We are in Mexico!

That is right! We managed to make a four day trip into a three day trip. We drove hard and long hours and are happy to say it was well worth it. We got up early, crossed the border and were driving down a Mexican road by 7am. We arrived at what we thought would be our end-of-the-day destination at 1pm. It did not make sense to stop, so we continued on to Guadalajara. We arrived in Guadalajara at 8pm. The size of the city, as we drove down into it, took my breath way, I had no idea it was so big.

At the border: We were up by 4am on Sunday morning and out the door at 5am. The border was just minutes down the road. We knew that we needed visas and to register our car, outside of that we had no idea what this process looked like. We drove over the Rio Grande and were not stopped at the check point. The guards were all standing off to the side talking to each other. I guess it was way too early in the morning to bother with us. Within seconds of crossing the border, we knew we had done something wrong. Not even a block after the border, we were surrounded by residential housing. Andy looked in his review mirror and said, "We must have missed something, I think we were suppose to stop at that check point for our visas." It was too late now, behind us was only one way streets heading in our direction. We had no way to turn around. We found a border patrol officer who told us we would have to cross back into Texas and come back around. We waited 40 minutes on the Mexican side of the border in line with Mexicans entering the U.S.. Believe it or not, this was what took the longest. So, once again, we made our way back to the river and crossed into Mexico. This time the guards were a little more alert and gave us a red light to stop for inspection. We were both just fine with this, because we had no idea what we were supposed to do next. Why do these things have to be so confusing!! We were directed to turn left and drive several blocks down, get on the highway and at the lights make a U turn for immigration. OKAY! All the signs were in Spanish and I woke the part of my brain that stores what little Spanish I have and set it in full gear. We arrived at the highway with the help of a few Mexicans and found ourselves at the U turn the guard had spoken about. We made the U turn and found ourselves behind a slow moving local police vehicle. In seconds, he turned on his lights and pulled over indicating for us to do the same. I was sure he was just seeing if we needed directions or something, but that was far from the reality. He told Andy in broken English that he had turned on a red arrow. Oh…no….this just cannot be happening! We both knew that Andy had not turned on a red arrow. The officer said he was going to take us to the police station to pay a big fine for what we just did. Andy tried to explain that it had been green, but the officer just kept on with his talk of fines and poor American driving. Since my Spanish was up and running, I tried to speak to him in Spanish, explaining that we were heading to get our visas and we know we turned on a green light. This did not stop his attempt to scare us by threatening a trip downtown that he kept making clear was in the opposite direction of immigration. My heart started to slow down to a controlled state of rage. We both knew what was happening. This was a well known game in Mexico. We were being asked for a bribe! He was hoping we would slip him some money, so we could get on our way. We had no intentions of playing this game and so we did not bite. He was going on and on and I was done with it. I said, "We know we did not run a red light, so if you want to take us to pay a fine, LETS GO!" I was unnerved when he agreed to do just that and Andy started turning our stuffed SUV around, away for the immigration office. We followed him for a good ten minutes and he drove extremely slow. Maybe he thought we would change our mind. We said nothing to each other. All that could come out of my mouth was a prayer for the deepest part of me. I prayed, "Jesus, at this moment we surrender our lives to you, we surrender this moment to you. We surrender our control, our fear, all to you. Have Your way." Finally, the police officer rolled his window down and directed us to turn around and be on our way. I allowed myself to cry with relief, as we thanked the Lord. Immigration went really well and everyone was so nice to us due to the three little girls with us that smiled at everyone who looked at them. Then 40 miles down the road, we hit the second check point. This was the one we were sure would give us a hassle. Many times they stop you, inspect your stuff and try to get some money. Our nerves needed a break at this point and they gave us one. They asked us where we were headed and then let us go on our way.