Thursday, 5 January 2017: Laredo, Texas

I started by day on the phone with Apple again.  My photos seem to have come in overnight but no contacts.  When I added my hotmail account, my contact followed.  Since I keep EVERYTHING in contacts, I truly panicked a bit.  This part of the factory reset was not intuitive at all.  Following the same process I found my notes too by while waiting for them to download, I can only wonder what else I am missing.

After about a hour on the phone with my new best friend from Apple, The three of us headed for breakfast and errands. 
Mike needed automobile insurance for within Mexico ... check.
Gasoline ... check
Fix the tire .. check
Get pesos...check
Get $100 bills ... check
Huevas ranchero (the real deal) for breakfast ... check
Call the hotel to tell them we will be late in getting back to check out...check
Receive package from fed ex ... check
Leave the hotel and head to the border about 1:00 pm.  Border crossing went without a hitch.  We didn't stop anywhere for anything.  Nothing to declare, but what about the little sticker for the car?  We stopped just outside of town and determined that even when it comes back to haunt us, it was better to take the risk than to certainly take the risk roaming around the back streets of Nuevo Laredo looking for what.  For who?

We stopped again when we heard a strange noise in the back of our car.  Mike didn't see me flashing the lights at him so he was worried when we weren't following.  Did I mention how uncomfortable I am stopping on the side of the road?  When we stopped a third time because the undercarriage of the car must have gotten broken when we got the tire fixed, I was about to jump out of my skin, but since Justin almost slammed the car door on my hand, it was easy to forget that we were risking life and limb with him under the car on the side of the road in the middle of Taumalipas.

And, after my time on the phone with Apple last night, Justin was on the phone with AT&T well over an hour during this trip with no success!  We chose AT&T as our carrier because we were assured of service in Mexico.  Guess what?  No service.  The first rep told us to try to dial 01 before the area code and number; the second rep told us that wasn't necessary.  The third rep, now we are at super-duper supervisory level, told us to make sure roaming was on.  As it turns out, roaming does need to be on, but the access number is 001.  The devil is in the details.  This will work for Justin and me, but it may not work to call Mike if you really do have to have roaming on as that will be simply exorbitant.

We pulled into Monterrey sans map and pulled to the side of the road a few times to confer.  We finally dropped a pin and found our way to LQ hotel by La Quinta Norte.  It wasn't the part of town where Mike wanted to stay, but hey, it is after 5pm and maybe it is time for a drink.

Justin, Mike and Gemma went for a walk around the block and found nice cold cervecas.  Later we went to a restaurant where we all had cabrito.  Justin and Mike had another beer or two while I had lemonade with ice and a salad.  We will see what tomorrow brings.