It's been about six months since we made the drive from Canada to Mexico in our trusty Honda Civic. Thinking back, I remember the grey skies in Buffalo, the Ohio River stretching across the green fields in Cincinnati, the neon lights in Nashville and the intensity of the summer sun in Texas. We were pretty impressed that our little Honda made the long trek south, considering it's getting up in years.
When we crossed the border into Mexico, we had all our paperwork ready but it turns out the processing time for our car was a couple days. We were very eager to get home and didn't feel like sticking around in Nuevo Laredo, so instead we applied for a 6-month permit. Mexico has fairly strict laws about vehicle importation, in order to protect their economy. At the moment, you can't import a car into Mexico any newer than a 2008 model. This wasn't a problem for us, as our Honda is a 1999. However, the actual importation is a bit tricky. Shortly after we arrived, the government restricted all car importations. So we waited... and while we waited for the ban to lift, the Honda sat parked on our street...patiently waiting too.
Hibernation is not the most ideal activity for a car. After about three months, we noticed the front left tire had become flat. We used one of those handy air compressors to pump it back up. It seemed to last about a week, and then the tire was flat again. The next time we tried to pump it up, the car coughed and gagged and struggled to start. After a couple tries, there was only silence and the battery was completely pooched. We didn't have time to find a new battery that day, and then life got busy and we forgot about the car for a little while.
As winter approached and the temperature dropped, we remembered the permit expiry date was getting closer. We had heard that if you cancel the permit before the expiry, you can receive your $200 deposit back and then you can renew the permit again for another 180 days. So we decided it was time to get the Honda back on the road. Javier found a beautiful new battery for the car and asked a friend to come over to install it and bring our car back to life. (Photo Credit: Javier Arizpe)
And last week I took the car to a shop on the highway to check out the tire.
It didn't take them long to find the reason for our flat tire... and thankfully they were able to patch it up. (Just threw a quarter in the photo for size reference)
As the expiry date for the permit is January 23rd, we decided to go a couple days early. You can only renew permits at the border, so we left early last Wednesday, headed for Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.
The day was grey and rainy, and clouds covered the tops of the mountains.
Nuevo Laredo is about 230km from our home (or about 2.5 hours). The first stretch of the drive is through the mountains, and the rest of the drive is fairly flat.
We stopped for brunch at this colourful place along the way.
They had a delicious looking buffet, with a variety of traditional mexican dishes.
One of the most delicious things you can find in the north of Mexico are Tacos Mañaneros with Barbacoa. I like to add freshly chopped onion, cilantro and green salsa to mine.
We also shared a glass of Horchata - delicious!
Inside the restaurant, they had plenty of typical tourist souvenirs as well.
We finally arrived in Nuevo Laredo and found our way to the Vehicle Importation Building.
There aren't many signs so you need to ask for directions if you are planning to get there.
When we applied for our permit in July, the place was bustling with people. This time it was almost empty, with a handful of folks and no line-ups. We began the process again, waiting in various lines, making photo copies of documents, and signing papers. I was hoping it would be as simple as it sounded.... just cancel the permit and reapply. We found out that when you apply for a vehicle permit, you are only allowed 180 days exactly... which means, if you cancel a few days before the permit expires, then reapplying only gives you a "new" permit for the remaining days you already have. This means Javier was not able to reapply for the permit, or we would only get 5 more days. Thankfully, after some momentary panic, crossed fingers and a little patience (well, Javier was patient... I'm still working on that), we were able to transfer the permit in my name instead.
Since we were so close to the border, we crossed over to the US side to visit Laredo.
We discovered a Guitar Centre in town and enjoyed browsing through the selection of instruments. Here is a shot of some nice looking bass guitars.
It was getting late into the afternoon, and Javier suddenly developed a migraine, so we decided to head back home. Crossing the border was pleasantly simple this time (without a giant trailer).
It was very foggy on the way back, and the mountains were still hiding behind the mist.
We were on the last stretch of the highway, when we suddenly noticed red and blue lights flashing behind us. I've only ever had one speeding ticket in my life, so I'm not used to being pulled over. We stopped on the side of the road. The officer was smiling when he approached the window, and explained that our tail lights were out. Javier got out of the car to talk with him, and then came back to say that the officer was going to take my license with him to a police station to prepare a ticket. This seemed unusual and unnecessary so I panicked and told Javier that he can't take my license away, mostly because I didn't want to have to figure out how to find to the police station later. I got out of the car to try and explain this, but decided to listen in on the conversation first. Javier was very polite and respectful, explaining that we had just renewed our permit and we were almost home. I guess the officer decided to give us a break, and after a few minutes we were on our way again, thankfully with my license in hand and no ticket.
The next day, I was determined not to let the brake lights stop me. I knew the lights were working fine before, and Javier thought we probably just blew a fuse. I don't know much about cars, but I did a little research to figure out if I could fix the problem myself. After a quick search, I found the fuse panel and figured out which one linked to the brake lights.
Conveniently, the fuse panel includes a spare 7.5 fuse... so it took about 2 minutes to make the switch. Now I'm sure my mechanic friends would laugh about this simple problem, but after taking care of the problem myself, I felt on top of the world! Thanks to Google and my pliers for the inspiration! (and to Javier, who later told me that he was the one who put the spare fuses in the box!).
