Tying Up Loose Ends

I never give myself enough time.  I think I learn my lesson and try to plan ahead, but some things just never get fully finished no matter how much time I get.

The boat came along just fine and with a few final touches all that was left was to buy our rope and rig up the mast and the sail.  It was more of a list of the little things that seemed to be never ending.  The Mexican government has a web page that tells you what you need to enter into the country by boat, but right when it gets to the part that’s going to tell exactly what papers to bring, it goes a little vague.  In order to not tank the whole trip on a technicality we decided to go to the Mexican Consulate in LA to get it all hashed out.  First step, realize we are there to do something that they never deal with, boat transportation.  We get sent upstairs to wait in a room with nothing on the TV except scare tactic video of people getting nabbed after jumping the border, but after waiting for 30 minutes they just show us this paper with a passport on it and highlight the word “passport.”  Ok, got that part squared away, now if we could just get an answer on bringing a boat into the country.  Downstairs we go where I come about five seconds away from paying an import tax before another lady figures out that I’m not selling the boat in Mexico.  Back over to another window where a nice woman shows me her computer and how to do all of what we need online, she even gives me her cell number in case I have any questions. Okey dokey,  what a waste of time.

It’s at this point in the process of planning big things that I start to wear pretty thin and the anxiety starts bubbling up. I’m running around town buying this or that from a list of things that I’ve been compiling for months, and it’s not that I think I need to bring everything, but I’m well aware of the fact that sometimes the smallest addition to you kit can make a huge difference in your comfort when you leave home for over a month.  The list had everything from fishing gear, downloading music, and a sewing kit, to super glue for big cuts and a flare gun to shoot someone in the face if needed like in that movie Dead Calm (Dan Rogers said it was a must).

So with my nails bitten down to the quick and most of our errands checked off, we headed to the bar for one last hang with a whole lot of people who love them some Heath and “that other guy he goes on the trips with.”