We made it!

I read somewhere that the most difficult borders to cross are the ones in your own head. And that would certainly apply to the Mexican border. It took less than 20 seconds to cross with a nod from an 18 yr old looking boy signifying without a single question or word exchanged that we were IN MEXICO and had DONE IT. Not a single car in front of us meant our plan for a 7am border crossing at Nogales really had shined.

Don't you need to see our document folder and all the copies we have prepared and organized by section? The van title we were nervous about getting changed from a commercial vehicle (Falkor was a former Amazon delivery van) to an RV - you surely need to see that? The vet certificates? Nope, they didn't even ask if we had a dog. Nothing. We were in. We stopped at Km 21 to get our paperwork and landed a 10 year vehicle permit for our 'casa rodante.' We stopped our 'road house' to get a Mexican SIM and then proceeded to our first spot where Gus could dip his weary road paws into the Sea of Cortez. And his owners fell asleep promptly at 630pm, all the months of stress getting ready to cross the border erased in 20 seconds left us exhausted. We made it!

Thanks to the overlanders bible - an ap called iOverlander - the next night we found our dream spot, parking our van next to a palapa on an empty beach and promptly ordered up pina coladas. They weren't great, so we'll need a redo - but the sandy beach made up for that.

Gordon is settling in nicely to his first week post work. It will be an adjustment that Megan plans to ply with many pina coladas - Gordon hasn't had more than 3 weeks off in his life since joining the work force 30+ years ago.

The BEST part of this day was getting to swim in the ocean together with Gus for the first time.  We all got pounded and went under the first wave (rookies!)... and then it was amazing how, on the second wave, Gus learned to watch it and jump into it or out run it. This pooch never ceases to amaze us - an ocean swim all together followed by dinner on the road....

The next day we passed many tolls as we listened to our audiobook to make it to Mazatlan to meet up with a guide named Michele that Megan had worked with at her previous job. She welcomed us and showed us around Mazatlan in her super golf cart. It was really nice to see a familiar face who adores living in Mexico.  

She also introduced us to Vanilla Tequila Liquor which sounds terrible but was so delicious we will be on the hunt for.  

And drove us past the infamous hotel 'El Chapo' was captured at in Mazatlan as he hid out. Not a single shot was fired as the drug kingpin of the world was arrested here shirtless at 7am on a Saturday.  

Next up was a 6 hour drive to Aijijic (don't ask me how to pronounce it) to stay with a dog friend we watched as they house shopped in Mexico and settled in this lovely lakeside town.  

Their dog George was thrilled to see Gus, even though he had a new short Mexican hairdo.  

We really enjoyed our visit and learning about living in Mexico - we think they discovered the fountain of youth as they looked about 10 years younger and their dog was almost 17 and so spry.  

Another friend of Gordon's he used to work with had moved down there so some breakfast nachos (aka chilequiles) were shared as we swooned over learning more about how much they enjoyed living in Mexico. 

And then it was time to head to Guanajuato, settle into our rental home for the month, and explore this amazing city. We report to Spanish School at 830am Monday morning. So far the only dangers we've encountered in Mexico are unbridled happiness, overeating, wild roving mariachi bands, and the true danger - that we'll never want to leave.