasons given.   All of a sudden the whole subject made no sense with all the holes in it.   I went back and changed my posts to nonsense one-liners since they served no purpose.

What it comes down to to me is there basically is no Moderator ::   From Nancy yesterday

And as to being in a hurry, yes. I am at work I work full time. I do not get to sit around all day and read the forum.  I rely on reports to point out problems. I got a LOT of reports yesterday.

She is just knee jerk reacting to reader complaints and deleting posts but not wanting to get involved or make a responsible comment on misbehavior.  It's really too bad.

A few months ago someone wanted info on something in Vallarta and the Blue Chair resort was offering what they wanted and I mentioned it as a GAY friendly resort.   Someone complained and our moderator called me Homophobic ..... now she says she didn't, only the posts were homophobic ???   You judge?

I'm getting complaints about your (homophobic?) posts. I'm deleting them. No more please.

I don't envy her job with a full-time real job and only modest interest in Mexico .... but it sure makes TomZap one of the screwiest boards I've ever run into

For some reason Nancy, the moderator, thinks this message board is only for visitor information. But it is definitely a community message board for those of us that live here. There is no other.

And lastly .... the peanut-gallery that just can't butt out with their snide remarks. These people just like to be  seen as clever with an answer for everything and doesn't matter if they have any inner knowledge of what is really going on.  I have so many on IGNORE for smart remarks I'm not sure there are many left.   Don't care and don't want to know most.

Back to daily living

If it's not cooked with ....

If it's not cooked with .... passion and desire, well we won't serve it. What we serve to our customers is the same food we eat. Not just something we know will sell. I've been eating my cooking all these years and have you noticed how I look? Oh what have I said!?!

The Smoked SPAM Salesman

I really have my stomach full of gringos that need to advertise their business 3+ times a week on TomZap if they are legal or not.    This is the second year of SPAM for Jimmy's Ribs.

This is the third SPAM year for La Oficina  that moved from Barra to Villa Obegoan..  

You all may think this is good tourist information .... but I consider it in the same class as Time-Share sales

Please tell me one other Mexico message board out of many -- where business owners post 3-5 times a week about their product or establishment.   There are no others because they would be thrown out on their asses as they should be.   Not only the Spammers have no respect for others but the TomZap moderators have allowed this to continue.  Sad to waste a resource on a few greedy people

Cut throat advertising in Melaque

I used to think La Oficina was a pretty cool place even tho I never went there much because it was in Barra and I live on the Melaque side. Reasonable food, good musicians and a relaxed atmosphere.  I think they did well in Barra because they were right in the middle of the forever wandering street crowds that fill the central 5-6 block area.

When they moved to Melaque they entered a very expanded neighborhood where a business could easily be missed if not advertised with directions on how to get there.   Now that the season has arrived and all the other restaurants and bars are open and advertising .... La Oficina thinks it has to post ads twice a day usually with deceptive headlines or headlines that mock any complaints of their constant SPAM.   The final straw today for me was this person called JULIANA P.C. (La Oficina) jumped in a thread from another restaurant (Bistro Escondido) and posted "imitation is the ultimate flattery, thanks"

Combine that rude - belligerent - behavior with Jimmy's Ribs (AKA - jimmydidit) who will say anything to attract attention as many time a day as he's able .... and TOMZAP becomes a real desert of meaningful information.   Especially for those of us that live here and are not just down for a few weeks.   Not only are these few loud mouth gringos stepping all over other gringo businesses ... but also the local Mexican ones.

I hate to paint the whole message board as useless so if you have the stomach here it is 

TomZap - Barra de Navidad - Melaque   Good luck

Melaque Mirador

If you haven't been up to the Mirador lately you should give it a try. The road has been widened drastically but will get rough again with the summer rains. I assume widened for the large trucks heading up to the construction going on beyond the Mirador.

Very nice views from up top and as you can see it's still green which is rare this time of year. The Mirador is also a favorite 'Lovers Lane'

Mirador Road

View of Melaque

View of "Chicken Beach"

This is from TomZap's aerial Fotos of the coast
And the new construction

Ayuda a los Niños in the news again

Ayuda a los Niños Costalegre

Ayuda los Ninos has had management problems since I can remember but because they help kids they have been pretty much untouchable and successful at hiding their problems. At least they started out mostly helping the disabled kids in Cihuatlan (CAM). With their success at fund raising they've had more money to spend on other projects and that seems to be where the trouble starts.

Bad judgement on projects, not fully consulting with communities they choose to help ... and expecting more out of these communities than they should.

The latest project is/was a school in Pinal Villa that is nearly completed but now we find it can't be used because it's in the wetlands and the waste water can't be handled legally and safely.

Right now there's an ongoing conversation on TomZap Melaque Message Board where the following pictures were posted. This reminds me of a few years ago when I was asking questions on TomZap because everyone you talked to about Ayuda los Ninos had a different story. Who wants to get involved or contribute when they won't talk to you. I was attacked by our local lunatic "Dryhouse" for trying to sabotage a good cause when all I had were questions. It sounds like the infighting this time is for real.

Last year the fund raiser was held in a public space to avoid the possible conflict of interest and money caused by holding it in a "gringo restaurant". So here we have the 'indigenous' people, probably from Villa Pinal protesting in front of Ava's restaurant where the fund raiser was held this year. With lawyers envolved I'm sure we'll hear more but if you are into helping the locals I would point my dollars towards the local Rotary Club that seems to be doing quite well with management and their projects. I just hope CAM does not suffer from this

Gringo do-gooders in trouble again

TomZap 9th Annual Beach Party

The poster explains itself but still here's the notice. Feburary 10th in the early afternoon at Don Bigotes on the Playa de Melaque. From the plaza walk to the beach and Bigotes is one block west or east (towards Barra) depending on how you are oriented