Mexico Road Trip

[SmokeScreen]

I had a chance to go to Mexico for a week and just returned home Tuesday. WOW! My driver picked me up at Mexico City's airport and it took maybe all of 2 kilometers to realize it was a good idea to hire a professional driver to experience traffic rather than hop in a rental with me at the wheel. Things work a bit differently there but in a place where 25 million people call home it works as well or maybe a bit better than Toronto.

Now once outside of the city the trip to Puerto Escondido (more on that later) was a mix of toll roads or "Cuarto" and free roads or "Libre". Speed limits are 110kph on the tolls but in reality traffic moves along at 130+ most of the time. On the two lane libre roads the limits range from 80 kph to 100kph but again 130+ is not uncommon. That is of course until you reach a village or urban area where speed bumps slow cars to a near crawl to scale these sometimes monsterous "topes" as they are known locally. The national oil company Pemex runs all the gas stations and prices are consistant at 10 Pesos or $.77 CAD per litre for regular full service every place I was. The gas stations also offer restrooms that are as clean or cleaner than most here.

In the hilly and montainous areas the corners are tight, banked and glorious and an absolute blast to drive. To make it even better the views are spectacular too.

Upon arrival to Puerto Escondido which is around 5 hours south of Alcopulco on the pacific coast I was greated by what I can only describe as near paradise. My hotel room overlooked the habour and beach. It was simple, clean and cost around 1/3 of a lousy Motel 6 here. The town is home to some world class surfing and the people are nice and very welcoming. There are good variety of restaurants and bars to suite most any budget and taste.


Now let me address the elephant in the room, SAFETY. Is Mexico safe? My answer based on personal observations is YES. Now I would not recommend going to Juarez or other boarder cities but the rest of the country is safe. There are lots of police and soldiers patroling everywhere and it is not uncommon to experience a police or military check point that is not much different than a ride program here at home.

Some simple rules that apply just about anyplace travelling are these.

1, Do not be a d!ckhead. If you are rude, hassle the locals about where you can score cheap weed and are just plane abnoxious then you will have a problem. If someone rolled up to my house behaving this way they would recieve an asskicking from me. So if you are the type of person that seems to have problems here, stay the hell home because I don't want a tool like you making us all look bad!

2, Do not flash your cash and leave the Rolex at home.

3, Make an effort to learn the language. I did and things went very smooth, Until I arrived back at Peason that is......

[darcyw]

The national oil company Pemex runs all the gas stations and prices are consistant at 10 Pesos or $.77 CAD per litre for regular full service every place I was.



..and here we are...a world oil producing nation and our fuel is half tax...and double the cost of Mexico.

The morons in Toronto in the provincial government can't figure out how to efficiently use the god damned taxes they collect from us. I say F McGuinty. Stupid smart meters, the Green agenda, and whatever the F else.

I loved visiting Mexico too.

darcy

[Rolling stone]

Is Mexico safe?Yes it is..........................The fact there is Military checkpoints and police with face masks and automatic weapons everywhere SHOWS what a safe country it is:rolleyes:

[SmokeScreen]

Well first of all, they are doing something about the problems. Second, I feel safer there than I do many places here, even in the city were I live. Last time I checked the country of Mexico does not have a monopoly on crime or killings.

I could probably guarantee someone would try to rob me in the tiny dump of a city I live in, Peterborough. If I went to a larger city, say Oshawa, Hamilton or Toronto I could get those results even faster. In a US city like Buffalo, Detroit or Washington DC I stand a better chance of getting shot than I would in Mexico City.

I prefer to experience a place that I go to when I am on vacation. Being trapped in a resort or a prisoner on a cruise ship does not appeal to me in the least.
And I would even say the cops there treat me with more respect than I get from most of the ones I meet here at home.

Hell even at customs in Mexico they treated me with respect. I get home and all I get is a pissy attitude at Canada Customs from somebody who does not speak english very well and has probably been in this country less time than I have spent brushing my teeth during my lifetime. Yeah a real lovely "welcome home".:mad:

[twinch]

I can't remember but is the Mexican Military basically their police? Because if it is it's just like here then. I see at least 50 cops per day in downtown Toronto where I live.

I think it's all media hype. Mexico is safe like any other city. You just need to act appropriately. I love Washington DC, other than the ghetto(which I have been in...at night...by accident, and I got the hell out of there in any direction I could). I'm going back for the 3rd time in 2 weeks. I experienced the city walked around for hours and hours until after dark and felt completely safe.(other than the ghetto of course)

Cuba is the same way with Military everywhere, checkpoints, etc, but it's one of the safest countries in the world.

In Toronto, knock on wood, I have never had any sort of implication and I live right downtown, and go out at night regularly. Where I grew up in Sarnia I had more problems than here. Again, I think generally every city is safer than the media portrays it.

[SmokeScreen]

There are three police forces that I saw. Municipal police, State Police, and the Federal police. In addition to that the military has been deployed to certain underserviced areas to boost security.

And Twinch I agree, way too much media hype.

[Rolling stone]

With the drug problem Mexico has,there have been approx 40,000 deaths in recent years,beheadings on a regular basis etc,etc,etc.People are protesting as much as possible but with ALL the corruption its almost impossible,going to tourist SAFE areas where for obvious reasons there is a large police/army presence is totally different,in fact some ex military US soldiers are under investigation right now for working for the cartels.ALL major cities have crime problems,some more than others,most people are safley asleep in bed while others are working and seeing the seedy side of life,I did it in the 80s in Toronto,but Toronto is a hell of a lot safer than most Major cities in Mexico,try Laredo for an evening out.A lot of people go to Jamaica,tourist area is fine,well guarded its a major income to these countries so they protect you...try going out for drink and fun in Kingston Jamaica,one of the highest murder rates in the world.You only see travel brochures or media hype,some of us have seen/done a lot more.

[Doug Stark]

..and here we are...a world oil producing nation and our fuel is half tax...and double the cost of Mexico.

The morons in Toronto in the provincial government can't figure out how to efficiently use the god damned taxes they collect from us. I say F McGuinty. Stupid smart meters, the Green agenda, and whatever the F else.

I loved visiting Mexico too.

darcy

Lets compare apples to apples. Yes our federal and provincial taxes are too high within a liter of gas. But...

Like a lot of southern and central American countries who are oil producers - without exception, every single one of these countries artificially support the price of gas as part of a domestic political policy.

No mater if they are members of OPEC or not - ALL of them supply domestic markets at a fraction of the world price.

Canada, USA, and the EU are the only producers who allow supply and demand (wrong or not) to dictate the domestic prices. They use a base price plus taxes (again, wrong or not) to arrive at the retail price.

Mexico at .77 per liter is way below retail market pricing based upon world prices. But they are not the lowest. Venezuelan prices two years ago when I was there were at .14 per liter. I understand now that the price has gone up to an earth shattering .30 cents! It is political.

As far as USA and Canada; we are held hostage to the NAFTA agreement where in we can't release crude to the domestic market cheaper then we deliver to the US market. The different (higher) pricing we have here is a reflection of our Governments deciding to finance social programs and health care costs as part of a 'consumption tax' instead of direct funding for these programs (a hospital bill for example) or just raising the 'base' tax rate. There is a good argument for raising the base tax rate instead of a consumption tax - but that's another argument for another day.

If it were not for petro dollars - Mexico would be paying more then the world rate due to the fact that the Mexican central bank would be forced to control domestic gas consumption using higher prices in order to control the outflow of Mexican currency to foreign fuel suppliers. Right now they are in a happy spot having the flexibility of domestic production. Twenty years from now will be a different story once the easy light crude supply hit's 50% of reserves.

The wild fluctuations we have seen in Canada and the USA at the pump is mainly down to the commodities markets and speculators plus the closing of all those old tired refineries across the gulf region.

[SmokeScreen]

With the drug problem Mexico has,there have been approx 40,000 deaths in recent years,beheadings on a regular basis etc,etc,etc.People are protesting as much as possible but with ALL the corruption its almost impossible,going to tourist SAFE areas where for obvious reasons there is a large police/army presence is totally different,...

I was not confined to any "tourist area". I roamed over 1500km and three or four states in Mexico. I am pretty sure that qualifies me to form an opinion about the place based on facts as opposed to what I see on the news. Mexico City or the federal distric has a anual murder rate three times less than Washington DC. Hell even Nunavut has a murder rate twice that of Mexico City!

The reason I started this thread is simple. I know too many people believe 100% of negative news the see and hear about Mexico. My aim is not to trivialize the 1000's that have died in drug related violence. My aim is to hopefully explain those deaths are in a relatively small area of the country and the negative press is hurting honest hard working people.

Back in 2003 Canada was hit hard by negative press, remeber SARS? The american media and foriegn press were painting this country as plague infested with people dropping dead at every corner. Was it true? No. Did it hurt us? Yes. The tourism indutry was just about killed off. The huge benefit concert in July was a huge help but it still took a long time for us to get back to normal. So we had friends in the likes of the Rolling Stones and AC/DC, Mexico so far only has me.

Hell if I was not from here my impression of Canada could be one of drunken rioters and child murderers......based on news coverage.

[twinch]

I was not confined to any "tourist area". I roamed over 1500km and three or four states in Mexico. I am pretty sure that qualifies me to form an opinion about the place based on facts as opposed to what I see on the news. Mexico City or the federal distric has a anual murder rate three times less than Washington DC. Hell even Nunavut has a murder rate twice that of Mexico City!

The reason I started this thread is simple. I know too many people believe 100% of negative news the see and hear about Mexico. My aim is not to trivialize the 1000's that have died in drug related violence. My aim is to hopefully explain those deaths are in a relatively small area of the country and the negative press is hurting honest hard working people.

Back in 2003 Canada was hit hard by negative press, remeber SARS? The american media and foriegn press were painting this country as plague infested with people dropping dead at every corner. Was it true? No. Did it hurt us? Yes. The tourism indutry was just about killed off. The huge benefit concert in July was a huge help but it still took a long time for us to get back to normal. So we had friends in the likes of the Rolling Stones and AC/DC, Mexico so far only has me.

Hell if I was not from here my impression of Canada could be one of drunken rioters and child murderers......based on news coverage.

Hear Hear. Media is completely skewed, and definately do not believe everything you read or hear. Go into it as a skeptic because that's how the news is. I have a friend who's entire family is living in Syria. You know what you have heard on the news, but the reality is...it's not like what they state. I hear it from the horses mouth, and the horses live in the capital city right in the heart of where all this so called fighting is going on. Yes there is some fighting, but what you don't hear is how the rebels are actually gangs, not rebels with a just cause. He is not pro government but he understands it is the lesser of two evils. It's like the police here fighting organized crime gangsters who want to take control of the government. Gee, I wonder how that would would turn out allowing gangs to take control of a country.

Anyways, that's a bit off topic, but definately, be a skeptic always when it comes to international news.

[SmokeScreen]

This is an in car video from La Carrera Panamericana 2011. Roads like this are very common in Mexico. Gas is cheap, weather is great and roads like this....mmmmmmmm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjVJhMlLStI&feature=related