mexico – Page 7 – Messy Suitcase Travel Blog

January 6, 2019

We are headed to Mexico!!

Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019

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

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!

December 22, 2018

Mexico Visa Day

(Written in September 2018)

Today, Lexie and I got our Mexican Visas. Normally, when you go to Mexico on vacation, you automatically receive a visa that is good for 180 days. Since we will be staying longer than that, we needed to get a Temporary Resident Visa that is good for 1 year and renewable for up to 4 years.

To receive that visa, we needed to make copies of birth certificates and passports, create a letter in Spanish detailing our Mexican address, get passport photos, and have documentation that proves that we can financially support ourselves when we get there.

Once you get the visa in the US from a Mexican consulate, you have 6 months to enter Mexico and then another 30 days to finish up the requirements in Mexico.

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.

The process was very smooth and organized. They took Lexie’s and my documentation, we paid our fee, got photographed and finger printed and got our visas.

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!

Lexie and I are ready to go. Lisa will get hers in a few days.

(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.)

October 5, 2018

The Retirement Itinerary: Europe First

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!

September 21, 2018

Ellie Smoit, the Adventure Cat, Part 4: Empty House

Empty House

ELLIE SMOIT

Mommy finally let us out of the bathroom. We’ve been in here all day snarling at each other. Well, once I was locked out on the catio.

But now we’re out.

Wait, what? Everything is gone. The mountains of boxes are gone. The big bed is gone. All the pillows are gone.

I wander to the laundry room, and the laundry baskets are still there for me to sleep in. Thank goodness! And a few cat toys here and there.

My mommy Lexie is still here. But her bed is gone.

And why do they keep feeding us in the cat carriers? It’s suspish. I don’t think I like this.

I think I’ll go nap in the clean laundry.

Ellie Smoit, the Adventure Cat, is chronicling her journey from her house in Colorado across the United States and to Mexico, with a little help from her owner, Lexie Greenawalt.

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

September 18, 2018

Pain

I had no idea it would be this painful.

We’re in the home stretch now. The packers are coming tomorrow. The movers are coming on Wednesday. And I am having an emotional breakdown. Help!

Church farewells

Yesterday Lexie and I went to Evergreen Lutheran Church for the last time. I was doing the readings and Pastor Vera and the congregation were giving us a blessing for safe travels.

As soon as we walked into the Narthex, people kept coming up to hug us, wish us luck, ask about our adventure, and say goodbye. By the time we got to our seat in the second row, I already had a huge lump in my throat. When it came time to read, I could barely speak for the swell of unexpected emotion constricting my voice. I went up onto the altar and took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry, this is very difficult,” I shared shakily from the pulpit. “This is our last time attending this church, and I’m suddenly feeling very emotional. This is a wonderful place and I really love all of you.” Then I took a deep breath, Pastor Vera smiled, and I began.

Her sermon was about answering God’s call and embarking on the journey even if you don’t know the outcome, trusting God and saying yes. From God’s lips to our ears!

More hugs and tears afterward, and the Piecemakers, a woman’s group that makes quilts for people in needs, gave us a quilt as a parting gift, which Lexie claimed for her own.

Aryk’s room

We got home and I attacked Aryk’s room. I took down the pictures on the walls, cleared out the closet, and transformed it from a cheerful bedroom that was my child’s home for four years to a sterile space of boxes and furniture.

That’s when the wave of grief really hit me. I suddenly felt horrible to be doing this to Aryk, and to Lexie – taking away their happy home, leaving them in a place of uncertainty.

Everything we have sorted and purged, every childhood pony drawing and too-small top and old Barbie video game that has landed in the trash or donation pile, has felt like a piece of my soul being stripped away. The cheerful painted masks from around the world have come off the dining room wall and been imprisoned in a box, and those memories feel boxed up with them. Same with the colorful montage of family photos in the hallway. The old Halloween costumes. The boxes of unwanted books. Traces of our family history, pulled away like a scab and carelessly discarded.

The pain in my stomach is real. The deep exhaustion I feel comes from so much more than hours upon hours of packing. It’s a psychic wringing out. I wish there was someone I could talk to about this, but I know no one on this planet who has made this kind of life-changing decision and told the story.

Bob

Except my husband, my partner in life, who confessed to me that he sometimes also stops and says, what the hell are we doing?

And that, somehow, makes me feel a little better.

September 15, 2018

Ellie Smoit, the Adventure Cat, Part 3: The Collar

The new jingly thing around my neck

ELLIE SMOIT

Jingle jingle. Scratch. Why won’t this thing come off?

I was sitting on some pillows glaring at Kaylee when Grandma came into the room and stuck a red thing on my neck. It has a bell. It won’t come off.

I sound like a damn dog! I can’t sneak up on Kaylee and jump her anymore. True tragedy. (Well, actually, I can still jump her. I just can’t be sneaky about it.)

I made my displeasure known, and the bell was removed — but it was replaced by an almost-as-jingly plate. That, however, is better, because it can fit in my mouth. Chomp. I’m leaving my mark on the thing with my sharp teeth.

(P.S. I think I saw my name on the plate before I started chomping. And maybe a phone number. And I see that Kaylee has a turquoise one and Noxie has a blue striped one. So perhaps they just don’t want to lose me.)

Ellie Smoit, the Adventure Cat, is chronicling her journey from her house in Colorado across the United States and to Mexico, with a little help from her owner, Lexie Greenawalt.

I actually love Lexie despite the tag

Showing off my teeth and tongue simultaneously

See my name on the tag?

September 12, 2018

The Purge (Part 2)

BOB

I’ve read about people jettisoning everything they own and moving to Mexico with just a couple of suitcases and a dream.

Other people pack all their things up and have professional movers transport them to their new, permanent home south of the border.

We belong to a third category, one we are inventing.

The Third Category

We love our house and its location in Colorado. We also realize that we won’t be able to travel forever, and its one-level, ranch-style living will be perfect for aging in place someday. Therefore, we plan to come back at some point. In addition, our kids aren’t out of college yet, and they will want their things when it comes time to move into their own places. So we are keeping the house and renting it out to friends. This decision means that we don’t have to get rid of everything. However, it does complicate things by forcing us to decide what we’re going to take with us and what we’re going to store for an extended period of time.

This is where our stuff will live

Filling a Truck

Since we have a truck, we decided to purchase a topper for it so we can take more with us, particularly since we’re also traveling with three cats and Lexie for the first year. At this point, we’re hoping we can get everything we want to take into the truck. (More on how that goes when the time comes.)

Storing the Rest

In the meantime, we’re left with deciding what to put into storage. That’s been difficult for several reasons. First, both and Lisa and I “collect” things. Not necessarily formally collect things, although I do have some stamps and coins that I collected when I was a kid, but more along the lines of accumulating things and keeping them on the off chance we may want them later. We had accumulated so much stuff that when we built the garage at our current house, we had to make it extra big so we could store all of this stuff.

Purging

We fit all our stuff in 3 of these. We are trying to cut down to 2.

Knowing that the more we store, the more a larger storage space will cost each month, which could produce a very large bill over many years, we realized we need to undertake a purge. Actually, it is more like a pare-down. It is my goal to pare down by one-third. I have a decent idea of what that looks like, since when we moved to Colorado in 2009 we moved everything in three 8’ x 8’ x 16’ PODS. Therefore, I’d like to reduce what we store by the equivalent of one POD, or 1,024 cubic feet.

Working backward from that number would require us to rent a 2,024 cubic foot storage unit. We’ve rented a 10’ x 20’ x 11’ (2,200 cubic feet) unit so the math works out. All that leaves is the pare-down. More on that later.

To be continued …

September 10, 2018

Ellie Smoit, The Adventure Cat, Part 1: Boxes

Boxes

ELLIE SMOIT

I love boxes.

I can fit in them. I can fit in all sizes of boxes. It doesn’t matter if I can’t technically fit in the box.

I love boxes.

More boxes have been coming into the house. Some have crinkly brown stuff in them. It makes fun noises when I jump into it and play with it.

Sometimes Noxie and Kaylee want to come into my boxes. But no! They are MY boxes! I will kill them if they try.

I love boxes.

Inspecting

Well, I also like bags

Bubble wrap is fun, too

I’m keen on books

I really love books

I don’t care how small they are

Ellie Smoit, the Adventure Cat, is chronicling her journey from her house in Colorado across the United States and to Mexico, with a little help from her owner, Lexie Greenawalt.

September 8, 2018

Falling into Place

LISA

Today everything fell into place for Phase 1 of the Mexico adventure. We sat down and planned it out, and then we took action!

Step 1: Figure out our dates
First we looked at the calendar and Google Maps and figured out how long it will take us to drive to Guadalajara, Mexico, from Harrisburg, PA, where we will be visiting Grandma for the Christmas holidays before embarking on our adventure. We argued a little about whether the Mexican portion, after we cross the border at Laredo or McAllen, TX, should be done in one day or two, and finally decided to wait and see how the traveling went. (but we found a cat-friendly midway hotel just in case.)

The arrival date will be Jan. 10 or 11, 2019.

Step 2: Sign up for Spanish immersion classes
First I booked us for two months of four-hours-a-day Spanish immersion classes at the Guadalajara Language Center. They teach from 8:45 AM-1:30 PM, Monday through Friday, with a half hour off for lunch. Only $680 a month! They also have excursions to show you the area and give you a chance to study your Spanish, as well as opportunities to volunteer in the community.

Step 3: find a place to live

House La Holandesa

Next, I booked us for three months in a four-bedroom house in Tlaquepaque, in the southern suburbs of Guadalajara, Mexico’s biggest city, for a ridiculously low $850 a month. (that was through the foreign language school. the same property is $137 a night on Trip Advisor!) So lesson #1: Book local.

It’s called House La Holandesa. It’s in a gated community. The house has plenty of room for us all to spread out, even when Aryk comes home on Easter Break from University. It has a nice looking kitchen with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances, and a guest room! The most important amenities, though, are a parking space, and cat-friendly.

The house is about a ten-minute walk from the center of Tlaquepaque and 15 from the language school.

So we have a language school, we have a home. We have a plan. Now we are really getting excited!

August 31, 2018February 13, 2020

Hasta La Vista!

That’s it, we’re doing it. Our oldest child Aryk is off at university in England. Our youngest child Gavin has just graduated from high school. Rather than be empty nesters, my husband Bob and I are stepping off the treadmill and hitting the road to spend the next decade or two exploring the planet.

Our oldest child Aryk is off at university in England. Our youngest child Gavin has just graduated from high school. Rather than be empty nesters, my husband Bob and I are stepping off the treadmill and hitting the road to spend the next decade or two exploring the planet.

We are relatively young and healthy, and the stock market has done good things with our investments over the last few years. So we are renting out our house just outside Denver, putting our stuff in storage, and packing up a few suitcases, three cats, our daughter (for a gap year) and our musical instruments and heading south of the border to explore Mexico for the next few years. We plan to spend three months at a time in different communities, mixing up cities, mountains, coast and historic pueblos, to really get beyond just a taste of this glorious country.

I know people think we’re crazy. Whenever I tell them the plan, they look at me uncomprehendingly.

Why are we doing this?

Because travel opens your eyes and heart in ways nothing else can.
Because meeting all kinds of different people expands your horizons.
Because learning a new language stretches your mind and keeps your brain supple.
Because settling in one place forever feels limiting.
Because the ocean is beautiful and the mountains are glorious.
Because thanks to social media we can stay connected to old friends and dear communities while we make new friends and create new communities.
Because Mexico has a low cost of living and high quality of life.
Because … salsa and mole sauce.
Because … bougainvillea and pelicans.
Because … waves and reefs.
Because … whales and dolphins.
Because … ruins and festivals.
Because … the Day of the Dead and Three Kings Day.
Because … tequila and mezcal.

When we’re done with Mexico, we plan to move on to Central America and South America.

When we’re done with Central America and South America, we’ll give the cats back to the kids, ditch the truck, fly across the pond (Atlantic Ocean) and begin exploring the rest of the planet.

Because life is short. And the world is big. Join us on the adventure!

Author: Lisa Posted by Lisa Hamm-Greenawalt