We have arrived.....

Hola! As most of you know, we have moved to Mexico! I am still trying to figure out what we are trying to do with this, but I am sure it will be more evident as time goes by.

As you can guess, it was a VERY long drive. We drove to Houston from PA to stay with cousin Tom for a few nights and psyche ourselves up for the drive. We drove to Laredo, TX and stayed over night at a hotel before crossing into the unknown. Our first challenge was to get our temporary visa to stay in the country for 180 days. We crossed the border and paid our $3.00 to get over the bridge, and then it all started to fall apart. We got the green light, but didn't know we had to drive about 2 miles to get to the building that was only about 20 yards from us. After we finally got there, the whole process took about 2 hours. We got our paperwork and drove out of there. Alan's head was a bit sore from all the good luck he was passing, but didn't seem to mind too bad. We drove for about 6 hours and decided to stop at about 3:00pm. The kids were tired, and we found our hotel. The Las Palmas in Matehuala, Mexico. It reminded us of a hotel from the 1950's in Vegas or the Godfather movie. We were issued our key and remote control, and were pleasantly surprised at the size of the room. Even had a small playground that the kids loved. The pool was a bit cold for swimming, but Alex made the best of it. They had a Walmart supercenter there, and we walked around a bit as an educational trip. They actually had most of the stuff we had in the US with different labels. We found a little Cocina to eat at, and so far have survived the "revenge". All in all had a good nights sleep, and headed out early am to finish our drive.

Our final 6 hours took us into Chapala. The area is beautiful, and even different than I expected. VERY green and hilly. We found our temporary rental, and the local grocery for a few supplies. We practiced our spanish a bit on the locals, and found a place to have dinner. 4 beers, and 6 burritos for 10 dollars. We may have found our favorite spot. The biggest negative besides the fussing of the kids on the drive was that Alan lost his pacifier in the chaos of the unload, so he had to go to bed without it. I guess that is one way to cure an addiction. Cold turkey. I am hoping for a good nights sleep, and we are setting off to search the area for a long term rental tomorrow.

The above photos are, in some sort of order, us in PA at Dan's before we left, an example of fellow motorists on the highways of Mexico, Brandi and the kids at a self-made rest area, Alan and Alex in the driveway of our current home, and Brandi and Alan in front of a tree growing in the middle of the street in front of our current home in Ajijic.