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Hola Everybody:
This email might be a little longer because I just wanted to bring you up to date. Our time in Chapala is drawing to an end and it's been a mixed bag, certainly not the paradise we had, obviously erroneously, anticipated but more on that later.We came into possession of our rented apt. on November 1st. It's very comfortable and quite spacious with a kitchen, living room, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and two outdoor areas one with plants. No problem with the apt. We also had access to unlimited phone calls to Canada, cable T.V. and internet. Things may not be as comfortable once we move away but comfort is highly overrated. A little hardship never hurts. Comfort makes us too soft.November 1st. is the Day of the Dead and the celebration in Chapala did not disappoint. A whole bunch of chairs were set up in front of the Cathedral and they were all filled including the sides and back with standing room only. The spectacle consisted of music, narrations, a troop of performers young and old in beautiful costumes with dances, very well rehearsed and put together. The highlight was an apparently famous singer, from the state of Oaxaca, accompanied by an expert trio of musicians. Death, dressed as a very attractive, shapely temptress, attempted to seduce him without much success. Meanwhile another woman dressed in sepulchral white, her face painted white and black and hidden under a veil, roamed amongst the audience periodically calling out in a loud, anguished voice: "Oh, mis hijos" "Oh my children".It generated some laughter but of a yellowish kind, nobody likes to be reminded of the hold which death has on the living.The spectacle went on for a good hour and a half and was to be a highlight of our stay in Chapala. The next day we discovered this street where they were setting up altars for the dearly departed. One half of the street was decorated with altars designed and set up by students of the preparatoria school which would be the equivalent of either a grade 12 or a grade 13. These altars are extremely ornate and almost impossible to describe. I took lots of pictures. Some of the altars were devoted to well known personalities like Frieda Kahlo and Pope Jean-Paul as well as some local celebrities. On the other half of the street altars were set up by relatives to commemorate the passing of their loved ones. It's a very festive occasion with lots of little bits of food being given out as well as drinks. We were quite privileged to experience this.A lot of our time here was spent exploring the area. The second most important village and the one where most gringos reside is called Ajijic. Ajijic is quaint with very narrow cobblestone streets and a small plaza. They don't have a malecon like in Chapala and not much of a lake access. Two things come to mind when looking at Ajijic, gated and high walls. It's virtually impossible to see any of the houses since they are mostly all hidden. In the village the gringo houses are pretty easy to spot. They are generally huge, with plenty of Mexican touches and can often be found next to a dumpy place. It's a hodge podge mix. There are a lot of chichishops designed with the gringos in mind.Lake Chapala Society used to be a bit of a hub for the expats. but it's lost a lot of its lustre and is having a tough time holding on to its members.The grounds of Lake Chapala Society are beautiful but most of the people there are old. We were given the tour by a guy in his late seventies who had lived in Ajijic for about 26 years. He couldn't wait to finish because he needed to go home and have his nap.The Society is a regular hotbed of activities. On Monday you can have your blood pressure checked, on Tuesday there's a hearing clinic, on Wednesday it's time for that eye check and to round it off there's also a cancer screening clinic. O.K. I'm exaggerating a little but really not that much. It was pretty, f....ing depressing.Gringos here all hang out together and barely any speak a word of Spanish. They play bridge, golf, scrabble, pinochle etc...and some do a little volunteering on the side. When they get really bored they become real estate agents and try to rope other unsuspecting gringos into moving here. You need absolutely no certification, anybody can be a real estate agent. They just have fun socializing and passing out business cards.Lots of people on the Chapala web board said that there were tons of things to do here, see the aforementioned. However the little snafu is that neither Stan nor I are "joiners". I am almost convinced that I am pathologically incapable of joining anything except a union and maybe the odd film or reading club.The plastic situation here is out of control, much worse than in South America. Mexicans love their plastic. Stan bought a burrito (horrible) which cost 5 pesos. It came on a styrofoam plate, with plastic over it, went into another plastic bag and was accompagnied by another plastic bag filled with salsa. The cost of producing that plastic was more than the burrito. Plastic is everywhere and they do not recycle hardly anything at all, at least not in this state of Jalisco.Our bus trip to Guadlajara was fine but once you get away from the Colonial centre there was garbage everywhere. You want to close your eyes but sometimes you just have to keep them open. Garbage is an endemic problem in these overworked third or second world economies.Some beautiful things to report on as well. A man gets on the bus to Guadalajara with his young 8 or 9 year old daughter. She's carrying a little plastic bag. He has a 5 gallon pail covered with a towel. Somebody on the bus wants what he is selling. It's a type of tuber, very gelatinous in substance, which Mexicans seem to love. I've tried it and it's vile. In any case he cuts up a portion with his knife, puts it in a plastic bag (what else) gives it to his daughter who then takes out a lime, salt, salsa and puts it on top. The girl buying wants to pay with a 20 peso bill but he has no cambio. It costs maybe 8 pesos and he has no change. They hunt around for change and change is found. There was something heartbreaking about the whole scene. Imagine getting on a bus with no change to go sell something not terribly valuable accompanied by your young daughter. They got off at a stop just before Guad. I have no idea where they were going to sell the rest, perhaps on the side of the road. Nobody can excuse Mexicans of being lazy. The poor especially work so hard for the few pesos they get. They are so resilient in the face of adversity. We, on the other hand and I know I've said this before, are not so resilient.I'm almost done, don't give up just yet.We watched the historic Obama victory on November 4th. The verdict is still out on "change we can believe in". So far many of his "new" appointees are rethreads from the Clinton administration back for another kick at the can. I remember vividly that in one of his speeches he stated that you can't have change with the same old players. We'll just have to see how well he can keep those old players in line. I'm happy to have the internet so I can still get my political fixes. For those of you who love CNN we simply abhor it. CNN in Spanish is marginally better but the english one is just painful. Navel gazing at its very worst with hardly ever a mention of what is going on outside the U.S. and the same endless stories looped and analyzed with a minutiae that in the end amounts to nothing or so very little. O.K. that's it for my rant on CNN. We miss The National and the CBC.Tomorrow we're off to Patzcuaro, one of the most beautiful colonial cities in the interior, so there will be more to report of that trip. Hope this wasn't too long. I could say more but I will end it here. Fill free to comment on any part of this dispatch....haha. Lots of love and hasta luego,
Josiane
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Hola everybody:
Once again hope you're all well and still enjoying my "dispatches". Last time I wrote we were in Mazatlan so I will pick it up from there. The trip from Mazatlan to Chapala was pretty uneventful except for the "quotas" which kept getting steeper and steeper while the distances kept getting shorter and shorter. We took a little detour via Tequila on a non paying highway and continued from there to Guadalajara. Not too much to say about Tequila an altogether unimpressive town except for the acres and acres of the distinctively blue green agave from which Tequila is made. There are many roadside stands where one can sample and buy Tequila but since Stan was driving we opted not to partake. Neither of us are great fans of Tequila straight so it wasn't that big a deal.The drive into Guadalajara itself was pretty harrowing. You almost have to have eyes in back of your head. Between the topes, the vibradors, the erratic driving, the buses, the pedestrians, the bikes, the stray dogs and whatever else you can think of let's just say it's no leisurely Sunday drive in the park. Thankfully I wasn't driving and I have to say Stan is doing a fantastic job. I would probably just park the car, if parking were available, and cry. I know it makes me a sissy but I'm strong in other ways. Those of you who really know me know that driving is not one of my forte.In any case we made it to Chapala in one piece. The apt. which I had booked was not available for the night although it was empty but there was nobody there to let us in. We strolled around and took in the sights. There were a lot of people about because we arrived the day before Dia de Los Muertos which is the Day of the Dead and is heavily celebrated. Chapala is a fair size town with a population of about 20,000 plus and it is the biggest town on the lake. There is a malecon which is a promenade along the lake. It's not big but it's very wide and pretty with houses, one hotel and a few restaurants on one side and then the lake. Further on there is a small plaza with a good size Cathedral and then a park filled with vendors. There is also a long pier and all the boats are tied further out on the lake. The boats are no longer used for fishing. They mostly ferry groups of people to a nearby island. The price is pretty expensive unless there are many of you. The lake is the best that it's ever been. For many years it was infested with lirios which are African water hyacinths. They had just taken over the lake and furthermore the lake level was really low. Over the last few years there has been more rain and the authorities have finally sprayed a compound which is toxic to lirios but not to fish. Apparently the lake is now safe to swim in but we haven't really tried it. I want to before we leave. Regarding the lirios it's still a bit of a losing battle. Like the proverbial you know who THEY WILL BE BACK. In fact they are already plotting and gaining ground as I'm typing these words.We found a hotel not far from our apt. with the auspicious name of Monte-Carlo. Actually the rooms were nothing special but the grounds were spectacular with some of the biggest trees I have ever seen, one was over two hundred years old and didn't feel organic when you touched it, that's how incredibly dense it was.In any case we were brutally awaken sometime around midnight by a band of merrymakers intent on pursuing their merrymaking which happened to be right below our room. We're talking LOUD with stereo blasting, loud voices and sporadic bursts of singing. We did put up with it for a while but then I stormed to the office and did my best pissed off gringa impersonation which seemed to work because it was suddenly quiet.....for half an hour. That's how long they were able to hold it in but hey you got to have some fun on Day of the DEAD, the DEAD can't hear if you're not loud enough. Believe me I think they heard. I will write more about the Day of the Dead celebration in my next installment. For now I will have to say Buenas Noches. Please feel free to reply or drop me an email. My inbox is looking pretty sad now that I'm no longer getting all those annoying Facebook messages. Lots of love,Josiane, mamita, hermana, amiga, tia (all my titles in Spanish)
Messenger wants to send you on a trip. Enter today. Hola everybody:Once again hope you're all well and still enjoying my "dispatches". Last time I wrote we were in Mazatlan so I will pick it up from there. The trip from Mazatlan to Chapala was pretty uneventful except for the "quotas" which kept getting steeper and steeper while the distances kept getting shorter and shorter. We took a little detour via Tequila on a non paying highway and continued from there to Guadalajara. Not too much to say about Tequila an altogether unimpressive town except for the acres and acres of the distinctively blue green agave from which Tequila is made. There are many roadside stands where one can sample and buy Tequila but since Stan was driving we opted not to partake. Neither of us are great fans of Tequila straight so it wasn't that big a deal.The drive into Guadalajara itself was pretty harrowing. You almost have to have eyes in back of your head. Between the topes, the vibradors, the erratic driving, the buses, the pedestrians, the bikes, the stray dogs and whatever else you can think of let's just say it's no leisurely Sunday drive in the park. Thankfully I wasn't driving and I have to say Stan is doing a fantastic job. I would probably just park the car, if parking were available, and cry. I know it makes me a sissy but I'm strong in other ways. Those of you who really know me know that driving is not one of my forte.In any case we made it to Chapala in one piece. The apt. which I had booked was not available for the night although it was empty but there was nobody there to let us in. We strolled around and took in the sights. There were a lot of people about because we arrived the day before Dia de Los Muertos which is the Day of the Dead and is heavily celebrated. Chapala is a fair size town with a population of about 20,000 plus and it is the biggest town on the lake. There is a malecon which is a promenade along the lake. It's not big but it's very wide and pretty with houses, one hotel and a few restaurants on one side and then the lake. Further on there is a small plaza with a good size Cathedral and then a park filled with vendors. There is also a long pier and all the boats are tied further out on the lake. The boats are no longer used for fishing. They mostly ferry groups of people to a nearby island. The price is pretty expensive unless there are many of you. The lake is the best that it's ever been. For many years it was infested with lirios which are African water hyacinths. They had just taken over the lake and furthermore the lake level was really low. Over the last few years there has been more rain and the authorities have finally sprayed a compound which is toxic to lirios but not to fish. Apparently the lake is now safe to swim in but we haven't really tried it. I want to before we leave. Regarding the lirios it's still a bit of a losing battle. Like the proverbial you know who THEY WILL BE BACK. In fact they are already plotting and gaining ground as I'm typing these words.We found a hotel not far from our apt. with the auspicious name of Monte-Carlo. Actually the rooms were nothing special but the grounds were spectacular with some of the biggest trees I have ever seen, one was over two hundred years old and didn't feel organic when you touched it, that's how incredibly dense it was.In any case we were brutally awaken sometime around midnight by a band of merrymakers intent on pursuing their merrymaking which happened to be right below our room. We're talking LOUD with stereo blasting, loud voices and sporadic bursts of singing. We did put up with it for a while but then I stormed to the office and did my best pissed off gringa impersonation which seemed to work because it was suddenly quiet.....for half an hour. That's how long they were able to hold it in but hey you got to have some fun on Day of the DEAD, the DEAD can't hear if you're not loud enough. Believe me I think they heard. I will write more about the Day of the Dead celebration in my next installment. For now I will have to say Buenas Noches. Please feel free to reply or drop me an email. My inbox is looking pretty sad now that I'm no longer getting all those annoying Facebook messages.
Josiane
Once again hope you're all well and still enjoying my "dispatches". Last time I wrote we were in Mazatlan so I will pick it up from there. The trip from Mazatlan to Chapala was pretty uneventful except for the "quotas" which kept getting steeper and steeper while the distances kept getting shorter and shorter. We took a little detour via Tequila on a non paying highway and continued from there to Guadalajara. Not too much to say about Tequila an altogether unimpressive town except for the acres and acres of the distinctively blue green agave from which Tequila is made. There are many roadside stands where one can sample and buy Tequila but since Stan was driving we opted not to partake. Neither of us are great fans of Tequila straight so it wasn't that big a deal.The drive into Guadalajara itself was pretty harrowing. You almost have to have eyes in back of your head. Between the topes, the vibradors, the erratic driving, the buses, the pedestrians, the bikes, the stray dogs and whatever else you can think of let's just say it's no leisurely Sunday drive in the park. Thankfully I wasn't driving and I have to say Stan is doing a fantastic job. I would probably just park the car, if parking were available, and cry. I know it makes me a sissy but I'm strong in other ways. Those of you who really know me know that driving is not one of my forte.In any case we made it to Chapala in one piece. The apt. which I had booked was not available for the night although it was empty but there was nobody there to let us in. We strolled around and took in the sights. There were a lot of people about because we arrived the day before Dia de Los Muertos which is the Day of the Dead and is heavily celebrated. Chapala is a fair size town with a population of about 20,000 plus and it is the biggest town on the lake. There is a malecon which is a promenade along the lake. It's not big but it's very wide and pretty with houses, one hotel and a few restaurants on one side and then the lake. Further on there is a small plaza with a good size Cathedral and then a park filled with vendors. There is also a long pier and all the boats are tied further out on the lake. The boats are no longer used for fishing. They mostly ferry groups of people to a nearby island. The price is pretty expensive unless there are many of you. The lake is the best that it's ever been. For many years it was infested with lirios which are African water hyacinths. They had just taken over the lake and furthermore the lake level was really low. Over the last few years there has been more rain and the authorities have finally sprayed a compound which is toxic to lirios but not to fish. Apparently the lake is now safe to swim in but we haven't really tried it. I want to before we leave. Regarding the lirios it's still a bit of a losing battle. Like the proverbial you know who THEY WILL BE BACK. In fact they are already plotting and gaining ground as I'm typing these words.We found a hotel not far from our apt. with the auspicious name of Monte-Carlo. Actually the rooms were nothing special but the grounds were spectacular with some of the biggest trees I have ever seen, one was over two hundred years old and didn't feel organic when you touched it, that's how incredibly dense it was.In any case we were brutally awaken sometime around midnight by a band of merrymakers intent on pursuing their merrymaking which happened to be right below our room. We're talking LOUD with stereo blasting, loud voices and sporadic bursts of singing. We did put up with it for a while but then I stormed to the office and did my best pissed off gringa impersonation which seemed to work because it was suddenly quiet.....for half an hour. That's how long they were able to hold it in but hey you got to have some fun on Day of the DEAD, the DEAD can't hear if you're not loud enough. Believe me I think they heard. I will write more about the Day of the Dead celebration in my next installment. For now I will have to say Buenas Noches. Please feel free to reply or drop me an email. My inbox is looking pretty sad now that I'm no longer getting all those annoying Facebook messages. Lots of love,Josiane, mamita, hermana, amiga, tia (all my titles in Spanish)
Messenger wants to send you on a trip. Enter today. Hola everybody:Once again hope you're all well and still enjoying my "dispatches". Last time I wrote we were in Mazatlan so I will pick it up from there. The trip from Mazatlan to Chapala was pretty uneventful except for the "quotas" which kept getting steeper and steeper while the distances kept getting shorter and shorter. We took a little detour via Tequila on a non paying highway and continued from there to Guadalajara. Not too much to say about Tequila an altogether unimpressive town except for the acres and acres of the distinctively blue green agave from which Tequila is made. There are many roadside stands where one can sample and buy Tequila but since Stan was driving we opted not to partake. Neither of us are great fans of Tequila straight so it wasn't that big a deal.The drive into Guadalajara itself was pretty harrowing. You almost have to have eyes in back of your head. Between the topes, the vibradors, the erratic driving, the buses, the pedestrians, the bikes, the stray dogs and whatever else you can think of let's just say it's no leisurely Sunday drive in the park. Thankfully I wasn't driving and I have to say Stan is doing a fantastic job. I would probably just park the car, if parking were available, and cry. I know it makes me a sissy but I'm strong in other ways. Those of you who really know me know that driving is not one of my forte.In any case we made it to Chapala in one piece. The apt. which I had booked was not available for the night although it was empty but there was nobody there to let us in. We strolled around and took in the sights. There were a lot of people about because we arrived the day before Dia de Los Muertos which is the Day of the Dead and is heavily celebrated. Chapala is a fair size town with a population of about 20,000 plus and it is the biggest town on the lake. There is a malecon which is a promenade along the lake. It's not big but it's very wide and pretty with houses, one hotel and a few restaurants on one side and then the lake. Further on there is a small plaza with a good size Cathedral and then a park filled with vendors. There is also a long pier and all the boats are tied further out on the lake. The boats are no longer used for fishing. They mostly ferry groups of people to a nearby island. The price is pretty expensive unless there are many of you. The lake is the best that it's ever been. For many years it was infested with lirios which are African water hyacinths. They had just taken over the lake and furthermore the lake level was really low. Over the last few years there has been more rain and the authorities have finally sprayed a compound which is toxic to lirios but not to fish. Apparently the lake is now safe to swim in but we haven't really tried it. I want to before we leave. Regarding the lirios it's still a bit of a losing battle. Like the proverbial you know who THEY WILL BE BACK. In fact they are already plotting and gaining ground as I'm typing these words.We found a hotel not far from our apt. with the auspicious name of Monte-Carlo. Actually the rooms were nothing special but the grounds were spectacular with some of the biggest trees I have ever seen, one was over two hundred years old and didn't feel organic when you touched it, that's how incredibly dense it was.In any case we were brutally awaken sometime around midnight by a band of merrymakers intent on pursuing their merrymaking which happened to be right below our room. We're talking LOUD with stereo blasting, loud voices and sporadic bursts of singing. We did put up with it for a while but then I stormed to the office and did my best pissed off gringa impersonation which seemed to work because it was suddenly quiet.....for half an hour. That's how long they were able to hold it in but hey you got to have some fun on Day of the DEAD, the DEAD can't hear if you're not loud enough. Believe me I think they heard. I will write more about the Day of the Dead celebration in my next installment. For now I will have to say Buenas Noches. Please feel free to reply or drop me an email. My inbox is looking pretty sad now that I'm no longer getting all those annoying Facebook messages.
Josiane
Hola Everybody:Hope you're all doing well in your respective locations and that the weather is still not too bad. Of course it's always sunny in Chapala so no complaints on that front. However we're not quite in Chapala yet as of this number 3 episode but the time line is getting shorter.Last time I wrote we were staying in a really pretty hotel in Guyamis but only lingered for one night. The next day we were off to Mazatlan not sure if we would be able to make it in one day. The trips are advertised as taking a certain length of time but invariably seem to take longer. This leg or the journey was particularly expensive on the "quota" highways and we're not sure why. The roads were not particularly better than the ones we had already been on but "es muy misterioso". On the highways they have signs which we don't have, two that I especially like: "Do not mistreat the signs", which conjures visions of going up to the signs and verbally and or physically abusing them" and another one "Do not leave rocks on the road". Again this one seems to indicate that you would somehow deliberately load your car or truck with rocks and then purposely leave them there. By the way most of the signs were not mistreated and there were no rocks on the road so I guess the messaging is working.Highway driving may be O.K. but driving in towns is another matter altogether. To slow down traffic at pedestrian crossings and in the towns there are "TOPES" and "ViIBRADORS". Topes are protrusions of varying heights across the length of the road and they can be really hard to see. If you hit them at a good speed it can really cause some damage. I am constantly on the lock out for topes. Vibradors are smaller but once again if you hit them at a good clip it can give you quite the jolt. Yes you do vibrate but not in a good way. HahaWe did get to Mazatlan in one piece. The weather was unbelievably hot and humid. It felt like 45 degrees out there and I'm not exaggerating.We checked out The Belmar an old, labyrinthine like hotel which has certainly seen better days. Nissa knows it. Somehow it didn't look much better the second time around so we went to check out The Siesta next door. I did a little bargaining and we got a beautiful room with view of the ocean and central air...yeh. We spent a lovely 4 days there. The ocean was so warm that it was barely refreshing but lovely nevertheless for our first ocean swim.We went to the cheap "commedores" at the central market. Commedores are like cheap luncheonettes and where Mexicans mostly eat. Breakfast was 20 pesos each with Nescafe coffee. A good deal but don't be too hung up on cleanliness if you want to eat there, luckily we're not and still no tourista so that's a good sign.That's it for now. Next installment will find us leaving and arriving in Chapala. Lots of love,Josiane, Maman, TatieHola Everybody:Hope you're all doing well in your respective locations and that the weather is still not too bad. Of course it's always sunny in Chapala so no complaints on that front. However we're not quite in Chapala yet as of this number 3 episode but the time line is getting shorter.Last time I wrote we were staying in a really pretty hotel in Guyamis but only lingered for one night. The next day we were off to Mazatlan not sure if we would be able to make it in one day. The trips are advertised as taking a certain length of time but invariably seem to take longer. This leg or the journey was particularly expensive on the "quota" highways and we're not sure why. The roads were not particularly better than the ones we had already been on but "es muy misterioso". On the highways they have signs which we don't have, two that I especially like: "Do not mistreat the signs", which conjures visions of going up to the signs and verbally and or physically abusing them" and another one "Do not leave rocks on the road". Again this one seems to indicate that you would somehow deliberately load your car or truck with rocks and then purposely leave them there. By the way most of the signs were not mistreated and there were no rocks on the road so I guess the messaging is working.Highway driving may be O.K. but driving in towns is another matter altogether. To slow down traffic at pedestrian crossings and in the towns there are "TOPES" and "ViIBRADORS". Topes are protrusions of varying heights across the length of the road and they can be really hard to see. If you hit them at a good speed it can really cause some damage. I am constantly on the lock out for topes. Vibradors are smaller but once again if you hit them at a good clip it can give you quite the jolt. Yes you do vibrate but not in a good way. HahaWe did get to Mazatlan in one piece. The weather was unbelievably hot and humid. It felt like 45 degrees out there and I'm not exaggerating.We checked out The Belmar an old, labyrinthine like hotel which has certainly seen better days. Nissa knows it. Somehow it didn't look much better the second time around so we went to check out The Siesta next door. I did a little bargaining and we got a beautiful room with view of the ocean and central air...yeh. We spent a lovely 4 days there. The ocean was so warm that it was barely refreshing but lovely nevertheless for our first ocean swim.We went to the cheap "commedores" at the central market. Commedores are like cheap luncheonettes and where Mexicans mostly eat. Breakfast was 20 pesos each with Nescafe coffee. A good deal but don't be too hung up on cleanliness if you want to eat there, luckily we're not and still no tourista so that's a good sign.That's it for now. Next installment will find us leaving and arriving in Chapala.
Josiane
Josiane
Hola
:I hope that I got everybody on my list. I seem to be having a little trouble organizing the emails of people who might be interested in reading of our travels under one list. I was going to do a travel blog but somehow this is easier and I'm not on my own computer. I had been writing a lot of "dispatches" in my head but was finding it hard to actually make them happen. I was in the throes of some existential inertia if one can be in the throes of something basically inert. The use of "dispatches" is done in jest since Mexico or at least the area where we are is not a war zone although things are happening elsewhere but more on that later.We left B.C. with beautiful, sunny weather and that has remained constant throughout. Both Oregon and Washington State were experiencing unseasonably warm temperatures and we only had to wear our coats early in the morning and late at night for about two days. Getting to Mexico was not a problem. The roads we took, toll free were beautifully well maintained and often devoid of any "mechanical" life. Entire stretches with nothing but us and the highway not a single car in sight, either coming or going so much so that it got a little creepy at times. We did a stretch in Washington, then crossed into Oregon, a bit of Nevada then California and finished with Arizona. Most of what we crossed was thinly populated except when approaching big cities or valleys where most of the population appears to be concentrated. There are countless little towns in California with populations of 500 max. with one store and one gas station or the two combined. The tracts of land for farming are huge. Surprisingly we didn't see that many signs in reference to the presidential elections but when we did see some McCain always beat out Obama. That rural urban divide is the same one that we're experiencing in British Colombia. It's hard to fathom the American electoral process. Their ballot is gigantic and that's not an exaggeration. Senate, Congress, Councilors, Mayors, Governors, individual state propositions, it's all in there. How could they possibly know who and what to vote for unless they really keep up to date with their reading it's almost impossible. Obama won yesterday so we can all heave a sigh of relief, let's hope it's change that we can see but enough about Politics. In California we dipped our toes in the Salton Sea which is really a big salty lake, pretty cool. There's a movie with Val Kilmer called The Salton Sea. It's very run down as a travel destination, many people who live there, live way off the grid, in grubby little trailers rusty with salt. We crossed parts of the Mojave and Sonora deserts. The Mojave has cool cactus like trees called Joshua trees. The name Joshua was given to the trees (really Yucca plant) by Mormon settlers in the 19th. Century because it reminded them of a Biblical story featuring Joshua with hands held high. This little bit of trivia comes courtesy of Google, not because I'm a fount of encyclopedic knowledge although I suspected the biblical origin but then who wouldn't???After 3 days we arrived in Nogales, Arizona. There are two Nogales, one is in Arizona and the other is in Mexico. Both are sad, little towns but one is sadder than the other, care to guess which one? Nogales, Arizona has a lot of plump Mexicans living there already, they are leaner on the other side. We crossed the border the next day and it was an interesting experience. We arrived at the Mexican border crossing and halted, it's what you usually do at a border crossing right?? Wrong. The guard roused himself from his slumber and proceeded to ask US what WE WANTED, a little mystified we told him we wanted to show our passports but he waved us on uninterested. Apparently the real border crossing was to happen a few kilometres down the road - 26 kilometres to be exact.That was our first introduction to driving in Mexico and I will end it here for now.Hasta Luego amgos,Josiane - Maman, Tatie
Messenger wants to send you on a trip. Enter today.
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Win a trip with your 3 best buddies. Enter today. Hola:I hope that I got everybody on my list. I seem to be having a little trouble organizing the emails of people who might be interested in reading of our travels under one list. I was going to do a travel blog but somehow this is easier and I'm not on my own computer. I had been writing a lot of "dispatches" in my head but was finding it hard to actually make them happen. I was in the throes of some existential inertia if one can be in the throes of something basically inert. The use of "dispatches" is done in jest since Mexico or at least the area where we are is not a war zone although things are happening elsewhere but more on that later.We left B.C. with beautiful, sunny weather and that has remained constant throughout. Both Oregon and Washington State were experiencing unseasonably warm temperatures and we only had to wear our coats early in the morning and late at night for about two days. Getting to Mexico was not a problem. The roads we took, toll free were beautifully well maintained and often devoid of any "mechanical" life. Entire stretches with nothing but us and the highway not a single car in sight, either coming or going so much so that it got a little creepy at times. We did a stretch in Washington, then crossed into Oregon, a bit of Nevada then California and finished with Arizona. Most of what we crossed was thinly populated except when approaching big cities or valleys where most of the population appears to be concentrated. There are countless little towns in California with populations of 500 max. with one store and one gas station or the two combined. The tracts of land for farming are huge. Surprisingly we didn't see that many signs in reference to the presidential elections but when we did see some McCain always beat out Obama. That rural urban divide is the same one that we're experiencing in British Colombia. It's hard to fathom the American electoral process. Their ballot is gigantic and that's not an exaggeration. Senate, Congress, Councilors, Mayors, Governors, individual state propositions, it's all in there. How could they possibly know who and what to vote for unless they really keep up to date with their reading it's almost impossible. Obama won yesterday so we can all heave a sigh of relief, let's hope it's change that we can see but enough about Politics. In California we dipped our toes in the Salton Sea which is really a big salty lake, pretty cool. There's a movie with Val Kilmer called The Salton Sea. It's very run down as a travel destination, many people who live there, live way off the grid, in grubby little trailers rusty with salt. We crossed parts of the Mojave and Sonora deserts. The Mojave has cool cactus like trees called Joshua trees. The name Joshua was given to the trees (really Yucca plant) by Mormon settlers in the 19th. Century because it reminded them of a Biblical story featuring Joshua with hands held high. This little bit of trivia comes courtesy of Google, not because I'm a fount of encyclopedic knowledge although I suspected the biblical origin but then who wouldn't???After 3 days we arrived in Nogales, Arizona. There are two Nogales, one is in Arizona and the other is in Mexico. Both are sad, little towns but one is sadder than the other, care to guess which one? Nogales, Arizona has a lot of plump Mexicans living there already, they are leaner on the other side. We crossed the border the next day and it was an interesting experience. We arrived at the Mexican border crossing and halted, it's what you usually do at a border crossing right?? Wrong. The guard roused himself from his slumber and proceeded to ask US what WE WANTED, a little mystified we told him we wanted to show our passports but he waved us on uninterested. Apparently the real border crossing was to happen a few kilometres down the road - 26 kilometres to be exact.That was our first introduction to driving in Mexico and I will end it here for now.Hasta Luego amigos,
Josiane -
:I hope that I got everybody on my list. I seem to be having a little trouble organizing the emails of people who might be interested in reading of our travels under one list. I was going to do a travel blog but somehow this is easier and I'm not on my own computer. I had been writing a lot of "dispatches" in my head but was finding it hard to actually make them happen. I was in the throes of some existential inertia if one can be in the throes of something basically inert. The use of "dispatches" is done in jest since Mexico or at least the area where we are is not a war zone although things are happening elsewhere but more on that later.We left B.C. with beautiful, sunny weather and that has remained constant throughout. Both Oregon and Washington State were experiencing unseasonably warm temperatures and we only had to wear our coats early in the morning and late at night for about two days. Getting to Mexico was not a problem. The roads we took, toll free were beautifully well maintained and often devoid of any "mechanical" life. Entire stretches with nothing but us and the highway not a single car in sight, either coming or going so much so that it got a little creepy at times. We did a stretch in Washington, then crossed into Oregon, a bit of Nevada then California and finished with Arizona. Most of what we crossed was thinly populated except when approaching big cities or valleys where most of the population appears to be concentrated. There are countless little towns in California with populations of 500 max. with one store and one gas station or the two combined. The tracts of land for farming are huge. Surprisingly we didn't see that many signs in reference to the presidential elections but when we did see some McCain always beat out Obama. That rural urban divide is the same one that we're experiencing in British Colombia. It's hard to fathom the American electoral process. Their ballot is gigantic and that's not an exaggeration. Senate, Congress, Councilors, Mayors, Governors, individual state propositions, it's all in there. How could they possibly know who and what to vote for unless they really keep up to date with their reading it's almost impossible. Obama won yesterday so we can all heave a sigh of relief, let's hope it's change that we can see but enough about Politics. In California we dipped our toes in the Salton Sea which is really a big salty lake, pretty cool. There's a movie with Val Kilmer called The Salton Sea. It's very run down as a travel destination, many people who live there, live way off the grid, in grubby little trailers rusty with salt. We crossed parts of the Mojave and Sonora deserts. The Mojave has cool cactus like trees called Joshua trees. The name Joshua was given to the trees (really Yucca plant) by Mormon settlers in the 19th. Century because it reminded them of a Biblical story featuring Joshua with hands held high. This little bit of trivia comes courtesy of Google, not because I'm a fount of encyclopedic knowledge although I suspected the biblical origin but then who wouldn't???After 3 days we arrived in Nogales, Arizona. There are two Nogales, one is in Arizona and the other is in Mexico. Both are sad, little towns but one is sadder than the other, care to guess which one? Nogales, Arizona has a lot of plump Mexicans living there already, they are leaner on the other side. We crossed the border the next day and it was an interesting experience. We arrived at the Mexican border crossing and halted, it's what you usually do at a border crossing right?? Wrong. The guard roused himself from his slumber and proceeded to ask US what WE WANTED, a little mystified we told him we wanted to show our passports but he waved us on uninterested. Apparently the real border crossing was to happen a few kilometres down the road - 26 kilometres to be exact.That was our first introduction to driving in Mexico and I will end it here for now.Hasta Luego amgos,Josiane - Maman, Tatie
Messenger wants to send you on a trip. Enter today.
Messenger wants to send you on a trip. Enter today.
Win a trip with your 3 best buddies. Enter today. Hola:I hope that I got everybody on my list. I seem to be having a little trouble organizing the emails of people who might be interested in reading of our travels under one list. I was going to do a travel blog but somehow this is easier and I'm not on my own computer. I had been writing a lot of "dispatches" in my head but was finding it hard to actually make them happen. I was in the throes of some existential inertia if one can be in the throes of something basically inert. The use of "dispatches" is done in jest since Mexico or at least the area where we are is not a war zone although things are happening elsewhere but more on that later.We left B.C. with beautiful, sunny weather and that has remained constant throughout. Both Oregon and Washington State were experiencing unseasonably warm temperatures and we only had to wear our coats early in the morning and late at night for about two days. Getting to Mexico was not a problem. The roads we took, toll free were beautifully well maintained and often devoid of any "mechanical" life. Entire stretches with nothing but us and the highway not a single car in sight, either coming or going so much so that it got a little creepy at times. We did a stretch in Washington, then crossed into Oregon, a bit of Nevada then California and finished with Arizona. Most of what we crossed was thinly populated except when approaching big cities or valleys where most of the population appears to be concentrated. There are countless little towns in California with populations of 500 max. with one store and one gas station or the two combined. The tracts of land for farming are huge. Surprisingly we didn't see that many signs in reference to the presidential elections but when we did see some McCain always beat out Obama. That rural urban divide is the same one that we're experiencing in British Colombia. It's hard to fathom the American electoral process. Their ballot is gigantic and that's not an exaggeration. Senate, Congress, Councilors, Mayors, Governors, individual state propositions, it's all in there. How could they possibly know who and what to vote for unless they really keep up to date with their reading it's almost impossible. Obama won yesterday so we can all heave a sigh of relief, let's hope it's change that we can see but enough about Politics. In California we dipped our toes in the Salton Sea which is really a big salty lake, pretty cool. There's a movie with Val Kilmer called The Salton Sea. It's very run down as a travel destination, many people who live there, live way off the grid, in grubby little trailers rusty with salt. We crossed parts of the Mojave and Sonora deserts. The Mojave has cool cactus like trees called Joshua trees. The name Joshua was given to the trees (really Yucca plant) by Mormon settlers in the 19th. Century because it reminded them of a Biblical story featuring Joshua with hands held high. This little bit of trivia comes courtesy of Google, not because I'm a fount of encyclopedic knowledge although I suspected the biblical origin but then who wouldn't???After 3 days we arrived in Nogales, Arizona. There are two Nogales, one is in Arizona and the other is in Mexico. Both are sad, little towns but one is sadder than the other, care to guess which one? Nogales, Arizona has a lot of plump Mexicans living there already, they are leaner on the other side. We crossed the border the next day and it was an interesting experience. We arrived at the Mexican border crossing and halted, it's what you usually do at a border crossing right?? Wrong. The guard roused himself from his slumber and proceeded to ask US what WE WANTED, a little mystified we told him we wanted to show our passports but he waved us on uninterested. Apparently the real border crossing was to happen a few kilometres down the road - 26 kilometres to be exact.That was our first introduction to driving in Mexico and I will end it here for now.Hasta Luego amigos,
Josiane -
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
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
Monday, May 25, 2009
Blog organization- South America and Mexico
I'm waiting to publish the travel writing I have done this far. It won't be in order because I might be getting the emails in a random fashion but I will try and organize them eventually in a way that makes sense. The focus will be on two trips. One through parts of South America and the second one driving from British Columbia, Canada to Mexico. Hopefully it will soon get done fairly shortly and those of you who are interested in these two destinations will be able to access my blog.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Almost ready to go
Yes we're still here in Summerland but as of this time next week we will be in Mexico. We have finally decided on the route we are going to take. We won't be going through Nevada and Las Vegas but going through Oregon and California instead. The scenery will be more spectacular. We will be very close to Yosemite and although this is more a quick drive through than a leisurely drive I know we will have to time to stop and do a little sightseeing. We have to be in Mexico, Lake Chapala to be exact on November 1st. I've rented a cute little apartment for the first two weeks. From there we will be able to take our time, explore and figure out which village around the lake we would like to make a more permanent address. Hopefully we will love it there and will want to stay at least 3 months. I know there are a lot of expatriates, particularly in the town of Ajijic so we may want to avoid that particular destination but who knows we may end up loving it there apparently it's very beautiful. It will truly be a voyage of discovery but then that's the thing about traveling it should always be about discovery.
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