ariznative
12/9/2014 17:58 EST
Hi everyone, When my wife and I arrived in Mexico to live a few months, we discovered certain things weren't available that we were accustomed to (like sausage for breakfast or pizzas, LOL)
We are moving to Nicaragua in late February. Some of our concerns for needing to know if things like Off!, mosquito coils, somewhat quality dog food, and K-cups exist in Nicaragua. We can live without the K-cups, but Off! is essential.
What about beef? It's hard to find beef lunchmeat or hotdogs here in Mexico, Pava seems to be the standard.
Are there lavanderias like here? or does everyone have washers/dryers?
Does TV programming include any English channels? Is it difficult to buy TV's there, or should we bring our own (we have one, want a 2nd one for another room.)
What about used bicycles? Our truck is a gas hog, we'd like to get around cheaper, and want to know if we should find a couple of bikes here in Mexico and somehow load them with everything else we're bringing, or can we find them there?
We are corresponding with a homeowner in Masaya, and likely will end up there, at least for the first few months. We are hoping our old travel trailer will make the trip!
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ariznative
12/11/2014 08:43 EST
Thanks for the reply. You said "Just about everything"...which leaves me to ask what is not available?
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iguanalover
12/11/2014 09:13 EST
What I would check into is bringing your vehicle and trailer into the country. Your visa will be different than their visas. Mexico is pretty open about it, I am not sure NIcaragua has the same rules. What you can bring in under a tourist visa is different than what you can bring in with a pensionado visa.
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KeyWestPirate
12/11/2014 10:08 EST
I came in last year driving a Ford F250 loaded , towing a 24 Ft fifth wheel, overloaded.
You can get these older trailers in really good shape, grandpa dies, for very little. New retirees want to buy new, so grandpa's RV languishes If you did what I did, change out the axles to 7500 lbs. I did buy new load range E tires, and that helped a lot. You will want to replace the tires in any case
I wound up stopping twice, once to add spring leafs to the trailer, the second time to repair a bent axle, and reinforce the frame of the trailer. This kind of work is cheap in Mexico, but it would have been much better had I anticipated the grief. It added a week to a week's trip. I had 100 bare root fruit trees and lost about half of them due to the heat.
I personally don't understand why more people don't drive.
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ariznative
12/11/2014 10:14 EST
KeyWestPirate, you're the second I've heard talk about the springs, so I'll take care of this. Our trailer is all of 15ft and a 1970. And is so much cheaper and easier than motels!
Question, we have everything we own in the truck & trailer. Nothing in excess quantities, all personal stuff, a few handtools and camping equipment, wire fencing for the dogs, small generator. Any chance there is something that won't be "allowed"?
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elduendegrande
12/11/2014 10:34 EST
Never heard of a K cup, sounds like an exciting bra size to me. The BBC provides 24/7 commie news. Beef walks down the street.
You should live near Pricemart in managua to satisfy your dietary needs.
Coming from rich developed Mexico you will need to adjust a lot.
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ariznative
12/11/2014 10:38 EST
LOL A K-cup is a coffee "pod" for Kuerig coffee makers. It is our only "luxury" expense, otherwise we are on strict budget.
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atz111
12/11/2014 10:42 EST
You just described why more people do not drive. You can load a 20 ft container in MIA an have it delivered to MGA for about 2K. Then another $400 and door to door to Granada. No trailer to worry about breaking or having to resell as most do not have a use for that here. No gas to buy. No hotel rooms to rent. No time spent on the road pulling a load and not exploring.
If you are bringing in stuff with a new residency visa it goes right to customs. I am curious how did you clear Nica customs with your mixed load on the road? Was it coming in with the exemption, or just normal cross border and pay the duty right there? Did you have to do anything special to get your live plants inspected? Nica regs say if the import is over 2K USD you have to have a customs broker…how did you manage that?
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majicjack
12/11/2014 16:31 EST
Now, ask how many people have had that container set there for 4 months trying to get it through customs. The door to door delivery is also a selling point but everyone we know ended up going and getting it an paying some one to deliver. If you have a mixed container, you have to wait until every bit of the stuff is cleared by customs before you can get yours out. If you do not have a retired residency when the container gets here, you will pay duty. Ask several people that have had this problem. It can be a real pain.We drove down pulling a boat, two motorcycles and packed to the brim. We had no problem getting into Nicaragua because we had transmigrante papers and an inventory list. You will not have to pay tax on your things if you keep your visa and vehicle papers up to date. If you don't, get the KY ready. When you apply for your residency submit this list and if it is covered by the law regarding residency you will not be taxed. If not, you will be.
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atz111
12/11/2014 17:08 EST
My stuff was out 4 days after it went into the customs warehouse. I shipped the container I loaded in Miami myself. Had a MGA firm "trucking" company deliver it from there to Granada. Had a 20 foot with just my stuff. But i shipped my truck in a mixed container with a guy who sees one every other week and that was released same way in about a week.
That was 5 years ago, so do not know if things have changed .
I waited until I had my residency and had all the papers and stuff in order. If you don't do that, you can pay a lot and if you don't know about that you likely don't know about other stuff as well. Problems start there.
Driving it in like you did is a different case as you get a tourist visa and are technically not importing stuff into the country. Shipping it in doesn't pass the tourist test.
You posted before on here about knowing what you are doing before you do it….or something to that effect….I think that is a lot of the problem. Some (a lot maybe) don't do the homework and then it falls to pieces when the stuff gets here before they have their residency, or have it and don't know the rules. Customs is far from perfect, but if you are screwed up it makes it even worse.
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KeyWestPirate
12/11/2014 21:02 EST
Everything will be allowed with some effort on your part. If you look like tourists with a trailer you chances are very good that you will just get waved on.
There are a variety of scams along the way, try to do as much as you can yourself crossing borders. The "tramites" are all thieves, and some are much worse than others. Don't let the tramites take your papers, they will try to reach into the window and grab them. If they become oppressive, find a policeman and complain. Even if he doesn't understand what you say they will back off. They are like cockroaches.
You CAN do it all yourself. All of the officials are very friendly. If there are two of you, one person gets a passport stamp and remains with the vehicle, while the other get his passport stamped and takes care of the car documentation. Things like a ice pick into a tire for a robbery down the road are not unheard of. Just be extra alert at the borders, they attract a lot of scum.
A lot of copies of car documents, like titles and registrations. Passport front page and license copies. YOu will still need to get the odd copy of your passport page and entrance stamp, and you can't get those ahead of time. A bank bag or couple of fed ex envelopes to keep things straight. Don't throw anything out. I was once asked for my fumigation receipt leaving one of the CA countries, can't remember which, but I think it was Honduras. Had I not had it, I would have had to pay a bribe to exit. Most people would not bother to keep it, so it was a nice little racket.
If you have to pay a bribe, pay it, but don't be in a hurry. Sometimes it's easier to slip someone $5 so you can get on your way. Like, if some customs' agent wants to turn your trailer inside out, $5 is probably better than even the threat of a few hours in the sun. He probably won't do it,,,,,, how big are your balls?
It's an adventure, take it in that spirit, and laugh about it. Not that many people make the drive anymore.
I can't imagine anything you describe being a problem. Live plants and seeds can be a problem, seeds are easy to "bury".
Some nice "gifts" to take along are those butane lighters for barbecues, available in four packs at Costco or Home Depot, , cheap but flashy razor knifes from Home depot, those cheap LED flashlights.
Stay on the toll roads in Mexico unless you are sightseeing. There's gas, ATM's, some hotels, food. You can do Mexico in four days with the trailer. The Mexico toll roads are very nice, many equal to our Interstates, and you can drive at night.
Any Pemex with the room will let you park your trailer and use the bathroom. They all tend to be pretty spacious.
All the newer GPS units have Mexico maps and they are very good. This $100 will turn out to be the best money you spent. You still need to know where you are going and how you want to get there. The GPS will take you through Mexico City instead around on the bypass, the Arco de Norte. If you want to spend time in Mexico City ,, OK, but you don't want to drive through it unless you have lots of time (or you're very poor, the Arco de Norte is a $36 toll but worth every penny).
Not just springs, make sure you have good tires, and maybe throw a couple of spares on top. Trailer tires can be hard to find, no so car or truck tires.
Good Luck!
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