Mexico - Feb./Mar. 2007

Mexican Update #1

We have been in Mexico a full two weeks and are still alive and well. Here is a list of the towns that we have visited on one day tours so far: Saltillo, Zacatecas, Guanajuato, Dolores Hidalgo, San Miguel de Allende, Leon and we are presently on the outskirts of Guadalajara which we plan to tour this weekend.
Each town has its own history, character and charm but of all the places we visited so far Guanajuato is the most fascinating and our favorite. We camped near the town of Guanajuato for a full week and therefore got to visit there several times.

Guanajuato is a silver mining town and 200 years ago it produced 40% of the world’s silver. This made it one of the richest towns in the world at that time which resulted in a building boom. It has very elaborate churches, hotels, haciendas and other structures built in that era. The town is nestled in a small irregular valley surrounded by steep mountains. It has grown to completely fill this valley and up the sides of the hills as far as it is practical to build (and then even a little more). There are no parallel streets in this town. The surface streets run in all directions and make many small turns. There are many plazas surrounded by small stores and sidewalk restaurants. It has a very European look to it. In addition to the surface streets there are 6 miles of roads in underground tunnels right under the town. Some of these were originally mines that have been expanded upon. They are traveled just like the surface streets with intersections and sidewalks and stairs to the surface.

We ventured into town one evening with 2 other couples for a fine dining experience. We went to the San Diego Hotel second floor restaurant. It had an old world atmosphere with tables extending out on balconies overlooking the plaza below. We had an excellent dinner for a reasonable price. The table next to us had 3 Mexican businessmen who were entertaining 3 foreign businessmen. They hired an 8 man string only mariachi band to come to their table and play and sing for about an hour. Of course we had the benefit of this entertainment and we expressed our thanks when it was over. This resulted in a very interesting conversation among the 12 of us. We then walked around the plaza at night and watched the people, lights and atmosphere. The whole evening in a word was “Magical”.

Now it’s on to touring Guadalajara and then continuing to Puerto Vallarta. We will send additional updates when we can get internet access. Mike & Donna

Mexican Update #2

Hola,

The end of our third week in Mexico finds us in Mazatlan where we just arrived last night. Since our last report we have toured Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta. Guadalajara, the second largest city in Mexico, looks like a U.S. city except that all of the signs are in Spanish. It has noise, traffic congestion and millions of people. We sat in the open upper deck of the tour bus which gave us a good view of everything and we visited a lot of historic places. It is an interesting city but not memorable. Puerto Vallarta is a resort city, very crowded and touristy . There were 2 cruise ships at the dock which put a few thousand Americans on the streets. The food and service was very good but everything is more expensive in this city. English speaking Mexicans are common here which is not true for the rest of Mexico we have visited. Again, an interesting city but not memorable.

We also camped right on the beach in a couple of small towns along the coast (Las Varas and San Blas). These are much more interesting than the cities. Nobody speaks English and you get much more of the “flavor” of Mexico. We like this part of Mexico much better than the resort cities.

We are beginning to get a feel for life in Mexico. It is totally different from what we expected or were led to believe. If Mexico is a third world country, then the world is in pretty good shape. The cars are mostly newer models; you could not tell U.S. streets from Mexican streets by the age and model of the cars except maybe for Beverly Hills. People are mostly well dressed (much better than American tourists), they shop in malls, department stores and super markets, some of which would put their American counterparts to shame. Just as in the U.S. there are significant areas of poverty but Mexico has a large, thriving middle class. We met several Mexicans who had lived illegally in the U.S. only to return for a “better life”.

Driving in Mexico is no worse than driving in L.A. Mexican drivers are aggressive (for many reasons) but courteous. The key is to slow down. The roads are not great but there are worse roads in the U.S. We have not had a problem driving anywhere we wanted to here, however we do not travel at night. The roads are not fenced and the retained surface heat attracts cows and other animals. Some of these are deposited on the roadside by trucks that do travel at night.

The insight we have gained from this experience cannot be adequately explained in a brief email but we hope this will give a snapshot of our impressions. Until our next update, buenos dias amigos. Mike & Donna

Mexican Update #3

Hola from Alamos, Mexico,

That is our present location. Alamos is a small mining town east of Navojoa which is near the northern west coast. This is a charming old town and has a lot of history but it cannot compare with Guanajuato.

In our last update we had just arrived in Mazatlan which turned out to be another touristy city. After leaving Mazatlan we separated from the group of 4 other motor homes we were traveling with (they had earlier deadlines to get back to the U.S.). Since then we have been traveling alone for the first time in Mexico. That is not a problem but we miss our newly made friends.

Our next stop was El Fuerte, a starting point for the Copper Canyon railroad. Copper Canyon is the Grand Canyon of Mexico and is not accessible by road from the South. We took the 7 hour railroad trip which goes from near sea level to about 7500 feet. It was a very dramatic train ride with switchbacks, climbing loops, many tunnels and straight down views. The long ride was made more comfortable with access to a lounge car and a dining car. We wound up buying a tour package with 2 nights in Creel and one in Posada Barrancas. It included the train, hotels, meals and tours. Everything was really well done. We think the canyon views are comparable to the Grand Canyon. We really did enjoy the Copper Canyon experience as well as the town of El Fuerte. Our next stop is the beach town of San Carlos near Guaymas and after that, who knows. Hasta La Vista! Mike & Donna

Mexican Update #4

Greetings from Yuma, Arizona!

The final leg of our Mexican adventure took us to the west coast beach towns of San Carlos and Bahia Kino. They are both well known destinations for U.S. and Canadian Snowbirds (RV’ers who spend the winter there). They both have beautiful beaches and many RV parks along the beach. San Carlos is in a particularly beautiful setting with rocky hills near the coast and out in the water. Mike is not a beach person but Donna romped in the water a few times. We were surprised to see how many Mexicans came to these beaches; families on vacation and teenagers to “party”. They slept in tents on the beach or in their cars. We happened to be in Bahia Kino on a weekend that had a Mexican concert of some kind and the place flooded with teenagers. It was like a “spring break” atmosphere. The road along the beach was clean and neat on Saturday. Sunday morning it looked like a hurricane hit; it was covered with trash, beer bottles and etc. Things didn’t get quiet until about 4:30 Sunday morning.

We had planned on visiting one last beach town, Puerto Penasco, but we had to scratch that because of a tire failure. We got back on the road with the help of several Mexicans and a used tire that was almost the right size. Because of the mismatched dual tires, we decided to take the shortest distance back to the U.S. which was through Nogales to Tucson. We got some new tires in Tucson and then headed to Yuma. We will stay here at least a week to get caught up on housekeeping, laundry, shopping and etc. then on to California.

This trip has changed our impression of Mexico dramatically. The people we encountered were generally more friendly and helpful than Americans. We never felt we were in any danger. We never got sick. We never felt threatened by the police or the military. We were never cheated out of any money. We will go back to Mexico. Mike and Donna.