There is a github mirror of the hg repository (https://github.com/python/cpython).  Patches produced from it don't automatically get review links in the tracker, but at least they would then be against the most current source (and someone else could regenerate them).  That would at least allow you to skip the "port mercurial" step.

On the other hand, it sounds like Ryan may be volunteering to update the patches to apply to the head of default for you.  (And yes, Ryan, the patches should be against the head of the default branch.)

Now, whether or not we will accept the patches is a different discussion, but I'd certainly like to see more Android support in our tree myself.