| We sold our Dodge Caravan and bought a Chevy | | | | much better. When a tourist visa is paid for upon |
| Avalanche. I had no real idea of the type of terrain | | | | entrance into Mexico, the visa should be put into a |
| we might encounter so a four-wheel drive vehicle was | | | | receipt machine which simply prints the amount you |
| a must. The other things that we liked about the | | | | were charged on the back of the visa. It looks much |
| Avalanche were that it had hard plastic panels that | | | | like a store receipt you get. We did not know this. I |
| cover the box and it had a television in the back for | | | | paid the man and he stamped our passports and each |
| the girls. The tailgate could be locked and everything | | | | visa with a blue tourist stamp but he did not run the |
| in the back would stay safe and dry. We figured that | | | | visas through the receipt machine. The cost per visa |
| this would be a great feature since we would be | | | | was $20.00USD. |
| parked in areas where stuff could be taken from the | | | | After that we found a Best Western and spent the |
| back. My good wife had the sense to pack | | | | night. We were warned to only use motels that had |
| everything we were taking into large clear Rubbermaid | | | | a gated parking lot to avoid theft or vehicle damage. |
| containers so that we could see at a glance what | | | | Driving through Mexico was great. We stopped at |
| was in each container and it would be less | | | | many sites on the way and never felt threatened or |
| time-consuming at the borders. This saved us many | | | | uncomfortable at any point. We did make it a point to |
| headaches in Mexico where we ran into several army | | | | stop driving early each evening and find a place to |
| spot checks. | | | | spend the night. Driving in Mexico at night is very |
| We left Ontario on August 3rd and in 3 days we | | | | dangerous. Free ranging animals are everywhere |
| crossed the Brownsville border into Mexico. At the | | | | and they seem to be drawn to headlights somehow. |
| border we needed to get a trip permit for our truck | | | | The biggest surprise to us though, were the guns at |
| and tourist visas for each of us. When we got the | | | | the spot checks. The soldiers were all friendly even |
| trip permit we had to pay for it right away and the | | | | though we couldn't really communicate. They typically |
| price was about $60.00USD. The tourist visas on the | | | | opened the tailgate, looked inside at the clear |
| other hand could be paid for immediately or upon | | | | containers, closed the tailgate and waived us through. |
| leaving Mexico. We chose to pay immediately in | | | | Seven days after leaving home, we arrived at the |
| order to make our exit from Mexico into Belize less | | | | Belize border. That was where we had to hand in |
| complicated. The mistake I made though was that I | | | | the trip permit and the tourist visas. That was also |
| did not ask them for a proof of payment. My | | | | where we learned that we would have to pay for the |
| Spanish is non-existent and their English there is not | | | | tourist visas again. |