Well this is interesting.....turns out no one and I mean NO ONE at the border speaks English. We pulled up to the first check point and the most anyone could ask was what kind of dog that was and how old is he? They, as if we speak Spanish....we say no and they smile, shrug their shoulders then waive us thru. We get to the next check point and the same thing....them....Spanish? us......no....smiles, shrugs and waive us thru, and BAM......we are in Mexico. But wait......we have to get our visas and the permit for our car since you have to import your vehicle. Now not only does no one speak English but none of the signs are in English either. So we get some help from a local for 1 dollar who tells us thru a series of gestures that we have to go straight down this road and it is there. So we follow his detailed instructions and there are signs that appear to say permit on them with an arrow indicating it is ahead. 1 sign......2 signs.....and then a 3rd sign with a u-turn arrow on it. Thing is, there is more than 1 lane heading back. I take a stab in the dark and take one of the lanes and of course it is the wrong one. Now here is where it gets interesting. There is only 1 way to turn around and wouldn't you know it it is a one way street and I (of course) am heading the wrong way. Lucky for me the policia are right there to pull me over and explain (yes you got it, in Spanish), the error or my ways. He does not speak English and I do not speak Spanish but it turns out bribing is universal. Even with the language barrier I got the gist of it. He can give me a ticket which involves me having to actually go to a ticket office and wait for hours (according to him) and pay mucho dinero oooooorrrrrrr I can pay him and he will let me go. I opt for number 2 on one condition.....he shows us the way to the passport/permit building. Agreed. So with our police escort we get to where we need to be. I am beginning to think they have done this on purpose because there is NO WAY we would have ever found this place on our own.
It is 104 degrees outside so I wait in the van with Flash while Trevor and my mom go inside. I figure once they are done getting their visas I will go in and get mine. After about 20 minutes Trev comes out with a form for me to sign and that is it.....we ALL have our visas. They didn't even ask to SEE me. They then have to move on to another window, another Spanish-speaking individual to get the vehicle permit, then another window to pay for everything and finally, with all our paperwork, but lighter in the peso department, we are 'official'.
We got thru 2 more check points and at the last one it is with the Federali (cops with machine guns). At this one they ask to see the permit for the car and that is it.....now we are officially in Mexico. NO CHECKS AT ALL. HORRAY!!!! And all this time we were so worried that we didn't have enough copies of all our documentation, birth certificates, marriage certificates, paperwork for the dog (which cost us $300 Canadian). Oh well! We're here and that's all that counts. Guadalajara here we come!
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