Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009 -- halfway thru Mexico

After a leisurely start (we could not bear to leave our darling Spring Hill Marriott too early!!), we found our way across the border from McAllen to Reynosa, bought insurance for the car and paid for its import, actually found the highway to take us further into Mexico, and off we went. We had asked at the border if the Migracion wanted to stamp our passports or FM3 visas, and they demurred, however, once we got to km 30, the official called us over to protest the lack of stamp. It is our obligation as holders of the FM3 to get stamped even if we have to demand it, he said. We think he was interested in something besides our stamp, but he got nada.
Now, we've flown and driven in and out of Mexico numerous times and using numerous entry and exits, and we can say with some certainty that there is no set procedure for being stamped. The Cancun and Merida airports have different rules for entry and exit and documentation. The funny thing is that neither the US nor Mexico stamped our passports when we entered the US in March 2009, so as it stands (and except for our newly reimported car being paid for), we've never officially left Mexico!!
We drove through Monterey and headed south before Saltillo to St Luis Potosi and finally Queretaro, where we're staying tonight. Fortunately, we've been here before and taken time to see each of these town since it was dark by the time we finally arrived in Queretaro and we saw nothing but traffic lights. We have now driven more than 2100 miles in four days and our butts can attest to that fact!!!
Before we lost the light, we had a most magnificent sunset off to the west. We drove down a wide valley most of today with some cloud cover, which we appreciate when we drive, and for about 45 minutes, we watched the sun set. Turning yellow, then gold, and finally red then rose, we saw the ball go down, but the sky around it was so incredibly blue and the clouds made fantastic shapes against the blue, that it was really dramatic to watch nature at her finest. No photo could do this justice and we didn't even try, just kept glancing right and oohing and aahing.