day 26 - may 6, 2014

7 pm

today was an interesting day. it started off kind of terrible, but just got better and better!

we got up early, all gung-ho to get the truck stuff figured out. we had our smoothies, coffee, and popped the camper down without incident - heck yes, what a start to the day!

but then... the defiant wouldn't start.

mike's 99% sure we have dead batteries (it uses 2), so we replaced one with our backup battery, and it is starting okay now. however it took about 3 hours of dicking around and charging batteries with the auxiliary charger this morning to figure this out. so while we'd planned to be at the SAT aduana (customs) office at 9 am, we didn't even leave here until noon.

well, we slogged through acapulco traffic, and made it to the SAT office at about quarter after 1. i expected there to be a lineup, etc, but it was just an empty, cool office. i google translated our situation to the guy at the desk, and he brought over another guy. new guy spoke very good english, and asked us some questions, before declaring that there was nothing to be worried about. he said that it didn't matter that the truck permit and the tourist visa don't have the same information on them, they are both valid anyway, and nobody will give us any trouble at the border. well, we were a bit skeptical, and pressed him a bit, but he insisted that the seguro retourno permit we thought we needed is only if your vehicle permit has EXPIRED (which ours has not). he swore up and down that it was not a problem, and we were free to travel in mexico until the truck permit expires (end of july). so that's that.

next, we had a quick celebratory sushi lunch. it was acceptable but unremarkable.

then, off to the dentist. i told her that i could feel sensation (heat, cold, etc) in my tooth, but that none of it was PAIN, just... like an awareness? like you'd have with any other tooth? so she said i didn't need a root canal right now (sweet baby jesus), and that the likely reason i was in pain before is that my filling was cracked. she refilled that sucker, charged me $500 pesos (about $40 CAD) and sent me on my way.

all of this leads me to: WE'RE LEAVING TOMORROW! WE'RE HEADING BACK ON THE ROAD! i feel like our trip is really REALLY starting now. huzzah.

in celebration i'm making home made trailer park pizza, complete with from-scratch pizza dough!

10 pm

there is thunder rumbling. lightning flashing. no rain yet.

we had a lovely visit for an hour or two with a guy who is staying next door. his name is hamish, and he's from london. he's backpacking around mexico right now, but has been on a whirlwind world tour! we swapped travel stories and had a grand time.

now, we have packed up almost everything and are heading to bed, we're getting up at 6:30 tomorrow to head to zipolite for a night, then onward to chiapas!