Welcome to Mexico.

On December 7th, we left New York for Veracruz. Our motorhome was also supposed to arrive in Mexico on the same day. Through the route tracking of Marine Traffic, we knew that it would not be the case. But we were hopeful that it would arrive at the port not too long after us.

But for us, we first had to navigate through the New York urban and long distance traffic jungle. Penn Station was a whole different experience from our previous train rides in NY. Even W. eventually said, "this is an adventure, Mama." Thankfully, we managed to navigate it and finally boarded the train to Newark Airport. As is customary on a train, the stops were announced loudly and clearly - NOT. So, I, Caro, was on the edge of my seat while Mathias comfortably settled in with all of our luggage. Three backpacks, one child, three jackets, two sweaters, and two adults can quickly disembark at a train station, which is only recognized as such when the train is almost ready to leave again... We made it (of course) and finally arrived at the airport. We still had 1 1/2 hours until our departure. We had an expensive American breakfast. Let's not talk about the taste right now.

Departure. The plane was not full, so I, Caro, had a row to sleep in. Mathias and W. watched a movie. Four hours later, we flew over the jungle towards the runway. Impressive. So much green. First stop - Cancun.

The customs formalities were fairly quick, although we were a bit of a special case because we wanted a visa for six months instead of the "usual" three. We made this known directly. We showed our car insurance and shipping documents. It was challenging for the officer that we did not have a booking for departure. So no return flight or hotel booking for the USA. We had a nice conversation with him and his colleague. Both men were very friendly. In the end, we got the stamp and they told us that they had never issued such a long visa before and that we should definitely leave the country, otherwise it would be a problem not only for us but also for them.

We quickly retrieved our luggage, passed the drug detection dog, and left the airport.

It was warm. Of course. We knew that. It was very warm. We knew that too. It was hot - unbearably hot. In front of the arrival hall, we changed W's clothes first. I, Caro, would have liked to change my shoes, but where to put all the bulky luggage. So we at least stuffed our jackets into a backpack. Our connecting flight was not until the evening, so we had over 5 hours of waiting time. Plenty of time to have a cold drink and stretch our legs in the air-conditioned airport. Or so we thought.

We stood in line for check-in for 2 1/2 hours. The mood was not the best. When we finally got through that, we just wanted to drop off our luggage somewhere and cool off on the marble floor. NOPE. There was a Covid form that needed to be filled out, and of course, it had to be done three times. Mathias took care of it while W. and I sat in a corner and complained. After another whole hour, we made it to the departure area. We found a spot and had time for a cool drink and some food. And then? Well, then it was time to board the final flight to Veracruz. Thankfully, we didn't get bored.

We flew for 2 1/2 hours due to the time difference. Classical music was played during takeoff and W. naturally fell asleep during the descent. Now everything went very quickly. We didn't have to go through any queues at customs. Within 10 minutes, we were out of the airport in a taxi and arrived at the hotel sweaty, tired, but happy. Of course, we had a little beer with a view of the harbor and then we all fell tired into bed.

The next few days, we spent opening our eyes and jumping into the pool. Looking for something to eat and slowly settling in. The hotel is nice. Well located and the pool is our highlight. The only challenge was that we, the parents, had forgotten our swimwear. Since apparently the Mexican population goes swimming in their regular clothes anyways, we didn't stand out too much in our underwear. However, a few days later - thanks to Walmart - we changed that. We thought it was silly ourselves.

Every day, we learned a little more Spanish and filled our vocabulary notebook. Proud as can be, we ordered directly in Spanish. Was it really Spanish? The waitress looked at us as if we were speaking Arabic. Okay. That didn't work. We still have 6 months.

Every day, we were getting more accustomed to Mexico, which actually wasn't that difficult. We had already adjusted to the time difference in NY, and the extra hour didn't bother us. However, we were homesick and when we received a message from our agent that the ship would not arrive until December 13th, 2021, and we knew that the procedure would take about another week, we were sad. Very sad. We just wanted to go home. Of course, the additional hotel stays and constant eating out were also costing us money. Our travel budget had a small buffer, but in the end, we needed more for our time in Veracruz than planned.

Finally, the day came when our ship arrived. We were so excited and very emotional when it came in. Finally. Now our motorhome was only a few kilometers away from us. Of course, we walked around the port to see if we could see it. We didn't. Mathias took care of "getting it out" with the agent. It wasn't difficult, and the communication worked very well. A mixture of English and Spanish.

On December 17th, 2021, Mathias drove to the port in the morning to have the drug detection dog inspect the motorhome. We were hoping to be able to take the motorhome with us directly. Unfortunately not. We had to wait the entire weekend. On Monday, December 20th, 2021, we finally received the relieving message that we could pick up the motorhome. However, Mathias was only allowed to drive alone. I was a little nervous. Driving in Mexico is a different story, and on top of that, it was unfamiliar, and Mathias tends to be easily distracted by things like the chirping of a little bird. Well, I had to go through with it and trust him. W. and I sat on pins and needles in the hotel, looking out the window. After 10 rounds of "I spy with my little eye" and guessing cloud shapes, Mathias came around the corner. Yeeeeaaahhhh! The bags were already packed, and we grabbed what we could carry and ran downstairs. It was such a feeling. Finally home. W. immediately jumped into her room and asked her stuffed animals how the trip was. We were just happy. Now we could finally get started properly. We didn't go anywhere on that day. We stored as much as we could and prepared everything. We parked our motorhome in the hotel parking lot and enjoyed our last evening in Veracruz, including a Christmas parade.

On December 21st, 2021, we set off very early without breakfast. The goal was to do some shopping, refill gas, water, and so on. We had breakfast in the Walmart parking lot and, to celebrate the day, we had gingerbread and cookies that we had stored in the motorhome. The day flew by. It was already quite late when we finally left Veracruz city. We had selected a free parking spot by a river using an app. It was about a 1 1/2 hour drive. Our motorhome drove its first kilometers on Mexican soil with us. We drove through lush green forests. We inhaled the plants. Veracruz wasn't exactly a green paradise. We passed a few toll booths - sometimes we wondered why toll had to be paid, because the roads were more than bad in some places. I would almost say worse than in Morocco. Well, at least the toll roads. In the late afternoon, we arrived in Tlacotalpan. The spot is okay. We had the river on one side and the road on the other, as well as a fireworks stand right behind our motorhome. It didn't matter. We stayed. We had our first coffee, continued to organize things. W. galloped around the place with Lieselotte and built a jumping course. We all felt relieved, happy, and at home again. For dinner, we had pasta with tomato sauce, and our child went blissfully to bed.

Let's see how our first night in the motorhome on a Mexican parking lot will go after the first firework exploded.