Día Dos

Vamos a México!

Whew, a few beers put me to bed nice and tidy and I woke up fresh for the appointment I had scheduled with the facilitator who has processed all the paperwork to import my car, boat and trailer! He was super helpful and reassuring and really a nice guy when we talked on the phone and via email. I was up and on the road at 7 because I was scheduled to meet him at his office near the border in Nogales, AZ at 8am sharp!

Man, I was on it!

Well, he was not.

Not even fucking close.

He showed up around 9:45ish and got right to work, telling me it wouldn't take long! 
He had had me scan and email all pertinent documents multiple times to him so when I showed up he would have everything done. That way I would be on my way into Mexico with all proper paperwork in hand in 20-30 minutes!

So, anyway, after six hours in his parking lot since he had done nothing and had to call to his guy down at Aduana in Nogales, Sonora Mexico who didn't show up to work until 11 to finish processing my papers, he finally had everything done. 

I will say this: He was inexpensive and I got what I paid for!

I will be happy to send you his contact info if you request it.

The upside was that Seamus and I bonded for hours with me throwing the tennis ball for him to chase and retrieve.  

So, day two of consecutive days starting late and I was, instead of crossing the border at 9 in the morning all smiley-faced, crossing at 2ish…. I was still smiley-faced since I was in Mexico, finally, but I was very late and I knew I would never make it to Navojoa, Sonora where I wanted to crash for the night.

Whatever. When things change sometimes you just have to roll with them!

Up next was the intervening rodeo that is the actual importation process once you get into Mexico. I felt like I was really flying blind here and I had a very limited idea of what was actually going to occur.
It is an adventure not to be missed and, if you are fortunate enough to participate in someone else’s process, you would be privileged to observe it.

It was, amazingly enough, much easier than crossing back into the USA where the border folks turn you inside out. Crossing into the USA, plainly speaking, sucks. 

Crossing into Mexico people were welcoming to me and worked to help me out. Thank god for that since my instructions from my importation facilitator left out an important detail…..

So, anyway, this process. This is interesting when you are pulling a fully loaded boat stuffed with all your belongings.

You come to a fenced area where all the other folks waiting to import their possessions, and I mean there are a LOT of them, have ALL of their stuff unloaded and sitting on hot asphalt with people watching over their belongings inside this fenced area. 

I was told to unhook my boat and unload ALL of my stuff and leave it on the ground and then drive down to this area where officials would stamp my papers, photograph my vehicle ID and then to go hook up my boat and trailer and do it all over again.

Fortunately there were people to help me. They were very generous with their help and they swore that they would watch my stuff for me as if it was their own.

I had a few USA dollars left on me and since I was close to the border and had zero intention of traveling back to the states I figured I would offer them incentives to keep a close eye on our stuff. Times are tough everywhere and a few bucks here and there go a long way in Mexico.

So I did this whole loop twice. Once sans boat and trailer and a second time with the boat and trailer attached. Both times with my guitars, TV, bikes, surfboards, tools,kids toys, etc. all laying on the ground with these, hopefully, trustworthy people watching everything…. I was laughing at all this while imagining what Katie would be thinking if she could see this all occurring and how easy the drive would be if all of it is gone……..

The officials photographed serial numbers, entered data into their PDA’s, sent info to and received confirmations from Mexico City, stamped papers multiple times and then proceeded to have me pay the processing fee and tell me I was squared away.

Well, almost. I still had to import all my goods!

The guys that were watching our goods were now offering commentary as I did the mega-speed reload of my possessions. They then asked me if I had the receipt for the importation process that is separate from all the other receipts and stamps I've accumulated and that verifies that all those other stamps and receipts are valid. And, of course, it’s a few more pesos…. That little detail my facilitator had forgotten to tell me...... It would have been a LONG drive back to the border for that piece of paper……..

All I had to do at this point was to declare all my stuff to Aduana so it would forever be legal and to pay an import duty on it. I was getting that "woohoo, I'm on the road in Mexico" feeling and I was excited.

I had done this before so I handed one of my helpers close to $30USD, told him to pay for my receipt and to keep the rest while I kept loading and tying everything down.

I then wrote up a list of my major goods, walked into Aduana and showed them my declaration list. They did a little math, looked to see how much change I had, adjusted it all down since we were all chatting nicely about our respective kids and life in Mexico and then, $312MXN later (about $24USD), I had a stamped receipt of importation in hand and I was on the road with all our goodies!

I can't tell you, well actually I can, how awesome it felt to be totally legal with my vehicle legally imported and my receipts in hand while driving in my new homeland.
Let's just say I was feeling pretty ecstatic. 

I handed what was the last of my USA currency to these people who had safeguarded our belongings, helped me unload and reload them and who generally expedited my whole process significantly and with genuine friendliness towards me as a new resident of Mexico.

I was pumped and I was cruising……

This whole process on the Mexican side of the border I knocked out in close to an hour. Amazing.
I was welcomed into Mexico by courteous and helpful people at every part of this process and welcomed to Mexico as a new immigrant with smiles.
Comparatively speaking, I have sat in secondary crossing back into the USA multiple times while CBP personnel stared down at my family as if they were thugs and as if we were causing them a hardship by providing them employment.
But, that is a whole 'nother story......

Let's get back on track here!

Things just wouldn't have been right if there wasn't major construction happening on Highway 15, though. So, clearly, all was right in the world and there was major construction! 

That will be an amazing road when it is all done, however, at this point in my journey I just wanted to knock down kilometers.

I was getting very close to Hermosillo when the sun was touching the horizon. I am not a big night driver in Mexico when I am alone and on roads I don’t know that well and I am hauling an obvious load of things that might make other peoples' lives significantly easier. 

I just knew I was going to make it to Hermosillo, Sonora before nightfall….. so, many construction detours and stoppages later, I made it into northern Hermosillo an hour or so after nightfall.

I stopped at the first hotel that looked clean and that had a gate with a security guard. $450 pesos later I was holed up in the nicest hotel room with plastic covers on the pillows and bed that I had ever imagined! I really didn't want to imagine, though, why those were necessary but, being a retired career firefighter with limitless imagination, I did.
I think Seamus got the better end of the deal sleeping in the car……

However, being an excellent dog owner…..a veces….. I dutifully took my buddy out for a walk before racking out for the night. We each had a few carne asada tacos from a stand in somebody's front yard right next to the highway and then we crossed the highway to the OXXO for a beer or two. 

That was a lot of fun as I was hit up for money and work and money and money by some serious looking gang-banger guys. I declined to give them either and went for a stroll with Seamus on the streets surrounding my shiny, plastic-sheeted hotel. 

There was a significant amount of artwork on every single wall and sidewalk I passed! Some of it was lovely but most of it was gang oriented.

I am not a man that lives afraid but a couple of decades in the fire service and growing up as I did has given me an acute sense of when I may be in over my head…. The guys hanging on corners and kind of dissolving into the dark as I walked closer to them did not lend me assurance that they were going to be a friendly welcoming committee. I kept my weapon, I mean my big flashlight, ready for use in case someone needed prompt illumination.

After Seamus did what he needed to do we high-tailed it back to the hotel. I locked him down in the car where he slept peacefully all night and I called it a night, where I did not sleep peacefully, in my almost interesting room.

No worries, though. The next day I would be enjoying great street food and sleeping in one of my favorite stopping places, the Hotel Hacienda right across from the Malecon in Mazatlan. 
I am not sure why but I really enjoy that divey, ocean view hotel and part of town!