Day 118 Northwest Mexico

I was awoken by the hotel owner wanted to know if I was staying another night. At least that’s what I thought she asked since my Spanish was atrocious. Still I had managed to get a room the night before, get gas and buy a soda. How hard would it be to get fluent? At the immigration office I had spotted I also did very well. I understood enough to know they didn’t issue visas there and the guy on the gate was wondering who the hell I was to be turning up asking for one. I just smiled and drove off. I hoped this wasn’t going to cause me a big problem… There was a big town called Agua Prieta quite nearby and that was near the border. I resolved to go and sort out my paperwork ASAP. I put on my Spanish lessons and listened all day. I would need to get myself up to speed right away. Actually being there would help, I was looking at signs and then checking my dictionary, seeing something in context always helps. The sand that had piled up under my hotel room door was slowly stripping the paint from my car and I had a few encounters with the every present tumbleweeds. When I got to Agua Prieta I was so distracted I blew right through it. Right into another military check point, and this time they were checking people heading west!

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You might also want to read....

• June 30, 2008 -- Belize without a map
• January 2, 2008 -- Goodbye Mexico
• December 22, 2007 -- The Heart of Darkness

Day 117

Well I left it until the very last day but I finally left the States on my trip south. I wasn’t going to be in Mexico for a long time as I was hoping they would let me back in for at least a while so I could pick up a fellow Couchsurfer in Tucson and help alleviate some of my costs. That’s if they would let me in. First I had the problem of being let out of the US. Well, that’s easy, you just drive over the border, but my problem was that if I didn’t hand in my visa waiver form I would be hard pressed to ever get back in. I grabbed a final starbucks coffee and headed to the border. Parking up I had to walk all the way around the checkpoints and then stand in line waiting to see an immigration officer. When I finally got to her she was so brain dead from asking all the same questions to the Mexicans she even said them to me.

‘”How long are you planning on staying in the US?”

“I’m not, its my last day, I need to leave”

Of course, this she already knew as it was the first thing I had told her. She then asked me all the other questions I had heard each time I went through the border but I wasn’t really worried… I didn’t get a stamp either, I just pray she processed my form properly. Back in Juarez it felt like coming home and I went looking for the highway 2 west and on to Nogales. Using my Mexican map it wasn’t to hard to find, although I took a wrong turn and ended driving about 5 miles along another highway which was split by concrete bollards. I didn’t think I would ever get back on track… That’s when I nearly got myself into trouble. I was so used to seeing a gas station every 20 miles I sent off into the Mexican desert with only a quarter of a tank…

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You might also want to read....

• December 21, 2007 -- Santa Rampage!
• June 30, 2008 -- Belize without a map
• January 12, 2008 -- Surfing in the Desert

Day 115

El Paso, Tx

After hauling all the stuff from my room that I wasn’t willing to leave in the carpark of the dodgy hotel I set off to buy my new laptop. I got there quite early and seemingly too early for the truck. I asked, waited and was told it hadn’t arrived yet, should be noon. Ok, I said and went off back to Starbucks to implement some SEO into my site and waste a few more hours. At noon I went back and then found to my dismay that the truck wouldn’t be coming after all today and would be in the following day… Bleh. Now what was I going to do, I had already wasted 3 days in this boring city. I took the chance to investigate the mega cheap hotel again, at $26 you can’t go wrong… or so I thought. They only had 2 rooms left and something made me ask for the key before I said I would take it and I’m glad I did. The place was overflowing with McDonalds trash, the sheets were filthy and it would take a big overhaul to make me pay to stay there. Simply disgusting and made the $31 look like a palace! I went for some noodles and decided to double check whether the truck with my laptop had arrived after all. Not only had it not come but the display model was now gone! I had asked if I could buy this on Wednesday but was told ‘no way’ and now it was missing, presumably sold. Great. But I was assured the laptops would arrive on Saturday. I hoped so, I only had one more day in the US….

You might also want to read....

• January 2, 2008 -- Goodbye Mexico
• January 5, 2008 -- Last day in the States, and a frustrating one!
• January 3, 2008 -- Wasting a day in El Paso

Day 113

El Paso, Tx

I only had 4 days left on my visa and wasn’t really sure what my plan was now going to be. Dani was leaving back to Montreal the next day but at breakfast I was told ’so you’re leaving today then?’ and I didn’t quite know what to say. It was kind of bizarre living with a family that all speak rapid Spanish, are all quite friendly but I wasn’t able to really communicate with them. Dani was kind of trapped as well, it would have been nice to set off to see something else after Christmas but then I became trapped and bereft of options. I still had a nice, and vitally, interesting time, but its always good to be able to decide your own destiny. My brother had finally asked me to be his best man at Christmas so I now had a date to alter my trip and I wasn’t sure I liked it. Freedom is probably the best thing in life, and I wanted to enjoy it as much as I could. But now I was about to be set free again I hadn’t the faintest idea of what to do with it. We went and picked up Dani’s laptop from the Cafe and then went to buy some flowers for our hosts and some tequila for Dani’s dad. I said goodbye to Dani and for want of something better to do went back into the States…

This time I was stopped at the border and searched properly, but the guards were quite nice about it, asked if I was writing a blog, were slightly interested in the fact that I could own my own car in the states but were happy to let me come back in. Seems crossing the border was becoming less and less stressful…. :p I went back to Circuit City to see if they had any cheap laptops in stock. They didn’t but I was assured they would be back in on Friday. That was when the truck would be turning up. Hmmmm. Should I stay or should I go….  Checking the couchsurfing site I learned there was an American girl heading south into Mexico around the 12th and she would be flying into Tucson which was pretty close. I would have to leave the states on the 6th but there was a chance I could get back in, my Australian friend Renae had done it. I decided to get a cheap laptop on Friday and then drive over to the border at Nogales. It was only 2 days.

In the meantime I went and bought 6 months insurance for Mexico for $200 and went to watch ‘Aliens vs Predator Requiem’ which was simply terrible (5/10) followed by a night in a cheap hotel.

You might also want to read....

• February 22, 2008 -- Race to the Ferry
• December 24, 2007 -- Mexican Christmas
• December 30, 2007 -- I am a Leg End!

Day 112

Juarez, Mexico

The first day of the year was spent lazing around the house. Dani and I went into the city in the evening (despite my lack of insurance) and sat in Sanborns coffee shop using their wifi until the kicked us out. When we got home we realised she had left her laptop there. Racing back at 1am we learned it was locked up safely but they couldn’t give it to us then. At least we would have something to do the following day…

You might also want to read....

• December 30, 2007 -- I am a Leg End!
• December 24, 2007 -- Mexican Christmas
• February 22, 2008 -- Race to the Ferry

Day 110 Sunday

El Paso, Tx

That night I had gotten my camping mats out and slept away from the kitchen table. All the events in Ruidoso needed to be explained to the rest of the family that were left behind and they were chatting, laughing and smoking long into the night. I tried calling some insurance places in El Paso but they were all closed, although I did get a few addresses. I gave my parents a much overdue call and then Dani and I went back into the States to go shopping. The border wasn’t too bad, although they did take my Organic eggs. As if you can get those in Mexico! I couldn’t complain and off we went. I was looking for a small computer to replace the hopelessly crap one I had, an Asus EEE which is a tiny thing and rather cheap but after checking multiple stores couldn’t find one anywhere. So much for the American Shopping Sensation! In circuit city they had a sale on and had 14″ laptops for only $500 which was pretty good and go me thinking….

I dropped Dani off with her mother-in-law and instructed her to get as much free stuff from her as possible while I went geek shopping on my own. I didn’t do much as I found a free wifi spot and spent most of the time chatting to Miriam on Skype. She was getting excited now by her looming trip to Europe and had bought her ticket. She still couldn’t find her passport though which might be a problem. I’m sure she’ll work it out. I picked up Dani and we went off for a nice Indian meal and then went to the cinema. Why is it that Will Smith takes classic novels and manages to pervert them into a action flick? Like ‘I, Robot’ before it, ‘I Am Legend’ was only loosely based on the novel of the same name and managed to pack in machine guns and hand grenades aplenty. Fun, but ultimately puerile. 6/10.

You might also want to read....

• January 2, 2008 -- Goodbye Mexico
• December 24, 2007 -- Mexican Christmas
• February 21, 2008 -- Looking for a puncture

Day 105  Juarez Mexico

After the excitement of Christmas eve the next day was quite a lot more relaxed. We all watched TV, I finally signed up to Skype and called my parents in the UK. My brother finally officially asked me to be his best man, so it looks like I’ll be taking a break from the road in May. We were going back in the States the following day to visit a nearby ski resort and my vehicle was required so Dani and I tided it up somewhat and moved some of the more useless stuff into the house to make some room. Some people came back in the evening to drink more tequila but at least I didn’t have to sleep on the sofa again, someone had a room at the holiday inn in Juarez they weren’t using so we went and crashed out there. We had to be back at 8am sharp though as we were going to get an early start! Don’t be lazy and don’t be late!

Merry Christmas!

You might also want to read....

• December 24, 2007 -- Mexican Christmas
• January 2, 2008 -- Goodbye Mexico
• August 3, 2008 -- Post 300