I made it out of Mexico in one piece. The car made it without further damage too! I’ll relate a lot of experiences so save this and refer to it when you all finally leave!
I left Zacatecas around 8:30 and made it to Nuevo Laredo about 4:00. Mark gave me a driving route tip that is highly recommended. I decided to take the fastest route to the border, so that means taking the pay highway – the cuota. He recommended that I go up the 54 the way we came down. I forgot what a nice road that is – arrow straight, few towns, and the limit is 110 for quite a way so you can really cover ground fast. Anyway, take it past Concepcion del Oro, into the state of Coahuila, and just past Agua Nueva, route 57 goes off to the right just before Saltillo. Mark’s landmarks were pretty much right on, there is a big Chrysler plant to the left, and look for a Pemex. Just before the Pemex and after some no-name gas station there is a nice paved road to the right. That is very possibly the Pemex that Group I stayed at on the way down. Taking route 57 basically lets you get around Saltillo by bringing you over to the cuota. It climbs through some nice country back up to around 7000 feet, through some pines and past a lot of really beautiful old joshua trees, unlike any I had seen before. It descends back down a bit, and you will see the cuota off in the distance. You have to take a left turn down at the bottom of the hill, and it’s pretty well marked to go to the cuota.
Speed limit on the cuota is mostly 110, but sometimes I was going 130 and people were passing me. It doesn’t seem patrolled at all. It’s a quick road if you can do higher speeds.
Cuota costs started there at 36 pesos, then another barrier asked for 33. The next was the Periferico which we took on the way down, and I believe that was 109. The last two are the straight stretch up to Nuevo Laredo which together were about 180 I believe. I had an extra axle (the trailer) so I paid 540 pesos total, so basically knock a third off that for the total without a trailer. It was worth it for me to get here fast.
For military checkpoints, I encountered only three. The first just waved me through, the second asked where I came from and where I was going, and then wanted to look in the van. When I had trouble understanding the spanish, the guy gave me a grin back and finally said in english “open the doors”. He just looked in a couple of plastic tubs and gave me a friendly farewell, ignoring the trailer. These two were on the 54, and the last one was at the second aduana station at the border to tamalipais up near Laredo. He also just asked the ‘where from’ and ‘where to’ questions and off I went.
Arriving in Nuevo Laredo you basically go straight into town, except one Y-intersection where the road you want to be on goes to the left. Just follow the signs to International Bridge 1 – “Puente Int’l I” which is what we came in on. The first order of business was cancelling the vehicle import sticker. After the Y-intersection down close to the bridge, I flagged down a couple of police riding in a 4-wheel buggy and asked about the sticker. They told me in rapid spanish and I looked pretty confused, so they finally just waved me to follow and led me to the place. It is on the main drag and I had just driven past it when I asked them. There is a big sign hanging out which says something about import sticker, and it’s a sheet metal fence with a big gate in the middle, all painted white with a blue border along the top and bottom. Basically it is just before the Banamex bank we stopped at when we first came in, so if you see that, turn in there, go past the bank and turn right, then go up several streets and turn right to come out on the main road again, then you will see it soon on your right. When you find it, just go in and look confused and they will wave you over. Whatever you do, do NOT follow the blue signs which say “CAR PERMIT” in English. They lead you back to the big building where we got the sticker, but it is a huge hassle getting in and out of there. The one I was led to seems to be the ‘fast food’ branch – in and out quick and easy.
When you leave the car permit place with the cancelled sticker, you go down two more lights and the road hooks right, and in front of you look for the line of cars waiting. Hopefully the end is far, far down near the bridge where it turns left and you have to pay the bridge toll. I hit the line pretty much right away after the first bend. Get on the end of the line and stay in it – there are no shortcuts and there is only one line until you get to the bridge, so get in it and just wait. The police come around every so often and get rid of people trying to cut in the line at various points along the way. I had to stay in line about 2.5 hours until I got to customs.
Customs went pretty easy. I volunteered the coconut I brought (still in husk) and the guy at the booth was nice enough to look it up again to make sure it was not allowed. Actually without husk and without milk they are allowed. I had alcohol and the trailer so I was flagged in for inspection. The guy was not used to vanagons – he asked me to pop the hood. :>) He asked a bunch of questions and then looked carefully through everything – he seemed to be only worried about drugs and other illegal stuff, he didn’t care much about all the parts on the trailer. He looked carefully in through the license plate hole I showed him. He gave my passport back and said go ahead, so I was relieved it was over. Then another guard stopped me on the way out, and I was confused until he pulled a second tag out of the wiper – this guy checks the alcohol. He asked to see all the bottles so I lined all six of them up nicely on the rear cushion and he started marking them with stickers. I had to think for a second when he asked me for nine-twenty-five – he means only $9.25? I whipped out two fives and he gave me change. I was surprised it’s almost nothing for duty. I asked him how it works, and he explained it’s basically $1.25 for a 750 ml, double that for a 1.5 liter, and so on. So for bringing into the US, don’t worry about the duty, just volunteer all the bottles and pay it. I don’t know what Canada charges for you Canadians at your border.
All in all, it went pretty smoothly, but I got in line at a little after 5:00 and when I got out of customs it was about 9:00. I think I hit the Sunday night return of people visiting Christmas week. In line it’s a constant show of people trying to sell stuff and a few begging for change. I got rid of some extra food I had like an orange and such, and they were happy to get it. Through some confusion earlier in the day at a roadside stand I had gotten a huge order of cooked meat and a stack of tortillas when I just wanted a few tacos. I took it for 40 pesos but never ate it. It found a great home when a young woman with 5-year old son came up asking for change. I said “No hay dinero… …Quieres comida? Carne asada?” Her face lost its exhaustion and her eyes brightened when she saw the generous stack of meat and tortillas. “Si!” With hearty thanks she took it, went off and quickly found a bag for it, walked by and thanked me again and off she went with her son in tow. I was so happy to find a good home for it and I’m sure all that protein would feed them for days.
I actually really had no pesos left and you won’t need much more once you get in line. I had just enough left in my pocket to snag one more bottle of reposado tequila at an OXXO mart. You could also just count it up and get your tank filled with gasoline at one of the last Pemex stations on the way. You will need 35 pesos or $3.50 USD for the bridge toll. The only other thing you would need US cash for is to pay duty on alcohol as I said above.
After being in Mexico for a month, Nuevo Laredo had a new look to me. It’s not a place you would want to hang out a long time since there is a chance you might encounter some desperate people. However, you don’t need to drive in constant fear. I watched what I was doing a bit more but had no great concern. The young guy in the OXXO mart was really nice to me helping me find something in my price range and even volunteered to let me slide on the last five pesos to get the tequila bottle. When I turned the corner at the Banamex and had to go a few blocks in to turn around, I drove by a taco stand with a bunch of guys standing around it and stopped at the light, and noticed they were ordinary Mexicans just like everywhere else, friendly looking people enjoying each other’s company over a simple dinner. After seeing that I relaxed more. A couple people hocking their wares in line were a little pushy trying to make their sale, but backed off when they got the message, and everybody was still very respectful. By contrast, on the other side of the border I got a huge wake-up call that I was back in the US. Carefully driving and looking for street signs, going Mexico-speed in Laredo I got several times people flashing their headlights and honking horns at me because they apparently had somewhere important to be. That kind of thing I had really not encountered in Mexico except once in a while from commercial truck or bus drivers trying to get their job done. Stop in the street in Mexico and the people will quietly wait a bit, then calmly look for a way around you. Drive slowly in Mexico and people behind will generally just drive slow too and enjoy the drive or patiently wait for an opportunity to pass. Stop anyone on the street and say a few words in Spanish asking for directions, and they will generally give a smile and patiently keep repeating the directions until you are satisfied, and maybe proudly try out a few words of English on you. I really have a new respect and admiration for the Mexican people. Everywhere I went I found friendly, respectful, helpful, generous, patient, social people, a joy to be around.
Well, I’m writing this in Casa Blanca state park in Laredo, ready for a night’s sleep before my next haul hopefully to Alabama or so. Enjoy the rest of your stay everyone!
-Hans

Posted on December 31st, 2007 by hansachter
Filed under: Hans and Nellie