Friday, October 26, 2012

Cleaning

Norma and I removed all the inside vent covers, screens, A/C cover and filter and window screens a few days ago. On Wednesday Norma and Nancy cleaned everything cleanable in the motorhome and yesterday I put all the covers, screens and filters back on. I bleached the fresh water tank and ran all the hot and cold water taps until I smelled bleach coming out of each. That will take care of any critters or mold in the system.  We dumped some strong cleaner down the toilet so the black tank will scrub itself clean by sloshing around while we travel before our first dump.

I reviewed our route down into Mexico and discovered things have changed at our usual point of entry, Lukeville, AZ / Sonoita, MX. In the past we simply drove through this crossing and continued to the Aduana (Customs) buildings at KM 21 on Mex 2 where we got our FMM's (personal visas) and TIP (temporary import permit) for the car. The motorhome has a ten year permit already. We could get everything in one stop and there was a copy place and a bank there to pay all the fees. Convenient.

Well, typical of Mexican bureaucracy, this has now changed. The building is no longer there! The process now is to park on the Arizona side of the border and walk across to the Migracion office to get our FMM's. This process is reported to take up to 90 minutes. They can be paid for right there but I do not know if I can pay with USA dollars or if I must have pesos to do this. If so, I will have to try to get some pesos as I do not think there is an ATM at the border.

We then walk back to the USA to pick up the mptorhome, drive back across the border and follow Mex 2 to the village of Altar where there is a brand new Aduana building where we can get the permit for the car. Again, I do not know if I can pay there or not. We shall find out and I will report on what happens.

After this stop, it will be a short drive to Edgar and Anna's Punta Vista RV Park in Santa Ana. They are a neat couple, he Mexican and she from Mississippi. Very friendly people and eager to offer advice for Mexican travel. If you have or want to spend the night in Santa Ana, don't hesitate stopping there.

7 comments:

  1. Croft were did you get that info re Lukeville, can you send me a link?

    I always get my pesos here before leaving. In fact I am picking 45000 pesos at my credit union this afternoon. Just order the pesos about 3-5 days in advance.

    One more question, what black tank cleaner did you use?

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    1. It was an email report from our American friends Whit and Jan. I will send it to you.

      I will call my CU for some pesos. Thanks.

      We had some "Pino" cleaner from Mexico that we used. It is not black tank cleaner, just general cleaner that works really well after it has sloshed around in a half tank of water all day.

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    2. Be sure to ask for small bills. Otherwise you will get them to large for getting change but then I 'm sure you already figured that out.

      PIno cleaner, will do it on the way out in April, that road will for sure slosh the tank clean.

      Gracias!

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  2. Safe travels to you and Norma. We will be following your adventures from home this year. We have had 2 days of snow and cold temps, so Tobey is getting itchy feet, but we have too many committments to get away. Sue

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  3. You two are tuned up and ready to go. Well done with the RV preparations to. Safe travels.

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  4. Hope we didn't mislead you about our Migracion experience at Sonoyta. We actually thought it was one of our easiest. Sure was faster and friendlier than last year at km21.

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    1. Nope, we are fine with it Jan. FMM's at the border Migracion office and TIP at the new Aduana at Altar. No problema!

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