Road Trippin’

Wide awake in Mexico

When driving cross-country in Mexico, it is advisable to do so well-rested (and well-caffeinated, for those who indulge this basic human necessity). Anything can happen on Mexico’s highways, and often does. Like the Doors song says, “keep your eyes on the road, your hands upon the wheel…”

Back in February 2023, I wrote an article extolling the virtues of long-distance travel in Mexico, and how unnecessary a car is for accomplishing such a feat. So it is only natural that I would make a 1,600 kilometer (1,000 mile) trip through Mexico in a car. Hey, our perspectives evolve. Anyway, about a week and a half ago, I did make a northward journey up Mexico’s Pacific coast, and then added another 1,400 kilometers (890 miles) of driving through the U.S. to get to the Central Coast of California. And in a few days, I will make the reverse trip. Why? For a dog, natch.

But let’s not dally over motivations. Let’s stick to answering some useful questions, like what is it like to drive through Mexico nowadays? Well, I wouldn’t know - Mexico is a huge country, and I only drove through a small part of it. But I can offer some insights into driving up the 15D toll highway, and offer some suggestions for making the trip a little easier on oneself. Finally, this is not meant to be any kind of encouragement to hit the open road. Many people are not comfortable with the idea of driving in Mexico, and if that describes you, take a pass on the advice here - you’re probably better served by a bus or an airplane. Bad things sometimes happen to people driving through Mexico; nothing like that happened to me (yet), but I also realize that sometimes one finds oneself in the wrong place at the wrong time. If you’re concerned about that, it’s not the job of this article to remove that concern.

This is part one of a two-part article. In this first part, I will focus on: the highway system itself, gas and convenience, road conditions, and some of the behind-the-wheel challenges. In the next article, I will talk more about paying tolls, border conditions, and some of the differences to expect when driving out of Mexico vs. driving into it.

Mexico’s interstate highway system

In Mexico, interstate highways are called carreteras federales (federal highways). They are numbered, using between 1 and 3 digits (highway 1, highway 15, highway 200, etc). Highways running generally north and south are odd numbered, and even numbers run west to east (again, generally - there are exceptions). Highway numbers increase in value moving north to south, and west to east. Many carreteras federales have the letter “D” appended to them - this denotes a toll highway. Toll highways generally run in close proximity to their non-toll counterparts. So there is a 1 and 1D running down Baja California, generally fronting each other, and a 15 and 15D along the pacific coast and Sonoran desert.

Toll highways are called autopistas and non-toll highways are called libres. Autopista (toll) highways are also often marked with the word cuota (fee); so you will often see highways referred to in road signs as (for example) “Tepic Cuota” and “Tepic Libre”.

Autopistas are generally considered safer than their libre counterparts. This is because the toll highways are more heavily patrolled, and better maintained. Mexico’s autopistas also have many call boxes and WiFi access points, should you have car trouble somewhere out of cell service range. Autopistas also generally avoid cities and towns, so there aren’t as many points where one needs to slow down, and there aren’t as many topes.

The disadvantage with traveling on the autopistas is, of course, the tolls. They add up quickly, and there are a lot of toll stations where you need to stop and pay. Tolls generally run from 100 to 300 pesos, but some of Mexico’s newer toll roads charge significantly more than that. In my recent trip north, I paid more in tolls than I did for gas (I have a pretty economical vehicle - a Honda CR-V). Another disadvantage is that there is less interesting stuff to look at - you’re just kind of on this closed highway, slowing down for the various toll stations and checkpoints. And yes, there are a lot of checkpoints - especially in the violence-plagued state of Sinaloa and the border state of Sonora.

Checkpoints

Any given checkpoint might be run by one of several government entities: the army (ejército), national guard (guardia nacional) and the FGR (Fiscalia General de la Repubica) police. The first 2 are really no big deal - they are generally friendly and will mostly wave you through. The FGR, however, can be a pain in the neck. They are looking for items that are illegal to transport across state lines and borders - so, large sums of money, agricultural products, meat and dairy, illicit drugs (obviously) but also prescription drugs that you don’t have a paper prescription for. There are all kinds of stories about the FGR and having to pay bribes because you forgot to get a copy of your prescription for prescribed drugs you are carrying, and just no-reason shake-downs for cash. My advice for the FGR stops is to be very polite and good natured; be respectful; speak Spanish; and - if you’re from the United States - try not to be a flag-waving, entitled maniac - if you talk excitedly about the Gulf of America then, well, you deserve the shakedown you’ll likely get. And don’t carry anything with you that gives them cause to detain you and (likely) expect a bribe from you. And don’t carry a lot of cash - USD, CAD, or MXN. That way if they do shake you down, you can truthfully tell them you don’t have much cash on you. I’ll talk more about cash in the next article in this series.

Food and rest

Still on the topic of traveling on the autopistas, there are plenty of places along the highway to get gas and food. There are many Pemex (and other brands) gas stations, Oxxo convenience stores, and even little ma and pa restaurants and roadside food stands. Many of the toll stations also have conveniences - food stands, small restaurants, convenience stores, and bathrooms (many of them free, even). All of the Oxxo/gas station stops have bathrooms as well, and again, mostly free - but then again, non-free usually means just 5 or 10 pesos.

Generally, I found the conditions of the restroom facilities to be good to excellent. One of the economic realities of Mexico is that it is very easy and inexpensive to hire cleaning people; and in many cases these people aren’t even paid by the proprietors of whatever establishment they are working at - they instead work for tips. This is a harsh economic reality, and I’m not going to get into any value judgments about it here - my point rather is that finding people who are willing to work at keeping public bathroom facilities clean in Mexico is a lot easier than finding people to clean public bathrooms in the U.S. So I have generally found that the public facilities along the autopistas were kept in better condition than those in the U.S. There are a few exceptions, but it is easy to just pass those by because you’ll find another roadside service area not too far away from the last one.

If you stop at a place that has a little restaurant or food stand, you can get some hot food - enchiladas, tamales and the like. Also tortas, other types of sandwiches, and tacos. Some of it is pretty good, some not. The Oxxos and other convenience stores have loads of junk food of course, but also pre-packaged sandwiches and sometimes hot food like hot dogs or some fried thing. I generally avoid the hot food at Oxxos; if I’m starving and the only thing around is an Oxxo, a bag of Doritos will shut my stomach up for a while.

Now, coffee. Look, you’re just going to have to settle for bad coffee, unless you plan to brew your own as you go. I guess if you’re the kind of person who just drinks one cup a day (you monster) and if you stop in a largish city overnight, you can always hit a Starbucks and not suffer the indignity of poorly brewed or - gasp - instant coffee. But if you’re a normal person who drinks more than one cup, you’re going to be drinking some roadside stand (i.e. instant) coffee, some brewed-long-ago coffee, or the coffee made in the gross machines at the Oxxos. Honestly, I would stay away from the Oxxo machines (latte, cappuccino) - they really do look disgusting. Oxxo also has brewed coffee - it’s likely been sitting there for a while, but at least it hasn’t traveled through yards of moldy tubes to get to your cup. It’ll suffice. Fill up, move on.

The art of driving

Speaking of moving on and coffee, let’s get back to my opening remarks about why you might want to ensure you are well-caffeinated as you boogie down Mexico’s autopistas.

Many stretches of highway are one lane in each direction. These are the worst, because it isn’t just a bunch of other Honda CR-Vs traveling with you; instead, it is mostly semi-trucks. Sometimes, for many, many miles, semis are all you will see (autopistas are not as heavily trafficked by passenger vehicles as are interstate highways in the U.S. and Canada). You have to get around those semis, and those semis have to get around each other. Acknowledging this reality, drivers in Mexico spend a lot of time passing or being passed on a 2-lane road; to facilitate all this passing, drivers move over and drive on the road’s shoulder to give the passing vehicle more space to pass. Oftentimes, you will see large semis driving almost exclusively on the shoulder, because their drivers know that they will be getting passed frequently. But you, too, need to be aware of vehicles that want to pass you, so you’ll need to move over onto the shoulder as well to facilitate this. In Mexico, moving to the right to accommodate passing vehicles is just plain common courtesy - everyone does it.

But wait - there’s a catch (there’s always a catch). Slow-moving, barely street legal motorcycles (along with the odd bicycle) also use the shoulders to travel on. So you can’t just drive along the shoulder all zoned out - you must be aware of that slow motorcycle you are quickly gaining on, and move your crazy self back over to the left and off of the shoulder.

Back to passing. There aren’t a lot of long straight-aways on the autopistas; they are, in fact, fairly windy - not always mountain road windy, but they do meander back and forth, up and down. This makes seeing oncoming traffic difficult, but people pass anyway because they know they can do it while only occupying a small portion of the oncoming traffic lane (because everyone else has moved to the shoulder to let you pass). So you must always be aware that some oncoming vehicle is partially in your lane, and thus you need to move right to give them room, even though you yourself are not passing. And, yes, there are situations where 2 vehicles are passing other vehicles in each direction at the same time - meaning, there are 4 vehicles that will all pass each other while occupying the same 2 lanes of travel. This can be some no-nonsense, white-knuckle, nerve-wracking driving, folks.

Add to this the fact that at any given moment you might find a herd of cows moseying across the highway, and it all adds up to needing a heightened state of vigilance when driving on these highways. No meditating or relaxation music, please. Heavy metal and Red Bull are the order of the day.

Next week - or perhaps the week after next, depending on how exhausted I am - I’ll write about paying tolls, what to expect at the border, and some of the differences in experience when driving into Mexico rather than out of it.