The officer said ‘Its illegal to carry fruit and veg back into the United states, that’s your second contravention’. The first was ten minutes previous when we accidentally merged into a ‘Sentri lane’ to re-enter the United states just minutes after leaving, which carries a $5000 dollar fine.

‘Where are you heading?’ another of a series of questions begins.

‘To Argentina!!’ We both reply

‘How long is it going to take?’ , the next question.

‘Two or three months maybe, ish?’

The border officers are getting a real kick out of this.

Today we- crossed into Mexico, were let through by a green light. Did a u-turn, tried to go back to customs to get our Mexican Tourist Cards, took the wrong lane back into the USA without an option to bail out, and were told it’s up to a $5000 dollar fine. Told we would now need an inspection. Pulled into the x-ray machine, questioned, searched briefly, told the fruit in our cooler box is going bad, and is also contraband, which is a fine.

What a day!!!!! What a day. It was kinda funny, and they didn’t give us any fines I can say from the get-go. Driving into Mexico is easy, just a series of traffic-style lights. We didn’t find any opportunity to talk to anybody at the border. Immediately you are spat out onto an expressway, with signs in Spanish. Confusing to say the least. If you are staying within the tourist zone for 72 hours or less no paperwork or stamps are required, this is perfectly acceptable. If you want to go inland you require the paperwork.

This saga took most the afternoon. When we finally got back into the States we went to McDonalds’ for consolation fries and soda. We found out the office we needed to go to in Mexico was closed as it’s a holiday so now are camping free on the USA side of the border waiting for Monday morning to start fresh again with a full day for paperwork. Also giving time to pick up anti-malarial supplies for myself hopefully at a cheap price. We slept the night on a large lay-by to a reservoir supposing to be a quiet place to sleep. All night fishermen came by with trailers continually opening and closing a noisy metal gate down to the lake. This morning we were tipped off to a cool trail to a mountain top where we could camp the night.

We spent an hour on another lake kayaking in a $12 per hour sit-on-top, me paddling forwards, Karli paddling backwards in a counter-productive manor. And soaking each other in the process. It was an all out war for a moment with a peace treaty that never quite stuck, it was a good kick though. Karlis’ parents will be relieved to know she has picked up a fresh supply of large sweet bags to compliment the M&Ms we have been consuming at a steady rate. (We have also been training for climbing with running etc for a potential BIG mountain in Mexico, our excuse for excessive consumption.)

After losing a couple of previous days of our two week Mexican vehicle insurance we are re-planning and streamlining the country a little bit. That’s all for now folks!!!!