MeXscape

When Chuck and I were contemplating our move to Mazatlan, we knew we were going to be working. Let's face it, we're in our low-to-mid 30's. We haven't worked long enough to build up the kind of nest egg necessary to retire. We have an online computer components store, and I have US clients for my web development business, but we knew that if we wanted our house with a view and to go out to eat whenever we wanted and a maid and all the other little things that make life great, we were going to need to generate some additional income.

Our very low electric bills have been very exciting to us. We came from Fort Worth, where in the Summer, our electric bill could be $800USD. And ours was low compared to a lot of our neighbors. So when we got our first electric bill, a scarce $204MXN, we were astonished and did a happy dance. Other people we spoke with thought that was a little low, but we reminded them that we don't have air conditioning. We insisted that fact, combined with the different rates charged to each neighborhood made up for the difference between our bill and theirs. A theory proven false.

We screwed up our courage and went to Dallas today. We battled Kamikaze drivers, choking smog, and a growing sense of surreality, but for once no one was murdered while we were there, and we made it out alive. Alive, but without visas.

We know that you can get your FMT and Temporary Car Permit at the border, but we wanted to get ours ahead of time. It has been described as couple hour procedure, and we are going to have the dogs with us. That means Chuck goes in and gets his FMT and the car permit while I wait in the car with the dogs. Then when he comes back, I go get my FMT. Ugh.

Coordinating going to the passport office together wasn't going to happen, so I went the office at the nearby sub courthouse and Chuck went to the office downtown during his lunch hour. We both planned to go on a Friday, but when I showed up at the sub courthouse, no one was in the passport office. They only open that office on Mondays and Wednesdays, which I would have known had I bothered to read the additional information available on the passport office location search site.