san miguel adventure fun time part one of six –
la mierda
The major take-aways:
-Don’t forget your passport book. It saves you a lot of undo stress.
-Make sure your driver really knows where you are going. Unless you want to walk.
I was excited to go to a generally safe and easy place in Mexico. I spent the last day scurrying around making sure the house was in order, trying to cover all the details. But trying to do that made me forget something kind of- sort of-
important.
Just as I was approaching an agent to get a tourist visa at the airport, I went into a panic. I did not have my passport book. I checked and checked my purse. There was a black n95 mask where my passport book should be. An image of it sitting in my desk drawer flashed in my mind’s eye. My heart sank. There was no way to make a turn around trip to pick up the passport book in time to make the flight. I was not going to be able to go.
Everything was seemingly ruined.
How foolish! I stood in the airport shaking.
I wasn’t going out of my way to beat myself up about forgetting so essential an item. I’ve been sick for over two years. I didn’t need to punish anymore than I had been by life already. All the same, it was mind numbingly upsetting.
After the initial shock washed over, we went back over to the custom’s agent to get my my tourist visa. I could at least have that, right? I handed the agent my passport card. We asked for fourteen days. The guy gave me a hundred and eighty day “other” type of clearance (not tourist). No questions.
Then we just went for it. We tried getting in.
For all that panic, the only thing I had to do was scan my plane ticket.
THAT WAS IT.
I was not asked to show any ID or stamped bit of paper. My bags were scanned. I didn’t have to take off my shoes. I was not put through a body scanner. The metal detector wand pinged the because of the rivets in my jeans, but really nothing stressful happened at all.
Though the trip was going forward, the entire time we were in the airport, Hugo was catastrophizing- that I was illegal somehow- that I would end up in prison for some reason.
Why? My dude, why?
I was not illegal whatsoever!
I had my passport card (which is recognized by Mexico) and my global card (which is not recognized by Mexico, but could be helpful for US consular services if need be)- both of these cards are US government issued identifications- and I had a stamped visa.
The passport card says on the back that it is not valid for international air travel. But here’s the thing that is hard to process when in panic’s debilitating grip: I wasn’t traveling internationally. We were taking a DOMESTIC flight inside of Mexico. The card does say valid for domestic air travel (and not specifically within the US either, with the way it is worded). They didn’t need to see my passport book at all. Technically.
For the flight back, I did have to show my passport card when leaving Queretero, and I was let through without any problem.
What ever the policies are in Mexican airports, I was lucky to have no one press me for my passport book before either flight. Those in positions of power, literal gatekeepers were gracious toward me. For whatever reason.
So we landed and walked on the tarmac from our plane into this tiny yet bustling airport. And that was it. We were in Queretero. No problems.
We needed to be in San Miguel de Allende which is about an hour and a half away by ground transportation so the next thing was ordering a taxi.
We didn’t bother with ride share apps on this trip.
If you don’t know this already, in Mexico never just hail any cab at an airport.
You pay a person at a legit car service booth a head of time and wait for a vehicle from that company. When one arrives, you tell the driver where you want to be let out and get on your way. We asked to brought to our hotel.
The driver- a kid- somehow could not find the exact hotel’s exact location on the app he was using to navigate. So he was going to leave us on some street where the hell ever just inside the city’s historic center. Since we didn’t have a lot of bags and were itching to not be sitting anymore, we agreed to be dropped where the hell ever we were. The driver’s incompetence neatly glossed over. Thanks goodness for satellite tracking and google maps because at least we knew where we were going.
It turns out, we were a twenty minute walk from the hotel!
And what an amazing walk it was!
Our jangled nerves from the whole forgotten passport book issue vanished as we navigated the almost medieval style streets in mild awe.
Would you have freaked out about not having all your identifications with you?
Would you have gotten out of the taxi to walk to your hotel?
