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       My friend (Henry Gonzales) has enjoyed nature and taking pictures of nature for the last thirty years. One day while getting ready to take some pictures of humming birds feeding while flying, Henry's wife (Alma) came out from cleaning the garage & hands him a shotgun shell and two tire gauges, so he puts them in a outside pocket of his camera case, to dispose of  later. That was about six years ago. I have told you that story so I could tell you this story.

      Henry's wife (Alma) wanted him to go to Zihuatanejo, Mexico, a town featured in the movie, Shaw Shank Redemption. Henry is not one that enjoys travel as his job as an Insurance adjuster kept him on the road for years, but in deference to his wife and sister-in-law, he went. They flew out of LAX to a Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo Airport. This is the first time Henry has ever been on an airplane. So they are on the plane, in the air to Zihuatanejo.When the plane levels off, he asks his wife to change seats with him so he could take some pictures out of the window and in the process of changing seats, he noticed a shotgun shell and something metalic in the seat.

        By then, it was to late to confess. It would have only made the situation worse and by now Alma was crying. Henry said, "Why they did not catch this at LAX, I don't know. All LAX questioned me about was how big my tube of toothpaste was. I should have told them that it was just a little bigger than my shotgun shell but shorter than my tire gauges."

       Anyway, they finally let them go with a stern warning not to bring any more shotgun shells or tire gauges to Mexico. Henry was going to point out that the gauges were made in Mexico, but he said, Alma stopped him. They asked him where he going to stay and when he was leaving, so he could not completely relax. Henry thought that at any time they could bust in and shake him down or worse. He also thought that he might be given a bad time when it was time to leave. They had already made it clear that this was not America. Henry did stay, thanks to his wife, he said, and "I did enjoy the scenery and being with my family and I got some great pictures, take a look..."