Utah to Costa Rica Road Trip

It took us about an hour and a half to get to the border from Tucson. We were advised to take the Mariposa exit and cross the border that way. You might have thought we were in Mexico already, the road signs had already switched to kilometers, and when we went through the drive-thru at Jack in the Box for lunch, they took our order in Spanish- Greg had a difficult time because he doesn’t speak “Fast Food” Spanish, so he had to go in to make sure we ordered the right stuff. Then we stopped at Target to exchange the DVD player that we bought a few days ago, which was no longer working.

We finally got to the border where they stopped us to ask if we were carrying any weapons or ammunition. They asked Greg if he had more than $10,000 in cash, which he did---just kidding. Greg told them he only had about $500, and then they asked me how much I had. I just pointed to Greg and said, “He has all my money” to which he replied, “I know women always have a secret stash their husbands don’t know about.” I assured him I didn’t! So they let us pass.

Besides the huge border fence, border patrol and long line of semis heading into the U.S., you would hardly know you had left the states. The terrain was the same as Arizona or even some of Utah, and the roads were fantastic. The only noticeable difference was that there was no shoulder, but the roads themselves were in great shape. It wasn’t until we started passing some houses, restaurants, etc. that we then said- “Ahh, we are in Mexico”

Further down the road we had to go through customs, where you can go through the lane for Items to Declare, or Nothing to Declare (which is what we picked because everything we had were personal items, not to sell or give a way). It was really confusing, we didn’t know if or where we should stop, there was no one around. After sitting there for a while, finally some man who had been chatting casually with someone way ahead, waved us forward and to a pull off. He asked Greg some questions about what we had in all of our totes, where we were going (he told him Costa Rica), then he casually looked in the car at all of our stuff and every person inside, then let us go. That was it- easy!

We continued following the signs that pointed to Nogales, and then we had to stop at the Centro de Importacion e Internacion Temporal de Vehiculos to get a vehicle permit and our Visas stamped. First Greg went in to get the permit, then came and told us that Kevin and I needed to get our Visas stamped. The Mexican Consulate in Arizona had told Greg that we could include the children on our Visas, so I was supposed to ask them to do that on my Visa. When I got to the man, he told me they needed their own Visas and to bring them in. Problem! We have no birth certificate for Kimball. So I went back to the car to tell Greg. There was a little bit of worry, confusion, and maybe panic- so Greg went back in to clarify what we needed to do (since my Spanish is lacking). It turns out that children over two need their own Visas, so only the two oldest needed to go in. We were safe since Kimball was under two. Everything works out so perfectly!

After finally getting all the paperwork and everything paid for, we were off again. It was so exciting being in a foreign land. Except for Tijuana and Playa del Carmen (Cancun), I’ve never been out of the country. It is so interesting to see how differently things are done here, but also how much they are the same.

Our destination was through Nogales, then Hermosillo and on to Guaymas/San Carlos. We figured it would take us about 3 to 4 hours.

We enjoyed the countryside and the scenery. The roads were terrific, which we were surprised because we had heard they were so bad. It’s probably attributed to the fact that they were toll roads. Every few hundred kilometers we had to stop and pay, usually $48- $58 (that’s pesos, about $4-$5 dollars).

We passed through Hermosillo, which was a big town, and had lunch at KFC. We ran into the problem of Greg not speaking “Fast Food.” We wanted popcorn chicken and chicken strips. They couldn’t understand when he said “popcorn” in American (in Spanish, both the “o’s” are long, so like “pope-corn,” yes really) and he didn’t know how to say “strips,” so again he had to go inside. It took forever, and Greg came out flustered because they couldn’t figure out what he wanted and charged him for drinks and things he didn’t want- all because I wanted some chicken strips! What a good husband.

As we left Hermosillo for Guaymas/San Carlos, the sun was setting, so we were going to be breaking the first rule of “Don’t drive at night in Mexico,” but we wanted to wake up on the beach, and Hermosillo was way inland. Everything went smooth though, and we finally arrived in San Carlos where we had to stop at three hotels to find a vacancy at the MarinaTerra Hotel, a very nice resort with enclosed, guarded parking and lots of amenities. We checked into a suite that opened right out to the pool, so Kevin took a dip while the kids played on the playground adjacent. Then we put the kids to bed.

It was interesting trying to go to sleep. Our room, the master, was located right next to the hallway which led to the lobby, and since everything was tile floors throughout the hotel, we could hear every footstep, every door close, every child scream and every conversation, as well as the jumping marathon some little child was having in the room above us. We couldn’t complain too much, because our kids certainly added their share to the ruckus. My only disappointment was that I wanted to go dancing at the on-site discothèque which opened at 11:00 p.m. and taught salsa and mamba, but I fell asleep before the kids did, so we didn’t get that chance.