Here are my highly biased observations of Mexico and the Mexican people.
-The people here are very friendly and helpful. The closer to the big cities you get the less friendly they are, but still not bad. There are very few people that speak any English. As with any other country, the more rural of an area you are in, the more helpful and friendly they are. Also the more resourceful they are. They can do almost anything with almost nothing. Very ingenious.
-Everyone here is Mexican. There are no Chinese, or any other nationality. It is supposedly illegal for Foreigners to buy property or houses here.
-Men here hiss at women to get their attention. I thought that this was a very rude thing. Later I found out that it is the way they try to get anyone's attention at any time.
-Teenagers are the hardest to communicate with. Of course that's the same thing in English. Older people understand what you want usually without needing the words. Young children seem to read your mind .
-I communicate better with people that understand no English than those that only understand a little.
-All in all I found the hotel adequate but overpriced. They were clean, but rundown.
-The toilets tend to be in a tiled room with the shower with no curtain separating them. It is often impossible to keep from getting the toilet wet while showering. Some of the hotels have toilet paper dispensers next to the toilet. Makes for some soggy toilet paper. The only disadvantage I see to this is that after you shower you can't help but get your feet wet if you go to the bathroom. This can make a real mess if you have dirt on your shoes, which is pretty common.
-The Lonely Planet Guide describes one Hotel as "a nice hotel with an unfortunate choice of carpet." Not quite sure what they meant by that.
-The prices listed in the guidebooks for hotels is significantly lower than actual. There has been a lot of inflation. They are accurate as far as relative pricing. The ones they say are cheapest are, they are just more expensive than listed, some by more than 100%.
-Motels, or Auto Hotels are not what you might think. They are also known as Love Motels. They sometimes charge by the hour. Sometimes you never actually see a person. Basically there is a room next to a parking space. You park and pull a screen, like a garage door, so that no one can see your car, or your mistress. Sometimes you pay on the way into the courtyard, sometimes you pay through a slot in the parking area or in the room itself. These are not fancy places but they are generally cheap and clean enough. The sheets are sometimes thin as paper and they don't always offer blankets. I recommend using your sleeping bag in some of them. These are actually a pretty good deal, and sometimes your best bet although you get some strange looks coming in alone, and I don't know what they would do if two guys came in together. They do offer hot tubs and other amenities in some. They are usually outside of town.
-In general I found the roads to be pretty good. The only problems with them were surprises, either in road condition changes or animals and other wildlife. There were few highways and most of these were very expensive toll roads.
-On the roads with really nice views there are very few viewpoints or safe places to pull over. They don't seem to have the tourist thing down yet.
-Finding places can be difficult. If they tell you to go straight they assume that you will have enough sense to continue straight until you see another sign. Of course if you miss a sign or it is missing you could be driving for many miles not knowing where you are. Other great things they do is not tell you which way you are going. There are no north/south signs on any road. If you come to an intersection or a highway, the signs will point to the left towards one town and the other towards another. These towns might be big, like Mexico city, or small under 1,000 population towns. And they change. A sign will point towards Mexico City for many miles, then you will come to an intersection and the signs will point to smaller towns. This might not be a problem in normal countries, but here they throw a curveball at you. Lets say you are traveling south on route 95 towards Mexico City. You may come to an T in the road that says 95 goes left towards some little town. There may also be a sign that says 95 goes right towards some other little town. Which way do you go? No way to know. Dead reckoning is your best bet. What's is supposed to happen in one way brings you into the center of the nearest small town and the other way bypasses that town and goes towards the next small town. Unfortunately, the nearest small town might be 50 miles out of your way, so if you pick the wrong direction, you lose two hours travel time and have the pleasure of driving through some tiny, dirty town. It doesn't help that in many places the route signs are missing. I could not tell if they fell off or they just did not bother to put them on in the first place.
-There are a lot of animals on the road, almost all of them are domestic. Surprisingly, there is not a lot of roadkill. I think the dumb ones are killed off and those that are left bread smarter animals.
- Vados are water crossings or dips in the road. There are usually signs warning you about them and seldom any water in them, although I have seen as much as 10 inches of water in some. They are usually cement but can be tar or dirt. Even in the dry season you need to be careful because they can have severe dips and potholes.
-Topes or Vibradores - Speedbumps. These are in every town. Some are huge, some very mild. They usually warn you, but not always. They really want you to go slow in town, and these force you to.
-I have not seen many police. I have seen them at accidents and breakdowns and every town has a police station. But they don't have radar that I have seen. They don't really patrol anywhere, except in the center of towns. Out on the open road I passed one while I was about 40 MPH above the speed limit and all he did was flash his headlights. The few that I met were nice and tried to be helpful. There is supposed to be a helmet law here but it does not seem to be enforced everywhere. Or maybe they make exceptions for certain people. I figure it is much like in the US. The more rural cops are the nicest, but most bored and looking for something to do. The more city cops are in worse moods but least likely to stop you for insignificant infractions. Supposedly the custom of bribery has been stopped by the Government so the cops have lost their monetary incentive to harass tourists.
-Mexico has many Military checkpoints. These stop all traffic and ask routine questions. Most of the time I have either been waved by or just had them ask me where I was going. They are mostly manned by young guys who look bored. They are extremely friendly, but their job is serious. You should be friendly back but do not make jokes. A misunderstanding here could detain you for a long time. I was only searched a couple of times and these were half hearted. They asked me to open my left saddle bag (that's the side they are standing on). Without getting off the bike I remove the lid and they paw through the top layer of dirty cloths. What they are really looking for is you reaction. If you look nervous they just might feel a more thorough search is necessary.
10 peso = 1.08 USD
-Money machines are plentiful and take US cards. Businesses that accept credit cards are less plentiful. In the resort areas US dollars can sometimes be used to get you a better price but in the rural areas they have no use for US currency. Prices in general are only a little less than here, but there are no taxes added on to the prices. Gasoline is about twice the price. Many times you can haggle prices, but I am not very good at it and did not do well.
-A couple of times when I would get gas I would be shortchanged about the same amount as I would have tipped the guys. I would just smile and look at them. Sometimes they looked embarrassed and walked away, sometimes they would get the correct change. It only amounted to a quarter or so, I just let it slide.
-Prices are a little lower than in the US but things are crazy. In the backwoods the hotels cost $30 to $50 US and in the cities the hotels are $20 to $25 US for mid priced hotels.
-I was told that if a business is not doing well, not getting many customers, they will raise the prices to make more profit. This drives some businesses out of business. I was told of a golf course in a retirement area. When it opened the prices were a little higher than the other golf courses so they did not get much business. To make more profit they raised their prices. When they got even fewer customers they raised them again, until they were out of business.
-A couple from Colorado told me of another quirk in business. They were living in an area and liked to go to the SAM's club to get a certain flash frozen chicken breast they liked. One day the store stopped carrying it. When the couple asked why, the manager said that it sold too fast and they could not keep it on the shelf, so they stopped carrying it rather than just ordering it more often.
-I predict that within two or three years Mexico will suffer a severe economic crisis after the tourists and businesses stop coming here. The Peso will be devalued and Mexico will be worth going to again.
-I expected the vehicles down her to be in really bad shape. For the most part they were not. The Mexicans take pride in their vehicles, even if they are old and beat up. There were many that were obviously in poor condition, but they do the best that they can with what they have. The cars are not the cleanest burning but I saw very few burning oil. Actually less than I see here. My guess is that since gasoline and oil is so expensive, they can not afford to have them in too bad of shape.
-There were a surprisingly large number of new, big, fancy pickup trucks here. My guess is that those with money want to flaunt it.
-Regular busses and trucks were the worst offenders. They were in reasonably good mechanical shape, visually. Their brakes worked and their shocks looked like they functioned. The problem is that they blow a ton of smoke. Big black clouds of it to clog your lungs. That is one of the main reasons not to ride in the cities much.
-What I saw a lot of, that I thought was a great idea was rural taxis. I think there is a name for these, but I am not sure. They were mostly VW Micro Buses but they could be any kind of van or car or even a VW Bug. VW bugs and Micro buses are still made in Mexico. In rural areas there are bus stops on the sides of the main roads all over the place. These vans run back and forth between cities and towns all day. If you need a ride you either wait at a bus stop or flag one down from the road. When these buses are loaded up with 6 or 8 people you can find them creeping up the hills, but they get to where they are going. I think you could probably get to anywhere you want in Mexico without a car. Public transportation makes them unnecessary.
-I don't know if I can say that I saw a lot of poverty in Mexico. Yes, people are poor but that is not always the same thing. I was mostly in the rural areas. People are living in home made shacks and abandoned buildings, but they have enough to eat. They have decent families and are very friendly. I compare it to what life must have been like in rural America in the early 1900's. In the cities, there is some of what I would call poverty, but even there it does not appear as bad as it does in US cities where the people actually have more than those in Mexico. Sanitation leaves something to be desired, but it is no longer horrible. What I don't know is the availability of Medical Care. To me, that is where the real is. If you are poor but have access to medical care, a roof over your head, food on your table, reasonably sanitary living conditions and education for your children, you are not in real poverty. Not that it is a good life, but these people enjoy themselves despite the conditions.
-Work in many areas here is scarce. In the morning you can see men and women standing by the side of the road waiting to be picked up. Pick up trucks and big flat beds stop, get the workers they need and leave.
-I did not see a lot of evidence of alcoholism. There were not a lot of bums or homeless in the street. In drinking establishments I did not see the Mexicans drinking heavily. Americans, yes, but not the Mexicans.
-Hard liquor, including Tequila, is very expensive there. I can buy a bottle of tequila here for less than there. Beer is pretty reasonably priced. There is not a large variety in the stores. I could find none like our micro brews.
-The Tequila is very good here. There are many varieties that you can not get in the US. One type that I have brought back to the US in the past was Cazadores Redosada. A high class tequila. The last time I thing it was $4 a bottle. This time it was over $30us. I passed.
-Cities are cities everywhere. The more people you cram into an area the worse it is. The Mexico City area sucks. Other cities are not too bad once you park and walk around to see the sights. Most interesting things to see in the cities are located around the center of town (El Centro). Some towns, like Zacatecas, are great towns to walk around in. Others become bland and boring a few blocks from the center.
-I ate and drank anything I saw, with some common sense. I tried all kinds of foods I have never seen. I even ate a cactus taco. Kinda' made me feel like Fred Flintstone.
-It is almost impossible to avoid ingesting the bugs (bacteria) that might be in the water. I drank a beer in a frosted mug before I realized that the frost was tap water. Many dishes come with lettuce and raw veggies that are washed in tap water. Many of the salsas are thinned with tap water before serving. I got fresh squeezed Grapefruit juice once. The man sliced of the skin with a big knife so none of the bugs on the outside would get in the juice. He then rinsed the juice collection container by rinsing it in a bucket of standing tap water and shaking off some of the excess water. Then the juice went in there before going into my glass. Bugs and all.
-I am convinced that many cases of "Tourista" or Montezuma's Revenge are not really caused by contaminated water or food. I have heard a lot of people complain about getting it, but then they tell me how much they ate or drank and what they ate and I think it is just from a poor diet or too much alcohol. You can't treat your body like that for long without getting sick. One morning my stomach was gurgling a lot and I made a few extra trips to the bathroom. But when you look at how much I drank and all the gassy unfamiliar foods I was eating and it makes sense. The same thing happens in the US if I eat that way. But, if you don't travel much, you have a high chance of getting sick anywhere, not just Mexico. Your body gets used to the bugs at home and doesn't know what to do with these new ones. If you seldom travel, you have to be extra careful.
-Some say that if you take Pepto Bismo every day it will prevent "tourista". Other's say yogurt culture in the form of pills or live Yogurt will work. I was fine the entire trip and I took nothing. I ate anything I could find. A few times I brushed my teeth in tap water and I saw tap water being used for some of the salsas I ate. I would not recommend drinking tap water, but with a little care you should be fine.
-I felt safe in most areas. Even most of the cities. Many areas of the cities are reminiscent of our slums from the outside, but there are reasonably safe and the people are friendly. In the rural areas you are very safe. This is not to say that you can let your guard down. A simple theft of your wallet in the US is just a pain. Here in a foreign country it could be a disaster to your vacation. Losing your passport could be a two or more day ordeal. More if it is a weekend or a holiday.
-Having a bike cover is a necessity. It makes your bike less conspicuous, keeps curious hands off it to some extent. It also keeps kids off the bike, which can be very dangerous for them as these bikes tip over pretty easily.
-Safe parking can be found almost anywhere, often behind a locked gate. It is important to ask what time the gates are opened, as some do not open until late morning. Also, remember that time is not as critical to most Mexicans as it can be to us. 8am could mean 9am.
-One thing you should never do is drive after dark. There are lots of animals on the road. Many cars do not have working lights. It is tough to see road hazards, there are no lines on many roads, the roads are tight and twisty. Night is the time you will find the most drunks on the road. Plus, if you are in an area that does have bandits, that is when they are most likely to see them. If you do break down, many of the roads have no place to pull over so you will be a sitting duck. Even the Green Angels are not out at night. The Green Angels are a service provided on the toll road. They patrol the roads and if you have a break down they will help you by either repairing the problem, giving you gas or giving you a tow. They are not free for all services, but they are your best bet.
-The Lonely Planet Guide Book - Mexico - The Lonely Planet Guides are the standard for travelers around the world. The one I had covers all of Mexico. There are books available that cover only portions of Mexico. These guides are available for almost anyplace in the world. There is information on the "must sees" for each country, state and major town. There are prices for hotels and attractions, although they were very low due to Mexico's heavy inflation. This is a must have book.
-Motorcycle Journeys through Northern Mexico - by Neal Davis - This book is a great asset in planning a ride in this part of Mexico. If you have a limited time you can use this book and have a schedule ready for a one, two or three week tour of Mexico. Not all information is current and I did not agree with all of his recommendations, but you could have a great tour using nothing but this book.
-AAA Book - A good book, and it's free if you are a member. I did not use it and eventually threw it away. I felt the other books I had presented the information in a somewhat more useful format and the AAA book did not give any unique info. Had I not had the Lonely Planet guide, I would have used the AAA book a lot.
-Sanborn Guide Books - These books were given to me by the insurance agent. They were seriously detailed. Exact mileages between turns and towns let you know where you are at any point in time. They even have mileages between important scenery. On a bike they were a little hard to use but a definite asset. They take up a lot of space and did not fit well in my tank bag. The only problem with them was that most of my tour was in an area that I did not get a book for. Most of my tour was in an area that I told the agent I would not be in. SO much for plans. After the first week I threw out the books since I no longer had use of them.
-The food was great. I got to try all kinds of things I had never tried before.
-The breads and pastries are unbelievably good.
-Most of the foods are not listed in the dictionary. It's the same in the US. Trying to figure out what you are going to get can be tough.
-Real coffee is tough to get. Most places have Nescafe'. Even if they have a different brand of instant coffee they call it Nescafe'. Decaf is unheard of. They bring hot water and the can of Nescafe' to your table. Some places carry Cafe Americano, which is real coffee. Sometimes they call this Cafe Mexicano. Some places do not know either, they only know Nescafe'. One place I stopped was recommended to me as having the best coffee. The beans were grown in Mexico and they made it in a Espresso machine. Unfortunately, asking for Cafe Americano made them dilute it to the point that it tasted as weak as Dunkin' Doughnuts Coffee.
-Always refried beans. They cook them different here than they do in the US. They are seasoned and other things are added to make them better.
-Food is entertaining. For example, tacos. I have had them rolled up like burritos, delivered as separate fillings with soft flour tortillas on the side, assorted fillings delivered on flat flour tortillas, and with fillings placed in a corn tortilla that was folded around the fillings and deep fried.
-Mexico was cleaner than I expected. There were areas it was bad. Many places burn their garbage near the road. It smolders for quite a while after. This is pretty stinky. Smoke from trucks and busses is hard to deal with in the cities, but rural Mexico is nice.
-There is a lot of garbage at tourist places and on the side of the road. I don't think it is so much that Mexicans are dirty, but that they do not clean up the areas. I have to assume that there is not a lot of money to hire cleanup crews. Much of the garbage that I saw was many years old.
-A lot of places dump their raw sewage into rivers and the ocean. Much as they do in the US, just more often. They have not quite figured out that if they dump raw sewage on the beach they will not get tourists there. That is part of the reason why the resort areas are seldom near the towns.
-Buildings, hotels and public areas I have seen are all decorated very nice inside. I have even seen inside a few private homes, it's the same there, fancy and nice inside. Most buildings are old, ancient even. The outsides are often in disrepair or even looking like slums or abandoned buildings. The insides are as nice as can be done with the money and materials available. Although often run down, they are clean and everything works. The paint may be chipped and possibly stained but it will be washed and clean. These are proud people. Many hotels and buildings have courtyards that are very nice. An example would be: from the outside it is crappy looking, cement falling off, rusty gates, looking abandoned. Enter the gates of the courtyard and there will be plants and flowers, statues, places to sit and all kinds of decorations. The grounds will be spotless and possibly newly painted if there is enough money. The toilet will be clean, but it might be held together with glue and duct tape. It will work. So will the water, but it might not be flawless. Hot might be fine but cold might be just a trickle. The shower will be fine.
-I have seen few motorcycles. In a few of the larger towns there are lots of small, 125cc or smaller, motorcycles. I have seen a very few large sport bikes. These were driven by very "machismo men". Their hair, clothing and everything were "perfect". They were riding these bikes because they felt they looked good on them. I saw only two Harleys there. One was a Sportster driven by a cop and the other was a Sportster driven by a guy wearing colors. Many of the bikes are two cycle and most are in pretty bad shape. Near some of the cities I saw an assortment of larger, more modern bikes. Mostly BMW's and Japanese bikes of every description.
-There are a lot of Motorcycle Cops in Mexico. I have seen them driving everything from Harley Sportsters to small 125cc beater bikes. Most of the Cop bikes were 250cc or so and were fairly beat up. It looked like the officers may own the bikes as their personal transportation. You see them everywhere. Some were cruisers, sport bikes, standards. Everything except what you would expect a cop to be riding. The cop I saw riding the Sportster was wearing Spurs.
-They have a long way to go before they understand how important it is to keep the environment clean. They are too busy surviving. They don't realize what they have and how valuable it is to tourists and to their own health.
-There was one area that was being logged. This was the area off the Devil's Backbone on the way to Mazatlan. The wood was being dragged up shear cliffs. They were even cutting the trees off the sides of the mountains. This logging was not sustainable. Most areas were growing back, although not with the same vegetation that was being cut. But some areas were badly eroded. This is one of the best areas for tourists to come but they are killing the view. It should be a park with no logging, but it is not. Ironically, most of the viewing area were built by the loggers to get access to the logs.
-Women are warned to be careful in Mexico and not to travel alone. I met a number of women at the Hostel who were traveling alone by public transportation. As with anywhere, the risks are higher for a woman, especially traveling alone, but it can be done fairly safely. Mexico is not the den of murderers and thieves that it is sometimes made out to be. That being said, there are some dangers that one must be careful of.
-I only washed my cloths in a washing machine one time. The rest of the time I would wash them in the sink. I would wash my socks, underwear and shirts one evening and by the next they would be dry. My jeans took at least two days to dry and would not really get clean. They were looking pretty ratty by the time I got home. I think I could easily make due having, besides what I am wearing, one full change of cloths and nothing more.
-In a lot of places I saw the women doing the laundry in the rivers, hanging the cloths to dry on sticks pushed into the ground. In one place I saw some women doing their laundry on the side of the road where water was pouring off the mountain. I thought about having my laundry done but wondered how long it would take to get my cloths back and would they ever dry.
-Cell phones are everywhere. People walking with them, driving with them, using them in restaurants. I get the feeling that it is a better deal and more reliable to use a cell phone than the normal phone system. I even saw them in some of the more rural areas, although I doubt that the service is available everywhere.
-Internet Sites are everywhere in every city. Even some of the smaller towns had internet sites. Most of them cost around $1.50 US for an hour. Some a little more.
-The prices for cell phones and services that I saw advertised were around the same as in the US. Prices for other electronics and photo equipment were a lot more.
I found the bike to be appropriate for the ride. It was certainly not the best Highway Bike I have ever ridden. It was not the worst either. A bigger bike would have handled the gear better but would have been a little heavy in the dirt. Any bike would do, but I think a cheaper bike is your best bet since you cannot get theft insurance. Maybe an older Metric street bike would be the best bet. If it dies and is expensive to fix, junk it and fly home.
Average Mileage for trip 41.8 MPG, maximum MPG = 53.0, minimum mpg = 30.9
55 fill ups
Mexico Fuel Costs: