A Long Journey to Mexico

Sept 29

It all needs to fit inside!

Eleven days till we leave for Mexico. And I am not experiencing what I imagined.

We’ve had the petal to the metal for years now. To get to this moment. And now this moment is slipping away. I don’t have time for processing what is happening. Every part of me is being challenged in some way. 

I see the shore, it is there, just a bit more to go!

October 19

Moving to Mexico

Leaving Vic's house with the dingy ontop!

We made it! 

We did fit everything in the van. We did drive 9 day, 3 thru Mexico and we did arrive safely. 

What an adventure.

After leaving Port Orchard, WA we drove to Boise, ID in one day, and spent the day with family. It was a super long day but nice to have a hot tub, clean bed and see familiar faces.

Listening to "Low Rider" on our way out the driveway. 
Our song for our van. 

Camping

 

Zion!

From there we made our way south to Zion National Park. Since we had not been, we decided to make a day of it and ended up spending 20 hours in the park. It felt great to stretch our legs, and go on hikes together. 

Happy Hiker

We both felt strong on the trails and I marveled how far I had come in 1 short year. Reflecting, I realized it had probably been 8 years since I was able to do this type of hike. The cliffs surrounding us were magical reflections of light. The sunrise coming over the side was inspirational. I felt so grateful to be active again. Watching the climbers on the cliff ascend slowly, my soul felt akin to the enormity of their goal. 

Hiking!

Eight years ago Shay and I began talking about owning a sailboat. Since then we have persevered through 2 major surgeries, the loss of our savings account, illness, house sales, remodels, many sailboat purchasing disappointments, living in an RV, and getting married.

Today, in this moment, together, we are meeting our dreams head on. We are FINALLY doing it! 
The canyon: a symbol of our strength and determination.

We spent 2 nights in the back of the van and it was freezing cold. But we survived and continued south to Nogales, Arizona.

Can you read the sign? (Day 3)

The Border Bamboozle

We woke early the 6th day to get to the border early. We chose the commercial entrance since that seemed quieter. We entered a maze of directionless turns and stops that we finally navigated and came to a stop when a man in a red vest waved us over. He told us to drive to the lot on the left and park. 

We did without question. (First lesson)

Opening the doors for border inspection.

Then more red vested men wanted to see inside our van, well that seemed a tad overwhelming to them as the blank piece of paper I was to write down all the contents on quickly disappeared and the red vested man mimed to us that he wanted us all to get in the van and he would drive over the security line together. Since he was holding our passports and documents it didn’t feel that we had much choice. 

So we all crammed into the front seat with Shay sitting on the refer in the middle and we made our way out of the parking lot and PAST the lineup of cars waiting to cross the security check point to a gate on the side. This gate was opened by a man in a uniform  and badges that indicated that he was border patrol. He stopped us and the red vest spoke to him quickly in Spanish. The gist was, “They own a boat in Barra and are taking personal belongings to the boat.” Or something else.

The agent opened a few doors to the van and then waved us all on.

The red vest motioned us to pull over further up the road, where low and behold, another red vest was waiting. We pulled over and the red vest asked for $3000 pesos. 

I knew this was coming. Shay did not, as she became quite flustered and all of a sudden could not count. We managed to hand over pesos and dollars equal or close to that amount. And they waved us on, with urgency. As if we didn’t leave immediately some dome would befallen us all. 

So we got on the road. 

Then looked at each other, “what just happened?”

Then, “wait, our passports are not stamped!”

I remembered that up the road there would be another stop for our Visas. 

So we road on in silence for a few miles, replaying what just transpired. “Did we really just bypass border inspection?”

As we talked it through, I realized we just escaped having a multi-hour inspection of our van and it’s contents and probable 19% tax on all the boat parts we were bringing into the country. (During packing, I had hid most of the parts in our clothes and other bags in order to lessen the likelihood of inspection finding and charging us for the more than $2000 worth of boat supplies and about $5000 of personal belongings.)

We arrived at the next stop, which was as expected, where we were to park the van, and walk from building to building, filling out visa forms, paying, stamping passports before returning to the van and continuing on our way. 

That was it! We made it!

Turns out the bamboozle was in fact, a blessing. Sometimes in Mexico you just have to roll with it! (Lesson Two)

Mexico Insanity

Day 5!

Typical site on the interstate.

Day 7 and we found Starbucks!??!

Due to the awful, insanely bumpy roads we lost our muffler cage. Shay bravely endured the midday heat and crawled under the van to remove it. We were joined by the Federale's for this adventure. 

The OCEAN!

A dummy flagger. 

The next days were so hot we got some good suffering in. At nights we stayed at Hotels with guarded parking lots. We stayed in Colima, Puerto Vallarta and Ahome.

Our days started at 6am, left by 7am and then drove, drove, drove until about an hour before dark, around 5pm. We’d secure the truck, eat and fall into bed, hot and exhausted.

Driving in Mexico is vastly different than driving in most of the US. The roads are crap, as donkey’s, horses, people, tractors, pot holes, and anything you can imagine are on or on the side of the road. And this is the interstate-their toll roads. Their best roads. Ninety percent of our travel was on toll roads and we probably spent a total of $150 dollars on tolls. Driving took concentration, and a sense of humor. 

Why is there a cowboy herding cows along the shoulder of the road? Is this a one-way or two-way road? Is that car passing in my lane going to kill us all? 

Road signs are suggestions, police are few, and truckers are abundant. 

We passed many towns we wished to explore. We will definitely make it back to Tequila, MX!

Our goal was 8 days. It became clear this wasn’t going to happen unless we drove at night. (Our one rule- no nighttime driving in Mexico) So the last day we drove thru Manzanillo, stopped for groceries and made it to the Marina by 2pm. At long last. 

Notice how we are sinking lower every day,
and looking very tired?

Our new home at the marina

Heat and mold makes
Yona a tired girl.

Our view from the cockpit.

Crazy mess. And it gets worse.

It was brutally hot. A heat wave they said. Great. Opening up the boat we found mold on every surface. So we set out cleaning up so we would have a spot to sleep that night. 

Drenched in sweat we worked until dark, ate leftovers, and Shay collapsed in the cockpit and I fell asleep in the Salon. We didn’t even get to the V-berth. 

The next day I came down with the flu. Yes, in the summer, in 90 degree heat. I tried to work thru the day but finally succumbed. Shay continued on working hard to get the boat in order before she left. Then she became ill the next day. It was not fun.

We managed to clean out the V-berth, get the old mattress out by cutting it up into sections, cleaning the mold, getting half of our new cushions cut and into place so I could have a bed while she was gone. We got water ordered, the toilet working, the cockpit accessible, and the basic living supplies out of the van. Then Shay left to return to Issaquah, to give notice at work. 

Living in the Marina

I am living on the boat, cleaning, storing, recovering from the flu. I finally made it to the pool this week and realized that a new schedule needed to be adopted so as not to keel over from the heat.

Up at 7am, work till 1pm, then up to the pool to nap, float, or do PT in the pool, read, call friends, drink lots of water until 6pm. Then back to the boat to work, and then once the sun is down around 8pm, dinner, a little reading, and then to bed. 

The marina hotel view.
The saving grace of living in a marina.

It’s a big adjustment, the heat, the schedule, trying to find places for everything that’s in the van. I haven’t even begun the projects - the water pump needs help, the RPM gauge is not working, the hose clamps in the engine room all need checked and replaced, 3 of the outlets doen’t work and I need to troubleshoot that, the engine needs lots of attention, oil, water pump, loose belts. Pests have moved aboard and I am on a mission to eradicate them without poisoning myself. And just now the antenna/internet stopped working. 

It’s a little overwhelming, and I can’t wait for Shay to return to join me in the chaos.

Definitely Living The Dream this month. 

(A shout out to all our friends who helped us through the past few weeks, offering beds, storage for our RV and cars, dinner, support and love. Thank YOU!)