A long flight via Veracruz in Mexico to Brownsville, US!

Finally back to the US! 

stunning scenery over the Mexican mountain ranges

Another long long long day…

we are crossing the whole of this road atlas today plus some more

Up at 5.30. Feeling rotten. Quick half sandwich and a coffee and a massive bang outside: a car has crashed into a van and the vehicle has turned over.

6am, overturned car infront of our casa

Luckily nobody seriously hurt. we take a taxi back to the airport.

Friendly Alejandro is already waiting for us and the paperwork is quickly cleared. Great!

coming over the mountains

As planned (finally!!) we are up in the air by 8am local time and heading straight for the 9000ft tall mountains of the Sierra Madre de Chiapax. Starting early in the mornings here is essential for a safe flight as the afternoons always present massive violent thunderstorms. In fact the flash nearly hit our little hotel last night during dinner! I have never heard such a ‘bang’!

The scenery with lingering clouds is stunning. We are cruising at 10,500ft and heading for Tuxtla then to the Gulf of Mexico. From here we turn north-west and finally touch down at the international airport of Veracruz.

increasing clouds

Despite having tried to arrange for a ground handler, nobody except a police guy is there to greet us. But finally we find Alfonso who will assist us with more tedious customs checks, paperwork EAPIS for the US, refueling etc.

refueling stop in Veracruz

All luggage has to be offloaded again and put through the scanners at the terminal, sniffed by a young and excited looking German shepherd dog and then be put back on the aeroplane. God thanks that we have left the balloon behind! (Strangely nobody ever asks us to offload what’s in the back or the nose of the aircraft!).

Mike Castillo, our great friend, seaplane pilot and super helper with everything Central America has in the meantime built an amazing crate for the balloon.

a whatsapp shot from Mike of his great box for the balloon

Thanks so much Mike and Dalys for your ever so valuable help! We will be back before too long and bring more time!

leaving the shores of Veracruz before a long water crossing to Brownsville

The biggest downside is that neither Phil’s nor my phone ever works here in Central America. ‘EE’ doesn’t seem to have any roaming here – be warned! So sadly many very important messages from Mike regarding our EAPIS for the US are missed until we are finally allowed to walk to the main terminal which has wifi in a coffee shop.

The skies now finally seem to be open and the US ready for our arrival. Let’s hope!

flying along the Eastern coastline of the Gulf of Mexico

Again I am grabbing the time up in the air to type those lines as we are now flying for nearly 3 hours over the open Atlantic ocean at 8,500ft with a good tail wind of 170kt.

Flippie concentrating at the controls

It will be such a relief for all of us not having to screw around anymore with immigration and customs once we hopefully entered the US again. These things have taken endless time and strained our nerves. Flippie hardly ever eats but I try and offer of him various foods as much as I can to keep him alive.  Here are the sandwiches prepared on board this morning:

 

a stewardresse's mess!!!

Our ETZ into Brownsville in Texas is now set for 3.30 pm local time (5 hours behind zulu). I have found us a simple hotel not too far from the airport and we’ll see what happens next…

We are having a great tail wind and are zooming along with a record ground speed of over 200kt at some point and speedily approaching the US border!

I suddenly indeed detect the ‘great wall’! It’s a quite remarkable structure easily to be seen from the air but more looking like a cycle path – until you zoom in and see the high fence!

The Mexican/US border

border crossing between the US and Mexico at Brownsville

Flippie and Phil get warned of a 30kt strong surface wind and we prepare for landing at Brownsville. 

Our captain does a brilliant landing and we taxi to the border inspection area. Fully expecting now a long and tedious customs process we are surprised on how easy and smooth things go from here on:

One friendly officers greets us and tells us to check in with immigration whilst he will quickly scan the aeroplane and its contents. 

taxi to the Federal Inspection Station at Brownsville

Our passports get stamped in no time and there was no hassle with now having a Cuban visa stamp in it – which had been my worry.

Out and into the USA within 15mins we now look for an FBO and finally find the friendly ‘Southmost Aviation’ who help us with refuelling and parking the aeroplane.

'refueling' our bodies at a local pub

By 5pm we finally reach the ‘Texas Inn’ on the South Padre Island Highway, a 10mins taxi drive from the airport. Rooms are basic but ok but at least we finally have a washing machine!! I immediately get on the job and after a good dinner in a local Mexican restaurant we finally have fresh clothes. What a blessing!

delicious fresh seasfood!

Flippie tells us that there might be something wrong with the seals between the cylinder heads and the exhaust pipes so we must check that tomorrow before we head further west in Texas. Let’s hope it’s nothing too serious and can be fixed without too many complications.