Hola Everybody:

Hope you're all doing well. This is the second installment of our little odyssey, I'm slightly behind but I will catch up with where we are at some point. When I left off we were crossing at the "fake" Nogales crossing and heading for the real one. It did turn out to be a few kilometres away and somewhat innocuous looking but this time it was the real enchilada. We got our automatic 6 month stay so that wasn't a problem. The car was more of a concern although not a real serious one. It turns out that Mexicans really want to make sure that you exit in the car you came in, they don't want you selling it in Mexico, not sure why all the red tape when they don't seem to concern about some other stuff but each country is different. I relayed all the required information to a young lady who entered it all in the computer. It then appeared necessary to have copies of our registration and my driver's license in triplicate. Fortunately there was a very handy photocopying place on the premise, no problem with the organization there. I tried to return to the same window which was no occupied with someone else and was beckoned to go to another window. I had to go through the same thing again in terms of relaying the information which was then duly entered once more. I wanted to say "hey the other lady already filled all that in" but realized there was no point and so defeated by bureaucracy, not for the last time, I submitted. You have to put a little sticker on your car which verifies that you went through all the proper protocol. They didn't care about the Mexican insurance. Apparently very few Mexican drivers bother with that little formality which is why they routinely flee when accidents do occur and they are to blame. Don't quote me on that but other more reputable sources than I have said that that is indeed more often than not the case.When driving in Mexico you usually have two choices, free or paying. The paying system or "quota" as it's called in Spanish is very arbitrary. You can pay a small amount like $2.00 and go for a long distance or you can pay $10.00 and go for a short distance. We haven't quite figured it out yet and probably never will.One thing we did notice is that in some states you pay less money. For instance the least expensive was in the State of Sonora. Sonora is also the name of a huge desert, not particularly appealing which starts in Arizona and continues into Mexico. Those of few familiar with the works of Carlos Castaneda will recognize the name and the importance of that desert. Pretty or not it contains many magical plants which I personally have never tried.I have to say that the desert does get prettier, greener on the Mexican side.Since the highways are pretty expensive they are virtually free of traffic except for trucks and the odd vehicle. Sometimes there are no gas stations for hundreds of kilometres so you have to make sure to always fill up when you hit the halfway mark. All the gas stations are Pemex and price is never advertised since it's the same everywhere. Pemex is state owned. You never pump your own gas. There are always attendants, usually male, although at one gas station the attendants were all female. That station also had a couple of armed guards and I'm not sure if it was the location or the attendants. Anyways they seemed to be having a great time joking with the girls.Directions to Hermosillo were pretty good and we finally ended our journey in Guyamas, population 120.000. We did get lost in downtown Guyamas and it was pretty frustrating for Stan who was tired and suffering from a cold. All that driving didn't help. We doubled back and found a beautiful, very old, stately hotel with huge grounds and a pool. It's not the busy season so they had a special on. It was right on the ocean and quite pretty with gorgeous flowers everywhere. This is long enough. I will end it for now and start again later on our way to Mazatlan.P.S. Stan wanted me to mention that we saw train loads and I mean train loads, hundreds of them carrying cargo from China in huge containers. This was in California and Arizona. They all arrive in huge container ships in Long Beach, California. By the way tomorrow is the grand opening of a Walmart in Chapala, at the top of the hill. Everybody is very excited about it. It's going to be madness at that intersection tomorrow. We won't be there that's for sure.Hasta Luego,Josiane

From: j_ochman@hotmail.comTo: bajagarth50@yahoo.ca; nissa_ochman@hotmail.com; nrisso@shaw.ca; a_sentieri@hotmail.com; mcowie@summer.com; amartin@summer.com; laurence.sentieri@gmail.com; mscharer@shaw.ca; jannacourtes@hotmail.com; msimpson@shaw.ca; pbutters@summer.comSubject: Mexico no. 2Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:26:13 -0800
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Hola Everybody:Hope you're all doing well. This is the second installment of our little odyssey, I'm slightly behind but I will catch up with where we are at some point. When I left off we were crossing at the "fake" Nogales crossing and heading for the real one. It did turn out to be a few kilometres away and somewhat innocuous looking but this time it was the real enchilada. We got our automatic 6 month stay so that wasn't a problem. The car was more of a concern although not a real serious one. It turns out that Mexicans really want to make sure that you exit in the car you came in, they don't want you selling it in Mexico, not sure why all the red tape when they don't seem to concern about some other stuff but each country is different. I relayed all the required information to a young lady who entered it all in the computer. It then appeared necessary to have copies of our registration and my driver's license in triplicate. Fortunately there was a very handy photocopying place on the premise, no problem with the organization there. I tried to return to the same window which was no occupied with someone else and was beckoned to go to another window. I had to go through the same thing again in terms of relaying the information which was then duly entered once more. I wanted to say "hey the other lady already filled all that in" but realized there was no point and so defeated by bureaucracy, not for the last time, I submitted. You have to put a little sticker on your car which verifies that you went through all the proper protocol. They didn't care about the Mexican insurance. Apparently very few Mexican drivers bother with that little formality which is why they routinely flee when accidents do occur and they are to blame. Don't quote me on that but other more reputable sources than I have said that that is indeed more often than not the case.When driving in Mexico you usually have two choices, free or paying. The paying system or "quota" as it's called in Spanish is very arbitrary. You can pay a small amount like $2.00 and go for a long distance or you can pay $10.00 and go for a short distance. We haven't quite figured it out yet and probably never will.One thing we did notice is that in some states you pay less money. For instance the least expensive was in the State of Sonora. Sonora is also the name of a huge desert, not particularly appealing which starts in Arizona and continues into Mexico. Those of few familiar with the works of Carlos Castaneda will recognize the name and the importance of that desert. Pretty or not it contains many magical plants which I personally have never tried.I have to say that the desert does get prettier, greener on the Mexican side.Since the highways are pretty expensive they are virtually free of traffic except for trucks and the odd vehicle. Sometimes there are no gas stations for hundreds of kilometres so you have to make sure to always fill up when you hit the halfway mark. All the gas stations are Pemex and price is never advertised since it's the same everywhere. Pemex is state owned. You never pump your own gas. There are always attendants, usually male, although at one gas station the attendants were all female. That station also had a couple of armed guards and I'm not sure if it was the location or the attendants. Anyways they seemed to be having a great time joking with the girls.Directions to Hermosillo were pretty good and we finally ended our journey in Guyamas, population 120.000. We did get lost in downtown Guyamas and it was pretty frustrating for Stan who was tired and suffering from a cold. All that driving didn't help. We doubled back and found a beautiful, very old, stately hotel with huge grounds and a pool. It's not the busy season so they had a special on. It was right on the ocean and quite pretty with gorgeous flowers everywhere. This is long enough. I will end it for now and start again later on our way to Mazatlan.P.S. Stan wanted me to mention that we saw train loads and I mean train loads, hundreds of them carrying cargo from China in huge containers. This was in California and Arizona. They all arrive in huge container ships in Long Beach, California. By the way tomorrow is the grand opening of a Walmart in Chapala, at the top of the hill. Everybody is very excited about it. It's going to be madness at that intersection tomorrow. We won't be there that's for sure.Hasta Luego,Josiane

From: j_ochman@hotmail.comTo: bajagarth50@yahoo.ca; nissa_ochman@hotmail.com; nrisso@shaw.ca; a_sentieri@hotmail.com; mcowie@summer.com; amartin@summer.com; laurence.sentieri@gmail.com; mscharer@shaw.ca; jannacourtes@hotmail.com; msimpson@shaw.ca; pbutters@summer.comSubject: Mexico no. 2Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:26:13 -0800
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Hola Everybody:Hope you're all doing well. This is the second installment of our little odyssey, I'm slightly behind but I will catch up with where we are at some point. When I left off we were crossing at the "fake" Nogales crossing and heading for the real one. It did turn out to be a few kilometres away and somewhat innocuous looking but this time it was the real enchilada. We got our automatic 6 month stay so that wasn't a problem. The car was more of a concern although not a real serious one. It turns out that Mexicans really want to make sure that you exit in the car you came in, they don't want you selling it in Mexico, not sure why all the red tape when they don't seem to concern about some other stuff but each country is different. I relayed all the required information to a young lady who entered it all in the computer. It then appeared necessary to have copies of our registration and my driver's license in triplicate. Fortunately there was a very handy photocopying place on the premise, no problem with the organization there. I tried to return to the same window which was no occupied with someone else and was beckoned to go to another window. I had to go through the same thing again in terms of relaying the information which was then duly entered once more. I wanted to say "hey the other lady already filled all that in" but realized there was no point and so defeated by bureaucracy, not for the last time, I submitted. You have to put a little sticker on your car which verifies that you went through all the proper protocol. They didn't care about the Mexican insurance. Apparently very few Mexican drivers bother with that little formality which is why they routinely flee when accidents do occur and they are to blame. Don't quote me on that but other more reputable sources than I have said that that is indeed more often than not the case.When driving in Mexico you usually have two choices, free or paying. The paying system or "quota" as it's called in Spanish is very arbitrary. You can pay a small amount like $2.00 and go for a long distance or you can pay $10.00 and go for a short distance. We haven't quite figured it out yet and probably never will.One thing we did notice is that in some states you pay less money. For instance the least expensive was in the State of Sonora. Sonora is also the name of a huge desert, not particularly appealing which starts in Arizona and continues into Mexico. Those of few familiar with the works of Carlos Castaneda will recognize the name and the importance of that desert. Pretty or not it contains many magical plants which I personally have never tried.I have to say that the desert does get prettier, greener on the Mexican side.Since the highways are pretty expensive they are virtually free of traffic except for trucks and the odd vehicle. Sometimes there are no gas stations for hundreds of kilometres so you have to make sure to always fill up when you hit the halfway mark. All the gas stations are Pemex and price is never advertised since it's the same everywhere. Pemex is state owned. You never pump your own gas. There are always attendants, usually male, although at one gas station the attendants were all female. That station also had a couple of armed guards and I'm not sure if it was the location or the attendants. Anyways they seemed to be having a great time joking with the girls.Directions to Hermosillo were pretty good and we finally ended our journey in Guyamas, population 120.000. We did get lost in downtown Guyamas and it was pretty frustrating for Stan who was tired and suffering from a cold. All that driving didn't help. We doubled back and found a beautiful, very old, stately hotel with huge grounds and a pool. It's not the busy season so they had a special on. It was right on the ocean and quite pretty with gorgeous flowers everywhere. This is long enough. I will end it for now and start again later on our way to Mazatlan.P.S. Stan wanted me to mention that we saw train loads and I mean train loads, hundreds of them carrying cargo from China in huge containers. This was in California and Arizona. They all arrive in huge container ships in Long Beach, California. By the way tomorrow is the grand opening of a Walmart in Chapala, at the top of the hill. Everybody is very excited about it. It's going to be madness at that intersection tomorrow. We won't be there that's for sure.Hasta Luego,Josiane

From: j_ochman@hotmail.comTo: bajagarth50@yahoo.ca; nissa_ochman@hotmail.com; nrisso@shaw.ca; a_sentieri@hotmail.com; mcowie@summer.com; amartin@summer.com; laurence.sentieri@gmail.com; mscharer@shaw.ca; jannacourtes@hotmail.com; msimpson@shaw.ca; pbutters@summer.comSubject: Mexico no. 2Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:26:13 -0800
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Hola Everybody:Hope you're all doing well. This is the second installment of our little odyssey, I'm slightly behind but I will catch up with where we are at some point. When I left off we were crossing at the "fake" Nogales crossing and heading for the real one. It did turn out to be a few kilometres away and somewhat innocuous looking but this time it was the real enchilada. We got our automatic 6 month stay so that wasn't a problem. The car was more of a concern although not a real serious one. It turns out that Mexicans really want to make sure that you exit in the car you came in, they don't want you selling it in Mexico, not sure why all the red tape when they don't seem to concern about some other stuff but each country is different. I relayed all the required information to a young lady who entered it all in the computer. It then appeared necessary to have copies of our registration and my driver's license in triplicate. Fortunately there was a very handy photocopying place on the premise, no problem with the organization there. I tried to return to the same window which was no occupied with someone else and was beckoned to go to another window. I had to go through the same thing again in terms of relaying the information which was then duly entered once more. I wanted to say "hey the other lady already filled all that in" but realized there was no point and so defeated by bureaucracy, not for the last time, I submitted. You have to put a little sticker on your car which verifies that you went through all the proper protocol. They didn't care about the Mexican insurance. Apparently very few Mexican drivers bother with that little formality which is why they routinely flee when accidents do occur and they are to blame. Don't quote me on that but other more reputable sources than I have said that that is indeed more often than not the case.When driving in Mexico you usually have two choices, free or paying. The paying system or "quota" as it's called in Spanish is very arbitrary. You can pay a small amount like $2.00 and go for a long distance or you can pay $10.00 and go for a short distance. We haven't quite figured it out yet and probably never will.One thing we did notice is that in some states you pay less money. For instance the least expensive was in the State of Sonora. Sonora is also the name of a huge desert, not particularly appealing which starts in Arizona and continues into Mexico. Those of few familiar with the works of Carlos Castaneda will recognize the name and the importance of that desert. Pretty or not it contains many magical plants which I personally have never tried.I have to say that the desert does get prettier, greener on the Mexican side.Since the highways are pretty expensive they are virtually free of traffic except for trucks and the odd vehicle. Sometimes there are no gas stations for hundreds of kilometres so you have to make sure to always fill up when you hit the halfway mark. All the gas stations are Pemex and price is never advertised since it's the same everywhere. Pemex is state owned. You never pump your own gas. There are always attendants, usually male, although at one gas station the attendants were all female. That station also had a couple of armed guards and I'm not sure if it was the location or the attendants. Anyways they seemed to be having a great time joking with the girls.Directions to Hermosillo were pretty good and we finally ended our journey in Guyamas, population 120.000. We did get lost in downtown Guyamas and it was pretty frustrating for Stan who was tired and suffering from a cold. All that driving didn't help. We doubled back and found a beautiful, very old, stately hotel with huge grounds and a pool. It's not the busy season so they had a special on. It was right on the ocean and quite pretty with gorgeous flowers everywhere. This is long enough. I will end it for now and start again later on our way to Mazatlan.P.S. Stan wanted me to mention that we saw train loads and I mean train loads, hundreds of them carrying cargo from China in huge containers. This was in California and Arizona. They all arrive in huge container ships in Long Beach, California. By the way tomorrow is the grand opening of a Walmart in Chapala, at the top of the hill. Everybody is very excited about it. It's going to be madness at that intersection tomorrow. We won't be there that's for sure.Hasta Luego,Josiane

From: j_ochman@hotmail.comTo: bajagarth50@yahoo.ca; nissa_ochman@hotmail.com; nrisso@shaw.ca; a_sentieri@hotmail.com; mcowie@summer.com; amartin@summer.com; laurence.sentieri@gmail.com; mscharer@shaw.ca; jannacourtes@hotmail.com; msimpson@shaw.ca; pbutters@summer.comSubject: Mexico no. 2Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:26:13 -0800
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Hola Everybody:Hope you're all doing well. This is the second installment of our little odyssey, I'm slightly behind but I will catch up with where we are at some point. When I left off we were crossing at the "fake" Nogales crossing and heading for the real one. It did turn out to be a few kilometres away and somewhat innocuous looking but this time it was the real enchilada. We got our automatic 6 month stay so that wasn't a problem. The car was more of a concern although not a real serious one. It turns out that Mexicans really want to make sure that you exit in the car you came in, they don't want you selling it in Mexico, not sure why all the red tape when they don't seem to concern about some other stuff but each country is different. I relayed all the required information to a young lady who entered it all in the computer. It then appeared necessary to have copies of our registration and my driver's license in triplicate. Fortunately there was a very handy photocopying place on the premise, no problem with the organization there. I tried to return to the same window which was no occupied with someone else and was beckoned to go to another window. I had to go through the same thing again in terms of relaying the information which was then duly entered once more. I wanted to say "hey the other lady already filled all that in" but realized there was no point and so defeated by bureaucracy, not for the last time, I submitted. You have to put a little sticker on your car which verifies that you went through all the proper protocol. They didn't care about the Mexican insurance. Apparently very few Mexican drivers bother with that little formality which is why they routinely flee when accidents do occur and they are to blame. Don't quote me on that but other more reputable sources than I have said that that is indeed more often than not the case.When driving in Mexico you usually have two choices, free or paying. The paying system or "quota" as it's called in Spanish is very arbitrary. You can pay a small amount like $2.00 and go for a long distance or you can pay $10.00 and go for a short distance. We haven't quite figured it out yet and probably never will.One thing we did notice is that in some states you pay less money. For instance the least expensive was in the State of Sonora. Sonora is also the name of a huge desert, not particularly appealing which starts in Arizona and continues into Mexico. Those of few familiar with the works of Carlos Castaneda will recognize the name and the importance of that desert. Pretty or not it contains many magical plants which I personally have never tried.I have to say that the desert does get prettier, greener on the Mexican side.Since the highways are pretty expensive they are virtually free of traffic except for trucks and the odd vehicle. Sometimes there are no gas stations for hundreds of kilometres so you have to make sure to always fill up when you hit the halfway mark. All the gas stations are Pemex and price is never advertised since it's the same everywhere. Pemex is state owned. You never pump your own gas. There are always attendants, usually male, although at one gas station the attendants were all female. That station also had a couple of armed guards and I'm not sure if it was the location or the attendants. Anyways they seemed to be having a great time joking with the girls.Directions to Hermosillo were pretty good and we finally ended our journey in Guyamas, population 120.000. We did get lost in downtown Guyamas and it was pretty frustrating for Stan who was tired and suffering from a cold. All that driving didn't help. We doubled back and found a beautiful, very old, stately hotel with huge grounds and a pool. It's not the busy season so they had a special on. It was right on the ocean and quite pretty with gorgeous flowers everywhere. This is long enough. I will end it for now and start again later on our way to Mazatlan.P.S. Stan wanted me to mention that we saw train loads and I mean train loads, hundreds of them carrying cargo from China in huge containers. This was in California and Arizona. They all arrive in huge container ships in Long Beach, California. By the way tomorrow is the grand opening of a Walmart in Chapala, at the top of the hill. Everybody is very excited about it. It's going to be madness at that intersection tomorrow. We won't be there that's for sure.Hasta Luego,Josiane

From: j_ochman@hotmail.comTo: bajagarth50@yahoo.ca; nissa_ochman@hotmail.com; nrisso@shaw.ca; a_sentieri@hotmail.com; mcowie@summer.com; amartin@summer.com; laurence.sentieri@gmail.com; mscharer@shaw.ca; jannacourtes@hotmail.com; msimpson@shaw.ca; pbutters@summer.comSubject: Mexico no. 2Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:26:13 -0800
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Hola Everybody:Hope you're all doing well. This is the second installment of our little odyssey, I'm slightly behind but I will catch up with where we are at some point. When I left off we were crossing at the "fake" Nogales crossing and heading for the real one. It did turn out to be a few kilometres away and somewhat innocuous looking but this time it was the real enchilada. We got our automatic 6 month stay so that wasn't a problem. The car was more of a concern although not a real serious one. It turns out that Mexicans really want to make sure that you exit in the car you came in, they don't want you selling it in Mexico, not sure why all the red tape when they don't seem to concern about some other stuff but each country is different. I relayed all the required information to a young lady who entered it all in the computer. It then appeared necessary to have copies of our registration and my driver's license in triplicate. Fortunately there was a very handy photocopying place on the premise, no problem with the organization there. I tried to return to the same window which was no occupied with someone else and was beckoned to go to another window. I had to go through the same thing again in terms of relaying the information which was then duly entered once more. I wanted to say "hey the other lady already filled all that in" but realized there was no point and so defeated by bureaucracy, not for the last time, I submitted. You have to put a little sticker on your car which verifies that you went through all the proper protocol. They didn't care about the Mexican insurance. Apparently very few Mexican drivers bother with that little formality which is why they routinely flee when accidents do occur and they are to blame. Don't quote me on that but other more reputable sources than I have said that that is indeed more often than not the case.When driving in Mexico you usually have two choices, free or paying. The paying system or "quota" as it's called in Spanish is very arbitrary. You can pay a small amount like $2.00 and go for a long distance or you can pay $10.00 and go for a short distance. We haven't quite figured it out yet and probably never will.One thing we did notice is that in some states you pay less money. For instance the least expensive was in the State of Sonora. Sonora is also the name of a huge desert, not particularly appealing which starts in Arizona and continues into Mexico. Those of few familiar with the works of Carlos Castaneda will recognize the name and the importance of that desert. Pretty or not it contains many magical plants which I personally have never tried.I have to say that the desert does get prettier, greener on the Mexican side.Since the highways are pretty expensive they are virtually free of traffic except for trucks and the odd vehicle. Sometimes there are no gas stations for hundreds of kilometres so you have to make sure to always fill up when you hit the halfway mark. All the gas stations are Pemex and price is never advertised since it's the same everywhere. Pemex is state owned. You never pump your own gas. There are always attendants, usually male, although at one gas station the attendants were all female. That station also had a couple of armed guards and I'm not sure if it was the location or the attendants. Anyways they seemed to be having a great time joking with the girls.Directions to Hermosillo were pretty good and we finally ended our journey in Guyamas, population 120.000. We did get lost in downtown Guyamas and it was pretty frustrating for Stan who was tired and suffering from a cold. All that driving didn't help. We doubled back and found a beautiful, very old, stately hotel with huge grounds and a pool. It's not the busy season so they had a special on. It was right on the ocean and quite pretty with gorgeous flowers everywhere. This is long enough. I will end it for now and start again later on our way to Mazatlan.P.S. Stan wanted me to mention that we saw train loads and I mean train loads, hundreds of them carrying cargo from China in huge containers. This was in California and Arizona. They all arrive in huge container ships in Long Beach, California. By the way tomorrow is the grand opening of a Walmart in Chapala, at the top of the hill. Everybody is very excited about it. It's going to be madness at that intersection tomorrow. We won't be there that's for sure.Hasta Luego,Josiane