Tecate, Calfiornia, USA to Tecate, Baja California, Mexico | Customs and Immigration

Easy border crossing. Folks were helpful in obtaining TIP and FMM. Found Telcel and ATMs nearby in Tecate!

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Crossed from Mexico into the US here with a European registered car. We had the easiest border crossing ever. No checks for the mexico side. We showed our passports and were waved through by the US border guard without any questions or inspection.

We arrived in the waiting line at about 10am and drove into the US at 10:30am.

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I crossed here back in 2017 and yesterday again. Both times in a Class A 1993 Itasca camper.’it’s a small border, but its ok for a 23 feet camper like me. Here they dont ask for dog’s paperwork, dont pay 200 usd in the US for nothing.

Everyone is friendly and it took me 30 minutes between migracion and banjercito. Always let them know if you want to stay six months.

Decided to do my TIP in La Paz before the ferry to save 400 usd right now.

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Super simple border crossing. Easy to get FFM and TIP. Drive into Mexico (when you get green light), park somewhere close by and walk back into checkpoint. One office for FFM and another for TIP. Both officers spoke enough English to get it all done if you don’t speak Spanish. Take all originals and copies as suggested by others and they will do the rest. No lines, no wait at a Thursday at 2pm.

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Easy border crossing in our Toyota Tacoma (with rooftop tent) (approx 8:30 am on Thurs). Agents waved us into the 4 spot parking lot to the right, did a quick inspection of the back and told us to go ahead. We’re planning to take the ferry from La Paz to Mazatlán so we knew we also needed to get our TIP and FMM (tourist cards). They told us to park south of the border gates and walk back in to the Aduana office. The customs officer was friendly, spoke English and walked us through how to fill out our FMM cards. He sent us a few paces away to the Banjercito office to pay the fee. We brought back the receipt and he stamped our cards. He then directed us back to the Banjercito office (you speak to the agent through a little window on the street) to get our TIP. We did all of these bank transactions in Spanish but it’s likely someone there also speaks English. They requested one copy of our passport (registered vehicle owner only) and a copy of the registration. Black and white copies were fine and we were glad we had them with us. The Banjercito agent was very friendly and made the required copy of our FMM card as well. We paid the TIP fee ($1,078 MXN) and a $400 credit card deposit for the 2009 Tacoma (the credit card needs to be in the vehicle owner’s name, a partner can’t pay). She had us verify all of the details before finalizing the paperwork (this is important to do even if the agent doesn’t suggest it) and requested an email address where she could also send us a digital PDF of the TIP. The entire process took less than an hour and seemed especially smooth because we’d come prepped with the copies we’d read about on here and WikiOverland and had an idea of what the process should be. Come with copies (but there are places nearby that can make them if you don’t!), smile, speak Spanish when possible and enjoy the experience!

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We crossed the border from the US, with a converted (fire)truck. There was a bit of a hassle with being a truck and not a car or motorhome. Officially trucks have to cross the border in for example Tijuana. We tryed to convince them by showing some papers that this we registered as a RV in the Netherlands, but at first they wouldn't except it. At the end they took a second look in the truck and took some pictures (as proof) and we could go.

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Just crossed, easy and safe. Stay left when passing the border fence, park in small 4 spot parking lot right before the actual border.
next go to immigration to get FMM
next go to Banjercito to pay for FMM
go back to immigration for stamp
go back to Banjercito for TIP

they did not take american dollars at border

immigration hours were M-F 9am to 1pm

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The comment of Julia, just below, is exactly how it was by us. Read it and you know, what to do :-)

Really nice&helpful people around. Even with really bad Spanish we got no problems. It's a bit chaotic to get all the paper stuff done at the different places - but you will get it.
Nice to know:
- if you fill out the FMM online: take care to have enough time! The mail with the FMM can take more than 24h!
- the parkinglots just before the barrier (julia mentioned them) are not thought to park for going to the migration. A border officer told us:
--> first drive through the gates and THEN come back by feet. There is a guy just behind the barriers which is giving you a marked parkingspace just there. Probably not for really big rigs...? But the guy takes away the pylons and then you can park just right after the borderfence on the left hand. The guy is also really helpful if you need to know something about what to do - he knows everything and especially where you can make the copies for the TIP. (If the pharmacy is closed: go down to the second traffic light, turn right and approximately the fifth store helps ;-) It's written on the door.)
- Could pay everything with creditcard, absolutely no problems, we didn't change money before.

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Easy, friendly people, not busy!

We got there on a Tuesday at 2pm. We wanted to park at the duty free before crossing the border, but they charge 10 US$ a day (no matter if it just takes 1h). So we decided to go by car first, park, go back for paperwork. It works well, you just need to be lucky to find a parking spot behind the border. Took us probably 10 min to find one!
The easiest way is to park right in front of the border. Pass the first fence and right before the barrier park to the left. Only 4 spots, but none of them were taken. We just didn’t see those when crossing by car.
We got a red light so they searched our van, but only like 2 min (looked underneath our mattress and underneath our backpacks, asked if we had cigarettes or weed).

After parking: Walk into the building on the right side to get your tourist card. The guy spoke English, form to fill out is in Spanish and English. Then you’ll have to go outside again to pay for your tourist card, then go back inside and get your passport stamped.
Go back outside (where you’ve been before to pay) and get your TIP there. You’ll need a copy of: Registration, passport, tourist card. You can get copies at the pharmacy across the street (2 pesos/copy). Tourist card for 2 people was around 60 US$, TIP 50 and 300 deposit.
There are many opportunities right before the border to exchange USD in Pesos. We were able to pay everything by card (except copies, nice lady, doesn’t have change though, but also accepts 1 USD).
It was way easier than expected!

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Mexico --> USA

A friend and I crossed back into the USA on a weekday afternoon. We were on motorcycles, which made it incredibly easy because we can maneuver between the barriers and get right up to the guards who pre-check documents (we have USA passports). We were across the border in under 10 minutes. We didn't have TIPs to cancel because we were only in Baja, and our FMMs automatically expired that day, so there was no need to do anything official on the Mexican side. Very few cars in line to cross. Nice quiet border.

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USA --> Mexico

A friend and I crossed later in the morning on a Wednesday on motorcycles. We needed to get our FMMs stamped, so we turned right just past the official buildings on the Mexican side and parked the bikes. There was a guy guarding the parking area. We walked back towards the entry area where we had ridden in, and went into the migracion office. Took maybe five minutes because we had filled out our FMMs online and were only staying six days, so there's no fee. Almost no other traffic when we were there. If you need to use the bathroom, it's across the way near aduana. People working there directed us to it, no problem. Easy border crossing. If you need to get a TIP and/or will be staying in Baja more than a week, the banjercito is right there to pay the fee(s). I'm pretty sure this is not a 24-hour border like San Ysidro, but I don't know the exact hours of operation.

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I doubted the other comments, but for real: WALK ACROSS FIRST! Park and walk. FFM gets stamped in an office between the crossing, if you drive across first you will look like a dumb American (or other nationality) because you will have to be very polite and be led backwards through 3 one-way checkpoints. Also, if you paid for and printed the FFM beforehand, make sure to print the reciept too- it is required.

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Entered on a Friday morning around 8am, everyone super friendly and helpful. Easy and fast border to cross!

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Have been through multiple times while driving. Probably the easiest international border I've been through. With regards to the FMM, and walking. Just go in the left lane. Pull off to the side and park. You can walk back and the officer there will quickly help you. He'll stamp your passport, and make fun of your spanish.

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Pour les voyageurs de la Californie au Mexique par voie terrestre.

Ma femme et moi avons passé la frontière dans le sens usa-> mexique dimanche 30/01/2022 à 10h au poste de tecate en Californie.
Nous voyageons en Nissan aménagé immatriculé aux USA. Nous avions prévu des photocopies de nos passeports, permis de conduire, title et registration de notre camion (carte grise et enregistrement des plaques) ainsi que l'assurance mexicaine lewis lewis pour le camion.
Voici comment c'est passé notre tranquil passage de la frontière:

1- nous avons rouler jusqu'aux barrières, un douanier nous a fait signe et il a ouvert la barrière. On s'est garé devant lui. Il nous a dit vouloir regarder dans le coffre et dans la partie aménagé du véhicule. Vérification rapide pour nous aucun placard n'a été ouvert. En même temps que sa vérification visuelle il nous a demandé si on avait des produits à déclarer (drogues, médicaments, alcool). Rien de plus...
Et voilà nous étions entré au Mexique! Nous avons garer le camion dans la rue juste à gauche à la sortie de la douane et sommes revenus à pied pour faire faire nos FMM et TIP

2- revenu devant le même douanier on lui a demandé pour faire nos papiers, le bâtiment est collé au poste de contrôle. On s'est donc rendu au bureau d'immigration. On a remplis le FMM en face d'un fonctionnaire. Il a remplis sa partie et nous a demandé d'aller payer au banjecito puis de revenir le voir pour mettre le tampon officiel après payement.
Le banjecito est encore juste à côté, la fonctionnaire nous a demandé nos passeports et FMM, nous avons payés par carte en pesos (1200) et sommes retourné faire tamponner nos FMM
3- Puis nous avons fait le TIP pour la voiture De nouveau au banjecito. Nous avons fournis les photocopies du passeport, de la registration et la fonctionnaire a fait la photocopie du FMM tamponné. On a signé plusieurs papiers et donner un numéro de téléphone (français) et un email. Nous avons payés 450$US. 50 pour le TIP et 400 en dépôt, toujours par carte.

Au final pour notre immigration humaine nous avons obtenu 180 jours et le visa FMM tamponné à conserver jusqu'à notre sortie de territoire. Et pour l'importation de notre camion nous avons eu un TIP (une copie est aussi envoyé par mail en pdf), notre voucher de paiement, le reçu du dépôt de 400$ avec le numéro de carte à recréditer, et l'attestation de paiement du permis d'importation.

1h au total.
Bon voyage et bonne route à tous. Soyez prudents.

Note importante, nous parlons tous les 2 suffisamment bien espagnol pour que les échanges soient fluides. Si ça n'est pas votre cas, vous pouvez vous faire un mini répertoire avec quelques mots clés, toujours utile pour savoir de quoi on vous parle 😁

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Went through on a Sunday at around 8am. Things may have been different during the week. I would suggest just driving up to the border post and not parking at the duty free. We parked at the duty free and walked to the blue stairs to get the FMM. They did not take cc so had t return to the van to get $35pp. You CANNOT walk back to your car to the duty free area!!! The blue stairs area is in Mexico and your car is in the USA. To get back to your car you have to cross back into the USA via the pedestrian border crossing which is quite the performance. Eventually we did get back to our car and drive through with no problems at all. No one asked for any vehicle papers or insurance. A bit of a puzzle but I would recommend just stay with your car and drive through the gate and see what the border officers suggest you do to get the FMM. The border is very quiet on a Sunday morning.

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sunday morning 10am, we are the only one, checked the cabin, asked for insureance, asked for car Papers, checked our Passports and we can go after 5 min, we parked the car outside the gate in the street, went back to the office and check for our FMM Touristcard, Form is in spanisch, Bank just outside in Front that Office, pay 638$ with Visa, easy, took us 15 min, stamp, card, leaving

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We crossed the border without any problem. The officers all was very friendly and helped us to park the RV close to the office. We did FMM and payed one day before this was helpful and shorten the time we needed to finish formality. Highly recommended!

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Since no one has clearly set out which building to go to, I'm going to try and clarify. First park your vehicle - Tax Free place good idea. Walk towards but not thru the arch where the cars go. Keep to your right and watch for the yellow arrows on the sidewalk. You will pass the Banjercito first and just past it is a blue bannistered staircase. This is where immigration is. There is a fellow at a desk just inside the door and the entrance to Immigration is just past him. You can pay the fee by cash or credit card. Then go to Banjercito to sort out TIP but only if you are going beyond Baja.
We cancelled our 10 year RV TIP when we entered because we are selling and this time we are only visiting Baja.

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going towards from Mexico to the USA, on a Saturday around sunset, we had more than an hour wait... other than that the usual questions and inspections, all done respectfully. I would recommend this place... I don't know what it's like in Tijuana but people told us to use this one instead.

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Smooth crossing as described by others. Just remember to park your car BEFORE the crossing and all should go well. We spent a little over an 1h at the crossing with all the ins, outs, stamps, copies and crossing back to the US.

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Smooth border crossing, waved us through, no questions asked about our 40lb husky. It’s Sunday so the copy place is closed. Dude who gave us the FMM was able to make copies for us, gave him a couple bucks for the gesture. He was selling his homemade hot sauce and honey. We passed on it. Maybe 1 other person crossing at the same time as us. Decent amount of foot traffic here. Overall excellent first time experience driving through an international border.

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very easy border cross, take us an hour to pass with the van and 3 people including make insurance over the street

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Everything immigration wise from the Mexican side has been amazing however coming back the USA officer was horrid he said he felt sorry for us to have visited Mexico and asked why we would want to do that. Other then this had a really good time in Mexico and can not wait to come back

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US to Mexico - Southbound

Smooth an easy crossing, we parked our Camper just before the border on the Tax Free's Parking lot, walked with all our papers to the aduana, get the FMM from him an paid the fee right there, no banca, bought some honey from him too, he made for us all necessary copies (free of charge) for the TIP, then went outside to the Banjercito, got our 10 year TIP, paid this with Mastercard. Then after that was done walked into Mexico, turned left, walked for 100 Meter, turned left again into the US Customs to get back into the US, talked nice to the Officer in duty and handed him our passports to take out our I94 - thats Important, walked back to our Camper, took it and went over the border into Mexico - this time with the Car.
As easy as it can be - JUST PARK YOUR CAR BEFORE THE BORDER AND WALK!

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Nous avons acheter une assurance pour le vr juste avant d entrer a la frontière un bâtiment a gauche a côté de la station essence. Puis on a passé la douane il ont fouiller le véhicule très rapidement. Nous sommes allés nous garer dans une rue de Tecate et retourner a pied faire les papiers.
A la aduana on donne nos passeport on rempli un petit papier on va a la banjercito qui se trouve a côté payer le visa pour 180j 588 pesos puis on retourne dans la aduana faire tamponner son passeport.
Pour le véhicule on retourne a la banjercito on fournit les photocopie du permis de conduire de la carte grise et du visa (aller faire la photocopie 25cts a la pharmacie juste après la douane) donner les documents et payer 59.16 dollard us on vous remet le papier d importation valable 10 ans. On a pas payer de caution.
Si vous êtes touriste aux usa aller a pied a la douane des usa sur la gauche a 100m rendre la carte verte qui es agrapher dans votre passeport si vous ne retourner pas aux usa durant la validité de votre visa.
Voilà c est très simple et ca nous a pris 2h car nous sommes 6.

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We crossed into Mexico today with our E350 Econoline Van. We were a bit worried about the crowds since it is Memorial day weekend in the US. But everything went super smooth without much traffic. Just wanted to give a quick overlook of how things go down in Tecate:

1) u drive towards the boarder crossing and are meant to park before you cross to get your paperwork sorted. (We drove through without that and were able to go back across to the US by foot though thereafter.)

2) tourist permit: on the right of the drive through crossing (coming from the US) you can find the immigrations office (just walk in). Bring your passport and fill in the paper they hand you. Then exit the office and pay your fee at the bank counter just outside. Go back into immigrations with your receipt and get your stamp.

3) car permit: go to the same bank counter where you paid your tourist fee (right hand side of drive through border). Ask for the car permit. If your van is considered a live in vehicle - must say on your registration - you can get a 10 yr permit for $60. Otherwise it's a 6 month permit for $70 plus a $300 deposit. You need a copy of your passport, one of your registration & one of your permit. (There is a pharmacy across the border on the Mexican side when you get into Tecate,Mx. (3pages US$0.55)

4) drive through border crossing: by luck you either get a green light (go straight through) or a red light. We got a red light and had to pull over. The border agent was very friendly and asked us to check the vehicle. She didn't really search anything but just had a glimpse and was interested in our travel plans. We were good to go!

5) car insurance: our Canadian insurance is not valid in Mexico. We planned to get one in Tecate and compare some quotes in town. After attempting to find a couple offices on Google maps and without success of locating them in town, we just got one with Chubb through Bajabound. Our research showed Chubb to be the best value for money.

Happy travels we are excited for some tacos.

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Dimanche, nous sommes restés dans une file de voiture pendant 2 heures tellement il y avait de monde pour rentrer aux States. Ensuite on scanne notre passeport,. et on montre notre visa B2. 5 mns, ils n'ont même ouvert le camper pour voir l'intérieur, juste demandé s'il y avait d'autres personnes.
surtout attention en sortant du Mexique, si vous devez aller a la banjercito, ce n'est pas au même endroit et il n'y a pas de communication entre les 2 frontières.

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NOT SUITABLE FOR BIG RIGS (USA to MEX)
Arrived early morning. Attempted to cross the border in a 28ft motor home / school bus conversion. Refused entry and told that this border post does not have a permit to process large vehicles (for crossings into Mexico).
Directed to Otay Mesa but encountered the same issue.
Large rigs should use San Ysidro (San Diego - Tijuana).

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we had a nice and very easy crossing today. we had completed our paperwork on the internet but struggled to print it out! just before we crossed the border we eventually found an insurance office that printed it all off except one receipt. passed through the border in 2 minutes and then had to park. leave the border and go one block straight, turn right and go round the block and you can park just outside the border exit. I had to walk down the hill and just past the Tecate Hotel is an internet place. printed off my last form and then returned back into the border post, around the fence almost back in USA and cross the road, proceed to the immigration office. give passports, paperwork and receipts to the guy, done in 5 mins. we bought honey off the guy, $5, it looked good and does taste good too. you can also do all that at the border if you don't do the internet thing. overall, very easy and pleasant.

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Ran into a few snags: driving a Transit Van, trying to get TIP.

Suggest parking outside, on left...there are three spots before entering, and walk to the aduana office to get tourist visa, then get TIP, then drive through.

They reviewed registration and saw van had max weight of 8k lbs...to much they said. So had to take photo of sticker on car, and she accepted the front only weight, even though van actual max is 9000.

Because of this, had to pass through several times...

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Drive through the gate into Mexico. Stopped by a guard for a precautionary check & search, where he only seemed interested if we had a dog or not. As we didn’t this was over in 5 minutes. We promptly asked where to get our visa & he showed us where to park and where to go.
Park on the side street (for 30 mins permitted only) and walk back through the border and into Mexico again to the immigration officer. The officer tells us they have no immigration forms (?!) so we must go and find and print them ourselves. 
Back in Mexico visit a copy shop with a super helpful owner and explain the situation. Spend 30 minutes filling out the forms online and printing. Pay $5. She tell us it’s super tranquillo and no need to worry about a parking ticket.
Return to the immigration office (through the border) with the receipt of payment & completed form notice. He tells us we need to find the actual form and print it. Enter Mexico again.
Return to the copy shop and try to figure out how to print the actual form. After another 30 mins of searching realise we need to access the form via our emails and have it printed. 
Return to immigration office for a 3rd time and are granted a tourist visa. During which the officer tries to sell us empanadas for $3, honey, sauce etc. We politely decline, and are grateful it is easier to say no to than a bribe!
Visit the Banjercito to get our Temporary Import Permit for our vehicle. Show him copies of our passport, drivers license but discover we need copies of our tourist visa.
Enter Mexico again (4th time today!) to get necessary copies. Head back to the Banjercito to get our TIP. Pay $51 and a $200 deposit which we will get back when we leave Mexico.
Finally we had to enter the USA one last time to give our exit forms so they know we have left the country. This was by far the worst experience of the day, with an absolute piece of work on the border. Rude doesn’t begin to cover it and it was such a different experience to the Mexican Authorities. We were glad to be leaving the USA at this stage!
Enter Mexico for the 6th time that day, retrieve the car which has been in the 30 minute parking zone for 3 hours. Drive to nearest taco shop for $7 lunch of tacos & pop. Enjoy Mexico!

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It's our first time in Mexico so we did our homework reading everything we could. But when we arrived everything changed in a second. We drove slowly into the fenced area, looked around for Migracion office we couldn't see. After the green light on a gate we moved forward, custom officers showed us to pull over. They lightly searched our car, gave us questions to which we mostly nodded in agreement: turistos, La Paz, agua... And then they let us go! Suddenly we were in town and nobody wanted to see our passports. So we parked the car in the nearest street, gathered all our documents and went back. Guys with guns showed us turnstile gate for pedestrians. We're back in the fenced area looking for Migracion office and thinking where we were supposed to park the first time. Nowhere. This is the correct procedure. In the office we filled out the turist card, paid to the guy $33 USD each (?! too much, is he keeping part of it?!). We had only $20 and $5 bills so he took $65 smiled, said we pay $1 next time and then he printed official receipt which we all signed. Seemed legit. Next we went back to town to get copies of our tourist cards (we already got copies of vehicle documents, driver's license and passport), back to the border to Banjercito office where nice lady processed everything for $51 (TIP) + $200 (deposit) and told us several times we will get the money back when we leave the country. Now we only needed to walk through the town to American border office where we need to hand back the visa waiver hoping they will not let us proceed to the USA for another round of border fun. Luckily the US officer was really nice, took our cards and opened the gate for us back to Mexico.

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We were recommended to use this border crossing, and can only give it a thumbs up. It was very easy going and everyone were kind and helpful.

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Easy border crossing. Spent about 1,5 hours over here because we needed to get our TIP and, as we drive an European car, it took a while before they could give us the approval. Immigration officer and bank officer were really friendly and helpful. Immigration officer wants to sell his own salsa and honey... but he was really nice. Customs people were not nice at all, they just opened up our car without even saying anything to us. After just an easy check-up, we were good to go! Note: learn to speak Spanish! We don't speak Spanish (yet) and it's hard to find anyone who speaks English after the border crossing.

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Park up on the left just as you get to the Mexican customs... only 3 or 4 spots available (leaving the US there's absolutely nothing!).  The tourist visa office is in the right hand side (labelled aduana). Fill In  the application and go back outside to the banjercito office next door to pay ($28 a head).
Then back into the aduana for the visa to be issued and stamped in your passport. 

 If you need a TIP for the car as well... you can leave this till you get to la paz/ cross to the mainland but we figured may as well get it all done at once.
Once you have the visa you need it photocopied, the pharmacy just outside the gates on the left do copies for 25c (usd). Then go back to the banjercito office with copies of your docs (passport of registered owner, car registration, newly issued visa, maybe drivers licence too?).  They put highlighter all over them and keep them so you do need copies! And they process the TIP. Depending on the age of the vehicle is the deposit... we paid 300usd which we'll  get back when we leave Mexico and approx 60usd for the TIP.  Stuck it all on a credit card!

As our VIN wasn't linked to a specific vehicle on his computer the banjercito officer wanted to see our car and the VIN but  all really straightforward.  They are in the process of fitting lots of new electronics equipment so things may change!

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Incroyable, la frontière la plus facile à passer depuis le Costa Rica!!!! En 20 min on était aux Etats-Unis ! ! Ils ne sont même pas entrés dans le véhicule ! !

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Easy checkpoint going back to US. A border lady official took our eggs (she said avian flu????) and apple She was VERY rude. It took us about 15 minutes to get over the border and we were let go

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 UPDATE 2015
You no longer have to go to the bank, just go into the immigration office on your right just after crossing the border, fill out the visa paper and pay the officer $25, done.

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From my crossing in late 2010 - Full story on the the Motorcycle Mexico [LINK: http://www.motorcyclemexico.com/ride-report/baja-peninsula/] website. 

I was expecting a guard on the US side but was surprised to see that we simply road under an archway and into Mexico. There were only 2 or 3 lanes and we entered the one showing Nada a Declarar – Nothing to Declare.A teenage boy dressed in desert camouflage and wielding a large automatic rifle stood next to the gate. Stephen was first and I was slightly behind him. As we rode forward the gate lifted and Stephen entered. I hesitated a second and by the time I started going the gate closed just inches in front of me. I waited, nothing happened. I looked at the guard, nothing. A female customs officer motioned for me to back up. That’s easier said than done with a big motorcycle on a slight decline. It took me a little while to tippy-toe the bike in reverse about 5 meters back onto the sensor. The bar lifted and I raced through. A little hiccup, but now I’m inMexico!!!

An officer motioned us to park around the side of the building. An old man with some official official looking badges told us where to go. I asked him if the bikes were safe here and he said he would look after them. We left on our tank bags, set the helmets on the bike and walked into the Migracion (Immigration) office. The officer at the desk spoke a little broken english without emotion. He gave us a paper, told us to write down our first and last names and then take the paper down the road 3 blocks to the bank where we could pay for the tourist visas. If this is your first time outside the US you might be surprised to see that everything isn’t laid out in an efficient manner. It’s just part of the game and you have to roll with it.

We walked down the streets through the Mexican border town. It felt like another world; this isn’t the USA. A smile from cheek to cheek crossed my face – back in Mexico! We waited in a long line at the bank. Efficiency at it’s best. I didn’t care, it was simply exciting to be in Latin America once again. Finally after about 30 minutes we made it to the teller and paid our $22 US Dollars and received a receipt. The teller spoke a little english and had lots of questions about motorcycling from the US and down into Mexico. After some chit-chat we walked back up the hill a few blocks. Our bikes were still there – that’s a great start. Back into the Migracion office we handed to the receipt to the clerk and filled out our tourist visa paperwork. He asked us how long we planned to stay in Mexico. Although I plan to stay only a month, and Stephen perhaps 2 months, we told him we’d stay for 6 months and requested the longest tourist visa available. He gave us 6 months – more than enough time. It’s always good to get the maximum period allowed. You never know if you’ll breakdown and/or stay longer.

With all of our documents in order we snapped a few photos in harsh light at the border and were sad to learn there was no “Bienvenidos a Mexico” sign. The suited up and asked for directions out of town. We said goodbye to the old man and hit the road. MEXICO!!! WOOOOO!!!

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