Getting through Mexico With a truckload of shit

After two weeks of traveling, we finally made it to Belize!

We loaded our Toyota Tacoma up to the brim and then shoved a cat and a dog into the pile in the back seats and headed out. We stopped in Joshua Tree to visit some friends, Tucson for the gem fair, and Austin just to feel cool. I’ve never done a road trip like this across America before and was excited to finally cross some southern states off the list (even if I never ended up getting any barbecue in Texas).

Camille kissing the U.S. of A. goodbye, baby

Crossing the border was a real ordeal, we decided to travel across Mexico as what they call “transmigrantes” and we had to list everything we were carrying in our truck and find an agency who would basically vouch for us that we weren’t going to buy or sell anything there in Mexico. This process took two days but during it we met some truck drivers going to Belize that ended up being total (literal) lifesavers for us down the road.

The border is confusing as hell, and nobody tells you what to do or where to go. In hindsight it wasn’t so bad but when you’re stressed out and lost it feels like it’s just about the worst thing ever. It took about four hours from start to finish and then we were through — which is where things took a real turn for the worse.

Our internet lapsed just at the moment of crossing into Mexico, and we took an exit east towards Matamoros instead of continuing south to Villa Hermosa. Five minutes into the country and a white truck loaded with Gulf Cartel guys blocks our path and threatens to shoot us if we don’t pull over. We head into a gas station and Camille runs into the shop to beg for help from the attendant while I stayed outside and watched these guys strap on full riot gear - helmet, vest, mask - and load up their AR-15 all while staring me full in the face. My heart never beat so fast in my life. I still don’t know what exactly happened, other than Camille is solid gold magic and she somehow comes out of the shop laughing with one of the guys and slapping him on the shoulder while he apologizes for scaring us and wishes us a good day. They leave and all the energy drains out of us and we check into the hotel across the road from the gas station.

We find out later that the transmigrantes agencies all pay tributes to the cartels, and that by having the agency’s big pink stickers on our truck we should have been left alone. Maybe those guys didn’t see it at first and then realized they’d messed up, maybe we proved to not be worth the trouble, maybe all the well wishes from our friends and family formed a protective barrier around us, maybe it was the Black Velvet Tourmaline crystal Sheila gave us for luck -- I don’t know but we made it out of there safely. Those truck drivers from before just happened to be staying at the same hotel as us (which was also owned by the cartel, by the way), and after hearing our story agreed to chaperone us down to Belize. They were the best thing that could have happened to us; we drove about 35 mph sandwiched between their two big rigs the whole way down past Tampico until we eventually split off and felt safe enough to travel on our own. Phil, Palacio, Marlin - thank you guys for everything.

We were pretty jumpy after that and would end each 12 hour day of traveling by checking into a hotel before dark, emptying the whole truck into our room, barricading the door with our stuff, and sleeping with my machete under the pillow. We stayed in some pretty gnarly places along the way and we were indescribably relieved to make it to the tourist town of Bacalar, where we finally felt safe enough to get some drinking therapy done.

Kean clutching to the things dearest to him

Camille’s mom met us at the Belize border and we’ve never had such a much needed family reunion. Grandma even had dinner on the table for us when we got to her house.

The past four days we’ve visited our plot of land and made some quick plans for development, driven down to the capital city of Belmopan to begin applying to build on the beachfront, collected a carload of plant clippings from our good friends the Smiths, and even had a fancy dinner with some live music by Elito Urbina Jr. who can really shred to some love tunes. We’re bushed, and just getting started, and it feels great to be alive!