Though I would never recommend going to the beauty shop on a Friday in Ciudad Acuña, mother wanted to have her hair done as she had an event this weekend. We got a late start to begin with but the beauty shop Gods were looking down on us. We arrived just before the masses descended on our hairdresser's salon.
Met a lot of nice ladies. One had just arrived from Midland, Texas and demanded that her sons take her to Claudia's as it had been six months since she was last here. One young lady was going out for the first time with a guy she liked...oh yeah, date night...how quickly one forgets!
Even though I was last here on June 26th in those eleven days our groceries had dwindled. I had to buy more rabbit food (lettuce and carrots) serranos, melon, papaya, bananas, yogurt smoothies and sweet bread for my mother.
They had a special on carrot cake at Gutierrez only $20.00 pesos, which is less than $2.00 USD but amazingly I exercised self-control and passed on it. I forgot to take my camera so I was not able to document the trip or today's exchange rates down Exchange Rate Alley.
I had never been in a store when the electricity goes out so it was a first today, it did not take long for their backup generator to kick in. When I was checking out they went out again and this time the register froze. It was a good thing we did not buy a lot of things as they had to check to make sure everything had been scanned.
With the long 4th of July weekend barely behind us, there were no long lines heading in or out of Mexico so I had the opportunity to ask the ICE officer a question on behalf of a fellow reader.
Machete freerider - You had a good question and I did not want to answer it in the old thread just in case someone else might find the information useful. With regards to whether you could cross the Texas border using your new enhanced Florida driver's license instead of a passport...the answer is YES, but it must be the "enhanced driver's license".
As to the border feed you had watched online, he stated that ALL persons crossing back into the US from Mexico must have their documents scanned. That includes passcards, passports, enhanced driver's license, green cards or visas. He suggested that perhaps the feed was of Border Patrol checkpoints much like the one coming out of Terlingua in Alpine and that being on US soil you do not have to present your documents unless you are not a US citizen or the officer suspects you are lying about your immigration status.
Good night. May you all have Terlingua Dreams.
Terlingua Dreams
Governors Landing Campground - Lake Amistad - Del Rio, Texas
When I left Mexico 2 years ago (4 hr visit) my enhanced WA drivers licence was scanned by the computer.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your input Rob. Prior to 9/11 many chili cook-off attendees would cross the border in Presidio, Texas to Ojinaga, Chihuahua, Mexico.
ReplyDeleteAfter the law passed requiring all US citizens to have a passcard or passport to be able to re-enter the country a lot of people quit visiting Mexico. The cost versus a once a year usage did not make economic sense.
If someone from the few states that issue enhanced drivers licenses happens to read this it might entice them to visit Mexico without having to go to the expense of acquiring a passport.