{"id":146764,"date":"2017-02-20T09:54:03","date_gmt":"2017-02-20T09:54:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=146764"},"modified":"2017-02-20T09:54:03","modified_gmt":"2017-02-20T09:54:03","slug":"travelling-world-hera-van-willick-encata-los-mariachis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/02\/20\/travelling-world-hera-van-willick-encata-los-mariachis\/","title":{"rendered":"Travelling the World with Hera van Willick: Me Encata Los Mariachis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not a sign in sight to point me the way to the border. I decide to ask a pedestrian; \u2018How do I get to Mexico?\u2019. He shows me the way and within minutes I pass by a short traffic jam waiting for their turn with customs, still, not a sign around. No \u2018Goodbye\u2019, no \u2018Visit again\u2019, no \u2018Have a great trip\u2019, no stars and stripes, no police. Nothing! Does Trump believe that he can keep \u2018his people\u2019 within the U.S. borders just by hiding all evidence of there being borders? Interesting…<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is the Mexican border crossing. Two young Mexicans in uniform gesture me to go stop on the side and they question me in broken English about my travels. One of them walks around my bicycle and prods my panniers as if he is checking them for\u2026 well yeah, for what? Judging by their wide open eyes and big smiles they mainly question me out of curiosity. When they\u2019re done they tell me I can carry on, \u2018Bye bye\u2019, and so I do.<\/p>\n

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Suddenly there is life, colors, money exchange, shops, pedestrians. Wait a minute, did I just cross the border? I look around me to check if this is some kind of \u2018tax free border area\u2019 after which the official customs will follow, but ahead of me a long street stretches out in which Mexico seems alive and kicking. Nobody wants to see my passport; nobody wants to question me. I decide to turn around and roll back to the \u2018border\u2019. I find an office and ask where I can find customs. The young man looks at me with surprise and directs me to the office next-door. Apart from the officer behind the counter it\u2019s empty. I ask him if he wants to stamp me passport.<\/p>\n

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Travelling the World with Hera van Willick: Dripping South<\/span><\/h3>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/article>\n<\/div>\n

He tells me it\u2019s $30 if I want to enter Mexico, as if that would be a factor to reconsider my choice to visit this country. When I agree on the price he finally takes my passport and starts some administration. A few minutes later I\u2019m back outside with a $30 stamp in my passport that buys me 180 days in Mexico.\u00a0Once again I cycle into the lively colorful streets of Mexicali.<\/p>\n

WELCOME TO MEXICO! (I say to myself, by the lack of any signs here too).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That\u2019s how I cycled into Mexico a few days ago now.\u00a0But before I proceed to take you with me into Mexico, I want to tell you about my last week in the United States of America.\u00a0After writing my last blog I rolled into Joshua Tree National Park. Theoretically Shaun and I could\u2019ve biked through this park in less than two days. That\u2019s if it wouldn\u2019t have big rocks scattered all of the place and if I hadn\u2019t crossed the Sierra Nevada with a pair of climbing shoes in my pannier especially for this occasion. Because there is not water in the park we loaded up with enough liters for four days. We were cyclists with a plan!\u00a0Though we hadn\u2019t really planned much and hadn\u2019t done any research on where to find the good boulders and didn\u2019t carry any rope or boulder mats.\u00a0In the back of my mind I noted that we might be scrambling more than doing some real bouldering or climbing.<\/p>\n