May 12, 2007 — Later this month Kelly and I will be driving our car (a VW Jetta) to Mazatlan, then going through Arizona and Utah to his old family home in Idaho. It went on the market recently and as you’d say in Spanish, sold itself. We’re heading up for a family gathering, and then will be going to our town in Colorado, Crestone, and staying a while. Our route back will be through New Mexico, Chihuahua, and the central highlands of Mexico. We plan to be gone however long we want, at least a month, maybe two. Our departure date depends in part on when we get our renewed FM-3 visas (not to mention our passports) back from the Mexican government.

Our little Toyota RV will stay here. We thought about taking it but I’m not comfortable driving it, and we don’t really need its facilities that much for this trip. The car will cost us about half as much in gasoline and in tolls on the Mexican four-lane highways we like to use. And — an increasingly significant factor in personal decisions — it’s better for the environment to use less gas. Our car’s nickname is Smoothie, and the trip will definitely be smoother in it. Virtually all of the northbound trip, and much of the southbound, will be on good 4-lane highways.

The Mexican segments of the trip will likelyinclude Alamos, a charming small city I have long wanted to see, on our way north.

We decided that without the RV, our dear old dog is best off here at home. That made me a bit sad… hmm, he just came over and sat next to me at my desk. And it raised an ongoing concern of all animal-loving travelers:

Finding Petsitters in Mexico

In this area, with so many foreigners, there are quite a few who do petsitting. Last year, we used one and were completely happy with his services. Costs tend to run about ten dollars US per day for someone who lives in your home, or less for longer term. Sometimes more, sometimes less.

We wanted one or two people to live in our home, and one of my main concerns was that they be very conscious of keeping our two cats in the house. Another was that my much-beloved and timid Siamese cat be given affection, once he decides to come out from under the bed. Plus of course, LarryDog and our Mexican rescue kitty Misty need plenty of love!

I put the word out via email to a bunch of other foreigners, but actually something else turned up: some Mexicans we know in our neighborhood will likely stay here. I won’t post details now, because they are coming over in a couple of days to confirm. But it feels good.

Another choice we used once is an excellent dog boarding facility in San Antonio Tlayacapan, called Doglandia. But with the three animals, we wanted them all to stay here.

2 Comments:

• Anonymous said…

  Please be careful and think twice about this. Mexicans don’t worry about pets the same way we do. And this is not meant as a negative comment, simply a cultural difference. Some pets are left for days on end with no water or food. My American friend just moved houses and the cleaning lady left the door open briefly, the cat bolted and hasn’t been seen since. She had been given strict instructions to leave the cat in the bathroom while my friend was at work. Her response to the incident was “ni modo”. I think if you do leave them in charge of your pets, you may want to leave a key with someone else to stop by for some other reason. They can then make sure all is okay.

• I  said…

  These things can happen but not all Mexicans have a “ni modo” attitude. I will report further later.

UPDATE: The Mexicans who stayed in our house did a great job. No surprise there. I knew them.