I am sure you lay awake nights wondering where everything we own has gone....just like I do. Our 40 ft container landed in Vera Cruz, Mexico on Thursday January 7th, 2010. We know this because we had been tracking it through the container number given to us by our moving company. So it sat there through the weekend. Monday morning we finally got a hold of the broker, Mr. Diaz, who we hired to handle our things with the Aduana, which is Mexican customs. Mr. Diaz said he would let us know when he heard something.
Monday. Tuesday. Wednesday. O.K. Maurice you have to call this Mr. Diaz guy and find out what is going on!!! Thursday we call. Mr. Diaz says he will let us know when he hears something.
End of week one.
Friday. Saturday, Sunday. Now it has been 10 days. No word. Our moving company representive, Hercules, said it would be in customs for a couple of days……well, unless of course, there are problems. Now, not that this happens often, he said, but you need to be prepared to possibly pay a few thousand dollars to clear your things. This is not covered in the cost of your move....but do not be alarmed. It probably will not happen, but I think you should know it is possible.
Outwardly Maurice and I are not panicking. In fact there is a huge upside to not having our things yet. We can get the bodega finished first, which would make things so much more convenient as we could move right in. Still the questions are there.
Is there a warehouse full of all our things, unpacked, and being rifled through....by men with rifles???
Is our 40 ft container sitting on the wharf with hundreds of others. Forgotten.
Are our things being sold at auction as we sleep??
Funny, we saw our exact mission style table lamp, at The Sand Bar, on an old plastic table. It just showed up there one day. After our lamp sighting we started leaning toward this scenario. Our things were being sold, through a circuit of non-reputable Aduana guys!!! AND the owner of a bar, in the town we live in, which is totally across the entire country of Mexico (Vera Cruz is on the Atlantic side) and across the Sea of Cortez and across the Baja to the Pacific side, has ended up with one of our lamps.
Maybe our rational was slipping away. But the lamp really did just show up one day and is still there!
Monday I beg Maurice to call. He says, just wait, he said he would let us know. COME ON!! They have everything we own! This is crazy. We need to know what is happening.
Tuesday we call. 12 days after our things hit Vera Cruz. Mr. Diaz says he will go to the Aduana and send us an e-mail. All day long we check our e-mails...well not really cause we are at the El Presidente with our Buba’s and our friends, but we do check in once! When we leave to drive home we call. It is 6pm. Mr. Diaz, who never did send us an e-mail, tells us the Maneja de Casa has cleared. The Maneja de Casa is the documentation for all our household goods. The tools that Maurice is moving are under another document. Mr. Diaz says they are clearing the tools on Wednesday or Thursday.
Does this mean CLEAR THEM??? OR does this mean they will consider clearing them?? We do not know. Have they gone through our things? Was this all just a delay in the paperwork?? NOT A CLUE!
I am tending to think that they have not gone through our things since the last boxes packed into the container were Maurice’s tools. This must only be paperwork they are rifling through...maybe.
Thursday we call Mr. Diaz again, who we figure really does not even know HOW to e-mail and he says that we will be hearing from Senor Manuel. He is the guy who will be responsible for getting our container to us after it clears customs, which may be today.
Two weeks have now passed.
Friday we get an e-mail from Senor Manuel. CONGRATUALTIONS!!!! Aduana has released your container and it will be delivered to us for shipment to you. Please send directions and a date you would like your things.
YEHA!! Does this really mean we are safe now?? No, we are not forgetting this container will be driven across the entire country of Mexico than put on a ferry and taken across the Sea of Cortez to La Paz, where paperwork will be inspected again, and then finally driven to our land, but we are optimistic.
As of this morning, which is Saturday we have not gotten a response from our answer to Senor Manuel.
It is raining here right now, which is as strange as the oranges freezing in Florida. The sun is up, the wind is blowing and half of our tiling is complete in our bodega. We will work there today in preparation for our things. Jose will continue tiling, Maurice will try to figure out how to hang some ceiling fans on a ceiling where there is not dry wall and no place to attach them to. Since it is raining I can not work outside so I will probably be irritating everyone with my suggestions and possibly next weekend we will be unpacking!
Hopefully you can now sleep through the night, knowing our things may be on their way soon.
BTW, Susana, have a great trip!! MISS YOU!
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