I Was Detained on the American Border (Terrifying Experience)

this isn't clickbait in week one of my big expedition to Alaska I already managed to mess up today I start driving from Mexico City to the U.S border in Texas but there's a few issues from accepting the invitation of a total stranger to stay in his house in Mexico to Crossing one of the most dangerous stretches of land in the world all alone to being detained and handcuffed seriously I think look after me what there's a lot to come but first I have another burning issue look I'm not a very good planner I don't really plan things very much in advance and usually I can kind of wing it I can get away with it but right now I have a real serious problem that I should have prepared for and I didn't in three days I'm meant to be crossing the border from Mexico to the United States and I'll need insurance in order to be able to drive in the United States but I don't have one extremely important document that I will need in order to get insured don't ask me how I miss this the document I'm missing is a kind of international add-on to my driving license which I've never ever had to use before on my travels in which I can only sort out in Poland though right now I'm just trying to do it remotely without it I can't really get U.S Road insurance and without valid insurance I can't enter the United States so I've asked my grandma to see if she can get it for me in Poland in one working day my grandma is like superwoman she's an amazing person she's so full of energy she's incredible she can sort out any logistical hurdle you have but this is gonna be a challenge even for her so while she does that an ocean away with my emotional support I'm gonna have to start driving towards the US border because it's about four days away [Music] can you imagine a situation where you would want to buy a coat rack while stuck in traffic in the middle of the city I can't I guess I can't I mean Kudos with a hustle though it took me a good couple of hours to get out of Mexico City traffic so I thought I'd take it easy on my first day of driving towards Texas just under 100 miles to my first campsite not too far from Mexico's capital so you're sometimes not planning too much can actually pay off can be a good thing because this place is absolutely stunning and I don't think I would have found it if I had planned you know way ahead it's a bit of a spontaneous decision to stay here all right let's get the tense [Applause] [Music] it's a super International crowd here I mean definitely do not expect to find a place like this completely randomly and spontaneously by just looking it up on the map of the places that were closest to me at the time two of the girls were celebrating their birthday so the family brought over some cake I was very lucky to get in on the action not quite vegan but I'll take it got some little guests checking out Odyssey te gusta Odyssey is definitely a people magnet here in Mexico as a thank you for the warm welcome to the campsite I thought I'd make some food to share Eric who I met just now is from Germany he has spent the last two years living at this very campsite he just really fell in love with this place and so decided to stay it seems so simple doesn't it it's a feast and for once I've made something other than pasta with tomato sauce my signature dish oh it looks so good yeah so happy for the fajitas yay super Gringo thing but hey I am I guess agree [Music] of expedition wild I have officially started heading towards Alaska and it doesn't really feel like it at all in fact it feels completely surreal it's like I feel like I've been doing this forever which I guess I have so it doesn't feel like the beginning of a huge Expedition maybe just haven't sunk in yet you know but if every campsite along my way is like this and this is going to be a pretty life-changing Journey [Music] foreign [Music] just reading moments like this and places like this that make me feel so so free and like I belong you know there are places in the world where I I actually belong [Music] okay well I still have a crisis to solve so I'm gonna call grandma to see if she managed to sort anything out [Music] okay no answer so I'll finish up my coffee get dressed get ready for the day oh my God check this out I was just washing up my cup and look what I found in the sink trigger warning for arachnophobes oh my God he's huge dude this is a really wild place I'm gonna go over to Odyssey and back up [Music] got six hours of driving ahead of me today and it's already after 10 and I want to make sure that I get to my next campsite well before sunsets I can still go for a long run so I'm gonna start packing up here all right let's get this done [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] I'm just about to head off but I've got a guess so Raul is the owner of this campsite what's the name of this campsite is yeah so it's really close to Mexico City and it's absolutely beautiful and you've got a present for me right yeah it says amazing I'm gonna take the sticker I'm gonna put it on one of those boxes over there as a souvenir yeah thanks Rubble okay one more errand before I leave here I need to fill up my water tank because it's completely empty and they have a really nice hose with a water connection here so let's go here we go what's it in so the water goes straight through this hole via a pipe down into the water tank that's below I can have running water here one of my favorite things about this setup a long day of driving ahead of me today 250 miles and a lot of time to think about my crumbling plans to enter the United States time to try calling grandma again to see if she managed to do anything about my missing documents oh yes yes yes yes yes okay grandma told me all about her day trip to the mountains that day and then we started talking shop again above it's me I actually watched them um I'll meet you foreign so Grandma didn't manage to make things work which is fine it's normal um so we need to find an alternative solution I'm supposed to be crossing the border very very soon but I'm pretty sure there's going to be a delay should have planned this a little bit better shouldn't I at that point I didn't even realize that this document issue would become the least of my problems when entering the United States I always feel like time is slipping through my fingers no matter if I arrive early or late it's always the same by the time I set up and go for a run and come back to relax it already feels like the next day is about to begin I keep telling myself to slow the hell down foreign [Music] he's calling out to me because I promised him some fruit and he can see that I've got fruit in my hand so first things first morning coffee and now hey what's this is a nice fruit oh come on try it try it try it he's probably never had guava don't have food for you but I do have cuddles I know this may sound counterintuitive but my favorite way to slow down is to speed up running is my medicine when I get to warm up to silly pop songs like Mommy or despacito and dance around pretending like nobody's watching when I get out on the trail and set an intention for the Run ahead and clear my mind of everything run and meditate run and smile run just run [Music] foreign today I'm on my way to Saltillo around 250 miles north towards Texas and today I'm going to be staying at a stranger's house primi or at least that's what I think he's called emailed me a little while ago inviting me over to his family's home since I was going down that way I thought it might be nice to get hosted by a local family just before the border crossing bear in mind I had no idea who they were or what to expect but that's part of the adventure isn't it I'm almost there but since I've been driving for the last five hours I am Ellis sweaty and as usual the bag of my shorts is just completely wet looks like I feed myself so I'm gonna get changed quickly [Music] yes you do now the next challenge is to actually put these on yep I'm in the middle of the city okay I'm ready to meet other humans [Music] [Music] nice and safe well honestly is gonna have a great night here in this garage all right he's gonna say hi hey hey oh wow check this out this is so amazing I can't believe it primi's family made me this amazing barbecue and it's all vegan so I can't believe what preemie got me some vegan cheese thank you so much so what's happening here primi uh usually we have the tradition that whoever joins us and is new to us mix the salsa to be honest I had no idea what to do with this traditional Mexican motor and pestle or molcajete let's just say I tried to follow my host instructions I am feeling so blessed right now this looks absolutely incredible every single platter every single plate just looks so fresh and delicious all right this is the taste test check this out a plate full of beautiful grilled vegetables amazing salsa which I helped to make with some guidance and um vegan chorizo vegan cheese let's dig in I just had a my first sip of chamoy and uh let me tell you taste tastes interesting that's a good word for it it's interesting it's like sparkling tomato juice exactly primi and his family also invited over a singer Orlando to join us Orlando gave us an amazing performance of all favorite American songs while primi worked his barbecue magic what a surreal evening for me what incredible Hospitality I really hadn't expected any of this oh my gosh that is absolutely delicious warm super juicy super super sweet So Soft incredible the premy's family invited me to stay over inside their house but that would have meant moving out of their bedroom and I was like no way I'm just gonna stay and send my rooftop tent so I mean setting it up indoors Adventure it's time to leave and there's girls in that jeep over there they said that they want to escort me for a couple of minutes so here we go [Music] [Music] bye oh and they're off you know we're always told that the world is a scary dangerous place but my experience has been quite different yes of course there are places that might be dangerous or risky but I would say that people for the most part are kind in order to really get to know the world you need to go and see it for yourself and it's much nicer and much Kinder than you'd expect oh well that was a nice little break from my anxiety and general mess around the entering the United States situation and I should probably get back into sorting that out because that's just not gonna go away all by itself so yeah let me just get to my next campsite and then I'll start working on it again [Music] not every day of overlanding is gorgeously sunny but even in weather like this you can get really good news in fact a breakthrough hi Ava here how's it going thank you so much I really appreciate your help so my insurance agent said that he's going to send me the insurance in just a few minutes from now which means that I can head straight for the border with Texas which is so exciting I can actually enter um I mean the road itself is not very safe I've heard so many stories you know primi that I was staying with the other day he told me that he got chased on this road him and his family about eight months ago chased by most likely organ traffickers not a very safe road at all so I've had I've received some really good tips as to when to go and where to go and what to do so that's the next challenge anyway I'm gonna wait for the insurance to come through and then pack up and then go I can't reveal exactly what happened to validate my documents and push my insurance through because I don't want to get anyone in trouble let's just say it was a few very kind people coming together to help me out in an emergency and yes it was totally legal and legit but at this point I still didn't realize that neither the extra documents nor the insurance nor organ traffickers would be my enemies in fact soon I would start it out and everything I had said about kindness and Hospitality while traveling me [Music] so I don't think I can wait for this rain to stop because I really need to hit the road still raining still pouring I need to pack up the tent which means being outside for about 10 minutes so rather than getting all my clothes soaked I thought I'll just embrace the rain in my swimsuit I mean then I can just write myself off right thank you [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] so wet oh it's just water I'm just being dramatic okay it's time to hit one of the most dangerous roads in the world and here is why it's so risky this stretch of land where Mexico borders with the United States is Infamous for gang and cartel activity high levels of crime and human trafficking everyone I spoke to told me to take the page toll roads not stop if I don't have to be quick about it and just head straight for the border crossing so it's quite a scary place so what I've decided to do is share my live location with premi so he can track me for the next couple of hours and in case I disappear of the radar at least he'll have my location um I don't know if that's helpful or not but it's the only thing I can think of to make this passage a little bit safer within a couple of hours I had reached the Border Town of Nuevo Loretto and hoped to cross into the United States with all documents sorted out little did I know this was about to become a Horror Story here it is the Border I know I'm still so nervous to be here I don't know I guess I'm I just always get nervous I border crossings and this one especially I mean Mexico U.S this is a big one entering the United States with my car I've never done that before let's see what happens [Music] they handcuffed me they [ __ ] handcuffed me so when I went through the Border I mean my passport usually gets flagged because it usually contains some unusual visas and this time it was Pakistan and Iraq so I get flagged and I drive my car and they ask me to take everything out I say this is gonna take a long time and they just say we've got time so I proceed to take everything out of Odyssey and I put it outside I'm taking everything out they're checking it they're double checking it meanwhile they're asking me loads of questions so different people come up to me at different points and they're all asking me the same questions to I guess cross-check my answers and then once everything is out of the car and double checked and scanned and triple checked this woman comes over and she tells me to put my hands behind my back and that's what I do and she tells me to leave everything and come with her so I'm coming with her and I asked am I being arrested is something wrong she says no you're not being arrested but just keep your hands behind your back this is this is like before the Handcuff story we go inside into the big border checkpoint building and I get taking I get taken into a cell an actual cell with no windows with a lock on the door with you know all the things you'd expect from a cell which is not much and then she asks me to take off all of my jewelry and then she begins to do a pat down which yeah I've got like I'm just standing there with my hands and my forehead against the wall my legs outstretched and she's just properly patting me down I have never been patted down like that he almost puts her fingers up my you know and meanwhile again with the questions same questions over and over again and then other people come in three people and they take me to another cell where they sit me down and they're asking me all the same questions all over again and more they're asking me everything how much how much money I make who pays me where my family lives do I have siblings what are the names of my father and mother and brothers and all these questions and that I'm just sitting there answering all the questions for like an hour and a half three people then they take a photo of me at the end and then they take me to another room where I get a [ __ ] handcuffed I got handcuffed what after they checked my car they'd checked my body pretty much my [ __ ] insides they asked me all the questions they could think of about my private life and then they handcuffed me for what with no word of explanation oh I thought I thought I was about to get deported I was thinking oh my God so this is how it begins I can't even get to Alaska so I'm sitting there handcuffed and then another 25 minutes later half an hour later the same woman who had been questioning me comes back and asks me to come around so I can get my Visa stamped and I'm like what you're actually letting me in after all this and um so that was that six-month Visa cool what was that what was that I mean I understand they might think that I'm carrying drugs or something but wouldn't it have suffice to just like send the dog into my car and check uh so that was the beginning of my United States Adventure I'm here I'm here I'm in Laredo Texas and now I think I need to go to sleep because this was way too much for one day okay think of me what what okay that's it okay I'm gonna end on a happy note I'm really excited to be here and I'm happy that it all worked out I'm crying for like the second freaking time in this one video but I'm very happy that I'm here and then I can finally start going north so really looking forward to my us Adventures just need to calm down after that slightly traumatic welcome okay [Music]

Channel: Eva zu Beck

Views: 1,267,840

Keywords:

Id: nBX5Wu6-E-c

Length: 26min 35sec (1595 seconds)

Published: Fri May 27 2022