The long trip back home
The second half will be shorter and less complaints - I promise. It deals in part with the "game" we play at the border when coming back into MX with all the goodies we purchased NOB, and if I described the drive across central MX, it would be a very loooooong paragraph with nothing in it.
Different folks have different opinions of the best places to cross, after spending a night in Laredo I always use the #2 International Bridge connecting Laredo to Neuvo Laredo, I know how to get there and so I stick with what works.
It goes without saying that variation and "personal initiative" with regards to regulations is a finely honed Mexican custom, so you can never be totally sure of what might have changed yesterday, last week, or just specially for you that day only. The actual Customs laws seem like many here, more "suggested guidelines" rather than rock hard enforced laws. So, the law says that you can bring in $300 in merchandise if you fly, but only $75 if you drive? - who knows why. Generally they are looking for big ticket items and electronics although your PC etc. is allowed without question.
And, sorry to interject this tiny political note, but how the heck did people drive in with something over 1,000 automatic rifles in their original boxes without being noticed when they were poking through my suitcase looking for who knows what?
I always pull a couple of boxes from storage with cookware etc. I leave the boxes dusty and mangy looking, then unbox all my new purchases and distribute them around the car in different boxes and suitcases. When you come across the bridge you immediately enter the Customs or Aduana station, they're only interested in what you have in the car and/or trailer. You have the option to "Declare" something, or you can "No Declare" and just sort of "fake it". I always try to get there about 5:30am while there is no traffic and they're still sleepy.
One year I did Declare as I had a new weather station in the original box, I had paperwork indicating a "sale" price, but Declaring was a mistake because it immediately threw me into a line of pickups loaded to the hilt with Mexicans moving back home. It also runs you through a secondary process because they want a list of what you have and you pay 16% of the Declared value and then you push a button and either get a red or green light, if you get red, they dig deeper through all your stuff looking more seriously. Needless to say I don't Declare any more.
Last year I had a new lawn blower for the gardener for Christmas in the original box, they didn't care, this year I got him an electric reciprocating saw, again they were totally uninterested. So after lifting a few box flaps the young lady said it was ok for me to go and I hit the road. The funny thing is that I had a rather sizable model RC helicopter sitting on the passenger side floor covered with white packing paper and she didn't even notice?
This is first of two potential knotholes you are dragged through backwards. Now, if you are entering the country for the first time at this point you're in MX, but you don't have a visa or an import sticker for your car yet. So you drive about a mile to a white building under the bridge and jump through their hoops and pay your dues.
When you bring a car into MX you get an import sticker which now costs about $40 plus a $300USD deposit (no pesos, USD only) which they say you get back when you take the car out of the country - uh huh, sure you will. By law you are supposed to turn in the sticker each time you leave and get a new one when you come back in, I never do, I just drive out and back in and they don't ask, but this time with the new $300 deposit thing I wasn't sure I'd get away with it. When I came in 4 years ago I gave them my credit card number, later the card was stolen and replaced, so they basically have no deposit from me. But this time I held out $300 in cash just in case.
It's common to get stopped from time to time, twice on the way up at checkpoints where they asked for my papers, now I'm sure I wasn't "profiled" - I mean really, an old gray haired gringo driving a car with TX plates? They don't care about your US plates being out of date, only your drivers license, your visa and the muy importante import sticker.
So as I proceeded out into the early morning darkness and glanced over at the white building, I have my visa and I didn't turn in my import sticker, so I just drove by and smiled with the $300 firmly jammed in my pocket.
You drive around Nuevo Laredo on an eastern loop and then head south. At exactly 9.7 miles at dark:30 traffic stopped dead? - traffic was coming north, but we were going nowhere and we proceeded to go nowhere for an hour and 15 minutes while inhaling diesel fumes from trucks next to me. Federales and military were running up and down the other side of the highway, who knows why? Finally the road opened and we headed for the 20 mile Aduana station, the second potential knothole in your progress.
There is a small booth in the middle of the road and a person asks for your visa and then you get a red or green light (yes, they do love those). Last year I got a red, all the inspection bays were full so I pulled up next to two other cars, and a guy peeked in and told me to "jale" (pull). This year there was no one in the booth, no red/green lights, no cars being inspected, no Aduana at all, only two Federales with flashlights glancing at the import stickers. Apparently something had happened, but who knows what, so I headed into MX toward Monterey smiling, from there it's nothing but 700 miles of open road - well, the 13 toll booths of course, they're the modern day banditos relieving you of about $80 on the way home, however the toll roads are generally good.
There were a lot of military convoys running both directions and one checkpoint. At Matehuala I was flagged by a Federale who shook hands, asked where I was going and smiled and said to have a safe trip. At one point I was driving about 80mph and 3 military pickups blew by me doing at least 95, all loaded with armed guys, and as usual, always one standing up in the back leaning into the wind? Generally there is at least one vehicle with a 50 caliber machine gun mounted up top and they always have an ammunition belt loaded in the breach to remind you that the gun isn't there just because it looks neat.
Most of the coutas (toll roads) are divided highway, but some are not and then things get a bit tense with hills and trucks and impatient old gringos wanting to pass. Somewhere out in the middle of nowhere I met with a rather large stone kicked up, or falling off, a truck and the windshield took a hit dead center leaving a nice crescent fracture about the size of a half quarter. Once home I took it to a fellow and for $60 we hope to save the windshield, otherwise I have to worry about getting the TX inspection and license stickers and most important, the import sticker off, getting a new one of those would require a trip to the border and $340 as noted, but hey, stuff happens.
All in all the trip had a lot of nuisance factors this year, I guess I wasn't in the proper spirit - or maybe I'm just getting too darn old to do this kind of trip in only 8 days. So even through the nuisance things were small, they irritated me to no end. There is also the cooling off period which lasts several days while I readjust to life in MX as compared to the States. While most of the aggravation was NOB this year, it's a pretty nice place by comparison. It's not hard to see why Mexicans coming to the States think they've gone to heaven and didn't even have to die.
I'm now settling back into my life here in Tortillaville as I enjoy the nice sunny weather compared to Denver which got several inches of snow the other day. (what I expected to happen to me and my new jacket?)
Seems hard to imagine I've been here 4 years now, only yesterday Max and I set out on the great adventure and now it's just our normal life.
Different folks have different opinions of the best places to cross, after spending a night in Laredo I always use the #2 International Bridge connecting Laredo to Neuvo Laredo, I know how to get there and so I stick with what works.
It goes without saying that variation and "personal initiative" with regards to regulations is a finely honed Mexican custom, so you can never be totally sure of what might have changed yesterday, last week, or just specially for you that day only. The actual Customs laws seem like many here, more "suggested guidelines" rather than rock hard enforced laws. So, the law says that you can bring in $300 in merchandise if you fly, but only $75 if you drive? - who knows why. Generally they are looking for big ticket items and electronics although your PC etc. is allowed without question.
And, sorry to interject this tiny political note, but how the heck did people drive in with something over 1,000 automatic rifles in their original boxes without being noticed when they were poking through my suitcase looking for who knows what?
I always pull a couple of boxes from storage with cookware etc. I leave the boxes dusty and mangy looking, then unbox all my new purchases and distribute them around the car in different boxes and suitcases. When you come across the bridge you immediately enter the Customs or Aduana station, they're only interested in what you have in the car and/or trailer. You have the option to "Declare" something, or you can "No Declare" and just sort of "fake it". I always try to get there about 5:30am while there is no traffic and they're still sleepy.
One year I did Declare as I had a new weather station in the original box, I had paperwork indicating a "sale" price, but Declaring was a mistake because it immediately threw me into a line of pickups loaded to the hilt with Mexicans moving back home. It also runs you through a secondary process because they want a list of what you have and you pay 16% of the Declared value and then you push a button and either get a red or green light, if you get red, they dig deeper through all your stuff looking more seriously. Needless to say I don't Declare any more.
Last year I had a new lawn blower for the gardener for Christmas in the original box, they didn't care, this year I got him an electric reciprocating saw, again they were totally uninterested. So after lifting a few box flaps the young lady said it was ok for me to go and I hit the road. The funny thing is that I had a rather sizable model RC helicopter sitting on the passenger side floor covered with white packing paper and she didn't even notice?
This is first of two potential knotholes you are dragged through backwards. Now, if you are entering the country for the first time at this point you're in MX, but you don't have a visa or an import sticker for your car yet. So you drive about a mile to a white building under the bridge and jump through their hoops and pay your dues.
When you bring a car into MX you get an import sticker which now costs about $40 plus a $300USD deposit (no pesos, USD only) which they say you get back when you take the car out of the country - uh huh, sure you will. By law you are supposed to turn in the sticker each time you leave and get a new one when you come back in, I never do, I just drive out and back in and they don't ask, but this time with the new $300 deposit thing I wasn't sure I'd get away with it. When I came in 4 years ago I gave them my credit card number, later the card was stolen and replaced, so they basically have no deposit from me. But this time I held out $300 in cash just in case.
It's common to get stopped from time to time, twice on the way up at checkpoints where they asked for my papers, now I'm sure I wasn't "profiled" - I mean really, an old gray haired gringo driving a car with TX plates? They don't care about your US plates being out of date, only your drivers license, your visa and the muy importante import sticker.
So as I proceeded out into the early morning darkness and glanced over at the white building, I have my visa and I didn't turn in my import sticker, so I just drove by and smiled with the $300 firmly jammed in my pocket.
You drive around Nuevo Laredo on an eastern loop and then head south. At exactly 9.7 miles at dark:30 traffic stopped dead? - traffic was coming north, but we were going nowhere and we proceeded to go nowhere for an hour and 15 minutes while inhaling diesel fumes from trucks next to me. Federales and military were running up and down the other side of the highway, who knows why? Finally the road opened and we headed for the 20 mile Aduana station, the second potential knothole in your progress.
There is a small booth in the middle of the road and a person asks for your visa and then you get a red or green light (yes, they do love those). Last year I got a red, all the inspection bays were full so I pulled up next to two other cars, and a guy peeked in and told me to "jale" (pull). This year there was no one in the booth, no red/green lights, no cars being inspected, no Aduana at all, only two Federales with flashlights glancing at the import stickers. Apparently something had happened, but who knows what, so I headed into MX toward Monterey smiling, from there it's nothing but 700 miles of open road - well, the 13 toll booths of course, they're the modern day banditos relieving you of about $80 on the way home, however the toll roads are generally good.
There were a lot of military convoys running both directions and one checkpoint. At Matehuala I was flagged by a Federale who shook hands, asked where I was going and smiled and said to have a safe trip. At one point I was driving about 80mph and 3 military pickups blew by me doing at least 95, all loaded with armed guys, and as usual, always one standing up in the back leaning into the wind? Generally there is at least one vehicle with a 50 caliber machine gun mounted up top and they always have an ammunition belt loaded in the breach to remind you that the gun isn't there just because it looks neat.
Most of the coutas (toll roads) are divided highway, but some are not and then things get a bit tense with hills and trucks and impatient old gringos wanting to pass. Somewhere out in the middle of nowhere I met with a rather large stone kicked up, or falling off, a truck and the windshield took a hit dead center leaving a nice crescent fracture about the size of a half quarter. Once home I took it to a fellow and for $60 we hope to save the windshield, otherwise I have to worry about getting the TX inspection and license stickers and most important, the import sticker off, getting a new one of those would require a trip to the border and $340 as noted, but hey, stuff happens.
All in all the trip had a lot of nuisance factors this year, I guess I wasn't in the proper spirit - or maybe I'm just getting too darn old to do this kind of trip in only 8 days. So even through the nuisance things were small, they irritated me to no end. There is also the cooling off period which lasts several days while I readjust to life in MX as compared to the States. While most of the aggravation was NOB this year, it's a pretty nice place by comparison. It's not hard to see why Mexicans coming to the States think they've gone to heaven and didn't even have to die.
I'm now settling back into my life here in Tortillaville as I enjoy the nice sunny weather compared to Denver which got several inches of snow the other day. (what I expected to happen to me and my new jacket?)
Seems hard to imagine I've been here 4 years now, only yesterday Max and I set out on the great adventure and now it's just our normal life.
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