Road trip! I suppose everything’s been a road trip since we moved into the van. You got me there.
We headed to the border on 10 January at the Laredo Colombia Solidarity International Bridge just west of Laredo. Our research indicated that it was an easy place to cross – not busy and hassle free. We needed to get our visas and a Temporary Import Permit (TIP) for the van. We paid for our visas and got the forms for the TIP. However, the inspectors refused to inspect our van. It wasn’t clear why, and the agents who’d arranged our visas shrugged and said it was at their discretion. They told us to head to Laredo to cross. We went back across the bridge into the US, where the US Border Patrol agents thought it was strange that they refused our entry.
Half an hour later we crossed at Laredo. The van inspection and payment took about 90 minutes. The inspector took lots of photos and reviewed the van’s title and registration in detail. We almost hit a snag at the end when they noted the forms were from the Colombia crossing. We explained that we’d been their earlier that morning and had been refused inspection. With that, they took payment and sent us on our way just a few minutes past noon.
Fortunately, we’d built in plenty of time for the crossing and only had about three hours to drive to our first stop, Potrero Chico. It’s a climbing destination, and though we don’t climb, it was easy to find a camp site to park the van and the dirt road leaving town into the mountains made for a picturesque hike.
We drove south the next day to Ciudad Victoria and had a glamorous evening of takeout and parking at a gas station and convenience store. It was basically an informal truck stop, well lit, and free. Sometimes there’s not much between point A and B so you make the best of it.
On Day 3 we drove about four hours to the town of Colonia el Meco. Cascada el Meco is just off the main road.
Cascada el Salto is another 10 minutes up the road. It was dry while we were there, but absolutely stunning. We watched a tour group rappel one at a time down the dry face of the waterfall into a waiting kayak (paddled by a guide) who took them across the pool to where we were.
Willie enjoyed romping around the rock outcroppings.
The view looking downstream. I called to Willie to get him to look at the camera and he took off running to me.
The next day was three hours of driving on sometimes very rough roads (we only covered about 100 kilometers). The reward included Cascada de Minas Viejas, accessible by descending over 300 steps (and then of course climbing them on the way out).
The final stop of the day was Puente de Dios, a cenote with water entering via a beautiful cascade.
There’s a lovely spot for a float just upstream from the cenote.
We stayed the night in Tamasopo by parking in a local’s yard for 50 pesos (about $2.50). It only took 20 minutes the next day to make it to the toll road. (Toll roads are much higher quality with speed limits as high as 110 kilometers/hour.) We stopped for the night in San Luis Potosí. We explored the city, walking for a couple of hours around the historic center.
The last day was four final hours of driving, mostly on toll roads, bringing us to Guadalajara. We have an apartment for a month. It’s on the 14th floor giving us a great view of the city.
The neighborhood is very walkable with plenty of restaurants and bars to explore! Every establishment checks for vaccination status and does a temperature check upon entry, and almost all have outdoor seating. We only dine outdoors. Mexico’s current Covid numbers are less than 10% (per capita) when compared to the US.
We plan to get back on the road in late February: Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende, Zihuatanejo, Puerto Vallarta, Los Mochis > ferry > La Paz, San Jose del Cabo, Todos Santa, Loreto, Ensenada, Guadalupe, Tijuana. We’ll cross into the US sometime in late May or June and work our way north up the west coast to Portland.