On safari |
We could almost touch the Watusi |
On safari |
We could almost touch the Watusi |
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:
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.
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.
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 |
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.
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 |
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 |
Working in McD’s on lodging and getting that registration |
Registration! |
Lisa filling forms |
Lexie, too |
WELCOME TO MEXICO! |
We are not getting in that line |
Help Wanted: Cleaners |
Today we were supposed to enter Mexico. We didn’t.
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.
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.
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!
If all goes well, we plan to try again on Friday to drive our vehicle into Mexico.
We’ll keep you posted!
And we are off!
Our menagerie of three humans, three cats, two saxophones, one guitar, one harmonica, two bikes and a bunch of bags and suitcases has left Grandma’s house in Mechanicsburg, PA, and we are off on our next adventure!
Six days driving 2,400 miles to Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, Mexico, with a stop for a day in New Orleans in the middle. Follow us on the journey!
9:21 am: Leave Mechanicsburg. Ellie starts crying.
10:16 am: Welcome to Maryland. 67 miles. Ellie is still crying.
10:26: am Welcome to West Virginia. That was quick! Still crying.
10:47 am: Welcome to Virginia. 103 miles. They are coming fast and furious! Guess what Ellie is doing?
The rest of the day: Taking turns driving through Virginia and into Tennessee.
8 PM: We finally reach Athens, Tennessee, around 7:10 PM, settle the cats into the Super 8 Hotel, and are now waiting for our food at the Applebee’s across the street. Ellie cried more than half the time and then acted out at the hotel by hissing at the other cats. Such a pleasant traveler.
Day 1 is in the books!
Kitty accommodations |
Kitty accommodations |
Double-decker kitties |
Packing the truck |
Remembering the bikes |
Day 2: Tennessee to New Orleans
We were too busy enjoying New Orleans to blog about this. Watch for the blog later!
Day 3: New Orleans to Laredo
12 hours of quiet cats. ‘Nuff said. Tonight is our last night in the United States. Tomorrow we leave for Mexico!
(Written in September 2018)
Since I had read about other people going to their local consulate and getting their visa, I began the process in August, five months before our scheduled arrival in Mexico, and blocked off a day to spend waiting in an endless line waiting to be processed.
When I researched our local Denver consulate, I discovered that they only processed visas by appointment and that the only appointments available before we left were in September, during the week we were planning on packing and moving. The only other alternative was to wait until we were back east and then spend a day traveling to the consulate in Philadelphia and waiting in an endless line there. We decided to get the appointment in Denver. They had 2 appointments available one day and then another 3 days later. We took them.
It did take a bit longer than it should have because of a mistake I made when signing up for the appointments. I’m pretty loose with my name. I almost never use my middle name or initial and rarely use the suffix. Because I only used my first and last name when signing up for the appointment online, when they took my passport they couldn’t find me in their system because the Robert Greenawalt who signed up was not the same person whose passport they had, which also had a middle name and III at the end. After they informed me that I always had to use my full name when in Mexico, the consulate person re-entered my name and got us our visas. Total time was 3 ½ hours, including driving and a stop to get Lexie’s passport photo. Not bad!
(Postscript: Thanks to Bob’s experience, Lisa had her middle name on all paperwork and the process took less than an hour. She notes that they do their best to make you look as unattractive as possible in the photo. Remove glasses. Push hair behind ears and off forehead. Don’t smile. Consequently, this is the mug shot to end all mug shots.)
LISA |
People are asking, “Why are you in Europe? We thought you were moving to Mexico!”
Well, we are … but not yet. We are not going to Mexico till January 2019.
First, Le Tour de Europe
First, we are launching our adventures with five weeks in Europe — Iceland, Germany, Spain, England, Italy and Greece.
We are visiting family — our oldest child Aryk at Keele U. in Newcastle Under Lyme, England, and then London because why not? (Also got tickets to Hamilton and the Harry Potter Studio Tour.)
We’re visiting Lisa’s brother Pat and his wife Ines and their family in Pinneberg, Germany, outside Hamburg.
First we gotta visit Aryk at uni! |
We are spending a few days with the family of our awesome foreign exchange student, Laia, around Barcelona and Reus.
We are joining Troisi (Lisa’s mother’s side) cousins in Italy as part of a family genealogy trip. So we’ll be in Rome, Naples and Solofra.
Then we’re wrapping it all up with a few days in Athens before flying home Nov. 7.
Then, New England
Then, we gotta hang out in Vermont! |
We’ll be spending about a month at our vacation home in Ludlow, VT – hopefully taking a couple grandmas and Bob’s sister, Beth.
Next, Holidays with Family
We’ll spend the winter holidays in PA with Bob’s Mom and Lisa’s stepmom, sister Julie and any family we can see.
Finally, Mexico
After Aryk goes back to Uni after Winter Break, the first week of January, we’ll begin the next road trip, taking the cats and Lexie on the road from Pennsylvania to Tlaquepaque, Mexico. The trip is about 37 hours, so we will stop in Nashville and spend a couple of nights in New Orleans on the way.
Stay with us — it’s going to be a blast!
ELLIE SMOIT |
Lexie is still here but her bed is gone |
I can still go on the windowsills |
All the pillows in the alcove are gone |
There are still bags to play in |
And cabinets to explore |