Truck Wash and Mexico Trip

Thursday, October 25, 2012 

We started our day as usual with coffee and Internet.  Today was another beautiful day with not a cloud to be seen.  Our plan was to wash the truck and then take a trip to Mexico around noon.

We got the truck washed and then we were ready for a day in Mexico.  The Mexican border is really just a mile or two from where we are.  However, about 12 miles away just across the California border is a Mexican border crossing you can walk through.  The border crossing is on an Indian reservation and they have a very large parking lot to park your car while you are in Mexico.  The parking rate is a low $5 for the day.  The border crossing is open only from 6 am to 10 pm.

We arrived around 12:30 and parked within 300 feet of Mexico.  I was amazed that you can literally throw something over the border here.  You can even hear the music and see everyone walking around shopping in Mexico from the US side.  We just followed the signs into Mexico.  There are no inspections or guards.   The only way I knew I was in Mexico was the signs all changed to Spanish.

The US - Mexican Border lies between these flags.

The water tower in the center of the Mexican town of Los Algodones as seen from the parking lot on the US side.

The brown fence in the distance is the border fence.  That is all there is to it.  We were in the restaurant just to the right of the fence.

Passenger entrance is to the right; to the left is the car entrance and exit further to the left.

Just follow the sidewalk into Mexico.  You don't need any paper work of any kind to get in.  

This is where they search cars leaving Mexico.

The border is the spot just past the welcome sign.  Just walk right in and please bring money!

You come out here in Mexico.

Now we know we are in Mexico.

We are now in Los Algodones in the Baha State of Mexico.  Since this town is so close to the border it has the largest concentration of dentists and doctors in the world.  There is also a very large concentration of drug stores.  Seems a lot of US and Canadian citizens come here for medical and dental work.  We were solicited to get our teeth whitened for $100 US.

Other than the medical stuff everywhere, the town is a typical Mexican tourist town.  Lots and lots of vendors selling handicrafts like blankets, jewelry, handbags, wallets, and pottery.  They also have T-shirts and I had to get one just because.  Patty purchased a very nice leather handbag.  We also purchased a couple of bottles of Mexican made Baileys cream liquor.

We went to 2 bar restaurants in town for some cervesa and some chips and salsa.  Our first place was the best, El Paraiso.  It has live music and a lot of plants all over with a lot of shade, very nice atmosphere.  The chips were good but cold and the salsa was extremely spicy hot.  They brought a big bowl of jalapenos which were the perfect amount of spice.  Also, the Coronas were ICE cold, perfect.  The second place, Caliente, was just OK.  We had 2 cervesas and listened to the music and left.   It wasn't bad, just no character.

Yum, chips and jalapenos!

Second restaurant Caliente

Entertainment.

We left Mexico about 4:30.  There was no line to get out and back to the USA.  There wasn't much to the procedure either as long as you have a passport.  You go to the agent and show your passport and he asks “what did you purchase in Mexico?”  The agents didn't even look at what you had or any other questions, just said go ahead.  That was it; you are now back in the USA.

We got back to the RV and made dinner of turkey sandwiches and sweet potatoes fries.  Veg’d out with some Weather Channel to see the big storm headed for the East Coast.  Looks like the storm is going to hit exactly where we were living just before we started the full-time RV life.  What a weird path this storm is predicted to take.

We also got out our Halloween costumes to make sure we could find them.  It was real easy as they were exactly where I thought they were.  I love it when that happens.

Tomorrow is a short (105 miles) travel day to Jacumba CA.  We are headed to a Halloween Party at DeAnza Springs RV Retreat.  We will be with our Friends Marge and Jim from La Jolla CA who we met in Cancun a few years ago.  They came out to NJ once and we went to see them a few years ago.  We will be there until Monday the 29^th.

Note, as of writing this on the 26th Friday, our plans have changed.  It is very windy here today with gust up to 50 mph.  Marge and Jim had to cancel going to DeAnza Springs as they do not want to cross the high bridges on the way to Jacumba.  We are told that they frequently close Highway 8 when winds are this high.  So we canceled also.  We don't really want to move anywhere right now as our RV is actually moving side to side in this wind just sitting here.  Just a bit scary to say the least. We just extended our stay here in Yuma till Tuesday.  We may need to stay till Wednesday so we get mail that sent out today from South Dakota.  We now have some re-planning to do.

Stay tuned!