No problem. I told the airlines I shall bring my bird with me and to charge me the extra fair.
I had a midnight flight, the "red eye," from LAX to Leon Airport in Guanajuato, arriving early, 6:00AM. My son, Matt, who already lived here, was going to pick us up.
I got to the airport, went to the Aero Mexico window, lugged my luggage, past the X-ray machine and had it checked in. Then, I noticed they had not included the $60.00 charge on my ticket. So I inquired about this, and the girl cheerfully took the extra money and gave me a receipt. However, then she asked me to speak to her supervisor.
I went to the window and a woman told me I could not bring my bird. I told her that when I ordered the tickets over the Internet and spoke to them, they told me it was not a problem, just get a Vet's certificate, pay the extra charge, and bring it in a carry on.
I have done all the above. No, sorry, we can not fly any birds on the plane. Well, I said, I cannot return to my house now, I shall miss my plane, and my son is waiting for me there.
We argued for approximately ten minutes, and I stood my ground.
She called her supervisor, a Man, and he took a look at me and said, if the Pilot permits it, he had no problem.
So I go through the gate with my bird who is asleep and covered, and sit down waiting for the late flight. After an hour, the pilot actually comes out and says Hola to me.
He asks to see the bird, I say sure and show him the sleeping parrot. He asks if he is going to be quiet, I say, Sure, he is asleep.
So, I get on the plane, tucked him under my feet and we went into the wild blue yonder.
We arrive in Leon airport at approx 6:00 A.M., and I disembark with bird in tow.
I walked towards the gate to exit, having already picked up my bag, and was asked the usual questions. I am thinking to myself, I should dump the carry all, stick Zorba in my purse and walk through. No, I think. Why? They told me it was O.K.
The man asks me, What is that? I say, My bird. Your bird? Oh no, no, you can not bring a bird into our country.
I say, Well I got here on your plane, they charged me a flight charge for the bird and I got permission from everyone including the pilot to come here with him. No, he says, it is impossible.
Well, he asks me to sit in an office and wait for the next person. There I am tired, and thinking this is ridiculous, but I keep on waiting.
The next person comes in and basically tells me the bird has to go back to the states, or he shall confiscate him from me, and no doubt have to arrest me for bringing him into Mexico.
I am already there for one hour and I am not leaving without my bird. My son, somehow, finds me. He knows I am usually the first one off the plane.
Now, he is sitting with me in the office, waiting for someone. No one comes and we think, we should just leave, but all of a sudden there are three people there, all of whom are looking very serious, and they tell us they are from the Agricultural Ministry, Dept of Immigrations, Animal Control, etc.
Help! We call in our crew, my daughter in law, a beautiful Mexican girl with perfect Spanish who tries to explain to them that this in fact is her bird, and he was born in Cancun and we had him for l8 years in Cabo San Lucas, and I had taken him back to Ventura, and now I was bringing him back to Mexico.
Sounds good, but they are not buying. But, they have a solution.
The bird can stay at the airport until we go to Celaya to the Animal Control person, he comes here to check the bird, and then maybe he can stay in Mexico. But, for now we can leave and the bird has to stay.
My son runs around as fast as he can to purchase a temporary bird cage, food and water, and a dish for Zorba so the bird can survive while being entertained by a Mexican cleaning lady who promises us she will take good care of him while he is at the airport.
But, I have to leave. So I do. When flying away, I ask if I could please see my bird before I leave, and I am allowed to do this. Zorba has learned a few Mexican Songs by now.
I leave with a broken heart, thinking I shall never see this bird again. I return in one week more, and my bird is still at the Airport.
We go again to Celaya, and we finally got someone to understand our plight and the Vet tells us next week we can pick the bird up. He had taken his blood and checked for any diseases. He seems to be well.
I interject, I had a Vet Certificate from the States. Yes, but that did not cover everything. It seems that there is a chicken disease scare, and no birds can come into Mexico at this time.
We explain again, that this bird has been living in my house, fully domesticated, with no other birds around.
Well, but he is a bird that is on the Endangered list and we feel that he would be best put into a bird sanctuary.
This is ridiculous, I say, he is a regular parrot, an Eclectus type and we have thousands of them where he came from. Oops, he came from Cancun, Cabo not U.S.A. Remember. Thank God this person could not understand English at all, so I just looked stupid and waited.
Anyway, his blood is clean and you can come back next week and pick him up, I shall meet you here, says the Vet, in Spanish, to Claudia.
So, Claudia and I return the next week. We are now met by the Vet and we go into the first office, and the man there takes out four pieces of paper with carbons and begins to fill out the form, which takes him approximately one hour. We get to sign this.
O.K. Can we leave now? No. Next office. We go there, and the same procedure takes place. Claudia has to answer a lot of questions about Zorba. Where was he hatched? How long has she had him? What kind of a bird is he? Why did I bring him? Where is he going to live, now?
O.K. I grab the carry all and the new cage and start to leave. Nope, one more office and more papers, and signatures and more questions. Both of us are ready to collapse, but we stay calm, and eventually we get to leave.
I am rushing out, worried that someone else will grab me, and start this ridiculous process again.
Well sure enough the guard at the exit, stops me again, but this time, my son used his head and gave him some money, purportedly for the care the bird got from him and his wife, the cleaning lady, and we ran to the car.
We have a six page document, stamped, signed and delivered, and Zorba can only live in Matt's and Claudia's house because, according to the papers, he belongs to her and they will come and check up on him from time to time.
Right. I suggest to Matt that if this ever happens he just tell them the bird flew away. By the way, this would be the easiest way to get him across the border, just let him fly to the other side and pick him up over the fence.
Next time, I shall not bring the bird, or shall stick him in my purse, or shall let them put him into a Sanctuary for a great time with all the lady birds.
