Tag: mexico

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Rain and Futbol

We’ve been in Tlaquepaque for five weeks now, and haven’t seen a drop of rain – until last night, after we decided to attend our first outdoor sporting event in Mexico.

The three of us decided to go to a Mexican futbol – Americans know it as soccer – game. Guadalajara hosts two teams that play in the top Mexican league, Liga MX. I initially wanted to go and see the better team, the Chivas, but it turns out that their stadium is pretty far away from our apartment, not near public transportation and difficult to get an Uber from after the game. So we decided to go see Atlas play. They play in an older stadium, Estadio Jalisco, and currently sit next to last in the league.
Buying Tickets
We started looking online for tickets and the site we went to told us that there were less than 4% of seats available for last night’s game, with the cheapest tickets being in the $40-$60 USD range. I found that hard to believe, so we asked the owner of the language school, and he told us that unless the game was against the Chivas, we could get cheaper tickets at the stadium.
We decided to get to the stadium an hour early so we could get our tickets and hopefully avoid the crowds. Unfortunately, after waiting nearly 15 minutes for our Uber driver, we arrived later than we wanted and crowds were forming. We managed to find the ticket kiosk, got into a line, and buy tickets for really good seats for just $12 each. When we got inside the stadium, we discovered that there wasn’t assigned seating, and that our tickets were good for a fairly large section of the stadium. So we found three seats and settled in to watch the game, which was set to begin at 9 PM. I’m not sure why there is a 9 PM start, but that seems to be the standard start time. A little late for me, but I can make a special occasion out of it.

It was only then we realized a second difference from US events – smoking was allowed in the stadium, which was pretty unpleasant for Lexie and Lisa.  Lisa was prepared with ear plugs for Lexie as the noise was pretty loud before the game. The game started, with thousands of empty seats, so we learned never to trust that online ticket site again. The noise also subsided a bit as people and the PA system focused on the game.
The First Half
The game was as exciting as any US football game, with lots of running back and forth across the field.  Vendors walked through the stands hawking cervesas (beer), donuts, palmitas (popcorn) and an assortment of Mexican snacks, and half the crowd wore bright red and black Atlas jerseys.
In the first half, Atlas didn’t convert on several good scoring opportunities, but the goalie made some impressive saves. As the half came to an end, Lisa noticed that a light rain had started. Rain? We hadn’t even seen rain before in Guadalajara. We were sitting under an upper deck, so we stayed dry, but we saw drops plop onto the heads of people sitting a couple rows in front of us.
The Second Half
The second half was still scoreless, and we kept rooting for Atlas to hold on and tie the game, although the Tigres had a couple of scoring opportunities. Regulation time ended with the game still tied, but a late, very questionable (at least in my mind), call resulted in a penalty kick for the Tigres, which they converted to a goal 3 minutes into the 4 minutes of injury time. Final score: 1-0. It was a disappointing loss for our new team.
Uber Adventures
It was still lightly raining when we left the stadium. We tried to beat the crowd and inevitable traffic jam by walking a few blocks before calling Uber. Our driver was just four minutes away, but after keeping us waiting 20 minutes, and giving us a thumbs up that he was still coming, he unceremoniously cancelled on us, leaving us wet on a street corner in what was now a big traffic jam.. (Anyone know how to give a bad rating to shithead Uber drivers who ditch you and leave you standing in the effing rain?) We walked a few blocks farther down to a main road where we waited for another driver, along with two other groups doing the same thing.
We got back to the apartment a bit before midnight, a little soggy, but having had an enjoyable evening. We’ll definitely do it again. Go, Atlas!

(Lisa’s note: Rooting for the Atlas is like rooting for the Mets. Most people root for the popular, winning Chivas, Guadalajara’s version of the Yankees. But we prefer the underdog!)
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Settling into Tlaquepaque

Sorry for the long absence from blogging. We have been in Tlaquepaque for a month, and it’s about time we shared a little bit about our life here! We have been busy attending Guadalajara Language Center five days a week to learn Spanish, plus getting to know this magical village and neighboring Guadalajara and getting into the rhythm of life here.
Let’s start by talking about where we are living!
The cats were extremely relieved when we pulled into the driveway of our orange concrete house in Tlaquepaque, delayed a week and a half by border issues and then the gas shortage, and they were finally able to leave their traveling cages and settle in. There was no hiding upon arrival this time; somehow they knew they were finally home.

Tlaquepaque

Tlaquepaque (pronounced “tlah-kay-PAH-kay”) is a bustling, working-class village on the edge of Guadalajara, the second-largest city in Mexico. It has a population of 600,000 people is known for its ceramics and its artisans. The center is a lovely pedestrian area of shops, restaurants, food vendors, and galleries branching out from a central square, Plaza de Hidalgo. Branching out from the center, homes get smaller and smaller, and roads and sidewalks are narrow and cracked. Most of our neighbors are lower-middle class Mexicans, making their living doing laundry, vending water door to door, operating tiny corner stores, painting sacred statues, fabricating wood-and-leather chairs, or opening pop-up restaurants to sell pozole or tacos dorado.
The Mexican people are friendly and quick to smile. Their culture prides itself on always finding the bright side, despite adversity. Their homes are small but their smiles are big.

Our Mexican Home

Our house on Calle Jalisco is very simple, a two-story orange concrete house in a “coto” (small gated community) with a carport and a small patch of grass out front. We rented it directly from the school, two floors with four bedrooms a half mile the school and downtown Tlaquepaque, for $840 a month. It’s not fancy or luxurious; it’s very basic, and quite Mexican. It didn’t even have an oven, since most Mexicans just the stovetop, so our landlord Wouter allowed us to purchase a toaster oven so we could bake.  It has patchy Wifi and a large flat-screen TV with Netflix. It needs a paint job badly, but it’s home.

The Upstairs

The master bedroom has a surprisingly comfortable king-sized bed and a little utility patio that lets light in — plus the sounds of roosters crowing, dogs barking and the nearby cathedral bells chiming every 15 minutes all night. (And for some reason it tolls 21 times each time.) All the noise kept me awake at first, but eventually I stopped hearing it, which reminded me of the 17th floor apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan where Bob and I lived in the mid-1990s — at first we could hear the sounds of car horns and people yelling for a mile around, but eventually we didn’t notice them at all.
I was awakened one night by the sound of chaos in a nearby henhouse. I’m not sure if it was an animal thief or a human, since I heard no sound from the perpetrator. But the sound of raucous, terrified squawks that diminished one by one until he last one croaked its final appeal haunted me for days.
Lexie claimed a sunny bedroom with a queen-sized bed, and there’s a third room upstairs with two single beds that we use to store our home gym equipment. (We call it Aryk’s Room because that’s where they will live when they come home for spring break.) The second-floor landing is a large room of its own, with a zippered-fabric closet (two of the upstairs bedrooms have no closets), a loveseat and a little computer table. It’s a great space for me to do yoga (I get a new yoga session from  Container Collective Yoga in my inbox every Monday, so I stay connected to Colorado whenever I practice.)

The Downstairs

Downstairs there is a fourth bedroom with a double bed, which we use as a music room and for bike storage. (We also call it Mal’s Room because it’s where Aryk’s partner Mal will stay when it comes to visit over Spring Break.) The white-tiled main living area has an open floor plan, with a weathered couch, a loveseat and a large chair providing plenty of living room seating. The kitchen is efficient and pretty, though we have yet to figure out how to get hot water out of the spigot, and we take our lives into our hands every time we light the over-enthusiastic gas range.  There are three seats at the counter and a little table with four chairs.
All in all, though, it’s a cheap, comfortable base from which to embark on our first adventures in Mexico! It’s more basic that we are used to, but everyone else at the language school is staying in a hostel or with a Mexican family, and we like having our own place. It was large enough to host a Super Bowl Party! We will remain happily ensconced here through the end of April, though we do plan a beach vacation during Aryk’s break.

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We Made it to Tlaquepaque!

We finally made it to Tlaquepaque!

Our 6-day trip from Pennsylvania to this village just south of Guadalajara where we planned to spend our first four months in Mexico ended up taking 14 days, but we finally arrived on Jen. 19 – exactly four months after we left Colorado.

On the Friday of our week in Leon, Lisa and I decided to bite the bullet and try to get gas so we could continue on to Tlaquepaque. (If you recall, we were only in Leon because we couldn’t get enough gas to get to our final destination, Tlaquepaque.) We were determined to wait all day if necessary. A few days earlier, we had been told that the Leon government website listed stations that would be receiving gasoline that night or the following morning. We looked at it and saw only 20 stations (for a city of 1.5M people) getting gas. Our observations supported this, as we would see lines at only 1 of 10 or 12 gas stations we passed as we Ubered around town. And the lines were long.

And even though we kept hearing the situation was going to get better, it didn’t. So we enjoyed Leon and ignored the gas situation for a few days. Why stress over it?

But on Friday, Lisa read in the Mexico News Daily that a pipeline was opening to Leon on Saturday, and the number of stations pumping was supposed to increase to 35%.  Lisa wanted to get to Tlaquepaque, so we decided to give it a shot.

The Early Bird Gets the Gas

So we got up before 6, gathered books, tables, drinks and snacks to entertain us during an anticipated long wait. and drove to the nearest gas station. There wasn’t a line, but that was because they weren’t pumping. We continued down the road and saw a line several blocks long for another station. As we drove by, we saw that they were pumping gas. We tried to make a u-turn to get to that station on a side road, but we were unsuccessful, being forced to take a long way onto a highway and wasting 10 precious miles worth of gas in the process.

When we doubled back we spotted another gas station that was also pumping, with a shorter line, so we got in line. Lisa and I discussed that we really needed at least 600 pesos worth of gas to get to Tlaquepaque, but stations were limiting sales to 500 pesos per car. We agreed that 700 pesos would provide a bit of a margin of error if we got lost. Finally, we discussed what we needed to say to the attendant, in Spanish, to attempt to get that 700 pesos worth of gas.

The early morning line for gas

The line moved quickly and we were soon at the pump. Lisa hopped out and told him that we were trying to get to Tlaquepaque, where our house was, and 500 pesos wouldn’t be enough to make it. Could he help? He told us that all he was allowed to give us was 500 pesos. But nonetheless, he pumped 600 pesos, looking furtively in both directions to make sure no one noticed. Then, in an act of compassion, he reset the pump and pumped us full with another 550 pesos of gas! We were ecstatic! And, of course, we tipped him generously.

Made it to the pump in just 15 minutes

Success — a full tank!

A Full Tank, But Locked Out

In our wildest dreams, we had never even considered that this would be the outcome. We had our Leon Airbnb rented for another day, but on the short drive home, we decided that we would pack and head to Tlaquepaque as soon as we could get packed up. later that day. We did have one small glitch: We only hade one set of keys for the apartment, which were inside with Lexie, and she was sound asleep. It could be hours before she rose. Her phone ringer was off so we could not reach her.  outside the complex gate for half an hour or so, Lisa got the idea to contact the woman who rented to us, and our host quickly brought us a second set of keys that allowed us to get in, get Lexie up and start packing. Instead of waiting in a gas line, we ended up waiting an hour and a half to get back into our apartment!

Finally On The Road

We were on the road for our 2½ trip by 11 AM. About 1½ hours into our trip, closer to Guadalajara, I thought that it might be a good idea to fill up again. However, from that point on, almost all gas stations didn’t have gas and the one or two open ones we saw had huge lines. So when we arrived at our rented house in Tlaquepaque, we parked the truck with 5/8 of a tank and decided to use walking, public transportation or Uber until the situation is stabilized here.

But, we’re here and getting settled in. We’ve essentially been traveling for four months since we left Colorado, so it feels so good to be settled for a while!

Our new home!

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Mecca in Mexico

In mid-January, when we drove to Guadalajara from Leon, we passed mile after mile of people walking along the road. We must have passed eight miles of people walking, many with backpacks or bedrolls, adults and children, before we branched off the road and headed toward Tlaquepaque.

We speculated that this was a caravan of migrants headed toward the US border. Yet, we didn’t see anything in the press about anything the size of what we saw. We did, however, see some tweets and more tweets from the government of the state of Guanajuato about “pilgrims,” with estimates of 70,000 to 100,000 pilgrims. But we saw nothing in the US news.
When I asked about this on an expat forum, I discovered that these were actually religious pilgrims headed to the town of San Juan de los Lagos in the Mexican state of Jalisco to view a revered image of the Virgin Mary called Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos. This Madonna is said to be responsible for tens of thousands of miracles dating back to 1623. (Read more here, and note some of the powerful comments from people who have visited the image.)
The image itself is made of sugar cane paste and stands about 38 centimeters high. It is believed to have been brought from Michoacán, Mexico, in the early 16th century and refurbished 400 years ago. 
Somewhere between 7 and 9 million people yearly visit San Juan de los Lagos to see the image of the Virgin. The most heavily visited time, though, is Candelmas, when approximately 2 million people visit. Candelmas, or the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord Jesus, falls on Feb. 2, the 40th day of the Christmas Epiphany season. In San Juan de los Lagos, they celebrate with a festival extending from Jan. 25 to Feb. 2 that includes fireworks, music and amusement rides.
This was the destination of the pilgrimage that we saw. Organized groups walk or bike for hundreds of miles. Most come to repay the image for a miracle they have received. There is a popular belief that people who fail to repay the Virgin risk being turned into stone.
So, even though there is another, much smaller, caravan of Central American migrants currently headed to the US (learn about it here and here), the miles of sojourners that we saw were religious pilgrims headed to San Juan los Lagos to keep from getting turned into stone.

Here’s the caravan we saw:

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Leon Zoo

Entering the Leon Zoo was like walking into a ghost town. I associate zoos with noise and scents and crowds of people, but we seemed to be the only people there as we bought our tickets and headed in.
Our first stop was the safari, and we knew we were in for a spectacular visit. Climbing into a rickety open-air vehicle, we set off on what turned out to be a series of close and personal encounters with the animals. We were driven into crowds of Watusi and zebras, raced with antelopes, the car serving as the only barrier between us.
We walked around the rest of the zoo on foot, and it was the most unique zoo experience that I can remember. Though it was unnerving at first to have so much space to ourselves, the peace and quiet created a kind of intimacy between us and the animals that I’ve never experienced before.

On safari
We could almost touch the Watusi

The monkeys were one of the highlights. They swung around their cages using their hands, feet, and tails, movements so smooth they looked effortless. One hung out the side, arms stretched through the gaps of the fence to pluck leaves from the bushes outside for a midday snack.
He’s reaching out
It was strange to see elk in a zoo, as they’re such a common sight in Colorado, but we nonetheless watched them mull about. A lynx meowed at me, as if to make to for my lack of cuddles from Ellie that morning. Even big cats trot around, lick their paws, and make cute noises.

See her cute little tongue?
It was simply a wonderful trip all-around, and I definitely suggest you pop by if you’re ever in Leon.

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Discovering Leon, Mexico

Whoever heard of Leon? Hardly anyone outside of Mexico, I’d wager.

But when we were thwarted from reaching our destination, Tlaquepaque, by a government crackdown on fuel thieves that dried up all the gas stations, we decided to detour to the closest city on our route, Leon, and explore for a few days instead of worrying about gas. So we booked a tiny, pet-friendly two-bedroom apartment ($213 for a week) and set about researching Leon.

We knew nothing about this city, but Bob consulted Mr. Google and quickly Bob discovered that Leon is the fourth largest city in Mexico! The hotel we stayed in our first night while we grappled with how to deal with the gas problem, Hotel Soleil Business Class, was in a great location on a major thoroughfare directly across from a park and sports center, and right on the bus line.

I found a great little description at Trip101.com:

León is known as the“shoe capital of the world” and shopping for leather goods is one of the main attractions here. León has a long history as a center of the leather industry, offering shoes, boots, belts, jackets, and other leather accessories not only in Mexico, but around the world. It has first-class services and hotels making it one of the most important cities in Mexico along with León’s entertainment, restaurants, leisure activities, arts, and recreation. It is also considered one of the most environmentally friendly cities in Mexico and has a high number of cyclists, in part because of integrating a network of bike lanes into the public transportation system. In March 2012 it received an award as “City Water Champion,” due to great progress it has made in the areas of sanitation, wastewater reuse, and energy cogeneration from biogas.

While much of León is industrial, it is also a great little authentic Mexican city. There is a nice, large pedestrian area in the center, which comes to life at night with street sellers, music, and Mexican families just enjoying their city. Also, León is a great place to escape if you’re a budget traveler, unless you’re in the market for a lot of leather.

We discovered Leon has several notable cathedrals, an Arch of Triumph, a grand boulevard (think Champs Elysees, only smaller scale), and a charming historic center.

Arch of Triumph

So after settling ourselves and our cats into our new apartment and taking care of food shopping, we got up the second morning and called an Uber to take us to the Arco Triunfal de la Calzada de los Heroes (the Triumphal Arch of the Causeway of Heroes).

The lion on top represents the pride and symbol of the strength of the Leonian people. The leafy grand boulevard runs 500 meters and has bronze statues of eight heroes. We agreed it would be a fabulous place to run.

The Nativity Show


We then walked up the causeway toward the old city and, across the street from the Templo Expiatorio Diocesano del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús (Expiatory Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus), we stumbled upon the Muestra Nacimiento, or Nativity Show, a temporary display of Nativity scenes from around the world. Admission was free and it was closing the next day, so we went inside, where we were greeted by a smiling nun. This display was a feast! There were small, large and humongous dioramas from Italy, Spain, Germany, Russia, and all over Mexico. We loved it! Here are a few highlights:


Wooden carved nativity from Oberammergau, germany
Mexican style
The lighted sky bedazzled

Martyr’s Square and the Plaza


After visiting another amazing cathedral next to Pope Benedict Square, and wandering around the old streets in Centro Historico, we enjoyed take-out tacos and agua tamarinda (orange water; OMG, what a discovery, and the entire meal cost $2) in a shady plaza next to Martyr’s Square, the central plaza in the old city. We enjoyed awesome ice cream and wandered on to our next discovery of the day: Mercado Aldama.




Mercado Aldama


 I daresay no other gringo has ever wandered into Mercado Aldama, a massive indoor marketplace in a huge industrial building just beyond the old city. And they are missing out! Everything was for sale in this bustling, authentically Mexican, three-story marketplace, from shoes to clothing to sombreros to every kind of food you could imagine (and some you wouldn’t want to imagine), traditional Mexican clothing, arts and crafts, housewares, utensils, fruits, meats (including intestines, hooves and other animal body parts I found quite unappealing but Mexicans apparently love) and much, much more! I’ll let the pictures tell the story.


Mmm, delicious

Please don’t eat me! he says

Baby Jesus come in a variety of sizes,
with long eyelashes as standard equipment

A kids’ booth

Countless super-cheap restaurants featured authentic cuisine

Frida Kahlo shows up on everything


Love Bridge

On the way home, we stopped at the Puente del Amor and secured a lock of love on the bridge. Watch for a future blog about the locks of love we have put in a number of cities and countries!

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Crossing the Mexican Border

(A look back at the border crossing experience, or Why We Were Stuck in Laredo for Two Days)
I was a little concerned about crossing the Mexican border. I knew there were several things that needed to be done in order to successfully enter Mexico, and I wasn’t exactly sure how, or where, to do them. I was particularly worried that we didn’t have the documentation we would need for our relatively new car. Finally, I was concerned about how long the lines at the border, because we had nearly a 7-hour drive to our first stop, and we had been cautioned not to drive in Mexico after dark.
I had read that most Americans heading to the Guadalajara area from the eastern US used one of the Laredo, Texas, border crossings. Many used the somewhat out-of-the-way Colombia Bridge crossing, which doesn’t have as much traffic as some of the others. It is not a 24-hour crossing, so our plan was to get there when it opened at 8AM.

The First Attempt

We arrived at the border at 8:15 AM, paid $3.50 USD to cross the bridge and we were in Mexico – almost. I had found very little information on the layout of the border crossing, but I knew we needed to visit Immigration and the Banerjcito (the import office) so we could temporarily import our car, which is a requirement if you want to take your car past the “free zone” the first 20 km or so inside  Mexico. Therefore, I was ecstatic when I immediately saw the Banerjcito and an empty parking lot. 
Empty parking lot

 We took our paperwork and went directly to the window inside. I knew they needed the car registration and/or car title. What I was concerned about, though, was that we only had a temporary vehicle registration paper from Vermont.

Getting rejected at the window
Here’s why: Our car was totaled in August and we had to get a new (used) vehicle less than a month before leaving Colorado. Our Colorado paperwork had not yet been processed by the time we left in September. In fact, the processing was so slow that we had to get the car dealership to send it to Lisa’s brother in Virginia, where we parked our car during our European trip, and it took so long that we needed an extension. We needed that paperwork so we could either fly back to Colorado to process it at DMV, or ask someone to perform the unenviable task of going to DMV for us.
Our second option was to register the car in Vermont, where we own a couple of vacation rental properties and where we were staying for a month. 
We decided to go the Vermont route for convenience sake, in early December. Unfortunately, only after they took my Colorado title did I find out that it would take them 4-6 weeks to process the paperwork and issue our car registration document. We had over 5 weeks, so I thought we were still in good shape. When it didn’t arrive, I was concerned but was still hopeful that Mexico would accept our temporary registration. 
They didn’t!

Rejected at the Border: Now What?

We turned around, crossed the bridge back into the US and cleared US customs. We had been in Mexico, but not really. We left thinking we were at the mercy of the Vermont DMV, something you don’t want to be. We decided to take a chance and call, and learned that our registration had been sent to our Colorado mailing address, but the address they used didn’t include our box number, so it was returned, where it was just sitting in our file. It would have to be resent. Could it be emailed? We don’t do that, said the man in the DMV office. FedExed? We don’t do that, droned the man in the DMV office. 
So what could we do for the next week while we waited for the registration to be snail mailed to our Colorado address, processed by our traveling mailbox, and then mailed to us? And where would it be mailed to, anyway? We had checked out of our hotel and our truck doesn’t have a mailbox.

Regrouping at McDonald’s

We went back to Laredo and regrouped at a McDonald’s, sitting in a corner booth with coffee and a computer. connected to the free Wifi. Looking out the window, we noticed a UPS Store across the parking lot. We dashed over, had a chat with the counter worker, and found out we could use their address to accept a Fed Ex. Newly energized, we returned to McD’s. While Lisa went online looking for a  pet-friendly place to stay for a couple nights, I pulled out a cellphone and called Vermont DMV again, this time determined to talk with a supervisor. 
Working in McD’s on lodging and getting that registration
However, a kind woman named Diane Hedding answered and immediately offered to help us. All we needed to do was to send her a prepaid shipping label and she would personally take our registration to the mail center and Fed-Ex it to us. She gave us her personal email address, and then sent us a note when she dropped off the package. We found a Laredo Airbnb for the next couple nights and waited for our package to arrive.

The Second Attempt

At 10:30 AM on Saturday, Jan. 11, we had our registration in hand! 
Registration!
We moved out of the apartment, packed up cats and luggage, and headed to the border. After paying another $3.50 to cross the Colombia Bridge, we confidently walked up to the Banjercito window. Just one person was in front of us, and the woman at the counter remembered us! This time they told us we needed to go to Immigration first, as they needed our immigration form to process the import.
 

Bob filling out the paperwork

Lisa filling forms

Lexie, too

We went over to Immigration, again no line, filled out the forms, showed them our Mexican Temporary Resident visas in our passports, and were processed. The immigration form was the same one was had always gotten when flying into Mexico, but there were several boxes that needed to be properly checked. This was done and we were now on a 30-day clock to get into Mexico, get to an in-country immigration office and finish up our Temporary Resident visa requirements.
Back to the Banjercito, still no line, they processed our paperwork, took a $400 deposit, (which will be returned when we take the car out of the country), gave us a sticker for our car and allowed us to proceed.

Getting Through Customs

Next up was Customs. We knew, with our luck, we would get selected for a complete car search. And, true to form we were selected. They didn’t want to see the International Health Certificates we had for the cats, but they did question me several times regarding firearms, alcohol and cigarettes. Next, they looked at what we had in the car and decided to X-ray it, which was probably better than taking everything out. This required humans and cats to get out of the car. I drove the car over to the X-ray area, where I was escorted behind a barrier and a movable X-ray device transited the length of our car, scanning it thoroughly. 
I drove back to where Lisa, Lexie and the cats were waiting, and in a couple of minutes, they told us we were good to go. After strapping the cats back in and getting our bearings, we crossed the border! Then we were officially off and driving in Mexico toward Tlaquepaque. It had taken us one and a half hours at the border crossing. That process would have taken much, much longer during busy season, so I felt extremely lucky that we were finally on our way!
WELCOME TO MEXICO!
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Gas Crisis in Mexico

We didn’t make it to Tlaquepaque! We literally ran out of gas. 
Well, we didn’t completely run out of gas, but we did get low enough on gas to not have enough make it to Tlaquepaque, and we couldn’t find any more.

Why No Gas?

Mexico has what are called huachicoleros, or gas thieves. The initial image that comes to mind is someone with a 5-gallon container and a hose that siphons gas out of cars. But in Mexico, the issue is far, far bigger, to the tune of $3B USD a year in stolen gas. And it’s not stolen from cars, it’s siphoned right out of the large gas pipelines that distribute the product from refineries to various points in the country. 
The gas is stolen by the cartels in a very systematic, almost professional manner. Tapping these lines, with flammable gas running through them, is a dangerous process, and can only be done by extremely skilled people. The government says over 12,000 taps have been put into the gas distribution pipelines. 
 

Sad, empty gas station

A Government Crackdown

This has been going on for years, but Mexico’s new, anti-corruption president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, took office last month and started cracking down. He decided to fight the huachicoleros by stopping the distribution of gas through the pipelines, identifying the taps and then more vigorously guarding those lines. The plan was to replace pipeline distribution with distribution by tanker truck.
Unfortunately, that distribution plan has failed to meet the needs of the population, leaving some areas, mostly central Mexico — where we are — with a gas shortage (actually a distribution shortage).
We knew about this 10 days ago before we left Pennsylvania. Fully aware that we were heading into the area hardest hit by the shortages, we thought that surely the kinks in the distribution system would be worked out by the time we got to Mexico, especially after we were delayed another two days at the border.
Our trip through northern Mexico was uneventful and there was plenty of gas. There was even plenty of gas in Matehuala, six hours in, where we stopped overnight and easily gassed up the next morning. We knew that one tank of gas wouldn’t get us to Tlaquepaque, so we wanted to go far enough before stopping to ensure we had enough in the tank to make it the rest of the way. 
Unfortunately, when it came time to stop, first there weren’t any gas stations for miles, and then the next one we found didn’t have any gas. Its gas nozzles were just lying on the pavement, and a long line of cars idled a half mile back along the roadside. We drove 40 miles to the next town where there was a possibility of finding gas, but none of the five gas stations there had gas either. 

Choosing a Detour

So we were faced with a decision, and discussed it while looking at a map of Mexico: continue on toward Tlaquepaque and hope we could find gas, or turn left and take a detour toward the closest city, Leon, where we could find pet-friendly lodging and hope to find gas. We chose the Leon option, not wanting to chance being stranded on a roadside with three cats.
We found the Hotel Soleil Business Class, an affordable, pet-friendly three-star hotel, and walked down the street to a gas station that didn’t have any gas. The attendant told us he wasn’t scheduled to get gas for 4 more days.
We knew we had a problem, so we went and booked a two-bedroom Airbnb apartment in Leon for a week iand decided to make lemonade out of lemons.

Making Lemonade

Leon wasn’t on our initial list of places to visit, but it has turned out to be a wonderful discovery! There’s lots to see and do here, the cats like the apartment, and we are really enjoying our stay.  
Meanwhile, we’re monitoring the gas situation online. We have seen a few open gas stations with long lines, and have heard about people waiting four or six hours or more for gas, and then coming away with only a few pesos worth (because of 500-peso limits, about $28US), or not getting gas at all. We are not “line” people.
We are not getting in that line
 At some point, when the situation improves, we’ll get in what should be shorter lines, only when we can get enough gas to make it all the way to Tlaquepaque. And then we’ll move on to our next adventure.
In the meantime, join us in exploring Leon!
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Unemployment in Mexico

Lisa and I walked around the center of Leon yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it. Leon is not an American tourist destination. English signage was non-existent. Almost no one spoke English. But we thoroughly enjoyed the old town of Mexico’s fourth most populous city and got a very authentic Mexican experience.
It’s hard to describe what my expectations were with regard to moving to Mexico, but I was completely surprised by one thing I noticed yesterday – the numerous signs on stores looking for workers. We must have passed at least 5 stores with “Help Wanted” signs. While America currently has low unemployment, I certainly didn’t expect Mexico to have the same. Yet, when I looked up unemployment statistics, I discovered that the Mexican national unemployment rate for the 3rd quarter 2018 was 3.5%.
Help Wanted: Cleaners


Healthy Employment Picture

I’m not going to try and make a direct comparison to the US unemployment rate, as they are most likely measured differently, but it does support my anecdotal evidence that employment is good in Mexico. (Wages are another thing though). Here in Leon, the rate is a bit higher at 4.5%, but it does look like jobs are available.
Even after having been in Mexico numerous times in the past, and not just in tourist spots, I wouldn’t have expected this. This just continues to reinforce to me that there is much I, and Americans in general, don’t really know about Mexico.

Help Wanted


Thriving Economy

I think people in the U.S. have the impression that Mexicans are lazy, that there is high unemployment in the country, and that the economy is poor. We experienced quite the opposite. In addition to the many Help Wanted signs, we were in a thriving business zone with hard-working professional people. Customer service was attentive, and we didn’t see a single empty business space or “For Rent” sign.
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Crisis at the Border

Today we were supposed to enter Mexico. We didn’t.

Blame the U-Haul Driver

It all goes back to a U-Haul truck that caused a horrendous car accident for Bob and Lexie last August. It merged into their car on a highway when they were going 65 MPH, Lexie took evasive action to prevent impact but hit a car beside her, and in a blink of the eye, our 2013 Toyota Tacoma truck was totaled. We got a replacement (2015) truck as quickly as we could but couldn’t get it officially registered in Colorado before we left for our cross country trip in September. With a flight to Europe scheduled for Sept. 30, we had no wiggle room.

The border building

We actually got into Mexico but had to turn around and go back out

Bob before the denial, still hopeful

So when we got to Vermont after the Europe trip, we registered the truck there (since we own property in the state), but had limited time to receive the permanent registration and tag stickers, and they hadn’t arrived by the time we had to set off for Mexico.

So we arrived at the Mexican border this morning hoping they would let us cross with the temporary paperwork, but despite our best efforts, and speaking with every single Mexican who worked there, it was a no go.

So what to do? We had a hotel and a house booked in Mexico and no way to get there.

Working on Plan B

We left the border dispirited, found a McDonald’s with Wifi back in Laredo, bought an order of hash browns for Lexie to rent a corner booth, and called Vermont DMV, only to discover they had screwed up our mailing address (omitting the box number to save space) and the paperwork we desperately needed had been returned to their office. The automobile title was still in the mail to our mailbox in Colorado, but also going to an incomplete address.

Working out PLan B logistics in Mickey D’s

We appealed to the young man on the phone to email a copy of the registration, but he said they “don’t do that.” We asked him to FedEx the registration to us in Laredo, but he said they “don’t do that.”

We started working on changing hotel dates (supposedly non-refundable) and trying to figure out where to sleep tonight. We saw a UPS Store across the parking lot and went in, asking if we could receive a Fed Ex there. The answer was yes! Bob got on the phone to DMV again, this time reaching a wonderful woman named Diane who was sympathetic to our plight and willing to go the extra miles to FedEx our paperwork from Montpelier to Texas, to arrive by 10 AM Thursday morning.

Finding Lodging

We thought about crossing the border on a temporary visa for a couple days and staying in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico — where AirBnB rates are one-third the cost of the U.S. side — but we were afraid we had too much stuff in our truck to clear customs successfully. We found an AirBnB two-bedroom rental in Laredo that allows pets and quickly booked it, then hung out over a long lunch killing time till we could get in.

Our rental for two nights

So that’s where we are tonight — hoping our paperwork truly arrives tomorrow, and then hoping the registration will be sufficient to get our vehicle into Mexico, since it could be a couple weeks before we get the title sorted. The other consideration is that we only have ten days since getting the cats’ international health certificates to enter Mexico, and we only have three days left or we will have to find a new vet and pay for the process again!

Try, Try Again

If all goes well, we plan to try again on Friday to drive our vehicle into Mexico.

We’ll keep you posted!

  

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