We left Basecamp in Todos Santos and headed the hour drive into La Paz. The goal was to get to La Paz, being a Friday, and see about getting the Temporary Import Permit for the Ram 3500. The goal for the day was to get the TIP. There are two ferries going to Mazatlan and the TMC ferry is preferred by overlanders and campers since they let you sleep in your camper instead of purchasing a cabin. We have the pups and did not want to leave them in the camper for the 19 hour float. The TMC ferry leaves La Paz on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, so we planned to hang out in La Paz for the weekend, or maybe hit one of the hot springs.
I needed to get a few things done before heading to the port. We missed the La Paz photo on the way in the last time so we headed out there to get that. Then I needed some cash, so we headed to the ATM at Walmart to get those thousands of pesos. We ran in to Marcus and Jasmine in Walmart for the 4th time since we met them in Ensenada. They were catching the Friday ferry and had to be there at 2PM. It was 12:30 already. We needed copies of the insurance and my visa (FMM) for the TIP, so we tried a couple of places and ended up at OfficeMax. I managed to get a couple of pictures printed for Kathy as well. (She’s made a neat little wall of photos and collections up in our bed area.)
We were all stocked up and headed to the port… and then a speed bump. Really, a speed bump in front of a store in the parking lot that I did not see. I did see the first one, but the second was 5 feet further and I hit it too hard and Howie jumped up in the back of the truck. I noticed the eye bold was bent, so I had to undo that whole thing and use one of my last two spares. 30 minutes later it was repaired and we were off to the port.
Some background information on this: I have been stressed for almost a year about this TIP process because there are stories that Mexico will not give you a permit if your vehicle is over 7700 GVR base weight. Some groups on Facebook have members say they have been turned away while others have said it was not a problem. I had tried to get a TIP at Sonoyta when we crossed, but their computers were down, and the guy said just get it in La Paz or any of the Banjercitos. I had thought of selling the truck and getting a 2500, but I would only have to beef it up to a 3500 status to get Howie stable. Plus tons of people are doing this in 4500’s and 5500’s. To compound the issue, Arizona registers 3500’s as commercial vehicles, even though they are not. I tried having that changed, but the DMV person in Coolidge was adamant it could not be changed.
Well all that worrying, research, and stress turned out to be wasted energy, as worry usually is. We got up to the counter, presented our papers, and after 10 minutes we were given a packet for the Aduano (customs) to stamp. She said it was “muy facil”, so we headed on over there. The gentleman looked at the VIN, the paperwork, and 5 minutes later came back with a stamped form. She was right, and we hit the easy button on that process. We headed back to the banjercito and she charged us $400 deposit and $56 for the permit and we received our TIP. The whole process took about an hour.
Just as a joke, I told Kathy we should check the TMC office to see if we can get on the ferry today as it was still loading at 3:30PM. So we asked, and they said “Yes!” and called ahead for us. We had to get through a customs inspection, be weighed, and then purchase the tickets. Customs was easy… they looked through the camper, asked me a bunch of questions about drugs, money, and weapons, and then passed us through. We were 5800kg, by the way (12,700 lbs). The tickets for us and the truck were $650 (there goes the budget) and we were off to wait with the other overlanders. Marcus and Jasmine were there (#5 meeting).
We got on the boat around 5:30 and set sail about an hour later. The tickets included Dinner and Breakfast so we were directed to get dinner. Rice, beans, and a meat chili mixture and we purchase our drinks. Not the normal cruise line buffet, LOL. It was LOUD in the vehicle bay since we were right next to the ventilation fans for the ship (you can see it in the above photo beneath the smoking lettering). DEAFENING sound. We tried watching a movie but it was too loud so we put in our noise canceling headphones and tried to sleep.
The night was fairly uneventful, but was loud. We got a decent amount of sleep. The ferry was supposed to be 19 hours, however we were in Mazatlan port by 8:30, so it took only 14 hours. We were glad to get off and were happy to be in Mazatlan. We missed this port a few years back when we were on a cruise due to some airplane crashing in the harbor, and it feels really strange to have driven here. But here we are, several days earlier than expected on Mainland Mexico.
