Hey world… things continue getting back to normal for us overlanding people. Travel restrictions are easing, borders are opening, quarantining is being dumped. It’s time we did a trip back to Blighty to visit our families. But although ‘rona virus rules might be on their way out, we still have the old logistical and legal rules of parking Cuthbert unattended for a while. Here we ponder some overlanding rules, our time in UK, and why Mexico is always a good idea!
Overlanding Rules
If you’re an occasional, short-term traveller, you’re unlikely to have considered the regulatory issues facing overlanders (and why would you, eh?). If you were to address your mind to such things, you might reasonably expect the duration of the personal visa to be a restriction. But there are the vehicle rules too. The temporary import of a foreign vehicle kicks-up an entirely separate set of rules. These pesky little regs are often unclear in their application and invariably inconsistent with the visa rules applicable to the driver of the vehicle.
In Mexico for example, we can get a tourism visa for up to 6 months, whilst Cuthbert gets a 10 year permit. In USA we can get up to 6 months, whilst Cuthbert gets one year. ‘Okay’ you may think… ‘so just work to the shortest duration’. But the short timescales often aren’t long enough to see a large country properly. It’s sometimes possible to extend the initial visa/permit periods, but that kicks-up a whole new set of rules. And of course, you wouldn’t expect these extension provisions to be the same for us and for Cuthbert, would you? They’re totally different and inconsistent 🙄
And once you’ve got your head around all those rules, there’s yet another issue if you want to fly back to your home country for a visit. Can an owner of a foreign vehicle legally leave the country without the vehicle? If you can’t do it legally, what are the chances of being caught? And if you are caught, what are the likely consequences? All things considered (we’ll spare you the nitty gritty tedium) we decide Mexico is the place we want to leave Cuthbert whilst we fly off to UK for a short visit. As someone once said: Mexico is always a good idea!
Mexico – always a good idea
Back in the days before Covid was a thing, we spent a whole year in Mexico on our way north. It’s a fabulous, friendly and fascinating country. Now, after over two and a half years in USA/Canada, we were keen to get back to a bit of taco-time. We’d missed the culture, the beach camping, the food, the smells, the ‘bienvenidos a Mexico’ attitude. We decided to take a drive down to Mexico City, where we could park Cuthbert (safely, legally and for a reasonable price) and from where we could get an easy flight to UK.
From the Yuma/Algodones border it’s over 2,500 km to Mexico City. We took time to visit some spots on the west coast that we missed before and revisit some of our favourite places on the way (take a bow, Guadalajara City 😊).
The (almost) Ramp
A new spot to explore on the coast for us was a beach village of Celestino just north of Mazatlán. We stopped at a cute campsite overlooking the beach. The camp-spots were on two tier-levels and the owner directed us down a concrete ramp to the lower level with stunning uninterrupted view along the sands. The sun was shining, the sea was lapping below us, and we spotted a bustling beach café full of locals in the distance. The promise of shrimp tacos with pico de gallo and a cold beer was calling us for a walk down the sands. Ahhhh… this is what we came back to Mexico for!!! 😎.
As we walked on the sand we looked back to our camp-spot and were hit by a bit of an ‘OMG WTF’ moment… the concrete ramp over which we had driven our 5,900kg truck was totally hollow and unsupported underneath! Clearly, in the not too distant past, a sea-surge had washed away the cliff under the ramp which was left supporting itself in a kind of cantilever fashion. Gulp. How it had not given-way under Cuthbert’s weight was a mystery. ‘Phew… narrow escape’ we thought. Best we leave by the exit at the other end of the camp… oh wait… there is no other exit. This is it. We’ll have to drive over it again to get out 😳. Oh well… first we’ll have beer and tacos… then worry about that when we leave in a couple of days.
Cuthbert’s Holiday
Anyway… after escaping the ‘ramp’ by the skin of our teeth, and an otherwise uneventful and pleasant drive through Mexico, we finally arrived at Teotihuacan on the outskirts of Mexico City. We’re leaving Cuthbert’s here in his holiday home for the next three weeks, but he won’t be lonely. Mina at the Trailer Park is custodian of several overlanding rigs, all patiently awaiting their owners’ return from their homeland. There was a French rig, a Brazilian rig, an Australian rig, a German rig… so many new friends for Cuthbert 😉. Some of them had clearly been there for a very long time, from the start of the pandemic over two years ago.
Mooching around Mexico
Blighty
Having tucked Cuthbert up in Mexico, we popped-off to UK for three weeks. It was wonderful to catch up with our families after three long years not seeing them. Of course, we ate and drank far too much, but it was great to tour the country and have a catch-up celebration at every stop.
Taking a step-back overview of our time in Blighty, a few things struck us. First, the UK was wallowing under the impression that the pandemic is over. After spending time in Mexico where masking is still de rigeur, temperatures are taken on entering shops and hand sanitising is still a national pass-time, the complete absence of any procedures whatsoever in UK was a bit of a culture shock. We are fully jabbed-up, but we reckoned it’d be a miracle if we could survive three weeks of concentrated socialising without catching the lurgy. We were keen not to provide free transport for the ‘rona virus from household to household on our tour around the country (particularly visiting our elderly parents), so we bought a stack of self-test kits for regular checking. Surprisingly, our results for the whole trip were all negative. Hey… maybe the pandemic is over now, after all 🤔
Another thing we noticed pretty quickly in UK was the proliferation of products and brands unfamiliar to us. At the car-hire desk, the chap cheerfully announced we’d been allocated a 2008 Peugeot. Wow… we thought… a 14 year old car! Turns out, 2008 is now a Peugeot model number and the car was actually only a few months old 😂.
It was sad to see how the high-street has deteriorated in UK. Retail shops seem to have closed on high-streets all over the country and everyone seems to do on-line shopping. However, almost without exception, everyone we visited was having outrageous problems with suppliers and tradesmen. Goods bought on-line not being delivered on time, items missing from orders, tradesmen not available, and where they are available, jobs not completed to specification. Nobody had reason to be happy with goods and services in UK at the moment. It’s 13 years since we lived in UK and we notice the face of the country changes slightly every time we visit. Maybe it’s due to the pandemic, maybe Brexit, or maybe it’s just time – nothing stands still.
Back to the Tacos
Before we knew it, we were on our way back home to Cuthbert. It was lovely to see everyone in UK, but we really do miss Cuthbert on the few occasions that we leave him. He is our home. And our home is where we park it. Back in Mexico we take a bit of jet-lag-induced rest and time to fit Cuthbert’s new toys we brought back from UK.
Now, it’s time to head back north. Back to those pesky rules again… we hope we’ve done enough time out of USA to re-set our B1/B2 visa-clock and the nice immigration officer will give us another 6 months 🤞.
On the way back to see Uncle Sam, we stop off to see our friends Calvin and Leanne McKenzie. Many of our overlanding friends will know them as the former owners of the legendary Overlander Oasis in Oaxaca. We stayed with them for months and became friends back in 2018 whilst we were waiting to receive a new windscreen. It was great to catch up with them, now settled in their new home.
Further north we did a return visit to the fabulous Sierra de Órganos National Park near Durango (highly recommended for a stop if you’re in the area), then traversed the region proud of its connection with the celebrated revolutionary, Pancho Villa. He makes frequent appearances in statues, plaques, former residences and eponymous taco shops. It was our first time visiting the city of Chihuahua and we were pleasantly surprised. It’s not known for much (other than its connections with unsavoury drugs cartels) and it’s certainly not one of the must-do stops in Mexico. Nevertheless, it’s a clean, pleasant city. It’s great for an afternoon stroll around the plazas and visits to the museums and public buildings.
Not far north of Chihuahua is Paquime – one of the most important historical ruins in North America. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here was one of the key indigenous trading centres from the 1300s. This was a time when the Casas Grandes culture extended over (what is now) New Mexico, Arizona and Chihuahua State. It seems they eventually came a cropper after a bust-up with the Apaches. An interesting site and worth a stop if you’re passing. Then, a mere hop, skip and a jump up the road from Paquime, is the El Berrendo crossing into good ol’ US of A.
Uncle Sam’s Back Door
Most people entering USA by land do so at one of the many ‘front doors’ – the huge crossings invariably experiencing loooong queues and frustrating (albeit reasonable under the circumstances) vehicle checks. El Berrendo/Antelope Wells however, is a ‘back-door’ to USA – possibly the quietest and least-known crossing. It’s only open only from 10:00 – 16:00 hrs. We crossed around midday and were the only vehicle there at the time. It was so quiet, we had to go find the Mexican official who was out the back of his office washing his car! Entering the USA the officials were friendly yet professional and efficient. We’ve crossed 71 borders in our time overlanding and can say that this was one of our favourites.
The only downside for some travellers might be the vehicle admin. Remember those pesky rules we mentioned at the top? Here at El Berrendo, there is no vehicle TIP (Temporary Import Permit) office on the Mexican side. If you need a vehicle TIP entering Mexico (and just to complicate things, you may not need one) or if you want to claim back a vehicle deposit on leaving Mexico, you’ll need to go to one of the larger ‘front door’ crossings.
Next… we’re heading north for the summer. Watch this space to see how far we get in USA!