Finding the sun...

We relaxed, regrouped and restocked for a couple days before heading across the border. Did we mention it still hadn't stopped raining and the wind was even knocking down trees in Chula Vista? The morning of January 7th we packed our soggy tent and headed farther south, and no Eric, we don't want to hear about the sun in Seattle.

We'd been told the Tecate border crossing was rarely busy, but we weren't expecting to be the only car among a handful of semi trucks. We had trouble figuring out which way to go until another car showed up, honked politely and gave us the courage to drive right past the 18-wheelers. We got the "red light" this time, largely because the six border patrol officers were extremely bored. Fortunately we received lots of smiles, a cursory search and much need advice on obtaining our tourist cards. Did we mention it still hadn't stopped raining?

Next came bored immigration officers, more smiles and directions and then we were off on Highway 2 in Mexico. Destination for the day; Arturo's hotsprings in Guadalupe Canyon. And guess what, about 50 more miles of driving and we finally found the sun!

We opted for the new toll road through the Sierra de Juarez Mountains. This seemed like an exceptionally good decision after we noted that the tolls were obviously helping to pay for many brand new, extremely sturdy looking guard rails. We learned how important they were when we reached the first view point. The wrecked cars literally lined the canyon walls like discarded beer cans rusting away on the bolder strewn cliffs. After that freakish sight we firmly claimed the "granny lane" as ours and safely made it through the mountains to the next fork in our road.

Turning south off the highway we left the pavement behind for the 35 mile journey to the hotsprings.

The road into the hot springs was absolutely heinous. Was it worth it?...every single 4-wheel low, rock crawling mile. With three days to enjoy our private hot spring pool we ended the day snuggled up by the fire in our palapa, sipping some delicious wine (thanks Randy, Polajzar juice hits another country) and nibbling on scrumptious "Mom McMullin" cookies. Tomorrow's agenda: sit in hot springs, sit in sun, nap, repeat...