Gone SOB

Sat 14 March 18, 2009. SOB

For Family and Friends. We departed Kingsville NAS at 0900 and arrived at the Los Indios border at 1040. Cold (47 deg) and a mist. Border procedures are a pain anywhere in the world so do not think that this was any worse that usual. I’m including a separate section for RV’ers since we all go to school on each other. We finished the formalities at 1230 and headed south. Err, no. We headed east. The laptop with its GPS program crashed right when we needed it and we ended up in the outskirts of the city. I’m glad we had done this before so we were not intimidated and plowed into the traffic and made some tight corners towing the jeep. Excellent road for most of the way and the smaller roads were not that bad. We arrived at La Pesca, a fishing village, at about 1700.

We’re at La Gaviota RV park. Huge grassy field overlooking the river. Just one other coach here, a couple from Switzerland.

We were leaving Mon but decided to stay an extra day.

BTW, we did some tallying and found that we had driven 1,967 miles to here in La Pesca. We used 260 gal of gas for a cost of $468. Campgrounds have cost us $154.

For RV’ers. We have some lessons learned that might be of use re Los Indios in particular.

First, the hours are different than in Church and could be different tomorrow! As of 14 Mar 2009, the Banjercito is open 0900-1800 Mon-Fri; 0900-1600 Sat; Closed Sunday!!! This is important also for returning your visa and TIP’s.

Somewhere we read that the location of the border is well marked. We have yet to see any sign. We saw the buildings and figured it out. The first thing encountered is a line of 18 wheelers. Ignore them and keep going straight. You will come upon a booth. It turned out to be toll to cross the bridge. It was $14 for a MH and TOAD! You cross the bridge and then encounter Mexican customs. It was very narrow but we got through. The building immediately to the right of this is where you do your paperwork but you must proceed about 50 yards through a military check point (a second building on your right), to the parking area. It is not huge, but adequate. They wanted us to go in and back in a “U” and park.

You then walk to that first building. On entering, there is an immigration window on your right. Go there with your passport and tell them you want 6 months. They’ll ask you where. We said Veracruz. They fill out the form and tell you to go to the Banjercito windows and pay (262 pesos each) and then come back for the final stamp. This takes almost no time.

In our case, it took an hour in line to get to the teller and another half hour for him to complete everything. Before you get in line, take the immigration form(s) to the window that sells insurance/money exchange. You need 2 copies of the one for the primary driver and 1 for the other. (They will say you only need 1. You need 2.) Cost is 25 cents. You should make copies ahead of time of your passport (and drivers license) and vehicle registration(s). Make at least 2 each. When you get to the window, they will process the forms. They will complete one “Temporary Import Permit (TIP)” for the Motorhome/Tow vehicle and one for the trailer/TOAD. The RV is for 10 years and cost 730.13 pesos. The TOAD/Tow Vehicle is for 6 months and cost 438.08 pesos. This will be run as 2 separate transactions on your credit card (Visa/MC only). They will then run your immigration visa fee for a total of 3 transactions. You then go back to the immigration window and give him your paper work. He stamps it and you are done inside. Go to your vehicles and immediately put on the hologram. Motorhomes: put below the dark tint or it can’t be seen from out side. Keep your paperwork handy.

A Mexican national and I talked while in line. He was as confused about all this also and he does it a lot. I asked about returning the visa and TIP. He said you do it in this same line. I asked if you hand to stand in the line. He said yes but that the guy who was walking around the line periodically was asking (in Spanish) if anyone was in line to turn in forms. If yes, he took them to their vehicle and removed the hologram and gave receipts. So, if you hear some one asking something, it may be for this. You turn in to the same parking area to do this.

All of this took us 2 hours and we had no problems and our teller seemed efficient (although he listed our motor home as a folding trailer on the TIP!). It was a Saturday and there were a lot of Mexicans appearing to be coming home from the US for spring break, so the line was long. Everyone was very pleasant and in good humor, both the officials and those in line.

We then headed out and got lost. Keelhauler says I should have stayed straight and not turn on MX2. My bad. We eventually got on MX110 and headed south. At about 20 kilometers, we encountered a customs inspection. We went in the Autobus lane. A very nice agent checked for our holograms, asked for the paperwork and then compared the VINs to the papers. She came in the coach, cursorily looked in 1 cabinet, played with the dogs (no mention of health certificates) and wished us a great trip. She said in Spanish to keep our eyes open. We asked if there was a special problem. She said nothing in particular, but it is always good to be alert.

We stayed on MX 110 to San Fernando and then got on MX 180 to Soto. 180 was great until about the last 20KM. Then it was narrow but not bad. The new road to La Pesca is great until you encounter the final construction about 5KM from town. That part is slow going. This was in March 2009. We stayed at La Gaviota. A nice open, grassy field with palms overlooking the river. The manager is very nice. They took pictures and played with the dogs for a long time today. We planned to stay 1 night and are staying 3! Cost is 250 pesos/night. 15 amp with water and sewer. By the way, the PEMEX in La Pesca is not RV friendly (small). If you were desperate you could maneuver without a TOAD. Better to use the Pemex on the left as you enter Sotto. They take credit cards.