First driving day in Mexico

As planned, we left the RV park in Mission, Texas at just after 7:00am Sunday morning. It's a fifteen minute drive from there to the Anzalduas bridge that takes you to the west side of Reynosa, Mexico.

But of course, once you pay the $7.00 USD ($9.25 CAD, 140 pesos) toll fee to cross the bridge you still have to stop at immigration and customs to get your tourist visa and your motorhome permit.

But as we pulled in to the immigration and customs area, we were immediately directed to the x-ray machine. Every one of our 8 rigs had to drive onto a ramp where we had to park our motorhome and exit the rig and go stand behind a concrete shelter while the x-rays looked for whatever it was they were looking for.

At an average of 7 minutes per rig, this was going to take an hour or so! Fortunately, those who had completed the x-ray could soon go park themselves and enter the building to get their paperwork completed.

As we were about to cross the bridge. Taken at 7:25am.

And so, the first thing we had to do was to get our tourist visas complete. At a cost of 533 pesos ($35 CAD, $26.50 USD) per person for the tourist visa, valid for 180 days.

Then, off to get photocopies at a ridiculous price of about a dollar each. Fortunately, only one.... for the person who is also getting the vehicle permit. Then, back to the office for the vehicle permit. 

We should have kept last year's permit, but that is hindsight. The permits are valid for ten years, but if you think there is a chance you might not return with that vehicle, you are better off to hand in the permit when you exit the country.

I went to get our vehicle permit... and they weren't going to give us one! The problem was that Saskatchewan went to an all electronic system to save on paper. But Mexico wants an "original" ownership certificate. I anticipated that this might be a problem, so I copied the Saskatchewan government news release regarding this, and managed to get it done. But not without a couple of moments where I honestly thought it might not happen!

The motorhome permit cost 1,219 pesos ($80 CAD, $60 USD).

It was almost 10:00am by the time we got out of there, with everybody's paperwork complete.

On the road south from Reynosa. 

Very soon after, we crossed from the state of Tamaulipas to Nuevo Leon.

Scenery along the way.

We took the free road the entire way today. Many people think that you need to stick to the toll highways in Mexico, but in many situations the free roads are in good condition. Sometimes, they are even better than the toll roads! Yesterday's drive was only on free roads.

Sometimes, they use a two lane road as a 3 lane road. 

Entering the town of General Bravo.

Going through town.

Getting the grilled chicken ready!

It smelled wonderful!

Entering the town of China. (Pronounced Chee-nah).

We stopped for a ten minute break after China.

Sherman, leading the group!

We met our friends Chris and Juan at Campestre Monte Sur, just south of the small city of Montemorelos (pop 60,000). They own a lot at this private recreational club and had made arrangements for our group to be able to stay there.

There are no RV hookups, but there are lots of places to park.

Sue, Roy, and Juan.

As we pulled in to the park, someone noticed a gasoline smell coming from the last unit in our group. Turned out they had developed a leak and it may have been leaking for a while... but because they were the last rig, nobody was behind them to notice the leak!

But, this is Mexico. Despite it being Sunday, they found a guy who knew a guy and they got together to fix the problem.

We have always found that people in Mexico are very helpful and this was another one of those situations.

Fixing the gas leak.

Total cost to fix the gasoline leak?

300 pesos ($20 CAD, $15 USD).

Try and get that done on a Sunday in Canada or the U.S.!

Lots of leaf cutter ants.

Some of us parked at Campestre Monte Sur.

Monte Sur.

Happy hour by the pool.

Christmas is coming!

People having volleyball pool fun!

Chris and Juan brought steaks for dinner, and we grilled them to perfection. Had a nice meal, and solved most of the world's problems.

Juan, Chris, Ruth, and Kevin!

Everybody seems really pleased to be here, and even more pleased that Monday is not a driving day. We can just hang out here and go for some walks and maybe into town to wander around. Plus, we are having our welcome dinner tomorrow night!

Weather is great at 27C (81F) and sunny,, and we are so happy to be back in Mexico!

Yesterday's drive, 230 kms (143 miles).

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