Fund Raising

Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2004

The advice we were given—to expedite the process, be at the border first thing in the morning with a full tank of gas—was probably accurate. Unfortunately, we only fulfilled one of those requirements (the full tank of gas). We arrived at Nogales at around 10am and at immigration and customs at the 21 km mark around 10:30, and by the time we got the green light it was 2 hours later. I am told that it takes much less time if you arrive at 7 or 8am. The border is open from 6am to 10pm. Something to remember for next time.

We also learned that you could get a car permit from www.banjercito.com.mx. This will speed things along, since getting the temporary vehicle import permit was the most time-consuming part of the process.

You pull into a large parking lot with cars, trucks and RVs. First stop is the casita where you fill out theform for your tourist visa. Have your passport or other citizenship documents ready. Don’t be stingy
with the length of time for your visa—you’re entitled to 180 days, so you might as well use it.

Next you get copies made of your visa, car documents (registration) and driver’s license. Cost is minimal (5 pesos per copy). Then it’s off to get your vehicle import permit, which you must pay for by credit card.
This is to allow them to charge your card if you don’t return the car across the border when you come home.

Then you drive out of the parking lot to customs, where you get either a green or red light, as you do at the airport when you arrive by plane. We got the green light, so we can’t tell you how thorough they are when you get a red light.

We bought insurance online at www.mexpro.net (International Insurance Group, Flagstaff, AZ) before leaving, so we avoided that casita at the border. Many sites now have an online quote system and they all produce identical quotes. Since IIG claims to have written the system and were friendly and knowledgeable when Mark called, we chose them. You can get daily rates, but it quickly becomes cheaper to buy a six-month policy. Several underwriters are quoted online; we went with the Platinum Package from ACE Seguros because it’s the only one that covers partial theft of the vehicle. The others only pay for theft if the vehicle is stolen and never found again. This insurance will pay if the doors or wheels or other vehicle parts are stolen. Think about what that means if the vehicle is stolen and the stripped hulk is found a week later. That’s not “total theft” in their eyes, but it will be in yours.

We also purchased their MexVisit package for $20 that provides all sorts of roadside and medical assistance. As for our US insurance, we suspended liability and paid for comprehensive even though it does no good in Mexico, but it was the best State Farm could do to avoid canceling and having to re-instate the policy. On the other hand, we learned that our State Farm Homeowners policy covers the personal contents of the truck worldwide. Total cost was $378.27 for $13,000 of collision and theft, $100,000 per person liability, $20,000 legal assistance, $5,000 per person medical, and MexVisit. We gave them a credit card online, and a minute later we were printing out the policy to take with us.

We took another poster’s advice and used the Mariposa exit to bypass Nogales. This is apparently a truck route and seemed to work pretty well, though I don’t know how it would have been at any other crossing. We were no more than 10 minutes into Mexico before a truck coming the other direction threw up a stone and gave us a star crack on the windshield. However, this was the only mishap of the trip.

You will find yourself on Mexico 15. The first toll plaza was at Magdalena de Kino (17 pesos) and just bypasses the town. You drive through a small but spectacular saguaro forest near the town. The autopista continues south with little deviation to Hermosillo, a large industrial city without much redeeming quality. Just prior to Hermosillo is another toll plaza (53 pesos). Because there is only one road south and trucks are forced to take it, the tolls don’t seem very onerous yet.

The next toll is north of Guaymas (23 pesos). Rather than staying at Guaymas we opted to stop at San Carlos, where there is a large gringo community. We stayed at Los Jitos, where the room was 468 pesos including tax. An acceptable hotel, nothing fancy, and they allowed our dog in the room. In search of dinner we stumbled onto a fundraiser for Rescate, which is the EMT and ambulance service funded by and for the gringo community. There are approximately 3,000 Americans and Canadians who either live there full time or have vacation homes and condos where they spend the winter.

We paid our $5 per person fee, which entitled us to all the margaritas we could drink, which in my case was none (they don’t agree with me). So I bought a couple of shots of tequila instead to sip during the pre-dinner social period. Everyone there is quite friendly, and the setting is spectacular though desert-like. The harbor and marina were full of boats, both large powerboats and sailboats. The buffet dinner, which was very good, was 90 pesos each.

Thursday, Nov. 11, 2004

The following morning we had a very nice buffet breakfast at the Marinaterra Hotel, for 92 pesos each, which included tax and tip. The restaurant is called The Embarcadero and has a nice view of the marina, and based on the fine breakfast is easy to recommend.

We left San Carlos around 9:30 and drove north for a few kilometers before turning south on Mexico 15 to bypass Guaymas. Toll was 23 pesos. Another toll north of Cuidad Obregon was 53 pesos. Thirty kilometers north of Navajoa, 52 pesos; the tolls began to seem like the “death of a thousand cuts.”

From Navajoa we made a detour to Alamos, to see what all the excitement was about. We found it small but not terribly interesting, though when we caught a glimpse of what was behind the walls we realized that the all the wealth of the local mines had not left the area. There were some incredibly beautiful homes and estates. For colonial charm, we’ll take Cuenca, Ecuador, any day.

The detour to Alamos consumed about 2 hours, and then we were on the road again toward the border between Sonora and Sinaloa. There were 3 checkpoints at the border—to check the car permit (there are also Sonora-only permits), to make sure we weren’t transporting any agricultural products, and to get a once-over from the military. Of the 3, the only one that required a stop was the first; we were waved through the other 2.

The maximum speed limit in Sonora was 100kph; in Sinoloa, 110.

From Ciudad Obregon south we entered rich agricultural areas on a flat alluvial plain almost to the horizon, with distant mountains on both sides of the road. Lots and lots of very large insects, so let the “squeegee boys” wash your windshield for a few pesos—it’s worth it. They hang around at long traffic lights—they splash water on your windshield, dip a very effective device into soapy water, scrub the windshield with one side of the tool and squeegee the water away with the other side. The tool is about 6-8 inches long.

North of Los Mochis, another toll plaza (37 pesos); others south of Guasave (18 pesos and 35 pesos); outside of Culiacán, 35 pesos.

We arrived at Culiacán around 5:30, which was another mistake. Rush hour in a large Mexican city is a nightmare, especially if you don’t know where you’re going. We assumed that there would be lodging on the outskirts, and that we could settle in, have something to eat and then leave early the next morning without having to actually go into the Centro.

In a nutshell, we wasted 2 hours wandering around Culiacán, lost after dark in harrowing traffic with no idea which direction was which until Mark dug out his GPS. We tried to find a reasonably-priced hotel that would accept our dog, and actually found the name of one from the desk clerk at a very upscale place that wouldn’t allow pets—but we never found it despite stopping for directions a couple of times. The language barrier was too great for my modest Spanish.