So here we are...

Finally after months of work we are on our way...

After we finished up work in Todos Santos, we headed to Cabo for a bit of relaxing and luxury. We also ran a few errands to finish up our work contract so that we didn't have anything else to worry about while on the road. After two hours at the Office Depot in Cabo and a trip to UPS we sent off the final design package and ready to chill out...but of course that is not always how things work out.

Turns out T's visa was coming close to expiring and we figured that it wouldn't be a hassle to extend it. Well, it wasn't. Basically they told T he either had to leave the country and come back in or he could apply for his FM3 which is sort of like an annual renewable permanent residency, they told us to get the papers and to come back the following day. So we printed bank statements, got a friend's Mexican address as well as borrowing a bill of theirs, had the lady at our B&B print us out a letter in Spanish and then returned to immigration only to get another officer who proceeded to yell at us about why we couldn't extend our visa. We told him we understood (although I was more than ready to yell back) and that we'd apply for the FM3. He sent us to the Banjercito (the government bank) to pay the fees. Once all paid up we were back at immigration (again!) Since I was feeling feisty we decided it was best if T went up to immigration alone and I sat quietly reading my book. Playing the docile wife role I waited and steamed in the back of immigration until I saw T motioning for me to come up. Apprehensively I wandered up concerned that they would want to see all my papers too. I was stunned to see the same immigration official smiling and telling T that "there is another way". He sent us back to the bank to chance our fee payment and then issued Tom another 180 day tourist permit. No FM3...no leaving the country and most importantly no bribe. It was weird. We have no clue why they chose to help us but we are so happy that they did.

Then to make our last week in the Baja even better the small B&B we stayed in lowered our nightly rate from $100 to $65. Again, we are not too sure why they chose to do so but we were super pleased with that little gift as well.

We caught the ferry from Pichilingue which is about 24km outside of La Paz two nights ago and this is where things became rather trying. For some crazy reason the ferry leaves at 2am but you need to be there about two hours before. So T and I get there, pass through customs and then wait. We waited so long we both fell asleep in the car. Then we loaded the car on board but it is not a ferry where you drive in and drive straight off, there is only one entrance. So every vehicle, including semis, have to drive in and then reverse into their spot. It was chaos...but we managed to get the car in just fine and then we happily made our way to the cabins only to find a 45 minute lineup full of people waiting to get to there cabins. We finally arrived at our cabin at about 3:45am and managed to sleep through the stupid kids next to us pounding on the walls. After hours of restless sleep and line-ups we were so happy to get off that boat.

So now we are exploring Mazatlan and melting all at the same time. It is so hot that you sweat the minute you step outside...but at least we are not on a ferry.