perdido y alegre: Lake Chapala

Saturday, October 18, 2008

James Explains the Mexican Ropes

Bruce writing here: Long story, short. 5 years ago I met James online, it's not what you think, when we both owned the same stock(Healthsouth). Well, unlike me, James made all the money in the world and moved to Ajijic, Mexico which is next to Chapala. We met for breakfast in Ajijic Saturday morning at his regular weekend, outdoor breakfast spot. James, thanks for breakfast. We had never met in person but he was exactly what I expected. A down to earth character with a lot of horse sense.

After curing all the ills of the stock market and the economy the discussion turned to living in Mexico. Basically he told Pat and I that he would go back to the states in an urn. He answered all of our questions and much more. He showed us his casa and also a friend of his. Both beautiful houses. It was an eye-opening visit.

We left Ajijic and headed for the coast ending up in Melaque. What a beautiful drive through the mountains. The 2-lane road was a little nerve racking in that we never knew when ,around the next sharp curve, someone would be coming at us in our lane while passing a bus. Pat finally just started closing her eyes. Seventy miles of curva peligrosa!

Photo right: Caballejos in Ajijic.

It was very, very humid in Melaque. An American ex-pat living there told us that this is the most uncomfortable part of the year and would pass in 3 to 6 weeks. We are out of here tomorrow!

A Missed Turn

October17, 2008

Photo left: Patzcuaro, Michoacan.
Bruce writing here: We left Patzcuaro Friday morning for a trip to the ruins around Lago de Patzcuaro with the intention of circling the lake then spending a second night in Patzcuaro. We visited 2 of the ruins with the second one being very impressive.

Photo of Ihuatzio, the smaller of the two ruins in this area.

Of course, I knew where we needed to turn to get back to Patzcuaro. Well I missed the turn and just kept driving on without a clue. Finally it dawned on me that our turn was about 20 miles back down a windy, truck-strewn, two-lane, no-shoulder road. We had orginally decided to skip the Lake Chapala area but now we were heading straight for it. So with the fickle-finger of fate guiding us, we made a bee-line to the city of Chapala.

Our Mexico map situation is dodgy at best. We actually use 3 different maps(1 laptop GPS, 1 other on the computer and 1 paper map) to determine where we are and are going and sometimes none of these are correct. So when we decided to enter the lake area from the east we figured that it was probably a good road. Wrong!Unintentionally, this time, we take the Road Less Traveled. We only bottomed out badly one time and knocked some paint off of the fiberglass running boards. The natives in these villages thought we were nuts. They would be right.

Photos below: Break for lunch was free-range chicken and since the Pollo Rosti had no bottled water we had to drink the local beer.

We finally made it to Chapala and got a room at a reasonably-priced "boutique" hotel. We didn't pay any extra for the 6 or 7 gun shots we heard close in the night.

Photos right: Bad road; View from bad road; bad road gone really bad.

What Our 2008-2009 Trip Cost

Below is a daily average cost for our trip. Gas was VERY high in Canada(never under $5/gallon and as high as $6.40 is the Yukon) and somewhat high in Alaska(around $4). Gas has since come down. Also the ferries were pretty expensive in Canada so I have broke out the average without including the ferries. Gas in Mexico is controlled by the state so it really didn't change during the speculator-induced $140 a barrel oil fiasco(IMO).

Also we van-camped in Canada and Alaska 90% of the time and that cost very little. In Mexico we stayed in hotels 99% of the time( it's so cheap).

The average daily costs below include everything, ie. food, lodging, gas and entertainment but do not include the medical costs for my rotator cuff problema ( which was super cheap).

Alaska and Canada: 50 days $168.52/day or $115.00 w/o ferries

Mexico: 229 days $72.83/day

Driving in Mexico-2008

In a nutshell it's not really that tough. We actually find it interesting and challenging. We had read all of the horror stories on the internet and heard from friends and family
about the dangers of driving through Mexico but when we actually did it were pleasantly
surprised. Actually expecting the worse probably helped us ease into trip. One of the stressful parts of driving in Mexico is our own fault...having a tall, low ground-clearanced, full-sized camper van. Mexican city streets are narrow...especially the
interior, colonial cities. We literally had to pull in the outside mirrors to squeeze
through narrow streets in Guanajuato. Mexicans double park as a matter of routine and our wide van can seem like it won't fit but always does. I love the van but if I had it to do
over again I would have brought a smaller vehicle since we most always stay in Mexican
hotels which are very reasonable. But, if the Mexican bus drivers can maneuver those huge autobuses through the colonial cities then so can we.

Another thing is the Mexican traffic laws appear to be merely suggestions. People roll through stop signs while looking both ways. Speed limits, when posted, are always exceeded, even in construction zones. The backs of pickups are full of people to the point of overflowing. Sometimes you see cars take a right turn on red and sometimes not.

I would not suggest driving at night. Too many road hazards that you may not be able to see soon enough and too many animals tied up, grazing near the road.

Here's what to expect:

The Roads - Mexico has a wide variety of roads. The cuotas are the toll highways and are definitely the easiest, safest, fastest and best-maintained roads to travel although you
miss much of the beautiful scenery and villages provided by the free roads ("carreteras
libres"). The cuotas are somewhat expensive also but well worth it. We take the cuotas
whenever possible but since we sometimes take the "road less traveled" we more often are on the carretras libres and we have no problems with them and enjoy them.

We were amazed at how mountainous the interior of Mexico is. The average altitude for the entire country is over 4,000 feet. Mexican road builders have to be very skilled to build the twisting and turning carreteras libres through the mountains. Driving in the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas are especially beautiful. The shoulders on the mountain roads can be non-existent though soon you will become accustomed driving on them.

Road construction is an ongoing task in Mexico. There is construction on most every highway we travel. However we were delayed very few times. The Mexicans haven't let the trial attorneys mandate their everyday life. They just use common sense when traveling through construction zones. Wow, what a novel idea.

We did run into some roads with potholes and other obstructions but in general the roads were in great shape.

Topes, Topes, Topes! - In the US we call them speed bumps. In Mexico they are everywhere and I mean everywhere. Some are marked well in advance, some are marked at exactly their location only and many are unmarked. Every small village has them on their highway. Some are small (we call them topecitas), some are huge (tope grandes), some are gently sloping and some are steep. Some are in the city and some are in the middle of nowhere. But one thing is for sure, you are always on the look out for them. Our low ground-clearance van sometimes scrapes the top of the tope if I go over them too quickly. When I come to almost a complete stop then ease over it then there is no problem. It would not be pretty to hit one going very fast. Am I adding to the internet horror stories? In the US we have speed zones where you may or may not actually slow down but in Mexico, with topes, you have no choice. You either slow down or find your entire undercarriage laying in the street behind you. You will soon learn to be on the watch for these and they will not pose any problems.

Mexican Drivers - In a word, aggressive...but also courteous. You have to be somewhat
aggressive right along with them to get where you are going. In several thousands of miles driving in Mexico we have seen only 2 accidents...both minor. That is amazing when you see how the Mexicans drive. Many streets and highways have no dividing lines and the cars will be 3 or 4 cars abreast when you'd swear it is only a 2-lane street. They will pass on curves or hilltops or narrow streets. They will pass on the highways when they are coming directly at you assuming that you will pull on to the shoulder and let them continue. We soon learned to do the same thing. It’s bizarre to have a slower car in front of you pull to the shoulder to let you pass then, passing down the center of the highway, the car coming at you pulls to his shoulder to let you squeeze through. All at 55 mph. It looks nuts but it works. No 4 lane highways for the Mexicans just pass down the middle of the road.

Mexicans are a very hard-working people and they have places to go. There are many taxis and buses in Mexico and they all seem to be full and in a hurry to their destinations. These drivers really know how to drive and they are very courteous also. Many, many times they see that we are unfamiliar with the circumstances and they stop to let us slowly pass on our way. Very courteous people all around.

Highway and Street Signs – The Mexicans aren’t real conscientious about putting up a sign everywhere it’s needed. The towns don’t have street signs on poles (the buses would only knock them down when they jump the curb to turn the tight corners on the narrow streets) but are painted on the side of buildings at the corner. Also look for a painted arrow indicating a one-way street, which is often not there or faded, so be sure to look for the direction of the inevitable parked cars that line the streets. The painted arrows are usually on the side of corner buildings and if the arrow is painted red then the other driver has the right of way otherwise you have the right of way. Sometimes both arrows are black and you just ease your way through the interesection. Several times we have ended up the wrong way on a one-way street only to have the Mexicans patiently wait for us to get turned around.

In general highways are pretty well marked but you still have to be on your toes because once you make a bad decision on which route to take it could be many miles until you find out your on the wrong road. This happened to us near Mitla in Oaxaca state and it took us quite a while to get back to the turn off we should have taken.

Maps - Where the hell are we? There are several good roads maps of Mexico. The one we like best is actually an atlas, the Guia Roji Mexico Tourist Atlas. It has a lot of information in it. We also have the Garmin Mexico MapSource program on our laptop that also interfaces with our laptop GPS.

Sometimes we have to use all of them together to determine where we need to go.

Auto Insurance – Insurance in Mexico is a must have. They check it at the border when you enter. We got top of the line insurance from GMAC’s Mexican partner at a cost of about $350 USD for 6 months coverage. A year of coverage was another $100 or so. Be sure your policy includes legal assistance for your defense if you are involved in an accident. It was all done online in a few minutes with a credit card.

In Belize you pay for insurance at the border by the week. Its part of the entry process. Ours cost $14.50 USD per week.

Guatemala?…well we haven’t figured that out yet and are traveling “naked” at the moment.

perdido y alegre

Saturday, October 18, 2008

James Explains the Mexican Ropes

A Missed Turn

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Driving in Mexico-2008