Have you ever wondered what it would be like to drive in Mexico? Thanks to our trusty dash-cam, we can show you! This time, we're heading from Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz to Cholula Puebla on the Mexican Federal Highways 140D & 150D (toll "cuota"). This is the highlights from a 7-hour drive condensed into 17 minutes. You'll see the heavy police and National Guard presence in Veracruz, as we get stopped once to check our papers, and pass by many more. You'll see the super rough road on the highway, despite it being a toll highway, which are typically well-maintained; I suspect the heavy truck traffic is a contributing factor. Watch as the climate changes from the jungly tropical lowlands of Veracruz' Gulf Coast, gaining altitude while crossing a beautiful mountain range, to the lush temperate highlands of Puebla. We briefly skirt around the traffic and highways of the major city Puebla, Puebla. Then we arrive in adorable Cholula, Puebla to see the wonderful sight of the Great Pyramid (the largest pyramid by volume in the world) and the festive Christmas decorations, sparkly in the dusky evening light. Lastly, we pull into the narrow alleyway to our AirBnB for the night :)

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Have you ever wondered what it would be like to drive in Orizaba, Veracruz, Mexico? Thanks to our trusty dash-cam, we can show you! This time, we start on the 150D Mexican Federal Highway, pass through a toll booth, then turn off towards Orizaba. We cross a uniquely tall and narrow bridge, next to a historic church and cemetery. We make our way down the colorful streets of the Centro area, and make a quick stop in a parking garage (with the help of a friendly stranger to ensure we can make the tight corner). The pueblo mágico is decorated for Christmas and full of tourists, many from within Mexico.

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One of the questions we get the most is: “Why Mexico?“. Then, when we tell people that we’re living in Mexico, trying to immigrate to Japan, of course we the next question is: “Wait… what? Why Mexico… then Japan??“. I will be the first to admit that, on the surface, it does seem a bit counter-intuitive, so this is my best attempt at explaining our thought process.

I’ll preface this lengthy reflection post by first noting: We sincerely understand that we’re not experts in these two countries, by any means. We’ve been living and traveling in Mexico for fourteen months, and have seen many areas not frequented by tourists. Evan has visited Japan numerous times, and previously lived in Tokyo for one year. But, no matter how many friendly Mexican people call us honorary Mexicans, and no matter how many Japanese people are delighted by Evan’s rare depth of cultural understanding, we’re still ‘gringos’ and ‘gaijin’, respectably. I wouldn’t dream of writing this from any perspective besides our own, which is: foreign, appreciative, open, and curious.

Of course, prior to leaving the United States, we had much deliberation about the various countries we could reasonably envision ourselves re-building our homestead and raising our future family. We looked more closely at areas that met our criteria of an ideal climate, potential for our business (both Benton Homestead and Dani Benton Photography), cost of living, cost of travel, real estate opportunities, combination of rural living and modern amenities, immigration requirements, and of course: languages Evan can speak (and I can learn) for ease of integration and acceptance.

After looking at many countries that would potentially fit these parameters, we decided on Mexico or Japan. Let's take a look!

Full Blog: https://bentonhomestead.com/archives/564

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House-sit #9: Two fluffy city kitties Giacomo “Big Fluff” and Penelope “Mini Fluff” have been really cuddly temporary companions, helping to keep us warm and cozy during our chilly holiday season in Mexico City. When they weren’t fighting to sit on our laps, or sleeping the day away, they were an endless source of entertainment, displaying all the stereotypical cat behaviors: making eye contact while knocking things over; watching birds and squirrels through the window; grooming us; cuddling each other briefly before exploding in hisses and running into the next room; trying to escape the fifth floor balcony to the building next door; and demanding dinner at exactly 5:00 pm. In all honesty, they were quite a treat.

One of the biggest perks of this house-sit (besides the fluffs) was the private rooftop balcony. Our host’s potted plant garden was so beautiful! It gave us a charming place to both work and relax, while enjoying the view overlooking Colonia Cuauhtémoc. Our hip little neighborhood was near the iconic statue El Ángel de Independencia, and within (long) walking distance of the large city park Bosque de Chapultepec to the west, and the Centro Histórico to the east.

Full Photo Blog: https://bentonhomestead.com/archives/921

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We had a week between the time house-sit #8 ended in San Andrés Huayapam, Oaxaca, and the time house-sit #9 began in Mexico City. So we decided to take a short detour, to drive the Isthmus of Tehauntepec. I couldn't turn down the opportunity to put my feet in the water of two oceans in one day, only a few hours apart!

Our YouTube video gives a brief overview of the location of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (spoiler alert: it's the skinniest part of Mexico), as well as a little insight into the cities at either end: Salina Cruz, Oaxaca and Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz. I also included about 15-minutes of dash-cam footage, showing each end of the isthmus, and some interesting parts of the drive, notably some beautiful jungle scenery, and the bustling small towns along the route.

Fun fact: the Isthmus of Tehuantepec was considered for what later became the Panama Canal. However, they weren't planning to build a canal across Mexico, instead, they were potentially planning to build a massive rail system to ferry the ships across by rail! As the route we took is literally the only highway connecting these two major port cities, there is a high amount of large truck traffic on what is mostly a two-lane highway. Super interesting.

So, I hope you enjoy coming along on this journey with us, to see two oceans in one day!

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While we were at house-sit #7, our former hosts from house-sit #4 invited us over for some delicious home-cooked Oaxacan tlayudas and mezcal. It came up in our conversation that we had an unusual two-week gap between the date house-sit #7 ended, and the date we needed to be in Mexico City for our next house-sit. So, they took the opportunity for a short trip out of town, and invited us back to watch their rescue dogs and cats!

As almost all of our house-sits have been lined up back-to-back, with no time in between, we weren't really sure what to do with a two week gap anyways. We were considering hopping quickly over to Chiapas, before heading on a northerly route to our next two house-sits. But honestly, staying an extra week in one of our favorite little villages sounded much more enticing...! We've been traveling Mexico for over a year now, have driven 8,500 miles, and seen 21 states. It's been absolutely incredible. However, we're both actually homebodies by nature, so we just couldn't turn down five bonus days of dog-piles and Huayapam village life.

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This house-sit brought us back south to one of our favorite places in Mexico: San Andrés Huayapam, just outside of Oaxaca city, Oaxaca. This is our first repeat house-sit, so we're comfortable and familiar with their home and doggies: Beanie & Pelu, from house-sit #3. Huayapam is one of the places we've spent the most time in Mexico, so it sort of felt like coming home!

This video gives a brief overview of our house-sit responsibilities, which included two raw food meals a day, walks, and some doggie health monitoring; and how we spent our time, which included renewing our Temporary Residency with the Mexican Immigration offices, and getting our car's Temporary Import Permit extended to match our residency dates.

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Have you ever wondered what it would be like to drive from Oaxaca city to the nearby village of San Andrés Huayapam, Oaxaca, Mexico? Thanks to our trusty dash-cam, we can show you! We start on the road to Huayapam, drive up and down some of the streets, past the historic church and colorful murals, driving carefully to avoid pedestrians, cars, motorcycles, moto-taxis, dogs, and a goat. We love Huayapam. Sure, there are villages that are more adorable, but this is the place in Mexico that feels the most like "home" to us. Then, we drive back towards the city of Oaxaca.

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Have you ever wondered what it would be like to drive in Mexico? Thanks to our trusty dash-cam, we can show you! This time, we're heading towards Oaxaca on the Mexican Federal Highway 135D (toll "cuota"), crossing a breathtaking mountain range. While driving on the narrow, curvy roads, you can see how the traffic flows, using the "dashed shoulder line" for ease of passing, as well as the toll booths. Beautiful views, and we're happy to be back in Oaxaca!

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We've lived in Mexico for 10 months, and have driven 7,000 miles through 15 states. Here's a little story y'all might find entertaining: Before crossing the border last December, I made sure to get all our ducks in a row. One of the many tasks involved making sure our car was legal to drive in Mexico, as well as maintaining legality in the US. Mexico requires a Temporary Import Permit "TIP" (which is a continuing process, involving paperwork each time our Mexican residency is extended), and Mexican car insurance. The US varies by state; Louisiana requires us to maintain insurance, in order for the registration to remain valid. I diligently had our full-coverage Mexican car insurance begin the day before we crossed the border, and had our US car insurance cancel the day after, so there was no gap in coverage. We checked all the boxes, had our photo copies in triplicate, and were good to go! Or so I thought...

But wait, there's more! Ironically, that same week, we had our Louisiana license plate stolen. We noticed it was gone the night before we had to drive through five states, from house-sit #2 in Guanajuato to house-sit #3 in Oaxaca. LOL!!! 😅 After spending four hours verifying the plate hadn't been taken for a parking infraction (because they legally do that here) we were allowed to file a police report. Get this: It's legal to drive *with no license plates* as long as we carry the police report. Sure enough, the next day, we drove over 500 miles without anyone batting an eye!

So how did we get new license plates? Easy. It's a well-known Expat loophole to get South Dakota car title, registration, and plates, because they don't require residency in the state, or proof of insurance. Even better, a real person answered the phone on the second ring, emailed me a packet for out-of-country registration within ten minutes, and we received our plates in half the estimated time. Thanks, South Dakota!

To be clear: I don't blame Mexico. This is not a "dumping on Mexico" video!!! We've had much worse (and much more expensive!) thefts in the US and Canada.

Viva México! 🇲🇽✨🇲🇽✨🇲🇽

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We've lived in Mexico for 10 months, and have driven 7,000 miles through 15 states. Here's a little story y'all might find entertaining: The last day of our three-day drive from Oaxaca to Puerto Vallarta, we drove the scenic southern route, from Guadalajara. After stopping in Mascota for a late lunch, a torrential downpour started. We spent five years in Louisiana, so we're used to sudden, heavy rain. But this lasted for much longer than anticipated.

We found ourselves on a curvy two-lane mountain pass, in the middle of nowhere, with no cell service, far from any village, 90 minutes from Puerto Vallarta, in the downpour, with a flat tire... To complicate things even more, our tires have "anti-theft lug nuts" and the specialized "key" attachment necessary to remove the lug nuts, of course, broke during use. My (very competent) husband, who has changed countless tires, somehow managed to break two of the five tire bolts completely off, before the "key" shattered. We didn't know what to do. We had three "anti-theft lug nuts" securing our flat tire to the car, with no way to remove them! We actually have roadside assistance through our car insurance, but none of the friendly passers-by had cell service. The road was too narrow and curvy to walk, especially in the dark and heavy rain, so I thought for sure we would be sleeping in the car.

Thankfully, Mexico is full of very friendly and generous people. One of the cars that stopped had four nice Mexican men. They understood the problem with the the two broken bolts and the three remaining "anti-theft lug nuts" with no "key". They grabbed a tool box and jury-rigged a way to override the safety feature: using a big hammer and brute force. The lug nuts were destroyed in the process, but they saved us!!! They put our spare tire on the car with the three remaining functioning bolts, and told us to drive slow. Although we tried numerous times, they wouldn't accept payment. Thankfully, they did accept a single beer can and some cookies. Then they got in their car and continued on.

Viva México! 🇲🇽✨🇲🇽✨🇲🇽

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Have you ever wondered what it would be like to drive in Cholula, Puebla, Mexico? Thanks to our trusty dash-cam, we can show you! This time, we start in the small colorful neighborhoods on the outskirts of the historic downtown. We make our way down the colorful streets, and skirt around the Great Pyramid of Cholula. From there, we head briefly to a major avenue, before getting back into the colorful church-filled neighborhoods.

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We recently completed house-sit #6 in León with our "temporary pets" Lucky and Milo. These two are quite the pair! Lucky: a quiet, gentle, old chap who lives to eat chicken. Milo: a young, talkative rascal of a kitty with an adventurous spirit. They're like the odd couple. We had a lot of responsibilities with these two (which I'll describe in greater detail on our YouTube video, and in our stories) but they returned the favor by giving us lots of cuddles and love. We especially enjoyed Lucky's walks, which would get him excited enough to do small "old man" leaps of joy.

León is another beautiful city, famous for leather working. It's interesting that, when leaving Puerto Vallarta, my bilingual doctor asked how my Spanish was, as León is not known for having an English-speaking population. Of course that's not a problem, but with an exception of the bustling historic plazas that can be found in the center of nearly every Mexican village and city, León "felt" in many ways like an American city. The street layout was a little more familiar, with less white-knuckle topes (very tall unmarked speed bumps), and a familiar urban to suburb layout. Our host house was in a gated community, with green grass and dogs walked on leashes, but the houses were not cookie-cutter, and there were lots of street vendors.

Although this sit was five weeks, the time flew by! We filled our days with time-consuming activities: I've been seeing different acupuncture doctors as we travel. This doctor was super friendly and knowledgeable, and helped us identify some of the reasons we're having fertility trouble, alleviating my concern that it could be persistent Lyme. We both received treatments twice a week, and that pretty much knocked us out for the whole day! Also, we spent many days preparing for our Japanese business plan application, researching Japanese farming regulations and opportunities, and applying for remote work in translation and photography. Wish us luck!

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We get lots of questions about our travel logistics, so here's a peek inside our car. I'll be totally honest, once the ball was rolling to sell our home, we didn't have much time for planning. But this is what we came up with!

First, I'll note: we have a few boxes in storage, with a company that will eventually ship them to Mexico or Japan. This is less than a half-pallet of boxes, mostly containing irreplaceable items, childhood memories, vintage collectables, and rare books. Everything else we own is in our car, packed like a well-played game of Tetris.

The backseat items need to stay cool, or we want easy access to, or we unpack at every stop. One backpack for car essentials: water, CDs, dashcam, books, vitamins, purse, laptop. One backpack for toiletries: shower, face, and hair stuff, clippers for my monthly buzz-cut. One small bag each for a week's worth of clothes, one jacket and one hat each, and a bag for dirty clothes. One box of important documents: immigration papers, taxes, passports. One box I call my "instant desk" with chargers, cables, pens, markers, notebooks, reading lights, and two board games (Boss Monster & Terraforming Mars). We also have a cooler bag for food, my heavy camera backpack, my photo archive system, a PS4 (barely used), and Evan's banjo.

The trunk has items that won't be damaged by heat, and are lower value or importance. We don't always unpack it, except for my iMac, which is in the trunk to avoid attention. We have some tools, a machete, and of course, a spare tire. A decent amount of kitchen items (wok, cookware, French press, dishes, most of this hasn't been needed). One milk-crate of books. A few shoeboxes of extra toiletries, first aid, flashlights, sewing box. A few small boxes of art and hobby supplies. My light-gear bag and tripod. A yoga mat and blocks. And one large bag of extra clothes and shoes, which will likely be downsized soon, except for the rain jackets.

Some things we haven't used at all, and some things we wish we'd brought: More tools, more entertainment (like a GameBoy or an e-Reader), and nostalgia (actual photos).

What would you pack, if you were going to live out of your car? What other logistic questions do you have for us? Let's discuss!

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This house-sit was with the lovely Gomita, a Dogo Argentino / Bulldog mix weighing around 70 pounds, but she's pure sweetheart. She might be the most chill dog I've ever met; she doesn't ask for food, or even bark louder than a snort, but she gets pure joy from walks, pets, and just being in someone's company while she chews on her toy. Gomita is all about life's simple pleasures. See our story highlights for more!

During our three weeks with her, she got morning and evening walks, plus a mid-day walk if it wasn't too hot (she could overheat). Her twice daily raw food meals were a mix of cooked oats and veggies, with raw beef, liver, and sardines. I've mentioned this before, but special diets seem to be pretty common with our house-sit doggies.

Gomita is a true survivor with such a sad history; I won't go into full detail, but I do feel it's important to give you an idea of what she's overcome. When she was young, she was left behind, trapped inside an empty house with a litter of puppies and a pad-lock on the door. When finally found, which was a lengthy process, she was very thin, having given so much to keep her pups alive. She was fortunate to go to the only no-kill shelter in the area, but, remained unadopted and alone for the unimaginably long time of 4-1/2 years! So sad. But so incredibly lucky that Gomita was found and rescued by her cool "Mom" who takes such good care of her! Now she lives the pampered life she deserves, without food allergies, and you can tell she appreciates every day.

La Cruz de Huanacaxtle is a delightful little beach village, even in the humid dog days of coastal Mexico summer. You can walk one end to the other in ten minutes, and find everything you need in between: local fruits and veggies, staples, seafood, lots of restaurants and cafes. Most tourists flock to nearby Sayulita, so La Cruz maintains its slow-paced beach vibe. The best part was: a 5 minute walk to the beach! We took full advantage of that, and enjoyed many days swimming. Now that I think about it, this beach village really is the perfect place for a laid-back dog like Gomita! Happy that we've made another great friend in Mexico!

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Have you ever wondered what it would be like to drive in León, Guanajuato, Mexico? Thanks to our trusty dash-cam, we can show you! This time, we start in the small colorful neighborhoods on the outskirts of downtown. We make our way to the bustling historic Centro area, and park in a (large, for Mexico standards) parking garage. From there, we head to some major avenues, on our way back to our house-sit home in the suburbs.

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Have you ever wondered what it would be like to drive from the Romantica Zone to the Aeropuerto and back, in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico? Thanks to our trusty dash-cam, we can show you! This time, we start high up on the hillside of Calle Aguacate, down the hill and through the tunnel, to pick up our friends from the airport. We go over lots of triple "topes" (speedbumps), and we see a stoplight juggler! We also see the fairly common road system, which differentiates two lanes of fast-moving traffic from two lanes of slow-moving traffic, traveling in each direction, for a total of eight lanes. Then we travel back through the tunnel, back through the Romantica Zone, and make it back up that very steep hill!

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* * * PLEASE NOTE: I apologize for the strange black screen that occasionally appears for split-seconds during parts of the video. I'm still learning the video format (I'm a photographer) and this was a problem during the export at 8x speed. I tried re-exporting numerous times in different ways, and it always resulted in the somewhat annoying black flicker. Fortunately, I don't intend to post many videos at 8x speed, but, I wanted to share a full 7-hour drive. * * *

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to drive a full day through Mexico? Thanks to our trusty dash-cam, we can show you! This time, we start at the edge of Oaxaca City, Oaxaca, and head north on the Mexican Federal Highway 135D (toll "cuota"), crossing a breathtaking mountain range. While driving on the narrow, curvy roads, you can see how the traffic flows, using the "dashed shoulder line" for ease of passing, as well as the toll booths. Also, we really admire Mexico's truck stop design, which appear more frequently than on highways in the US. When we reach Puebla, Puebla, we change to the 150D, then to the N40D, until we reach our destination in Atlacomulco, in the State of Mexico, north-west of Mexico City. This one was a long haul!

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Have you ever wondered what it would be like to drive the back roads through Mexico, and get a flat tire? Thanks to our trusty dash-cam, we can show you! This time, we were on our way from Guadalajara to Puerto Vallarta, and we wanted to take the "back road" through Mascota, which meant taking the Mexican Federal Highway 70 ( non-toll "libre") through the absolutely beautiful mountain range. This video starts at the village El Jacal, a short distance before reaching the adorable town Mascota, where we drive around to enjoy the scenery. After stopping for lunch, the blue skies had transformed into a torrential downpour. Continuing our journey on the narrow, curvy roads, we ran into some bad luck: a flat tire, resulting in two broken tire bolts, and a broken "anti-theft" lug nut tool (which means our flat tire was quite literally stuck on the car, in the middle of nowhere, in Mexico, with no cell service, shortly before sunset).

For the full story of how we were saved by some incredibly friendly and handy Mexican men, check out our Benton Homestead post, here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CgP4yZ_veXu/

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Have you ever wondered what it would be like to drive through various neighborhoods in Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico? Thanks to our trusty dash-cam, we can show you! This time, we start at the parking lot of Monte Albán, perched on a mountain high above Oaxaca city, where we take the windy switchback mountain road, down to civilization. Then we turn off towards San Andrés Huayapam, and drive through the village.

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We did it! We survived four weeks with eight doggies and three kitties. And we loved every minute of it. We'll never forget Wamba, Petunia, Blue, Yuki, Ñyek, Momo, Felíx, Florinda, Tinkerton, Ping, and Chachalaca! Plus the 7 friendly street dogs we fed dinner. They're such a unique mix of characters; most of them had a troubled past before they were rescued by our hosts, but now they live the comfortable life they deserve.

Their daily 90-minute hike in the foothills of La Sierra Madre mountains was beautiful. After a short distance down the road on leashes, we would reach the edge of civilization, at which point the dogs were free to run and explore! It's impressive that they were so well-trained, they actually led us up the trails. The young dogs would run laps around the older dogs slowly marching along. Sometimes street dog Jaqui would join us.

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This is a really simplified look at a big, complicated topic: Dogs in Mexico. It seems you can't have a conversation about Mexico without someone bringing up 'street dogs'. But it's not as black-or-white as you might think, and there's a lot of nuance. Dogs here aren't just pets or strays; there are indoor pets, outdoor pets, outdoor guard dogs, and legitimate strays. And even that's a simplification of the apparent dog hierarchy.

As a foreigner, I understand that I can't possibly understand the full scope of this topic yet. So this video is just scratching the surface of dogs in Mexico, by looking at dog-walking in Mexico, in the context of house-sitting.

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* PLEASE NOTE: My apologies for the screen turning black for a few seconds, in the video introduction. I had inserted cute photos of Beanie & Pelu, and the house-sit garden on top of my video. For some reason, these photos didn't export, and instead we see a black screen. Annoying. But I chose not to re-edit and re-upload, as it would break the chronology and flow of videos. I'm still learning how the video format works, so thank you for your patience *

A short time ago, we wrapped up our six weeks with two very sweet pups: Beanie & Pelu. I mentioned previously they're sisters from the same litter, but they have such endearing, distinct personalities. Beanie is happy-go-lucky, excitable, and lives for playing fetch. Pelu is somber, complicated, and deeply loving. My favorite memories from this house-sit are of our swimming trips, which the two pups each enjoyed in their own way. Beanie launches herself into the air to fetch infinity sticks, while Pelu swims laps in the distance. It was a delightful spectacle.

They got twice daily walks, which proved to be endlessly entertaining, and at times, challenging, due to the high number of outside dogs; some strays, but mostly outside pets or watch dogs. Their days also included two raw food meals, which seems fairly common for house-sit doggies. It was actually refreshing to have such a steady routine, and a home base, after months of freeform temporarily-nomadic life.

Because I'm trying to be considerate of our hosts' privacy, I'm not including photos of their adorable house. But I can assure you, the environment was comfortable, filled with art and handmade wares, and their shady garden was a relaxing retreat. We look forward to returning to Huayapam in the fall!

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DONATIONS:
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Venmo » @Dani-Evan-Benton
We gladly accept Bitcoin & Dogecoin donations!

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COMING SOON:
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Warhammer 40,000 is a hobby of mine. This video isn't aimed solely at fans so I'll describe the game and setting briefly here. Lately the woke culture war is predictably making inroads into this hallowed ground of male nerddom. Will the publishers succumb to the trend? Do their fans really want them to? I discuss why female guardsmen are a dumb idea.

The Lotus Eaters' article:
https://www.lotuseaters.com/the-politics-of-warhammer-40-000-or-deep-think-v-21-04-22

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DONATIONS:
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This is a long-overdue follow-up to my previous two Lyme Disease videos, covering my nearly lifelong battle with this awful tick-borne illness. A lot has happened in the 18 months since my previous video: I've completed the three treatments outline below, received a mostly clean bill of health, and I have moved on to what (we hope) will be my final stage of treatment: dynamic neural retraining to "rewire" my brain's learned behaviors, caused by Lyme spirochetes and thirty years of coping mechanisms, PTSD, and trauma. We've been trying for Baby Benton for nearly two years at this point, and I've started acupuncture for fertility treatments.

I'm sharing my entire Lyme Disease treatment protocol, but it's too long to cut and paste here. Please see the video on YouTube, which allows me to include more text in the description. It includes my LLMD's antibiotic treatment, which follows Dr. Horowitz' protocol in his book "Why Can't I Get Better", Dr. Buhner's herbal treatment from his book "Healing Lyme Naturally", and Disulfram, which I believe is the reason I'm out of bed today.

After thirty years... there is hope. Never lose hope.