Dirtroads, Police and Thunderstorms

This is the story how we ended up illegal in México and almost got arrested.

Nogales

On the list of dangerous border cities to cross into México, the city Nogales is listed Number 2. Unfortunately we read this information a few days after crossing the border. For us it was just the closest border city to Phoenix where we drove through. 

The city is completely divided by Trumps Wall so there are a few gates where you can drive across. The main gate where we wanted to go was completely closed because an officer was shot dead just a few hours earlier. The gate we had do cross instead was super busy and the officers working there simply waved us through. As easy as that we suddenly were in México but I did leave us suspicious. The border wall absolutely shocked us: a few meters high, three rows of barbwire and an bad electric sum. Some parts of the wall are decorated with children’s paintings, graffiti and signs. All together it is a terrible and sad thing to whiteness.

We took a motel because it was already late at night and we planned to google if we could really cross the border that easy but the Wifi of the motel did not work. The next day we just wanted to leave this city and so we started to drive into México.

Dirtroads

The Navigation we use for our trips is a great app called Maps.me with which you can download free maps everywhere. Most of the time it works perfectly fine but sometimes it sends you to the middle of nowhere. There is a lot of advise on the Internet warning not to take random dirtroads in México but when Maps.me told us to we did. Just 20 kilometers off road and then we would be on a solid road again. Lou, our little Ford, was meant to be a offroad car anyway and already proofed his capability. A few curves later a huge brown Hummer rushed past us. We jokingly said it is drug cartel car. Our paths crossed again a bit later when the Hummer was parked next to the road and the two heavy armed men where standing next to it. Niklas aiming to be a friendly tourist waved them. I asked why the hell he would do that and he explained he did it all the time on his journey to Mongolia and it worked for him. 

It didn't work for us. Suddenly the Hummer was driving dangerously close behind us with flashing blue and red light and they forced us to stop. My heart stopped too. The two men with bullet-proof west and big machine guns fixed with tape stepped out of the car. I was frightened to death when they started talking to us. We responded: 'No hablar espanol. Tousist, Tourist en México!' We handed them our passports to proof our origin. They talked to each other and we overheard them saying monetario, money... We just answered everything with no as calm as possible in this situation. 

It felt like forever but they gave us back our passports and signed us to drive away seemingly being annoyed by us. Niklas stared to drive away slowly. For a few minutes we just sat in the car in dead silence, not being able to talk or even move. My heart was racing for the rest of the day, only relaxing a little bit when we finally got on the solid road again. We promised ourselves never to talk a road like this again. 

Méxican Police

Day two on our way to México City. In total we got stopped by the Police three times just that day. The first stop was a very friendly police officer who explained us that we should have a car permit. This is needed because a lot of Americans try to sell the car illegally in México. We did not have it because we were not controlled at the border. The whole conversation happened via Google Translator because the police man didn't speak a word english. At a certain point he just sent us away. Only a few hours of driving later we got stopped again. Well, actually Niklas stopped in front of the police car to ask if the street which was obviously blocked, is blocked. Of course, the officer noticed that we are missing the sticker you get with the permit. The whole story again with Google Translator and also at a certain point the officer lost interest and let us drive on.

Police officer #3 was not nice and friendly like the others. In fluent english he told us that the car will get towed away and we will be arrested and brought to the nearest police station. We were speachless for a moment and than we tried to reason with him. We asked at least ten times if this is really necessary and we are just tourist we don't want to sell our car. He told us again that we will get arrested. No stamp in the passport means we are illegal in México. So we tried to tell him we will go to the Austrian Embassy in México City to get our official papers there. Again he told us no. First arrest and than we should figure something out. Further he told us we wait for the towing truck and the a police car will take us to the station. Slowly giving in we started to pack our valuable things into our small backpacks. Somehow this was really amusing for our police man because he laughed at us. About 50 minutes passed and we tried to talked to him again and again but all we got was 'No you are illegal'. In the end we accepted our misery and stud there waiting next to him.We knew we just had the freedom to pack our bags and take the next flight out of México. Suddenly our officer looked at us: 'Okay, I will let you go.' He added a very unfriendly 'Bye' and went away. Without hesitating we drove away. 

At the hotel I contacted the Austrian Embassy and figured out a way to get our Tourist card while our stay in Mexico City. 

Thunderstorms

Compared to the other days the last day of driving to CDMX was the best. We never got stopped by Police or anything else. We even found a beautiful camping spot for a few pesos. We arrived at 6 p.m. and were ready to cook and relax. Unfortunately the moment we open the car doors it started to pour rain. It got really windy, the rain got heavier and the lightnings and thunders got closer. We decided to wait it out and just watch a bit Netflix in the car. One and a half hours later no end in sight. It even got worse when it started hailing. We were forced to sleep in the car which meant that we did not get nearly enough sleep. The next day we woke up exhausted. The sun was shining again and at least we could see the beautiful bridge nearby the camp. Tired as hell we drove directly into the city and we got stopped again. The problem now: tourist cars are not allowed in the city except the have another special permission including an emission test you have to make in México in advance. We didn`t even tried to argue with the officer and just ask where we can park the car savely and take a Uber. Sadly this was not enough and he tried to convince us to pay 4800 pesos fine which is about 220$. Haha fuck you surely not. So we played our Joker and called Leslie our Housesit in México City. She knew that he just tried to bribe us and explainded we will not pay this amount. Seemingly pissed he asked how much money we can give him and we payed him as little as possible. Thankfully we keep our cash divided in different places for situations like this.