Day 9 - Crossing into Mexico!

 

Heffay snuggling up with HeyZeus 💕 

Wednesday Oct 26.  Day 9 of travel would take us across our second border and into Mexico.  We started the day a bit earlier, hitting the road at just after 8 a.m.  Temps were nice at 16 ºC (60ºF).    Leaving this early would get us to the border around 11 a.m.  You never really know how long it is going to take you at the border and then at the Banjerito a few kilometers from the border where you get your Tourist Visa (FMM) and your Temporary Import Permit (TIP) for the truck.   Last year we didn’t make it to the Banjerito until sundown and so we overnighted in the their parking lot, but we didn’t want to have to do that again this time.  Ideally we wanted to get to the Fas Gas truck stop near Guaymas before sundown.

Right on schedule, we were at the US side of the Mariposa Truck border crossing by 10:30 a.m.  It is an odd crossing, there are many buildings and lots of signage which makes you think there is somewhere you are going to have to stop to talk to someone.  What you don’t realize is that all those buildings are actually on the US side.  The actual crossing to Mexico isn’t until you weave your way through that section - about another 10 minute drive.  AND there is a toll booth BEFORE you get to the actual border Customs station ($200 pesos or approx $14 Cdn).  Make sure you have pesos as that is all they take - welcome to Mexico 🇲🇽 😝 .  You need to pay really good attention to the signs both on the side/above the road as well as painted on the road itself (for example “RV lane”).  

The winding road and maze leaving the US and entering Mexico.  
Customs building (Aduana Nogales) is to the right in the street view image & near the blue arrow on the map 
*click on picture to enlarge

We made it to the Aduana Nogales (Nogales Customs) by 10:40 and by 10:45 we were on our way.  It was a very easy crossing.  Of course the customs agents all speak Spanish to you and we just look blindly at them trying to figure out what they are saying.  We hand them our passports and the agent asks Dan to open his driver side door.  Of course, you can’t see anything from that angle. The RV is on a Freightliner chassis so it sits very high up.  He only asked us where we were going and then came around to the side door of the RV and asked us to open it.  As soon as he saw Heffay though, his eyes widened and I could tell he was unsure and maybe even afraid.  He asked me in Spanish if Heffay would bite him (el muerde).  Dan was holding him back, and Heffay wasn’t growling or barking but the agent could tell how strong he was.  I could see he wanted to come up into the RV, but after we saw Heffay he changed his mind, backed down the stairs and told us to be on our way.  Not such a bad thing 😊 As we started to pull away a Marine came up to Dan’s window and started to speak in Spanish to us.  Of course, we couldn’t figure out what he was saying (and even if we could we always pretend we don’t 😉).  The Marine decided to just forget about whatever he was asking us about and waved us on.  We were happy we weren’t asked to unhook the truck and drive it through on it’s own.  There have been some people who have had to do that last year and this year.  Maybe that is what the Marine was trying to ask us to do, lol!  We were through the official checkpoints within five minutes and headed on our way to the Banjerito. 

Highway 15D
The buildings & huge parking lot where you get your FMM and TIP (left hand side)
*click to enlarge any picture

We arrived at the Banjerito at 11 a.m. but unfortunately for us, a tour bus made it there just before we arrived.  The line up for the Tourist Visa (FMM) took the longest as we waited for groups from the bus tour to get their FMM.  There was only one Mexican working in the FMM office making it a good hour and a half wait.  Thankfully, with the RV we have our house on wheels so while Dan kept our position in line I had time to go and make us a sandwich for lunch.  

After receiving our FMM and getting the full 180 days without issue, we headed to the Banjerito to get our Temporary Import Permit for the truck.  That was pretty quick as we came prepared with originals and copies of the truck insurance and Dan’s passport.  After paying $1276 pesos ($87Cdn) and $9261 pesos ($633 Cdn) for our FMM’s and TIP respectively, we were back on the road by 1:10 p.m. **Note to self for next time….remember to bring reading glasses when we go to get our FMM and TIP.  It’s getting harder and harder to read that fine print - lol!

Entering Santa Ana
I liked the sign “have a good trip”.  The trucker on the other side of the highway wasn’t having such a good trip though. Yikes! 😳 

Given how long it had taken us at the Banjerito, we knew we wouldn’t make it all the way to Guaymas so our destination for the evening stop became somewhere near Hermosillo.  I looked to the iOverlander app to see what options were available.  

Pemex south of Hermosillo
*Click any picture to enlarge

By shortly after 5 pm we stopped at a Pemex just outside of Hermosillo where we could fill up and spend the night in a gated secure compound for $50 pesos($3.40 Cdn)  But boy what a 🤬 show it was!  To get to the diesel truck pumps you had to drive around the back of a building where you would come out facing the highway.  The only problem was that the station was jam packed with big rigs, many of which were towing double trailers full of new cars.  And they were blocking the way behind the building.  When we finally made our way to the pumps, only two of the four were open and the trucks in front of us, those carrying the new vehicles, seemed to have stopped not only for fuel but also to have their engine washed…all while sitting at the pumps!  It had already been a long day, it was a scorching 38 ºC and our patience was waring thin.  We were stuck behind them, no way to back out or go around.  

After some time had passed and things still weren’t moving Dan asked me to get out and go see if the attendants could tell us what was going on.  About four men were standing on the other side of the pumps just chit chatting.  When I asked them how much longer it would take they motioned us to one of the “closed” pumps and opened it up for us.  I hate to think how long we’d have sat there….sheesh!  

After filling we made our way to the back fenced lot.  And, of course, as we were facing the highway to fuel the rig and there was a divide in the highway that couldn’t be crossed we had to pull out and then turn the wrong way into oncoming traffic to get back into the lot (see above picture).  We weren’t the only ones doing that.  And, it is Mexico so just about anything goes (so long as a cop doesn’t happen to see us tourists pulling Mexican driving stunts ha ha!). I think that station was just a really poor design, especially when it’s super busy!   

The overnight parking lot was great, clean, level and well lit with high fences surrounding it and of course an onsite security guard.  It also had a large dirt lot that was completely fenced in the very back and only had a couple trucks in it.  It was a great place to let Heffay off leash to run around, something he hadn’t had a chance to do since leaving our back yard at home.  Once we got set up for the evening we cracked open some Bailey’s to help settle our nerves.  Boy did that taste good!  We’re not drinkers by any stretch of the imagination, but sometimes a little can help take the edge off of a stressful day 😉. It also helped me feel a bit better as I still had a horrid head and chest cold.  I sounded like a walrus!  

It was a surprisingly quiet overnight.  No trucks running their engines or generators and no road noise either even though we were relatively close to the highway.  Even HoseHey seemed to have settled in and wasn’t crying (that is until 3 a.m. 😢). Poor guy really didn’t handle overnight stops very well.  All said, I’m not sure we’d stop there again unless we forfeited filling up and just went straight back into the lot. 

A rare sight, the boys lying together.  
I’m sure HeyZeus is trying to comfort HoseHey 💕 

It was on this evening that we decided on our next journey to/from Mexico we’ll extend the trip out a bit longer so we have more days of rest for us and for the animals.  On our way home we’ll try driving for two days and stopping for two nights.  That should reduce some of the mental and physical strain on us and our furry beasts. 

The next day the plan was to make our way to Los Mochis, following that we’d head to Mazatlan and then our last day of driving would get us to our final destination - Lo de Marcos. Thankfully we’d kept all our leftover pesos (approx $3500 p) from our trip home last spring. They’d come in handy and would cover almost all the tolls we’d hit to get to our final destination.  

Eloy, NV to Hermosillo, Sonora

Start Time - 8:15 a.m.

Temp at start - 16ºC (60ºF)
End Time - 5:15 p.m.

Total # tolls = 4

Total cost for tolls = 200 + 79 + 241 + 144 = $669 pesos ($46 Cdn)

Temp at end - 38ºC (101ºF) 🥵 

Total driven - 304 miles

Accommodation cost - $50 pesos ($3.40 Cdn)

Fuel - $3807 Pesos ($259 Cdn) - 41 gallons @ $24.56 pesos/liter ($1.69 Cdn/litre)