No good deed goes unpunished.

Background: Last year I brought down a large number of used glasses for Lupita to dole out to folks who couldn't afford to buy them, at Rob's request. Customs at the Zihua airport insisted that they were merchandise and that I needed to pay a US$350.00 import fee, which I declined and abandoned the glasses. I was told to get the appropriate importation paperwork at a Mexican consulate.

Chapter 2: In preparation for this year's trip down, I contacted a friend in Oregon, who was going to join us, to visit the consulate in Portland, since there isn't one in Montana. I also sent him 100 pairs of used glasses; I would also be bringing down 100 pairs. He was informed that consulates didn't provide that kind of paperwork, but that we should have the entity doing the distributing hook up with a church that could provide an official letter, or have themselves declared a non-profit and write the appropriate letter. I sent this info to Rob who, understandably, didn't want to go through all the necessary bureaucratic BS, since they had a business to run. 2 requests for a simple letter went unanswered. My next step involved contacting Rogelio Grayeb MD, figuring that a couple of capital letters behind his name would impress the pencil pushers at customs. He declined and suggested I contact Rob, presumably because he was too busy posting pictures of himself on Facebook. For my next attempt I wrote to Rocio Roman DDS explaining what I was trying to do and asked for a letter from her. She was most gracious and complimentary in her response and provided a letter for both of us.
Customs x-rayed my bag, asked to see the contents, were not pleased to see the contents and insisted that the letter was meaningless, because it needed to be issued by Customs. After arguing with the inspector at length, he finally gave in and let me close the bag and go on. Jim was not so lucky. His bag was inspected by a different person. He was dragged into the Customs office where the boss insisted that he had broken the law by not declaring the glasses as merchandise. He paid a 1000.00 Peso fine and was allowed to proceed. the glasses have been delivered to Lupita.
I still have around 150 pairs at home that need to come down, but I'm not too keen on getting hassled by Customs again. Since small numbers of glasses have made it through customs without any problems, I'd love to hear from folks willing to bring down a few pairs next time they travel down. I can mail them to you after I return to Montana on 12/30.