20 Things to Consider When Driving Through Mexico

Last February, John and I drove all the way down the coast through Mexico from Tijuana to get to Acapulco, much to the surprise of many mexicans we encountered along the way.  With all the new people heading to Acapulco over the next few months, there have been many asking questions about what it's like to drive here, as opposed to flying.  While it's a huge task to undertake, it's rewarding in the fact that you get to see many different parts of Mexico, giving you a good idea of the culture as a whole here.  

1)Topes

Here are some crazy topes in Acapulco.

Someone recently referred to topes as something along the lines of "curbs in the middle of the road acting as speedbumps" and I think that's a pretty good descriptor of the term.  They are everywhere in Mexico, and they are effective.  Anywhere along the highway on the way here we encountered any sign of civilization, even just an abandoned shack, there was a tope.  In small tows there are anywhere between 3-9 topes in a row.  Some of them are so tall, they send your car flying if you go any sort of speed.  Our friend was driving a prius, and he went flying a few times.  A particularly bad tope cost me the handle to my cast iron dutch oven and everything in my cooler.

2)Don't Stop for Military Checkpoints

We stopped stopping for military and police checkpoints a long time ago.  Recently we were informed that the military are not allowed to leave the site of the checkpoint if the commander is not there because if he drives by and they are not a the checkpoint they will get in trouble(commander is normally never on sight), which means they cannot come after you if you blow through it.  Generally, especially as a foreigner, they will try to shake you down for bribes at these things, especially in northern Mexico.  In regards to police checkpoints, just drive through at a reasonable speed(slow but not stopping slow) and if they come after you, don't stop.  If they manage to stop you, yell no comprendo and do your best to drive away. Just stay calm try to calmly drive around them and contiue on your way and they will look silly. They will not use force against you.  I've been in several police chases and I've never had a problem in that regard.

3)Gasoline

Gas is nationalized(for now, that is changing as Pemex goes bankrupt), and can be acquired at Pemex.  The price is fixed and comes in two types, magna(regular) or premium.  Gas is sold by the liter, and it's best if you pay in pesos instead of US Dollars, as you get gouged on the exchange rate.  Pemex has set themselves up so there's not a gap where you can run out due to lack of gas stations.  There was always a warning when there would be a long time before another gas station at a Pemex, to give you a chance to fill up.  There were a few private, and probably illegal gas stations along the way in the long stretches without Pemex.  They advertised with a hand written sign.

4)Peso v. Dollar

If you drive, do you're best to go to a money changer as soon as you can after crossing the border.  Look up the price to get yourself the best deal in terms of exchange.  Do not use US dollars, you'll always get charged double and you'll get bad change.  Most of these people don't know the real exchange rate. 

5) Free v. Toll

There are two ways to go in terms of roads here, by toll or free.  I forget the term they used on the signs for the paid roads, but I know that it started with a c.  I know the word for the free one was libre.  The free roads are generally windier, roundabout and they go through small towns with a lot of topes.  The advantage are they are free to travel and they visit some pretty gorgeous places.  There's a lot of good food along these roads too.

6) Avoiding Mexico City

John and I took the route we did because we wanted to avoid Mexico City.  This was partially in regards to our legal status, and partially due to the fact that Mexico City is MASSIVE and a bitch to drive through.  Our route took much longer, but it was worth it as I feel I saw more of Mexico with less headache. 

7) Free Camping

Every night on our journey through Mexico, we camped on the side of the road.  Sometimes, we had the opportunity to pull off of the road for a little bit, but generally we were literally on the side of the road.  We never had a problem, and were only encountered by the police once.  The encounter ended when we said we were toursists camping. I'll write about that another day.

8) Mexicans are helpful

Several times throughout our journey, we found ourselves in need of help from others, generally involving the truck.  We talked about one of these stories in our story about the train.  There was another incident at night where we got stuck off of a high edge of a road, in an attempt to turn around.  We tried to have our friend pull us over the edge, but he was in a prius and was unable to.  We jumped around and flagged someone down in a big truck, who realistically saved the day.  When we were having a small engine trouble along the way, an english speaking mexican at an Auto Zone replaced a part on our truck for us. Mexicans are very kind and helpful, remember that if you find yourself in any sort of trouble along the way.

9) Learn Some Spanish

Learning basic spanish will help you.  Be able to tell people how much gas you want, what food you want and know how to ask for the bathroom.  Greetings, please and thank you are important as a sign of respect.  We knew nothing and ended up having to pay tolls for some of our journey, despite wanting to stay on the free roads. Communicating was always amusing, but we did our best and we never got flamed for not knowing the language.  Even basic greetings here get you smiles and respect.

10)Safety

A lot of people are concerned about safety when traveling through Mexico.  A woman in Oregon told me she expected me to be raped and sold into sex slavery because I was driving through Sonora state.  Honestly, after camping that first night on the side of the road with no bother, I decided I was probably safe for the most part.  I was mindful, but I still felt pretty safe and somewhat silly at times for my paranoia that was previously instilled in me.  Recently someone mentioned that they were warned against the free roads as they could be unsafe, but I never experienced a moment where I felt unsafe. 

11)Night Driving

Night driving can be a bit dangerous here, for anyone who is not an alert driver.  There can be random dark construction sites in the middle of the night with little to no warning that they are there. It's not as easy to tell there are topes coming either at night, as there are stretches of Mexico with little to no street lights. 

12)Time and Distance

Driving through Mexico takes a while, and is a pretty great distance to cover if you're headed to Mexico.  In general, the roads here are somewhat windy and roundabout, and the free roads are notoriously worse than the tolls for this purpose.  I personally didn't realize how large Mexico was until we were driving through it and I was the one in control of the offline maps.  As we didn't have service, I had to use GPS location on the map and my bad sense of direction to direct us throughout Mexico.  It's incredibly huge country.  The speed limits are also generally much slower than they are in the states, which makes travel take even longer.  It's common place for people to pass 5-10 cars all going the speed limit if they're in hurry though.

13)Kilometers v. Miles

Once you cross that border, the system changes from miles to kilometers.  The road signs depicting speed limit are in kilometers per hour and all signs about distance of towns is in kilometers as well.

14)Roadside Restaurants

The best places I know of to eat in Mexico are on the side of the road, generally on a sidewalk or out of someone's house.  These are the kind of tacos that are so good you smell them from awhile away. You know the good places by how many vehicles and semi trucks happen to be parked outside. It's generally really cheap, and really delicious.

15)Roadside Markets

Mexicans are ingenious in the ways in which they capitalise on the roadways.  We passed many markets along the side of the road in our journey through Mexico, both produce and artisan markets.  There was one that I wish we could have afforded to stop at, full of copper and clay cooking pots.  

16)Carside Venders

One more way in which mexicans capilalize on the roadways is the carside venders.  They sell all sorts of things: gum, bananas, peanuts, oranges, water, horchata, the newspaper, plantain chips, pork rinds...the list goes on. There are also guys with water bottles and windshield washing tools that will run up and wash your windshield for pesos.  If you don't want them to, yell no at them.  You don't have to pay them, but they will bug you if they cleaned your windshield.  It's a bit annoying at times, but they're harmless. All over mexico, you'll find men in parking lots helping people park, putting cardboard on windshields and things like that for a few pesos here and there. If you ask and pay them for it, they'll stand by your vehicle and protect it while your away from it.

17)Driving through Cities

Driving through cities can be an interesting although hectic experience. Sometimes, a two way street becomes a one way with no warning.  There's generally a lot of traffic but they're always interesting.

18)Data Connection

If you don't have an international phone plan, your phone data will quit as soon as you cross the border(crossing in tijuana it dropped as soon as we entered mexio which was weird), as we found out the hard way.  Even if you do have an international plan, there are problems with data connection.  Just in case, download offline google maps of Mexico so you'll always be able to find your way regardless of data connection.  Or buy a mexican phone and use that if you depend on phone for gps.  

19)Routes

There are a lot of routes to take through Mexico to Acapulco but the two main ones people take are either down the middle of Mexico through Mexico City, or down either coast.  Some people drive down the middle and take a diversion around Mexico City, but I hear it's not much of a diversion.  Our route down the west coast took a long time, but it was worth it was we saw so much of what Mexico has to offer.  

20) Mexico is Deceptively Large

When I was younger, looking at maps of the world, Mexico doesn't seem that large in relation to the United States.  I've already mentioned this earlier but it's worth mentioning again.  Mexico is huge, and driving through it is a huge but rewarding task.  Many that have done it cite they never plan to do it again, as it does have it's quarks.  Most complain about the distance, as Mexico is a lot bigger that you'd expect.  It's got a lot to offer and contains just about every climate

So as you can see,  driving in Mexico is an experience. It's a very anarchic road system in many ways, especially with how you deal with other drivers.  It's not rude to pass someone, or ten someones if you need to go faster than them.  Not following the speed limit is possible but may bring you attention from cops looking for a bribe.  It's not for the faint of heart and really is for people who are aware drivers.  Things can come up suddenly driving here, if you aren't an aware driver it could end in an accident.  Despite the craziness, I've seen surprisingly few accidents here.  It's pretty safe in that regard.  I loved my experience traveling through Mexico by truck, I'm sure I'll do more exploring of Mexico in the future.