We left Queretaro, Mexico on June 25th and traveled the last leg of our journey to Oaxaca. It took us about 10 hours to navigate our way around Mexico City (to avoid any possible run-ins with the Federales - as they love to pull foreigners over to bribe them). We finally arrived in the evening and what a relief it was! It was so nice to see Oaxaca again, and also to be able to rest after such a long trip. The last 3 hours of our trip (from Puebla to Oaxaca) was full of winding mountain roads. It was beautiful!
Miles Logged = 391 (Queretaro to Oaxaca)
Tags: Moving to Mexico
We spent three great days resting and visiting with family in Queretaro. They are a wonderful bunch of people, who don’t have much, but what they do have they give freely.
We got to see quite a bit of downtown Queretaro, which has an old aquaduct running through it, as well as many old buildings. Queretaro is a colonial city which was very important in the days of the Mexican Revolution.
Tags: Moving to Mexico
After a long day on the 20th, we woke up somewhat tired but ready to go. We actually spent most of the morning sending the two plastic containers (that we had securely fastened to the top of the Jeep in the luggage rack) to Oaxaca via a Mexican shipping company called Estrella Blanca. This was our plan since those containers weighed quite a bit and as well were eating into our gas mileage through the wind resistance they created. It took us about three hours to ship them…at a cost of around $300, but it was well worth it knowing that we had three major mountain ranges to cross before we got to Oaxaca. We left Monterrey around noon…headed for Queretaro. We had great driving weather and the road from Monterrey to Queretaro was very nice. We arrived to our hotel around 9 PM, ready to rest for a few days with Lily’s relatives who all live in Queretaro.
Miles Logged: Monterrey, Mexico to Queretaro, Mexico = 523
Tags: Moving to Mexico
We woke up early the next morning and loaded up the Jeep. We made our last shopping trip in the USA at the local Wal-Mart and then began our journey towards the border. It took us about 1.5 hours to get to the border crossing at Eagle Pass, TX. I expected to be questioned about all the stuff we had packed into both the Jeep and David’s car, but we sailed right on across the border! It was so smooth in fact that we had to search for a Mexican Immigration official so that both David and I could get our Visas! We finally found the immigration office, only to find that the officer was an older man who didn’t seem to care much about what we were doing there in Mexico. In the meantime, Lily’s mom (Lilia) was supposed to turn in her US Visa as she crossed, but there wasn’t anyone on the US side to take it, so Lily went with her back across the border (across a very long bridge on foot!) to try and find a US Immigration official to take her Visa. After I got my visa straightened out, I waited in the Jeep keeping an eye on both vehicles.
Then the storm hit! I was safely in the Jeep while Lily and Lilia were walking somewhere over the Rio Grande, and David was dealing with Mexico Immigration. The wind kicked up very strong, and the sky got super dark. It began sprinkling as Lily and her mom came back running. I guess someone crossing over the bridge in a car gave them a ride back so that they could find shelter. David came back to the vehicles shortly after the girls arrived, and then we were off!
We drove in the storm, slowly winding our way south through the maze of highways and roads, stopping once because of the downpour. About 30-45 miles into Mexico we were surprised to find a Customs & Immigration checkpoint. I was hoping that we were through with customs, etc., but it looked like they were ready to check us again, and this time very thoroughly. We bought a permit to import the Jeep and then had to face the dreaded “stoplight” of Customs. This stoplight is just a normal stoplight like you would see hanging above an intersection in the US, but not hanging. They have them mounted on a pole about 3 feet from the ground. There is a button installed on it that everyone entering Mexico must push. If you get a green light, then you can pass with no inspection. If you get a red light, then they ask you to pull over so they can search you and your vehicle. This is all supposed to be random, so I was praying that we would get two green lights…one for us in the Jeep and one for Mom and David in David’s car, but we only got one. David and Mom sailed through with no problems. Unfortunately, Lily and I got the red light. They asked us to pull over. Great. At that point we were facing about two hours worth of work unloading and then reloading the Jeep, and on top of that, the possibility that they would ask us to pay duty on all of the things we were taking into Mexico. I pulled the Jeep over and got out to open the back door. The Customs Officer didn’t look very happy and I am sure he was ready to go through everything with a fine-toothed comb. But that’s just about the time that another storm broke loose! Perfect timing God! Rain began to POUR down. In just the few minutes we were standing there with the officer, so much water came down that he said nevermind and told us to go on! Praise God that we didn’t have to endure Mexican red-tape!
We continued our drive south towards Monterrey and after a couple of hours the rain stopped. We then found ourselves looking at Mexico’s northern mountain range.
We drove into Monterrey to spend the night, and arrived around 7 PM. I think we spent an hour at least trying to find the hotel district in Monterrey! The city is huge and FULL of traffic! We ended up checking into the Hampton Inn and then went down the street to eat at a local favorite - El Sabor de Puebla. Mom ate goat (which she has been dreaming about for years) as it is a local delicacy. I just watched. On the way to the restaurant I got to enjoy the Taste of Monterrey as the streets were flooded from all the rain that day, and as we rode in the taxi on the way to the restaurant I made sure my window was cracked so I could breathe, and in doing so a city bus passed us on the right and splashed about 10 gallons of street water through the crack in my window. I say that I got a taste of Monterrey because at the exact moment the bus passed and splashed…I had my mouth open. Yum. Anyway, we enjoyed the time at the restaurant and then went back to the hotel to rest.
Miles Logged: Uvalde, TX to Monterrey, Mexico = 411
Phase 2 consisted of us driving from Weatherford, TX to Uvalde, TX to prepare for our border crossing the next morning. We wanted to allow as much time as possible to cross the border, due to all the paperwork requirements, etc.
I may not have mentioned this before, but Mom and David were able to fly up to Dallas and join us in visiting my parents, and also were able to drive his car along with us to Oaxaca. It was great to have them along on this journey as they provided encouragement and proved to be great traveling companions. We were able to communicate with them through hand held radios purchased before the trip.
Our original plan was to stay in Eagle Pass, TX (at the border) but were not sure how secure the hotels would be so we ended up staying at Uvalde Inn (which was decent, but overpriced) and awoke early the next morning for Phase 3.
Miles Logged: Weatherford, TX to Uvalde, TX = 332
