September 22, 2008 II

No Sugar Coating

After arriving at Guadalajara Airport Customs for the second time at 8:00a.m, we realized very shortly that it was going to be another long day.  Our very best plans are not going to work out due to the town Donkey and Attorney from Guadalajara.

Jose and I are here for the second time and it’s obvious there will be no surfing in the morning before getting on the plane.  The only ocean we will get to see on this trip is out the window of the airplane.

Skipping the whole long and boring story, we were able to get all of the items out of customs that we thought we were going to lose. The problem is they confiscated all of our bunker gear including helmets, boots, fire coats and pants; about 50 sets we thought we were going to keep up until the 11th hour. The items are slightly used and the health department will not let them in due to health and contamination issues without a permit and inspection.  This surprised even the custom officials here at the airport. 

Bottom line, we lost about one third of the toys we brought for the orphanage, which was fine as they had good points on all of it. We lost our bunker gear which was the least expensive of the items we had down here. Everything else got through and we owe a few people at customs gratitude for the extra work, we shipped 12 pallets down and 10 and a half got through, thanks to the customs officials doing paper work in two business days that usually takes 3 months. Check out Jose loading the truck.



All of the items are going to be delivered tomorrow to La Morita, the ranch in Ayutla which belongs to Jose’s dad.  Bill Garrison’s computers and medical gear will be delivered this week to San Pancho by our friends in Ayutla. Autlan is coming Thursday to pick up their equipment and the Red Cross in El Limon will get their items this week, delivered by our new Ayutla friend and partner, Juan Bablo Montes, a very educated bilingual man we met with a big heart and the same beliefs and goals we do (more on him later). We got back to Ayutla around 3:00 a.m. went to sleep knowing we had to be up around 7:00 a.m. to take care of some final business and to hit the road to Puerto Vallarta by 9:00 a.m.  We are expecting at least a 3 hour drive, but potentially 5 hours like last time.

Ed

Posted by The Mission To Mexico at 9/22/2008 10:00 PM
Categories: uncategorized
 

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