Red Light at Customs.... this does not mean STOP but rather LET'S GO THRU THE KAYTOR's TRUCK!!!!!... Yes, everything in the back of the truck, neatly packed just so, was taken out, moved around, and opened... 45 minutes later, everything stuffed back into the truck by 3 friendly border crossing agents, a payment of $178.00 tax and we were on our way.
Next Stop the OXXO store to purchase a phone to have in case of emergency.. With a little help from a Mexican customer who spoke English and friendly helpful clerks we soon had a new phone complete with instructions about activating it one hour from the time of purchase... Of course the recorded instructions were in Spanish so it wasn`t until we reached the hotel at the end of the day that we got it activated with the assistance of a bright, young hotel clerk who spoke English. As the young will do, she quickly activated the phone and we shared stories about Canada as she has been to and loves Victoria.
Highway Robbery... We had been told it might happen and it did!.. Gord tells me we will be laughing about it in a week...but this morning it was not funny and it could have been worse. We cleared a second checkpoint several miles from the US-Mexican border. Within a few miles a black car appeared from nowhere with police lights on top signalling us to pull over. As the car drew closer we realized it was not the police. We pulled over as they drew up beside us. At first we feigned not being able to understand what they wanted. I asked them in Spanish to give us the ticket. Their English improved as they clearly said they wanted $100.00 (about 1,000 mexican pesos) They settled for $80.00 as we handed over a bit at a time stalling as we knew they would not be able to stop us for long as other traffic would be coming along.
Needless to say, it put us on our guard the rest of the trip to Altamira where we again found helpful, kind Mexicans. The rest of the trip is expected to be safer as we are a far distance from the border and travelling on Toll roads. This is definitely one adventure we do not want to repeat.
What a day of Contradictions!.. we have seen the best and the worst.
The Scenery..... The rest of the drive was through beautiful green rolling hills, with grazing cattle, fields of sorghum and lots of green John Deer tractors.
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| Mexican grain bin. |
Will blog from there!
Hasta Luego.....Dorothy and Gord
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