The Van

One of those early things that just fell into place was a van to take us all over. The original plan had been to acquire such a vehicle in the States and drive it all the way. The problems in Northern Mexico facing both residents and visitors (heckuva job, DEA) made that approach inadvisable, so we adopted plan B. Potentially more trouble than plan A, it suddenly became much simpler when Elizabeth found a van for sale on Craigslist Mérida: a 2000 GMC Safari LE, loaded with extras and kitted out for camping. It has fewer than 50,000 miles on it, has been garaged forever, and is going for a reasonable price.

The van is owned by a Canadian gentleman residing in Mérida. It’s registered in Vancouver BC, which makes it difficult (read expensive) to sell to a Mexican citizen, but still easy to sell to an American or Canadian. Go figure. We seemed like a perfect match. A brief exchange of emails and phone calls confirmed this fact, and we spent the next couple of months waiting for yesterday, when we finally met the seller, saw the van, and decided for sure to buy it.

The van is in pristine condition. You could server dinner in the engine compartment. Everything is spotless, and twelve years have taken only a minimal toll on its workings. The additions include a reasonably-sized bed with a comfy custom mattress, both 12-volt DC and 110-volt AC power sockets, and the cutest little microwave oven(!) you’ve ever seen.

The one sticking point was that some of these extras required the removal of the back seat, leaving only the front captain’s seats and no place for Joe to sit secured with a seat belt. [The roof-rack was discussed as a possibility, but quickly discarded.] But with a few hand tools, the seller and I were able to remove the few extras that blocked re-installation of the bench back seat. Now there’s room for all of us. And when we decide to set up camp somewhere and stay a while, we can easily pull the seat out again, enjoy a comfortable bench outside, and use the freed-up space in the van for all those van-space things.

Now we’re just waiting for the banks to transfer funds from our account in Ann Arbor to the seller’s in Mérida, and we’ll be on the road.