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The guero’s parents came for a visit at the beginning of February (yay!! We love visitors!!).  They decided to drive down so that they could bring back more treasures than if they flew.  It was their first time driving in Mexico so I took the bus up to San Antonio and met them there.  The next day we headed back down south.  We made arrived in good time and had no problems crossing the border and getting the temporary import permit for the truck.  The permit is probably the most stressful part of the trip.  Any foreign plated vehicle entering Mexico (if you are traveling beyond the border cities) needs to have this temporary importation permit.  You need a whole whack of documents proving title, insurance etc and I always get a little nervous because for us, we are smack in the middle of nowhere.  If there is a document missing, it’s not like we can just pop back home and get it.  Of course we always double check the Customs Website just to reconfirm that we have everything and so far, everything has gone smoothly.  Unfortunately it’s not the same for everyone and there is always someone in the office waiting for a document or telling horror stories about the last time they tried to get their import sticker.  It took about 45 minutes to get the sticker and most of that was spent waiting in line. 

After we got their visas and import sticker we were good to go and arrived in SLP by around 6PM.  Don and I have a pretty aggressive schedule when it comes to driving back and forth between Canada and Mexico.  We only stop for food, gas and a bathroom break and we try to combine all three whenever possible.  We also take a break after about 14 hours for a sleep.  It’s not a fun drive and definitely have respect for long-haul truck drivers. 

Anyway, after we arrived at Casa Bork, we spent a few days touring around the city and then headed to Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende and Leon.  San Miguel is a great stop for arts and crafts.  They sell everything from mirrors to metal works and it is all quite beautiful.  Guanajuato is a gorgeous city and is so far my favourite of the colonial cities near us.  Leon is famous for leather goods and I picked up a pair of cowboy boots there.  I know it sounds very strange but cowboy boots are actually worn quite frequently here and I will put them to good use. 

After the weekend, we returned to SLP, did a bit of laundry and spent the next few days getting some stuff done around the house –my father-in-law is extremely handy and it was great to get stuff done!  

On the Wednesday night we loaded up our bags and took the overnight bus to Mexico City where we caught a flight to Los Mochis.  It was our first time taking Interjet which is one of the lower cost airlines in Mexico.  We were pleasantly surprised to find very comfortable seats and excellent service on our short flight.  We will definitely take Interjet in the future! 

We  planned to travel from Los Mochis to El Fuerte to catch the CHEPE train into Copper Canyon for a couple of reasons:  we knew that if we caught the train in Los Mochis we’d have to be on the train at 6AM and also the scenery from Los Mochis to El Fuerte is mostly farmland which gets boring really quickly.  So, when we arrived at the airport, we ended up hiring a Suburban to take us from Los Mochis to El Fuerte.  It was a bit more expensive than taking the bus, but logistically it was a whole lot nicer and faster.  Our driver was pretty awesome too, we stopped outside of the city and bought some delicious bread and cookies that were baked in a wood fired oven.  The cookies were OK but the bread was filled with pumpkin and it was tasty! 

Part 2: El Fuerte to follow

OK, so I got stalled with the whitewater rafting Huasteca posting.  I’m not sure why, but it was just case of writer’s block.  So, we are moving on to different subjects now. 

Many Canadians have the idea that Mexico is this beautiful sunny warm country of beaches and all-inclusive resorts and that living here must be like being on a holiday 24/7.  Sadly, none of this is true.  Just like in Canada there are lots of different climates from the hot sunny places where it really is 33C and sunny almost every day to the places of the country where it actually SNOWS.  We live somewhere between the two.  During the summer months (April to about October-ish) the weather is quite nice.  I would hazard to say, perfect.  We have beautiful days where it’s sunny and 28-32C every day and then it cools down to 10C at night.  It’s wonderful because you don’t need air conditioning, you just open up the windows once the sun goes down and our house cools off.  The reason it gets so cold at night is because we live at just over 6,000 feet altitude.  Once the sun goes down, the temperature quickly drops.  There are areas of the country at higher altitude that face these similar temperature swings.  The other thing to note is that although it will be 32C during the day here, the morning will start cool and it will be a gradual increase with the temperature peaking at 32C around 4 PM.  It’s never 32C at 10AM here. 

During the winter months the average temperature is right around 20C but again, it’s a gradual peak throughout the day and the night time temperatures hover around 0C.  I know this isn’t Canadian winter cold, but here’s the catch:  we have no central heating.  That means that you rely on small, relatively ineffective space heaters to heat a single room.  All houses here are made of brick/cement block with cement over top—once they get cold, it’s almost impossible to heat them up during the winter.  So, while in Canada it might be –20C outside, the inside of your house is a balmy 18-20C.  However, when you’re where we live in Mexico, it might be 0C outside at night and it’ll be 12C INSIDE the house.  I’m not kidding. 

This winter was an unusually cold here.  There was actually snow in the foothills about 30 minutes outside the city.  Highways were closed just north of us because of the snow.  It was cold.  It was 12C in my office cold.  The worst part for me was that I spend all my day home and you can only put on so many layers and you still can’t get warm.  Some days I had so many layers on I felt like that kid in A Christmas Story.  I drank lots of tea to keep my insides warm.  Imagine stepping out of a hot shower into a bathroom that cold.  It was miserable.  The only opportunity to take the chill off the house was when it would warm up and get sunny in the afternoon and I could open the doors and let a bit of heat it.  Fortunately the cold doesn’t last too long but there were definitely times I just wanted to say forget it and check myself into the local hotel to get warm. 

Luckily, it’s been warm for about 5 weeks now and I’m really enjoying the sunny weather.  It feels so good not freezing my butt off.  I can go outside and lay in the hammock and enjoy the afternoon sun.  I’m spending my days soaking up this wonderful weather but in the back of my mind, I know that it’ll get cold again.  So yes folks, when I complain about how cold it is here, don’t get bitter and tell me how it’s –20C outside because at least you can go inside, take off your coat and be comfortable.  Think of me, while I’m sitting in my office with 4 different layers on practically perched on a space heater praying for March to come.