He was traveling in Mexico by RV led us to wonderful experiences we could just get that way. Camping at a distance from a pier at the Gulf of Mexico, deepening our immersion in the ancient ruins of El Tajin spend the night in the parking lot, with a brunch in our motorhome with a taxi driver in Xalapa, watching an informal rodeo by a restaurant in Chihuahua - these are some of our most treasured memories. Many other small moments of beauty, or was the interest in this type ofTravel.
There were drawbacks, though. Getting lost, with the RV maneuver out of trouble, ever present need to find a place for the camper for the night to visit the challenge for cities, while in a motor home ... It took a little 'how to have a third person, together with my husband and me, the only meal of regular gasoline, water and electricity and had to drain the water frequently.
In the United States is quite simple. It takes campers of any size or shape,anywhere you go, there are public or private campsites. There are huge national directory enumerate. You can expect a general idea of what it wherever you go.
Mexico is not so. Some parts of the country are further developed, especially the Pacific coast beaches, where American and Canadian RVers go for years. But if you from the beaten track campers and travel to Mexico to be an adventure.
Why travel in a motorhome? We found a pleasant, flexible,Economic and comfortable.
Nice
We like strong, we have a mini-home with us wherever we went. With our bed, kitchen and bathroom of the trip was a kind of simplicity and stability that we wanted. We were both writing a lot while driving, and was with a table for our two laptops, an additional advantage. We loved to cook most of our meals, just go eat when we wanted to and not because it is the only other choice was when a snack. It was worth it not to live a little 'out of a suitcase - and for us, because laptop computers and video equipment would be needed Kelly's share of our business reasons for the trip, it would have been several cases!
Flexible
We appreciated the flexibility. No ticket, we could go when and where we wanted to go voluntarily. And if it is true that the excellent bus system in Mexico is not going anywhere, I doubt we would have many of the most remote places, we investigated whether we had to pass through themBus.
Economically
RVing is an economical way to travel, unless you are going long distances on a site which is poor gas mileage. We track - Our Toyota Dolphin average of 17 miles per gallon. So even if gas prices were higher in Mexico than in the U.S., our transportation costs were not bad. You have to buy Mexican car insurance - American insurance is not honored.
We average well below $ 10 a night for camping, especially since many nights wereFree. With food costs perhaps 60% of U.S. prices, we ate avocados and mangoes in abundance. I'm not a big meat eater at home, but I liked the tasty (though generally more difficult) Mexican meat. Bread and fresh bakery products were cheap, and I was happy to see bread from time to time.
Easily
The care of the basics was generally convenient. Bottled water is sold in smaller countries, and you can buy a large container full and then replace the plastic bottlefor another in another place when you're done. I was really happy to see how clean the water was widespread. It 'a big step forward in public health for Mexico. A little over a dollar for about 5 liters, the cost was irrelevant to us, but still a challenge for poor Mexicans.
Food and household goods are easy to get - all the cities have chain stores and supermarkets also carry household items pharmacy. The public markets offer a wide range of products andMeat. Even in small towns are the "mini-supers" (that's what they call them) in different formats.
Of course, all this costs money, and we are pleased that the Mexican is our ATM and debit card from our checking account is accepted at home. The revenue often told us how many pesos you pay, made me feel truly rich, until I remembered the exchange rate. We need to take more than a card with us, as sometimes you do not go to ATMs to hear backPeople cards. This was our first long trip outside the U.S. without travelers checks, and it worked fine. We had a few hundred dollars in twenties and smaller bills, in a secret place hidden in the camper, just in case.
Stay in touch with family, friends and our business was simply using the Internet. Everywhere in Mexico, we found lot 'of the internet cafe. It was a once in a while the connection speed is prehistoric, but usually it was fine, sometimes very good. It tends to beCost between one and two dollars an hour. We were about two times a week online. A couple of times we left the idyllic places, because they are not links, but we never had to go far to find them. The Mexicans are complete on the Internet, and few of them can afford computers at home - and many of them have mobile phones, because the regular phone service can get difficult and expensive - so the coffee is a real need, are much more numerous than in the U.S.
How much Spanish should? Know
The farther you go off the beaten track, not the Mexicans who speak English, you learn to - if we did that in the northern states, many more people speaking English in the south. However, we found that even when Mexicans spoke English, often called our Spanish to make sure you have understood well. In many cases, the accents are thick enough (which I find fascinating). How we deal with the Spanish, who had learned more in school about reading and writingmuch about the speech.
It 'really a personal thing. If your Spanish is minimal or not present, you can easily communicate with gestures and few words, even if you have any health problems or a vehicle must have? Despite the degree, the daily work with ease, took Kelly and I are constantly challenged the boundaries of our Spanish. With my chatty personality, I found it frustrating for some small thing I wanted to think and say to someone and not know howit. If you end up spending a lot of time south of the border, I'll probably move a Spanish immersion course somewhere, to a higher level.
As you drive in Mexico?
Kelly has all the Mexican driving in our trip, I tend to like a klutz with a motorhome. He recognized immediately, and I did a little 'later, that even if the Mexicans in a different way to drive the Americans, are no less interested in staying alive. We noticed that Mexicans do the samemore eye contact and relate to each other more than Americans in public places, even in their driving habits, they expect one another to be what they are doing on your guard. Someone in a situation that would be crazy to happen in the United States, knowing that both people will be more and all incoming traffic to be wary when things get tight.
Once, after a hair-raising taxi ride in Guadalajara, I've come to the conclusion that our driver had mastered the basic principle ofUniverse is that matter and energy the same. I decided our taxi has changed into energy at crucial moments!
Mexican accident rates are reported to be slightly higher than the American. The proof of the eyes while wearing this. In more than 3000 miles in Mexico, we saw a total of small cars, two different places where accidents happen and had huge trucks were burning, and a pick-up upside down, where the ambulances were on their way. It seemed to me a lot - I am grateful that weseen any accident happens. These were all events during the day, the standard advice for traveling at night is not. Livestock like sleeping on the sidewalk hot, then all the busyness that you see during the day to night, but you can not see so well, and is probably a greater risk of being robbed. (. Although not as tall as most Americans imagine, it seems) in my reading on Mexico, I have comfort that Carl Franz and John Howell - both of whom have traveled to Mexico and wrotemuch about the country - have passed through many thousands of miles. Anyone can say a few hair-raising stories, but none has ever had a serious accident.
Another feature of driving in Mexico is always lost. Kelly and I have not lost at home but often we were not marked or missing branches to guess at intersections. We had the best cards available, but they were not always correct either. It seems to me that since relatively few Mexicans long car tripsto unknown destinations, the construction of traffic signs for those traveling without good governance priorities. We found that when we go to the main tourist routes, road signs were better. For example, the North does not ring road around the city of Chihuahua have been better. Well, except for that corner that we think, right!
While in Mexico, especially the state borders, it is up to army checkpoints. They are looking for drugs and weapons. We pulled up andchecked several times and has never been a problem. Young people have always been kind, and research has been minimal. One soldier found a white powder in our food supplements, but we had no problem believing that it was vitamin C, we have no inappropriate jokes, you might have triggered the search, nor were we transporting anything questionable. We believe that we have been drawn on more frequently than other vehicles, but chalked it up to its curious natureus and our rig.
What size RV to take?
When you change your rig as big as you were born, where narrow winding roads without shoulders do not discourage, if you can stop on a dime if you can go with the flow of traffic as a taxi driver in New York, and if not you makes a small fortune in petrol, then a larger plant could be just fine.
It would also be nice if you just wanted a little 'more in Mexico, one of the campsites on the west coast that are popularwith tourists.
It must be clear that I have a prejudice here. For several years, Kelly and I in a bus conversion motor home, a former Gray Line tour bus the size of a Greyhound a full-time. Kelly has handled almost as fit as described above, but we decided never to take place in Mexico. It was just too big a thing to enjoy there, with the way we explore the side streets.
In conversations with other Americans in the camps, we found that people were usually smaller in the campermore fun and go to more remote locations. Our small Toyota is pretty good.
I think this is the ideal vehicle for a variety of Mexican driving a truck of some kind. It might be a nice conversion van with all the trimmings or even just a passenger van, to which was added some basic camping supplies, or integrated into a bed, table, kitchen and perhaps a little 'like a bathroom. This would sleep and eat when you wanted to use, but it would still be able to remainthe hotel and get the vehicle under the common entrance doors soon.
Choose your path and the search for campsites
He took our trip we were able, more than most RVers boondock Kelly because some batteries in more when we were computed. (We have not put solar panels on our RV, but also in the future.) In addition, we were ready to take the time to save the water for Boondock, even if it meant shorter showers, no showers or even for a while ' . But even so, we could not go3 or 4 days without connections will. This was partly because it says a lot and needed to recharge our laptops. Our trip in 1979, we do not need electricity, and had therefore more freedom.
To find the essential key, campsites Mexico is a book called "Travel Guide to Mexican Camping by Mike and Terri Church." Do not leave home without it, to coin a phrase!
As a librarian, I know that no book has everything, and we have more information, visitCampsites in Lonely Planet and other guides for the budget traveler oriented. These books were valuable in the selection of our routes, as I pore over their descriptions of different places. I thought I had a lot of guides with me, but I want to do another time!
In choosing the path, consider the availability of campsites, the weather this time of year, as driving, would it be and what your interests are. Be aware that the Mexican highways vary considerably inSpeed, you can go. We average about 35 mph in the State of Veracruz, but much faster than the four-lane highway to Chihuahua. We rarely went above 55 - which is part of how we managed to achieve excellent gas mileage.
We have chosen our path as we went forward, but we have set some general considerations. We had never been to the Gulf Coast and wanted to see something of it. We wanted to go to some archaeological sites. We were curious to see if we could find places that we could come back and want to livefew months. Knowing that the more you travel miles, plus the cost to drive and less time there is no need to go, we expected only a part of Mexico at this time. Once there, I found it difficult to give some of the places I wanted to see, which were more distant, but we did not give in, these impulses. It 'was much more fun to have a relaxing trip.
If there is no camping
Whenever we wanted for the night and there was no camping, we started talkingThe local people and asked their advice on a place to stay. We had all of Mexico in 1979. Travelers say that it is more risky now. If so, do not know how, but on this trip, we always ask where the previous trip, we did not mind forever.
With the demand, we were directed to one of our favorite places, the ferry near Tampico. With the demand, we were warmly greeted at the parking near the ruins of El Tajin, where they stay for two night watchmen. With demandWe were far from a small town, where some young girls disappeared 10 days ago, he warned. As we walked away from that, I remembered the voice in Latin American during the Americans steal babies for their body parts. A shiver down my spine, and I was grateful for the kind local woman who warned us that we should go. That night, we immediately found a new location behind a cafe for truck drivers to pull to sleep.
When we talked with people youremained, we felt included in their network. The Mexicans are so hospitable that it was a good feeling. Sometimes our children would warm tortillas their mother had just done, and it would run for a few small gifts that we can respond.
I must admit that I slept a little 'better than us in the camps. In some other places, I'd wake up at night, wondering what that noise was not alone. Rural Mexico is not a quiet place, and it took a little 'getting used to itrings at all hours. Kelly generally felt more sure of myself, and this is true of us, wherever we are. One night in a tent in a rare Mexican government, were the only other visitors a fun group of Mexican men drink, sing and entertain all night. I was worried, but there was no real danger.
I found that if we had a little 'dry dog food for dogs local road, would be immediately given to us for the night. I loved that they bark when someone came close,although, of course, if this happens again, should wake up.
In short, it is a matter of using common sense and find your comfort zone.
Danger and crime
We have heard frightening stories of arms and crime in Mexico, although the most frightening came from a librarian in Texas, whose ex-husband brought guns in Mexico itself! Like attracts like, they say.
We had an experience of petty theft. One Sunday afternoon we were camped at a popular resort and hot springs, and we continue toBathing suits and towels on the back of the camper in front of a walk ashore. I had an old pair of sandals with me, and they were all wet. I laid on the hood of Toyota's dry, to spend more visible to people. I thought if someone had to take, in fact it would not be so important. I had a couple more with me.
In fact, when we returned from our walk, my sandals were gone. Kelly noted that a group of young people were also turbulent gone.
End ofHistory? Not really. If we left this place a few days later, my shoes were tied to a tree near the front door, exactly at the height of someone in the back of a pick-up can be easily reached. The sandal straps were undone. It looked like someone had tried to, but had no Cinderella!
Of course there are greater risks than the loss of a pair of sandals. But there is also the danger of staying home and giving up wonderful experiences. I have a sign above my computer: "IfThey do not, you never know what would happen if I did. "
We always pulled the curtains and locked the door of the camper when we were away. With our two current position of the vehicle and the van in a previous trip we took a simple sliding latch Kelly installed on the driver and passenger doors, which we used in addition to regular locks. We arrived and walked through the side door of the vehicle, which also had an additional barrier. In this camper, we decided not to use usthe oven, but they make our center electronics. We have our laptops and cameras in there, and Kelly has created an agreement, the oven, not closed to traffic. It was to remove a drawer beside the stove and stuck with a small screwdriver into a hole. He also installed an additional electric field right next to our other, in the closet. We keep extra money in it, along with photocopies of our credit cards, passports and Mexican tourist cards.
In addition, we have always in our minds.I have many times the mood I'm better, the more likely it is going well noted. Hey, I'm not saying that 100% of this philosophy, but overall it works.
In my opinion, the campers are suitable for certain types of travel: if you browse in different regions, as we have done, or where a hard target and stay there, maybe on a beach. If you want to spend more time in the city, you can safely leave the hotel in the heart of the city. If you were drivingtoo nervous to go hand in other ways.
So - for you, what do you think? Whatever you choose always, you can enjoy!
| Price : $103.10 | Post Date : Sep 26, 2011 07:15:07
