The Crossing
from Google Maps: The “infamous” Laredo/Nuevo Laredo International bridge. Note the difference between traffic heading south and the traffic heading north.
Spent the night in Laredo before “the crossing” in another Motel 6, a run-down looking place, tucked alongside the lateral that parallels Texas hwy 35. The motel clearly caters to hard-driving cross boarder, long-haul truckers in need of a good night’s sleep before crossing into Mexico the next morning or continuing on to destinations in the US.
The woman behind the front desk made it clear which areas were reserved for the truckers and everyone else. I saw both Mexican and American drivers. Many were sharing rooms. There must be showers for the drivers because I saw many of them heading into a building with towels.
Despite how the motel grounds looked, the room was clean, comfortable, and cheap, and most of all, ten minutes from Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge II. Oh, and right next to Danny’s restaurant with pretty good Mexican food. We brought Louie into the restaurant wearing his Service Dog vest.
Danny’s Mexican restaurant in Laredo, TX. From delaredo.blogspot.com
We were especially welcomed by the waiter who just could not get over the fact that we could bring Louie into the restaurant. Every time he walked by our table, he’d have this huge smile on his face, totally impressed by Louie.
We got up very early the next morning at 5 AM, packed up the Rav4 and headed for IHOP, the only restaurant open at that hour. We knew we had a very long drive to Matehuala ahead of us, so we needed to be sure our stomachs were full and our minds clear.
Pase, pase…
Crossing the border could not have been easier. Usually, when first crossing into Mexico, there are lanes you go through that flash either green (proceed without stopping) or red (stop to be searched). I saw no lights at the Nuevo crossing; just a guard who lazily waved us through without stopping.
Aduana
I’m pretty obsessive about planning out the day’s route on Google Maps, so I knew exactly where I had to go to get to the Aduana de Nuevo Laredo where we would obtain our tourist visas and the temporary import permit for the RAV. Once we got to the Aduana, we parked and made our way into the Migracion. The process was incredibly easy. The only problem was the wait in line to get our vehicle TIP. It wasn’t yet 8 AM, so there were only three on staff waiting on us. As soon as it turned 8:00, more windows started opening. In all, it took us an hour to get all of our papers and head back to the car.
Jackie with documentos in hand standing in front of the Aduana.
The main bypass around the city of Nuevo Leon is Luis Donaldo Colosio which takes you to hwy 85, the main route towards Monterrey. But as soon as we got onto Donaldo Colosio, there were several Mexican Policia blocking access to the hwy, diverting us back into the city, something I was totally unprepared for. Stopped ahead of us was a Ford truck with Texas plates, and the driver seemed to be getting directions from the Mexican cop. As soon as the truck pulled away, we decided to go with our instincts and follow the Texas-plated truck into the inner city, thinking that they knew where they were going when we did not.
Following the Ford truck, at some point, somewhere in the middle Nuevo Leon, it turned off in a direction that seemed to be in the opposite direction we were headed—we wanted to go south, it turned north. By that time, the Google Map GPS kicked in and pointed us in a southerly direction. A half hour later we found 85 south and headed towards the Cuota, a toll road bypassing Monterey.
Six hours later, we pulled into Las Palmas Midway Inn in Matehuala.
Call and Response 