Sunday, April 5, 2009

Border Crossing

The border crossing into the USA was time consuming but went well. We were stopped on the Mexican side by a bunch of soldiers. One of them came up to the window and said something in Spanish. I explained that my Spanish was poor so he just smiled and, in a loud voice, said, “Inspection!”. I laughed and told him I knew what that meant and he laughed back. I opened the door and they had a quick look inside.  Another soldier was pointing at the Honda door so I walked back and asked if he wanted to look in it. He said no and told me the door was not locked and that it was dangerous to not lock a vehicle in the USA.

We stopped at the Banjercito to get the six month permit removed from the Honda (the motorhome is good for ten years) and then found the Migration Office and turned in our FMT’s. We made our way across the Rio Grande and entered the USA. They stopped us and told Norma she had to go through the regular entry point while I and the motorhome had to go through the truck entry.

After a short interview, I was handed a slip of paper saying I had been selected for an “Intensive Inspection”. I was directed to the X-Ray building where I parked the motorhome and walked back outside the building. After a very slow scan they went in for a look. They came out and told me I had prohibited items. When I asked what they were, I was told pork, eggs and fruit. I asked if I could just throw them out and was told no, that was not allowed and that I now had to go through an agricultural inspection.

They removed the food items as well as a potted plant that we were given by John, who we had met in Mexico. I asked if I could at least keep the pot and after a moment of deliberation, he said “OK”. Sorry John, the plant was doing really well.

All this took over an hour before I finally made it through and picked up Norma who had been waiting in the blazing sun all this time. I was actually happy to see the increased inspections. The flow of drugs and guns has to be stopped and an hour of my time was little sacrifice.

X-Ray Booth

x ray

3 comments:

  1. I was going to ask you how the crossing went! Thank you for posting about it.

    I like your positive attitude about being delayed that long.

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  2. You are certainly cool about the border crossing. I hate crossing borders into the U.S. Those people just seems to be slower and more obnoxious than anywhere else. I remember one time coming back from Vancouver crossing at Blaine, WA with my wife and in-laws in the car. The guy got me out to open the trunk. We had been shopping and had some bags. The inspector then asked if we had any pornography! I was so shocked all I could do is say "Taking porn into Blaine?" (At the time there were two or three "adult bookstores" in Blaine.)

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  3. hi, Croft and Norma, i [a US citizen] took the Mexican bus from Houston, Texas to Mexico City one year. i wondered how they [US side] would inspect the bus when it came time to cross back into the USA. we had to get off with our luggage and stand outside in the weather also, near the bus. they have a huge x-ray machine that is bigger than the buses, and it passes over the bus very very slowly, scanning it thoroughly, while the bus stays still. Jean a/k/a Juanita, a/k/a Snorklequeen

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