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Today really couldn’t have gone better, which was a welcome relief after the delay in Texarkana. Last night’s hotel was about an hour and a half north of Laredo, where we had to go to drop off all of our worldly possessions. The earliest we could meet the customs agent was at 9, so I sent Ben and Aliya ahead to find the warehouse and get the unloading process started, while I got things packed up at the hotel and the car loaded.
When I arrived at the warehouse, the unloading was well underway. Our mover was not there and neither was his agent, so it was one of those times when you just have to trust that it will all work out. Ben was in the truck handing boxes to Juan and Mario, who were piling them inside the warehouse and on the dock. The truck was unloaded in no time, and meanwhile I worked with Luis to get all the paperwork squared away. Hopefully we will see our stuff sometime next week.
By 11ish we were headed to Penske to return the truck, and after a quick stop at the ATM and trip through the Wendy’s drive-through, we were headed to the border. We didn’t really know what to expect…there were a lot of variables. On the US side we just had to pay the toll to get across Bridge 2 ($3.50). On the Mexico side there was no line, no waiting…I pulled up at Customs and the guy opened the back of the car, unzipped one duffel bag (Aliya’s), stuck his hand in, asked me what I do for work, commented on how expensive San Miguel is in comparison to Neuvo Laredo, and sent us on our way.
After a few wrong turns we found our way to Migración, where the kids and I needed to get the form that gives us 30 days after entering the country to finish processing our permanente visas. It took about an hour but there was a super-helpful guy and a couple of officers who got us through the process. Ben’s temporal visa is still valid so he was able to stay outside with Wally. I had all of Wally’s paperwork ready but nobody ever asked to look at it.
There is a checkpoint not far into Mexico where they are supposed to review your documents, but when we passed through there were no officials in sight – only 2 men begging for change. We continued through without stopping, and then we had to make a decision. We could stay in Saltillo which was only a few hours away, but there were no reasonable hotels that would accept Wally. Or we could continue to Matehuala, about 5 hours away, where Wally was welcome.
After a quick detour to hit the ATM for pesos, we decided to go to Matehuala and stay at the Las Palmas Midway Inn, and we’re so happy we did. This hotel is like a motel from the 60’s…very quaint and retro, but also very safe and clean. Our car is parked right outside our window so we didn’t have to unload everything. The restaurant was open until 11, so we just had a great dinner. The bellmen ride around on bikes because the hotel is a bunch of 1-story buildings on a pretty large piece of land. Norah already has her eye on the pool, and there’s also mini-golf. I suggested staying for a few days, but they wouldn’t go for it.
On this trip, it has not always been easy for me to just go with the flow and not be able to plan where we’re sleeping, eating, etc., but everything has worked out so well – even with the short delay. We will arrive in San Miguel tomorrow afternoon, and we CAN NOT WAIT to see our new house and all of our friends – both the local ones, and the ones who are currently vacationing in San Miguel. We’ll be camping out in our house for the next week or so until our stuff arrives and we can buy whatever else we need, but WHO CARES? The last 7 weeks have been SO LONG, with many unknowns and so much work – physically, mentally, emotionally…I may just crawl into my sleeping bag and stay for a while.