On Friday the moment came to leave, Elaine had had word that Jane (her daughter) just gave birth to a girl (Alyssa) and so was heading north to be with her for a week. Finally everything we needed to do was done and everyone came with us to the Greyhound station to get a ticket through to Chihuahua, Mexico.
The first bus (Ft Collins to Denver) was full so we waited for the next one. Luckily, as Carol realised she had forgotten the mobile phone, Elaine rushed back and retrieved it. The phone is probably not able to be used in Mexico but is invaluable as an alarm clock, reminder, calendar, notes, phone numbers etc etc. The Greyhound bus was fine, nothing special. We left Ft Collins about 5pm, changed buses in Denver and arrived in El Paso, Texas about 7.30am. Off the bus and grab the bags and look for where we are supposed to go. Wander inside, no one there except tickets, find out we are supposed to wait outside for the bus to Mexico. A lovely big comfy bus arrives to pick us up - yeah!! On the bus, being careful always to watch the baggage, we found spacious seats, double glazed windows and movies playing (dubbed in spanish).
We are aware that we need to do something at the border but from reading the travel blogs it seemed that it was further over the border that we would actually do it. So, no problem, bus leaves, stops at customs, no one comes on board but we get asked to pay US$5 (for two) the driver doesn´t speak enough english to explain why we need to pay this but we know it is a bribe so the bus won´t be searched. We expect the border patrol to come on board or that we need to get off and go to them but the next thing the bus leaves. Now it´s obvious that we are tourists and there are 4 other tourists back there too. We figure the actual passport place is yet to come. Oh no, this looks like countryside, we have left the city of Juarez completely. Carol goes to chat to the driver, he asks for a translator, luckily Ivan (Eevarn) is on board and the three of them have a long conversation which is eagerly listened to by the people in the seats behind. After a few phone calls it is decided that we will have to travel on. It is unsure whether or not we are travelling illegally or not. Carol thinks the visa waiver program covers Canada and Mexico (we have already been into Canada and out no problem) but the driver and Ivan are not sure. Everyone is as helpful as they can be and most importantly everyone is happy and smiling. Haha, hopefully we will be smiling when we sort this all out.
At the bus station we called ´Koko´ who came from work to pick us up and drop us at his home, our home now he says. He arrived in a dark green VW (Bocho) with tinted windows and squeezed our two big packs and us in there and delivered us home. The weather is hotter than Ft Collins, probably mid-late 20s, the sky is blue. It is Saturday nearly 5pm, we are going to have a siesta then go for a walk. Two French guys are also expected here at any time, they are travelling in a yellow VW they bought in Tijuana.
Looks like we will have a fun time here.
