The End of the Road Back To Mexico

Our journey is over. We accomplished what we set out to do. We sold our Washington possessions and drove a small car to Mexico. We have reached the end of the road.

We are now living in Mexico. The world around us is full of volcanoes, sun, and tacos. The culture is different, and the language is difficult. There will be challenges ahead for sure. But we are excited to be here.

Thank you for following our journey here.

Click here to read from the beginning
Click here to read from when we started the journey

First Day Home

The first day home was an exciting day for us. The previous tenants left a lot of things in the house. Some things we purchased from them, but some things they just left here. This was very helpful.

Unpacking the Trunk
As soon as we arrived, we started taking everything out of the trunk and placing it between the TV and the couch that we purchased from the previous tenants.

The pile began to grow. How did we pack so much in that small trunk?

Hey, our sombrero found a buddy to hang out with, or rather to hang on the wall with. No wonder it was determined as us to make it to Mexico. It all makes sense now!

We were so tired of seeing clutter and stuff. Our life in Washington for the past couple of months was just going through stuff, selling stuff, throwing away stuff. Now we were facing a new situation - throwing away some of the previous tenants stuff, and putting away our stuff. Stuff, stuff, stuff....

Backyard
We'll give you a whirlwind tour of the house.

This is definitely not an American backyard. We have a small strip of grass surrounded by a tall brick wall characteristic of Mexico homes. The backyard gets a lot of sun and is a peaceful place to just mellow out. I want to put a hammock up one of these days.

Around the corner in the yard we have a place for the washer and dryer as well as some storage for outside stuff.

Kitchen
Near the backyard is the kitchen.

There are a couple of sliding glass doors that we keep open nearly all the time. If there is sun, these doors stay open. It creates an atmosphere as if you are half outside and half inside.

There are no heaters installed in the entire house. There are also no air conditioning units. You don't need either one for most the year! The weather remains mild enough. This also helps with the electricity bill. There are also very few bugs so there are no screens on the sliding glass doors.

Let's see what is upstairs...

Here is a picture of the bedroom. We have one whole wall of closet space. This was a big change for us and we don't even know what to do with it all...

And below you can see a part of the spare bedroom.

Ok, back to more happenings on the first day back...

Store Run
We realized that we had no groceries, so we decided to walk a few blocks and go to the store.

Here we are at the Bodega Aurrera.

We had to purchase unusual things that you don't normally purchase. Like a plastic container for spoons, forks, and knives.

Notice the pigs head crowning this attractive meat display?

Time to get back home. The weather was very unusual.

We stopped at a local taco place to pick up some quick, cheap dinner to go. We can get enough tacos for both of us for about $6.00.

After that we continued home with our tacos and groceries.

Celebrations
We arrived in our new home exactly on the date of our wedding anniversary.

We didn't feel like going anywhere. We didn't feel like eating out. We just felt like finally being "home". We ate our tacos and celebrated with a tiny Mexican cake. It felt right. It was perfect.

The Road Home

We woke up excited to hit the road and make it to our final destination today. It's hard to believe that if all goes well we will finish the journey today.

Driving
I must say, driving in Mexico is quite different. I've compiled a list of things you gotta watch out for.

• Potholes. Sometimes extremely large potholes.
• Other cars passing you going 100+ MPH
• Other cars you are passing going 20- MPH
• Police that want to pull you over and ask for money.
• Cars going the opposite way directly in front of you in your lane.
• Signs that look important but that are in Spanish. You gotta watch for these signs, but then scratch your head, shrug and keep driving. What else can you do?

Basically there are not too many strictly observed laws here. People sort of drive a little crazy. This can cause someone from the United States to go a little nuts. On the other hand, if you just embrace the chaos, it is a bit liberating and fun. Throw the Drivers Ed handbook out the window and simply be alert and look out for yourself.

But it definitely took me awhile to get to that point of comfort.

The Drive
The scenery was gradually changing around us. Less desert and cactus, more green and farmland. We were enjoying our drive through Mexico more and more.

Along with shepherds, we would occasionally spot a farmer with his cattle. (You might need to click into this picture)

We spotted a truck full of the raw materials needed for carnitas.

And we would occasionally stop and make the payment on toll roads. We tried our best to stay on toll roads because they were the safest.

Puebla!
We couldn't believe our eyes when we started seeing signs for Puebla! That is where we will be living. We knew we were close.

Soon more signs were popping up. Almost there!

We were only ten minutes from home now. We were excited!

Police
Our hearts sank as we turned a corner and ran smack into a police checkpoint. There were about 10 police cars pulling people over. We did not have any problems with police the entire time, and now, only ten minutes away from our destination...police!

I rolled the window down. He spoke something in Spanish and examined my sticker permit.

I used the well-rehearsed..."No comprendo Espanol" (I don't understand Spanish)

He smiled, gave the car a pat, and motioned for us to continue. *sigh*

The Neighborhood
We were finally starting to recognize things from our initial 2.5 month stay in May-July. We recognized our neighborhood!

We were on our off-ramp to our neighborhood! We know this place!

Here is the commercial corner just a few blocks from our house!

Here is the road to the residential area where we live. Notice the potholes? We arrived at the end of the rainy season and the rain has definitely left it's signature here.

The large iron gate swung open, revealing the housing development in which we live. We are renting one of the homes in this condominium-style community. We purchased some of the previous tenants furniture, but the place has been uninhabited since late August. We wondered what kind of shape it was in.

After thousands of miles, we finally parked the car in front of...home.

We locate the key. Will it work? Yep? We were home.

Conclusion
We have reached the end of a huge undertaking. Within two months we sold most of our stuff, left everything comfortable and predictable, and drove across two countries and thousands of miles to reach our new home. We made it safe and sound. It couldn't have gone better, and it couldn't have been more enjoyable.

Truly an unforgettable adventure.

We have had a few requests for pictures of the inside of our house. We will post one more story of our first day back, what we did that day, plus more pictures of our home.