Sunday, we spent the whole day inside Yax Ha. We had the place mostly to ourselves for the morning, so we hopped in the pool after we got up. Loki wasn't a huge fan of this, so it didn't last long. It was literally line of sight to the van, maybe 150 feet away, but that's too far, so he barked at us. You'd think he could just go there on his own, since that's where he wants to be so bad. But no. If we left him there, he'd bark too. He's such a homebody.
![PXL_20230424_001729122.jpg PXL_20230424_001729122.jpg](https://expeditionportal.com/forum/data/attachments/678/678888-da03dadbc5b53cf3d923be57cfa70b19.jpg)
Instead, we just did general chilling with our friends Terry and TJ. We all kind of tried to come up with a plan for our days ahead. Unfortunately for them, Terry and TJ only got 30 days on their personal visas. They'd asked for 45, but the agent said in order to be granted 45 days, they would need to list every stop they were making along the way, including addresses and duration of stay. Of course, they didn't have that information available because none of us do, so they only got the month. Luckily for us, that happened to them and they told us before we got to the border. We approached the transaction a bit differently. When asked, we said we were driving to the USA and we'd be there in 90 days. We sounded certain and didn't hem and haw. We also had a different agent, which was probably the main reason we got 90 days. Who knows.
Anyway, we had internet access, so I spent a good chunk of the afternoon writing here to get you guys caught up with our travels. That usually takes a few hours at least. More if I've been slacking (like usual) and have to catch up a week or more. After that, we heated up some leftovers for dinner. We spent the evening hanging out with Terry and TJ.
![IMG_20230428_124133.jpg IMG_20230428_124133.jpg](https://expeditionportal.com/forum/data/attachments/678/678887-3d02dcb166eba8b3daa1f7979ed0a8c5.jpg)
Through their planning process, they determined their best course of action was to leave Yax Ha on Monday morning. For us, we determined we'd stay another day. So, this would be our last night with them. We'd spent a total of a few weeks off and on traveling with them. We didn't stay with them each night along the way, but here and there we met up with them. Sometimes by chance, sometimes not. But it was really neat to have some friends nearby that were somewhat consistent. That's something that's definitely missing in a more general sense as we travel about - long term friends. It's certainly easy enough to meet people and be friendly with them at each stop along the way, but usually after we leave a place we never see them again. Occasionally, some people stay in touch through Instagram or other social media, but of course it's not the same.
![IMG_20230428_124128.jpg IMG_20230428_124128.jpg](https://expeditionportal.com/forum/data/attachments/678/678886-6f1e19c0cbcdd199d6cb77001a974132.jpg)
It was a bit sad to know it was the end of our travels with them. They'll be moving on to other things, which we're excited for, though. They'll be catching a plane to Spain with just their backpacks to travel their way all the way to southeast Asia. In order to make the best of it, we invited ourselves over to their van for a last round of the bird game (I honestly forget what it's called, but it's a strategic board game involving birds). It was mostly something to do while we spent the last night with them. Loki chilled inside their van on the floor and was totally content the whole time. With a breeze blowing through off the ocean, it was really nice inside. We got absolutely smoked in the game, but that's alright. We had fun anyways. Afterwards, we were all pretty tired, so we headed off to bed. The hardest part was getting Loki to move.
![PXL_20230424_001729122.jpg PXL_20230424_001729122.jpg](https://expeditionportal.com/forum/data/attachments/678/678888-da03dadbc5b53cf3d923be57cfa70b19.jpg)
Instead, we just did general chilling with our friends Terry and TJ. We all kind of tried to come up with a plan for our days ahead. Unfortunately for them, Terry and TJ only got 30 days on their personal visas. They'd asked for 45, but the agent said in order to be granted 45 days, they would need to list every stop they were making along the way, including addresses and duration of stay. Of course, they didn't have that information available because none of us do, so they only got the month. Luckily for us, that happened to them and they told us before we got to the border. We approached the transaction a bit differently. When asked, we said we were driving to the USA and we'd be there in 90 days. We sounded certain and didn't hem and haw. We also had a different agent, which was probably the main reason we got 90 days. Who knows.
Anyway, we had internet access, so I spent a good chunk of the afternoon writing here to get you guys caught up with our travels. That usually takes a few hours at least. More if I've been slacking (like usual) and have to catch up a week or more. After that, we heated up some leftovers for dinner. We spent the evening hanging out with Terry and TJ.
![IMG_20230428_124133.jpg IMG_20230428_124133.jpg](https://expeditionportal.com/forum/data/attachments/678/678887-3d02dcb166eba8b3daa1f7979ed0a8c5.jpg)
Through their planning process, they determined their best course of action was to leave Yax Ha on Monday morning. For us, we determined we'd stay another day. So, this would be our last night with them. We'd spent a total of a few weeks off and on traveling with them. We didn't stay with them each night along the way, but here and there we met up with them. Sometimes by chance, sometimes not. But it was really neat to have some friends nearby that were somewhat consistent. That's something that's definitely missing in a more general sense as we travel about - long term friends. It's certainly easy enough to meet people and be friendly with them at each stop along the way, but usually after we leave a place we never see them again. Occasionally, some people stay in touch through Instagram or other social media, but of course it's not the same.
![IMG_20230428_124128.jpg IMG_20230428_124128.jpg](https://expeditionportal.com/forum/data/attachments/678/678886-6f1e19c0cbcdd199d6cb77001a974132.jpg)
It was a bit sad to know it was the end of our travels with them. They'll be moving on to other things, which we're excited for, though. They'll be catching a plane to Spain with just their backpacks to travel their way all the way to southeast Asia. In order to make the best of it, we invited ourselves over to their van for a last round of the bird game (I honestly forget what it's called, but it's a strategic board game involving birds). It was mostly something to do while we spent the last night with them. Loki chilled inside their van on the floor and was totally content the whole time. With a breeze blowing through off the ocean, it was really nice inside. We got absolutely smoked in the game, but that's alright. We had fun anyways. Afterwards, we were all pretty tired, so we headed off to bed. The hardest part was getting Loki to move.