Thursday we left for San Carlos. We were delayed one day waiting for - Yes! You've guessed it! - Toilet deodorant refill bottles.

We packed up our 5 boxes, 3 suit cases, one anchor, and 4 back packs and left for the Tufesa bus terminal. They charged us an additional 50 dollars for transporting all of our bags, but we were just happy to have them take it. We weren't sure how the Tufesa bus gets across the border so I (meaning Kathy and me) was a bit nervous. I was secretly hoping that the bus would just get a green light as it passed through the border and we'd be in the clear. After 1 � hours, the bus stopped. I think it was at this point, I knew we were in trouble.

We were sitting in the last row of the bus due to some previous bad planning: waiting for the last minute to buy our tickets. Everyone in front of us started standing up so - bending to peer pressure - we did too. Kathy looked out the window and said, "Hey! They're unloading all the bags." We were going to have to walk through customs.

The first problem we had was logistics: how were we going to carry all this baggage across the border. I asked a customs official for some help and he gave me a huge cart. We loaded the cart with our five boxes and one anchor. The suit cases had wheels and Kathy, Tara, and Casey each took one suit case and backpack. We were last in line and as we progressed towards the red/green light we strategized.

"Let's split-up!" Kathy suggested. I thought that this was somewhat devious on her part because she only had a suitcase and I had 5 boxes and an anchor.
"No. We have to stick together." I knew that this was my only hope of not spending the rest of my life in a Mexican prison.

As we moved closer I stated counting red and green lights. I was hoping that we could time it right. Green... Green... Red... Green... It was almost our turn. The customs guy looked tired and very unemotional as he handled each person. He wore a rubber surgical gloves and I tried not to think of what they could be used for.

Finally, it was our turn. Now the reader is probably thinking, "Oh! He got the green light. Hurray! That was cute story." But that's not what happened. As we got to the light the customs guy looked at us. I spoke first, mostly out of fear. "Nosotros vivimos en el velero en San Carlos." We live on a sailboat in San Carlos. I tried to smile and control my breathing. Kathy was poised to hit the button. The customs guys pointed to the table. I wanted to protest but didn't know the Spanish phrase for, "Hey! We didn't get to press the button." I thought about making a run for the border. If I ditched the girls, I might make it.

"Open all the boxes," the customs guy said very sternly. I started placing the boxes on the table. It was at this point that I started to get really nervous. I didn't have any way to open the boxes. They were tapped shut. The customs guy was busy searching another person's bags. I stood there dumbfounded. I made weak attempts to remove the tape. My knees quivered.

Now the reader may be thinking, "Use a knife," and that would be a great idea. I had 3 knives in one of the boxes. When we started our trip I wasn't sure if the Mexican homeland security team would make me throw my knife away, so I packed them. It turns out that buses going to Mexico don't follow the same rules as the American airlines.

The customs guy came back over and ripped open one of the boxes. He didn't have a knife either. We tried to explain to him that most of the stuff was for our boat; it was used and we had pulled it all out of storage. He wasn't buying any of it. We pulled out our boat import permit in hopes that it would save us. We had made a list of items on it when we left the country in September. I showed the list of items that we were allowed to bring into the country - there were 5 things on the list: Anchor; scuba tank (which we didn't bring); snubber parts (like anyone would know what that means); mask and fins; voltage regulator; water pump. This list looked really small next to the nine pieces of luggage.

"This list is wrong," he said irritated. "You have to pay taxes on all of this."

I started to panic. "But it's used," we said. Sure some of it was used, and some of it was new, but in this new light of having to pay taxes - it was all used.

"It doesn't matter," he said. "You still have to pay taxes." He seemed very determined as he said this. We showed him our import permit again and our list of approved parts. He looked at it for a full minute.

"Where's your water pump?" he asked.
"It's in one of the boxes." I started undoing the tape on the box that I thought one of the pumps were in. We had 4 of them and I figured the odds were in my favor. They weren't.

I looked up and saw that the entire bus was loaded. Another customs guy was waiting to load the bus with all of our stuff. We tried to explain that we didn't have receipts for a lot of the stuff because it came with the boat. We'd have to guess at the prices.

He grabbed my spear gun box and started unpacking it. "That's new!" I said in hopes that he'd be placated with something small. I was thinking that maybe he would just charge us taxes on it. He pulled it out of the box completely. The packing fell on the ground all around him. "We paid 200 dollars for it."

"Do you have the receipt?"
"Uh... I bought it on the internet."

He looked unsatisfied with the answer. The entire bus crew was watching us now. They knew it was just a matter of time before the customs guy pulled out his large club. Kathy came to my rescue.

"I think these water filters were 10 dollars apiece." There was a box that contained 15 sets of water filters. He handed the spear gun to the girls and they started repacking it.

"Just go." He said with disgust. I could tell he was pretty irritated. This bothered me because I don't like people to be mad at me. I started to say something to try and make the situation better, but then my little voice screamed, "Dude! Shut-up! You don't have to pay taxes. Get your family and get back on the bus." So that's what I did.

We got to Guaymas around 10:30 pm and two taxi drivers took us to our boat in San Carlos. We quickly threw everything on board and went to sleep.

We've been working to try and get the boat operational and hope to leave San Carlos around Wednesday.