Thursday, March 23, 2006

from the "Mexico and back" dept.



Later Thursday morning:

After a long wait, we finally got on the road around 10am.

Brent had to meet some crew members arriving at the Belize-Mexico land crossing today. He's location managing a rather large 60-person two day commercial shoot here for a cruise line. Most of the people involved in the spot are from Mexico.

Our ride was a massive 10+ passanger Kia diesel mini-van. The air conditioning barely functioned -- but it kept things cool enough.

Our first stop was to pick up a PA for the shoot -- Javier. Then we headed north with Javier spinning stories about working on a Julia Roberts film.



Several hours later when we arrived at the border, we discovered that there was a hold up on the Mexican side. Something to do with paperwork delayed the trucks carrying all the gear for the shoot.

Then, there was a similar delay on the Belizean side.

During this time, Brent and I walked into the Corazal Free Zone, a tax free enclave on the Belizean side of the border. Normally I would have had to pay exit fees, but Belize customs waived that. I didn't have to get stamped out, although I could not really go too far into Mexico, as I would need to go through Mexican controls and that would raise issues re-entering Belize.

I snapped pictures of the border, including a sign that introduced North America. I have never seen anything like that before.



We managed to grab a bite to eat (stew chicken, rice & beans) and a Corona at a small bar in the free zone, a place utterly devoid of shoppers -- but not underwear.





As the day began to come to an end, the Mexican trucks finally cleared customs. Javier went with the trucks, and two of the production personnel joined Brent and me in the van. Jamie and Candella were from the Mexican film company and spent much of the drive on the phone.

As day turned to night, the driving conditions worsened. Belize roads are poorly marked and in poor condition to begin with. At night, they're crazy -- filled with bad drivers, drunk drivers, and hazards on the road -- usually pedestrians dressed in dark colours.

It was a relief to arrive in Belize city - and the first thing we did was hit the Princess Hotel where Jamie and Candella are staying. This is when we learned that one of the drivers had been stopped by police -- and threatened with arrest after it was discovered he was driving sans license.

The night was getting longer and longer, and Brent wasn't having much of a birthday. I was growing bored, so I met up with Brent's wife and we went for some Indian food before heading home. Brent came home several hours later.

After the debrief, he was off to bed, while I watched a bit of tube (Daily Show!) before calling it a night.

Cheers!

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