Crossing the border

We crossed the border into Mexico in between McAllen, TX and Reynosa, Mexico about 12 noon on Sunday and at the border crossing we got a red light at the custom inspections station. There are some check points with a box that has a green light on it and a red light on it (looks just like a stop light in the states without the yellow light) and it randomly gives a red light or a green light. If you get a red light you have to pull over and talk with the customs/immigration officer and tell him what you are doing, where you are going and what you are bringing into the country. And at his discretion he can search your vehicle or let you pass. And it is at this point that you just hope that he isn’t having a bad day or upset with life at that moment because we have been told horror stories about having to unload everything out of the vehicles which could take hours.

Now here is the deal with these customs check points…they are checking your vehicle for any prohibited items AND/OR any items that you have to pay a very high tax on to bring into Mexico. With Sarah and I, we really were not bringing in anything that fit into these categories because we were not bringing anything in to sell and make profit or give anyone items so that they could sell and make a profit. All of our items were for our personal use to live in Mexico. But the problem is that we are going in as “tourists,” not residents and we have been told by other missionaries that sometimes it is difficult to explain why you have certain items if you are just “tourists”….know what I mean. So anyway we have been praying for green lights….green lights…and more green lights; especially since it took me 4 ½ hours to pack the truck for the trip down here. We had that pickup so packed that we had to give away another couple of things at our going away gathering on Saturday before we left so that I could just be comfortable in the cab for the trip.

So when I got the red light you can imagine what was going on in my mind….exactly….. am I really going to have to unload everything? [But in reality this stop is not the one to really worry about as the officer just asks a few questions and usually lets you go on through. It is the customs station 20 miles from any border crossing that are the one’s you have to worry about as these guys are very thorough and strict and, from what I hear, just down right mean.] I got out of the truck, answered his questions and he just let us go on so we went on down to the immigration station to get all the right paperwork (visa’s and truck permit). Praise God for such an easy border crossing even though we got the red light.

The first thing that happened after we left the border crossing is that it started to get really warm in the cab of the truck. Well guess what? You got it. Our a/c went out as we crossed the border. We looked at each other and just smiled and said “well at least we will have a lot better gas mileage from now on.” We just praise God that nothing else went out on the truck the entire time….not even a flat or low air in the tires!
After getting our paperwork squared away at the border and then realizing that we would not have any a/c for the next 1,150 miles we took off on our new journey across Mexico. But we didn’t get but a few miles down the road until we both realized that even with a good map, it was not going to be easy to navigate our way around south of the border. I don’t want any of you to ever complain again about the traffic or traffic signs in the states again ( I sure won’t) because half the streets don’t have signs and the other half don’t have the correct names on them (the map lists street numbers but they all have names….go figure). And on top of that, everyone is driving like they own the road and you are just in their way. There may be 2 marked lanes but all of a sudden you are driving 4 wide and you can reach out and grab the mirror of the guy next to you. And as for one-way signs….forget about it….you don’t know that you are driving the wrong way until you turn the corner and all of a sudden you see headlights and horns coming your way. That happened to me twice within about 5 minutes.