Border Crossings

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Comment by David Moulton on November 27, 2009 at 8:21am

Hello Everyone.... Tere and I crossed the boarder at Eagle Pass on November 11th. We used the 24 hour International Bridge. At 5:00AM WE paid our toll on the US side, crossed to the Mexican side ad we were on our way in 5 minutes and I was pulling a cargo trailer. A big time saver ofcourse was that I had gotten my Mexican Auto Permit at the Counselate in Denver. The best crossing we have had.

Comment by Russ Black on November 2, 2009 at 10:58am

I cross the border a couple of times a month. Being that I live in Puerto Penasco I use the Sonoita/Lukeville (gringo pass) crossing. Going North into the States is much more of a hassle than coming into Mexico. When we HAVE to go North to Tucson or Phoenix we try to go in to the USA very early in the morning to avoid the traffic buildup that can happen after a weekend on the beach. Coming south it really does not matter what time you cross it is pretty easy. Just lately the US has started to inspect traffic "Before" you cross into Mexico, they say they are looking for guns and cash but if that is true, they dont look real hard. They can be a bit of a hassle as they wield their "power" Once you get through that though, you drive onto a concrete mat that gives you either a green light or a red light. If its green-go (gringo) if its red they want to inspect your baggage to make sure it is your stuff and you are not bringing it in to sell or whatever. 2 miles later you are on the very nice road to Penasco and it is smooth sailing.... buen viaje!

Comment by Kat Hammontre on November 1, 2009 at 4:10pm

My friends were just here staying at Kiki's. There were two (separate) people in the campo who crossed at the new border (East) coming into Mexico. They both said there are cameras very low and if you hit them with your motor home, the fine is from $800 to $1,900 ... the only verification I have is their word, but if that's the case, I would recommend all motor homes cross at Calexico as I would imagine, this "fine" is collected many times during a 24 hour period. If anyone has any clarification, please post it.

Comment by George Puckett on November 1, 2009 at 1:11pm

Here is the question(s).

Has anyone on this forum made this trip? How is it compared to entering through Mexicali? Is there much of a travel time difference? Is the road complete and safe to travel in a car? We've been thinking of giving this a try. Is getting back into the US at the Tecate boarder crossing any longer than crossing at Mexicali? Thanks for any info.

Anna

Comment by George Puckett on November 1, 2009 at 1:10pm

Someone posted this question on another website. I would be interested in some comments which I will forward to this person and ask them to join us.

Always Recruiting,
FounderDude

Comment by Warren D Sundquist on October 21, 2009 at 3:46pm

Yes, Sentri is at old Calexico crossing going into the USA. No Sentri gate for coming into Mexico anywhere.

Comment by Carolyn Richardson on October 21, 2009 at 2:06pm

Thanks Warrne for the feedback. Apprecaited! Hopefully I'll bet my SENTRI pass first try early Nov! So if I understand correctly, the sentri gate is up and running at main border crossing at Calexcio, but not up and running yet at the east gate---? I'll be returning by way of San Diego, and know that one is up and running.

Comment by Warren D Sundquist on October 21, 2009 at 12:46pm

Yes, the Sentri Pass is worth its' weight in pesos. Most times it is 5 - 10 cars. Early am the workers crossing into the US have it backed up 30+ minutes but like I said, after 10 am it is great in Calexico. I was told a Sentri Lane will be put it at the east crossing in the future...manana that is.

Comment by John K. Glaab, CIPS on October 21, 2009 at 10:38am

Thia is about Mexico Mike's comment on getting lost. Our home in el Centro Historico in Uruapan is not easy to find. We always tell people to ask a taxi to guide them to our home.
About Mexican taxis ... ALWAYS ask the fare before entering the taxi. One experience in La Paz, B.C.S. last April. I asked how much to go to the local Nissan dealer. REPLY 100 pesos. So I commented I had paid 40 in January. He took me for 50 pesos.
Everyone is hungry these days.

Comment by Susan Fogel on October 21, 2009 at 10:09am

My friends in Northern Baja are telling me that La Crisis is even affecting wait times at the border: traffic is way down at the Tijuana crossing.
I am pasting in my experience of walking across the border in April 2007.
I do prefer crossing at Tecate, gentler and quieter.
Here is my experience walking from Mexico to the US: March 2007 peak of the Baja Boom(edited)
It was a month ago...wow seems like only last weekend. We flew from our home in La Paz to Tijuana to meet with a corneal specialist, the best in the world.
We flew in on a Friday night. My appointment with the doctor was set for 10:00 A.M. We were scheduled to fly back to La Paz at 4:00 P.M. on Sunday. We wanted to have some time to shop in Tijuana, and figured there would be a better selection of stores and clothing so close to California.Wrong!

The receptionist at the doctor's office had said there was the big Rio Mall in Tijuana, or there were outlet stores "..right across the border, you can walk...it's easy".
Well crossing the border to the U.S. is never easy these days, and I was afraid I would be less than polite to our less than warm and fuzzy border guards, so we decided to check out the local mall.

So after lunch at Sanborn's we ventured out to the mall. Just the same stores as La Paz, only bigger. We had a lot of time and no schedule, we decided to visit the outlets .

We hailed a cab and asked him to take us to the border. We asked if he had any idea what the wait would be. Just then over the radio came the hourly bulletin of wait times and length of pedestrian lines at the border. "Oh it's not bad ." he said, "The announcer just said about 500 people were in line. That should take you about one half hour " he said.

Aren't you impressed with all of this conversing we were doing? Don't be. It was all in English. Almost everyone you encounter in Tjuana speaks English, to varying degrees. Those that work in the service and hospitality industries speak English very well. Their livelihood and tips depend on it.

He quickly changed lanes and only about 20 cars honked at him. We were now in line behind 100 cars almost all with California plates. It was like that in the parking garage at the Tijuana airport as well. California plates were almost the majority. It seems that for people in San Diego and Chula Vista flying out of Tijuana is faster and easier than flying out of San Diego or Los Angeles airports.

We snaked our way around the mall and our driver kept jockeying for a position in the "San Diego" lane. Then we were there at the border crossing. Well almost. "Ok, get out and go over there where all the people are, that's the line to cross...hasta luego!" We sprinted across the road and up a knoll and got in line behind a whole lot of people.

"This doesn't look so bad" said my beloved . " "No not too bad." I answered. I had heard horror stories of people standing in line for hours and sometimes in the pouring rain while waiting to cross. There is no separate line for U.S. citizens and residents. We all wait together.

We were confident we would be in line for 30-45 minutes, until we followed the line around a corner and saw that it doubled back on itself. We decided to stick it out. After all, Marshall's and Tuesday Morning and Starbucks awaited us over the footbridge. It was like seeking the pot of gold at the other end of the rainbow.
What a strange feeling to have to wait in line to enter our own country. We have lived in Mexico for over 9 years, and the return to the good ole Us of A is always bittersweet.

We observed and listened and commented on the people in line. Gringos returning from a week in the free-wheeling bars and beaches of Rosarito, looking like they had not slept or groomed the entire time.

There were families with babies in arms, some of the babies looked only weeks old, they were being brought across to be shown off to the family in America. Several men were carrying cakes in pink pastry boxes , and others flowers,and others bags and boxes of gifts. It was a holiday weekend, the birthday of Benito Juarez, the Abe Lincoln of Mexico. So the Mexicans were going over to visit family for a few days.
One mother had a baby in her arms and a line of three little ones looking about a year apart, they each had a cardboard suitcase in one hand and hung on to mama's skirts with another. It was hot, I was thirsty, I needed to pee. My feet hurt, and I made sure my spouse knew my travails. Not a peep came from the children.

There were young sexpot girls in so-tight-they-couldn'tbreathe -jeans, skimpy tops and spike heels. They only refreshed their lipstick and makeup 20 or 30 times while we waited in line.
Vendors pushing ice cream wagons, other selling chicharones ( pork rinds), a taco vendor, a guy with beer in a cooler and some selling lottery tickets walked the line calling out their wares to the weary and bored waiting to cross over.

In front of a little house was a family tableau...old toothless grampa with a raggedy marionette, not even trying to keep his lips from moving while he made the puppet talk, his even older wife haranguing the crowd for a peso or two, while an aged 45 scratched out a nameless tune on an old square portable record player...you know the kind that looked like a little suitcase. Elderly couples with and without hats for shade and walkers for support all looked like thy would perish from the heat, just shuffled along with the crowd.

Finally we were there! We had crossed the line and were under the portico of the US customs office, signs proclaiming peace and brotherhood between our two nations, belied the searchlights, border vigilantes and the razor wire fence that is the border between the two friendly nations.

We were able to go through the line quickly and without incident.

When we exited the building, we asked a border patrol agent where the outlet shops were. She told us to go through the side door up the stairs over the bridge and left at the light.

It wasn't quite the short hop we thought it would be, and after standing in line for over an hour in the heat in the wrong shoes I was already fading.
So over the bridge we trekked, down a hill and wow!
A big, shiny store with a landscaped parking lot and it was cool and clean. And not the outlet mall. It was a duty-free shop chock full of cigarettes, liquor and perfume. And the amazing thing, well two amazing things: There was only one way in, and out. You had to go in and out the same door. And there was a dumb waiter kind of door that opened to a conveyor belt that sent your goodies over the border back to Mexico for you to pick up on your way home.
Weird.
But at least there were clean toilets.

The crowd we had been following thinned out and dissipated, and we had no one to follow and had no idea where we were! Most everyone we stopped to ask for directions answered in Spanish!
We followed the directions someone gave us, and I saw a Marshall's sign...across a four lane road, no cross-walk. This was Chula Vista not La Paz where the traffic stops for pedestrians. We chanced it and made it across the street. We had now been on our feet in the sun and dress shoes , flats, but still dress shoes for over two hours, we were dead.
I filled a cart with clothes, went to the dressing room, sat down on the bench to take off my shoes and almost fell asleep. My feet were swollen. I could barely get my shoes back on. Remember, I live at the beach, I work in beach towns all over Mexico, I wear pretty flip flops most of the year.

My darling husband, was sitting outside , waiting and looking equally as bushed.
I had a head ache. probably caffeine withdrawal. I was wheezing.
I suggested that we find a Starbuck's and have some coffee we'd feel better, I was certain. So more asking for directions. We discovered that the Starbuck's was in the mall across the treacherous four lane. We made it across again, looked for Starbuck's. No one in the stores or on the street seemed to know where it was. "Down there". or "a couple more blocks" was the best they could do.
We popped into an Old Navy, I tried to shop...I couldn't, my head was spinning. Then I saw the Liz Claiborne outlet. Surely I would be inspired to buy something, and surely they would know where Starbuck's was.
Well the clothes just did not appeal, I could not concentrate, my breathing was labored and my feet were screaming. My most cherished one, my husband of 25 years took me in his arms, and whispered the words I had longed to hear all day " I found Starbucks!"

"You darling! " I shouted, " Show me where?" " Way down there,if you squint, you can just see the green umbrellas." Did I say this was the biggest outlet mall I had ever seen? Well it was, and my feet knew it too.

Finally we pulled open the door to coffee mecca only to bump smack into a long line of people! They all knew where Starbick's was.

We ordered double espressos, and that dear soul mate of mine beguiled the barrista into letting us use a phone to call a taxi to take us back to the border. The closest taxi was not willing to come to get us not even at double the fare.

"I am not walking back, I am not, I cannot, don't even think of it...I'll sleep here in Starbuck's", said I.
"Sweetie, let's just walk out to that busy road and flag down a taxi or a bus." "Sweet man, this is NOT La Paz, this is California, one cannot just stand out there and flag down a ride." So I suggested that we ask one of the many Mexican families if we could pay them $100 to take us to the border. "I'll even ride on top of the minivan...anything," I begged.
Well we staggered to the main road where, lo and behold we saw a great, shiny, yellow taxi parked...across the four lane of course. " You stay here
( like I am moving?) I'll check it out", he said.

This dear man came back smiling. It seemed there was a municipal bus that makes continuous round-trips between the outlet mall and the border every 20 minutes. And our luck turned, within five minutes the bus arrived. A sweeter ride I have never had.

We got off the bus, walked thru a turnstyle and we were back home in Mexico. No border guards, no one asking for ID , no one there at all, no line. And right across the street ws a 24-hour pharmacy selling prescription drugs at one-third the cost of the U.S. This is nothing new to us, but I had left home without my asthma medicine, and I was still wheezing. We bought our meds, found a taxi and went back to our hotel where we ordered room service and watched TV..and I wrapped my feet in cold cloths.
So we went across the border for a couple of double espressos.

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