Guest blogger John Stanfield shares his thoughts about driving ~5,000 miles across Mexico!  (Mary drove about 50 of those miles :o)

Mary has already referenced several of the unique driving situations we’ve found ourselves in – almost getting caught in overhead power lines, being stuck in the sand multiple times, constantly smashing into endless tooth-rattling topes, getting lost in a dump, to name just a few – but we decided there is enough to warrant its own blog post…  So here are some anecdotes of our last 3 months in Mexico:

Tour of Topes (aka- Reductor de velocidad)

I would like to know who invented the speed bump so that I can kick him in the nuts a few times. Yes they are a very effective means to forcefully make you slow down, but MAN are they dangerous and annoying!
We’ve discovered in this country that anyone can build a giant speed bump in the street near their house, with no signs or warning of any kind.  There was a lot of swearing and slamming of brakes, as the van’s suspension gradually got weaker and weaker as we drove across Mexico on our tour of topes. The suspension got so bad that I would hit the overload bumpers no matter how slow I went over the Topes. See this post for more on how the Doud family saved the day!

The rarely used tope sign:  (More often there was no sign, or a handwritten cardboard sign!)

Why we try to avoid city centers:

We pass through cities as we travel and they are all beautiful and challenging in their own way.  In general we have learned that avoiding the city center when possible is best practice.  Here are a few memorable happenings.

Driving by Braille – Mexico City

Driving through the center of Mexico city, on the Saturday of the Dia de Muertos parade AND the Formula One race – thanks Google maps for not taking us around the ring road! Very few lines showing the lanes, but at least there are rumble stripes glued to the outside of the lanes so that I could drive by braille with inches of clearance from the concrete barrier on one side and the other 3 “lanes” of traffic on the other. Absolute chaos with cars zipping back and forth changing lanes, motos slicing through, giant potholes and people standing selling goods. Cars would slow down at a red traffic light and then just plow through but they would all take turns with no honking or fist pumping. The Bay Area commuter in me was constantly trying to escape but I managed to get through it without swearing at anyone, amazing! It is an interesting feeling to rub fenders with a car who is rubbing fenders with another car who is….. I have never driven on an oval race track but I think this is a much slower more civilized version.

Mary was so scared the entire drive that she couldn’t get a photo until we were out of the traffic mess, but here you see 4 lanes of traffic with no dividing lines:

What color is that traffic light? Yup, you’re not color blind, these cars just don’t think ‘red’ means stop, I guess….

Police everywhere for the F-1 race, that we drove right in front of

Driving while pooping – San Cristobal de las Casas

We passed briefly through San Cristobal de las Casas, which is a beautiful city, but the streets are SO narrow and crowded.  Mary hopped out of the van to ask a hotel if they had space for us to park, but I wasn’t able to stop due to the mess of traffic trying to get by, so had to navigate to the next hotel by myself.

I had Mary on speaker phone trying to give me directions, while I attempted to squeeze through a crowded street and discovered that I was absolutely stuck.  My tire sidewalls on the left were pressed against the 14” high sidewalk, and on the right against the tires of the parked cars (Vancito is only ~80“ wide), I was completely stuck and traffic piled up behind me.

Of course Lilly chose that very moment to shout “I need to go poop! Now!”  I told her to unbuckle her seatbelt and pull out the little portapotty and go, yes, while I was driving!  Meanwhile, I eased onto the throttle, which caused the parked cars on the right to bounce over a little from the pressure of my tires against them, and I squeezed through like a Salmon swimming up a shallow stream.

Not the most relaxing or nice smelling drive, but I managed to make my way up the block while talking to Mary on speaker phone and handing toilet paper to Lilly over my shoulder. I knew that all those years of dealing with high stress situations would pay off one day! Incredible that nobody in this country ever gets angry or honks their horn, I guess they are very accustomed to this kind of thing.

Impossible to get a photo of my driving situation, but here’s the lovely, colorful and narrow streets of San Cristobal de las casas!

“What Stop sign?” – La Paz

The Stop signs were mostly hidden, or sometimes missing entirely.  Most of the time, they are ignored by the cars. Basically you have to slow down at every intersection, look both ways, and make a quick dash for it!  You might think when you’re crossing over a one-way road that you’d be safe to check for cars in only one direction… you’d be wrong! Oh and the one way roads change direction at an intersection with no sign or warning, you just start to notice that everyone is driving the opposite direction to you. Interestingly, no one seems bothered by the one car swimming upstream, they simply go around you without objection. Local knowledge is king!

Baja dirt road detour

On the road from San Felipe to the Bay of LA we came to a“desviacion” (detour) sign and found ourselves on a dirt road for 2 hours with various unsigned, choose-your-own-adventure paths before getting back to the main road.

After one hour of this, we came upon a vehicle that was moving like it was driving on a solid wheel with a flat side, bump-bump-bump. When we pulled up alongside the car we could clearly see that she had been driving on a flat for miles and the only thing left that resembled a tire was, well there was no tire left, only the rim and it indeed had a flat side. Mary called out to a determined woman and her young child, the woman looked up a little surprised and said “My friends are in a car ahead of me, could you catch them up and get them to come back?” I was happy to rally drive for a few minutes to catch two Perma-grin hippies in a minivan busting to the seams with camping gear.  Mary urgently relayed the situation to them. The driver just calmly smiled “Yeah man, I just love the wild-ness out here” she sighed. “Your friend said she doesn’t think she has a spare tyre” Mary called out, slightly less urgent. “Such a beautiful spot for a drive” she simply stated as she stopped and started to turn around.

We continued driving, with an hour behind and another hour ahead of dirt road and no services or any sign of life. When we finally got out onto the paved road again, the first thing we saw was a giant tire shop…. I bet they get a lot of business!

Disappearing or Non Existent Roads (aka “screw you, Google maps”)

Google maps says to turn left, and this is what we see:

Google says to continue straight up a road, and it turns into a steep, wet, concrete DEAD END. My wheels start spinning, so I shout to Mary “lock the hubs!”, she jumps out and locks each wheel. Now I am stationary, but Mary looks ahead and confirms there’s no way out, so I have to BACK DOWN to escape! Thanks Google.

Construction is often NOT signposted, so you come around a corner and suddenly need to slam on the brakes.

Bad roads, old cars, & no lawyers

One great thing about driving here is that the people are really good drivers. Maybe it’s because the road conditions are often bad, and signage missing, or maybe they are better at sharing than we are? But people are very good about driving as a community and helping to communicate hazards ahead or to share the road. I think this is a function of bad roads, old cars and no lawyers.

For example, imagine that you’re driving on a mountain highway at about 55mph, enjoying the scenery and avoiding the Topes. You round a bend to the left and the car coming your way flashes the headlights. In the states I would slow down but in Mexico I have learned this means slam on the brakes! In another 100 yards, the road was only half there. No, I don’t mean that the shoulder was a little eroded or that there was a large pothole in the lane, I mean that the lane from the center line out seems to have fallen off. No markings, signs or cones, just gone.  I slammed on the brakes and skirted around the giant gaping hole to the left.

Use what you have:

We spend a lot of time driving on roads that have just one lane going each direction, with a yellow line down the middle, and a small shoulder on each side with a dashed line. This actually means 3 cars will drive side by side. Cars will pass slow trucks, even on a blind corner, because the truck will drive half into the shoulder, and the car knows that anyone coming towards him in the other lane will move over. The first time we came around a corner to see a car hurtling towards us, half-way into our lane, was a little concerning, but we soon got the hang of it.

If you are on a long straight part and the oncoming car is passing they will flash the headlights to say “move over” and then pass. People are just better at sharing what’s available. There’s also just the constant presence of people and animals on the sides of the roads that you have to be looking out for. It seems very logical if you think about it, the road bed is the best path around to use for moving anything, why build another road or path when you can optimize this one?

This looks like a good place to set up shop selling water bottles. And, everyone just stops to wait for the car that decides to purchase water at that moment, waits patiently behind him, no honking of horns while he counts his change in the MIDDLE OF A FOUR LANE ROAD and then continues on while he’s done!

Gas Stations

There’s always a person to pump your gas for you. For some reason, at this particular gas station, the attendant was too busy when we pulled up to the pump, so shouted out for someone else to pump our gas. So the security guard begrudgingly walked over and pumped our gas for us. I wasn’t sure if I felt extra safe, or extra worried, in the presence of a gigantic weapon! Not so much respect for officers of the law I guess!

General impressions:

On the toll roads or “Cuota”, the infrastructure is surprisingly good and new.  It seems that there has been a significant investment in the past few years, in some places it is far better than the 101 between Mtn View and San Fran!  Plenty of signage, black and yellow arrow signs before big curves, guardrails, men cutting back grass by hand using machetes on the side of the roads, presumably for a fire break, huge shiny signs announcing the work they are doing.

One interesting construction difference is the lack of cones, barriers and flagers in and around road work.  It reinforces the “take care of yourself” attitude that we noticed everywhere in Mexico, most likely due to the cost of prevention (signs and cones and flags) and the lack of a litigious culture.   For example, scarecrows dressed in orange vests with orange flags were very common on the interstate to replace flaggers.

The roads, signage, and drivers are different than in the US, but also I myself feel different driving on this trip. I let myself get passed all the time instead of always being the one passing. I used to be in such a hurry all the time, or competitive “I’m going to pass before you”, even on a holiday I couldn’t shake that feeling, but now, the drive IS the trip, and there’s nothing more important than the safety of my passengers….

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