Crossing the border…
Today Gary and I met up in Ajo, AZ. we headed south through Saguaro National Monument. a beautiful drive through the Saguaro and Palo Verde forests. Both of which were in bloom. Large yellow/white flowers at the top of the towering monoliths with a lower canopy of yellow from the Palo Verdes. The desert is tríelo a wonder to see.
The border town of Lukeville is at the southern edge of SNM. There’s not much to it other than a gas station, border patrol and The Wall. Crossing the US border is simple – just drove through. They don’t care who leaves. There are no stops, no checks, no cares.
Entering Mexico is also practically a non-event. While a visa (FMM) is required for all, it’s not checked unless it is. And if you don’t have one, well, that was dumb. the immigration process is easy.
The customs portion of the border crossing is confusing. Especially if you are bringing a vehicle in and not staying in Sonora or Baja. At which point, you have to purchase a TIP – a temporary import permit.l for your vehicle.
I got mine (for a motorhome) online and it was pretty straight forward. Gary couldn’t get his online and has to have the vehicle inspected. But there’s no where anywhere near that border crossing to do so. From what we gathered, we have to drive on until the inspection site before we get to Caborca – two days from now. Let’s hope they don’t make us go back to the border.
Sonoyta, the town on the southern side of the border, is a typical border town. They have speed traps, so they take you license and force a bribe – unless you want to drive to the police station with your truck and trailer on a Sunday. Welcome to Mexico. PS – they ignored the bus…
Puerto Peñasco
We arrived in Rocky Point or Puerto Peñasco around noon. Set up and walked to the Malecón where we were assaulted by all of the pharmacy and cash exchange vendors. Then by the restaurateurs. They all want the contents of our wallets.
One thing of note is that all of the ATMs in the malecón only dispense US$. And all of the vendors accept US$ at a terrible exchange rate. In these situations, I tend to purchase on my CC and have them charge me in pesos, my bank gives the daily rate with no markup and no fees.
We’re staying at an RV park near the beach. Which is basically an empty lot with a bunch of RVs in it. Not my thing, but they have power and that’s important if it’s hot outside.
This trip is about adventures outside of the comfort zone…
Being flexible and ok with things that you’re not familiar with is ok. They aren’t bad, they just are. This trip is all about doing things differently and, well… let the adventures begin.
Pizote Adventures 