Job Discussion Forums

davechile · Joined: 17 Mar 2006 Posts: 87 Location: San Francisco, CA

I am going to drive from San Francisco to Costa Rica. It will be a great adventure. Have any of you driven from North to Mexico?

What was your experience?

Thanks,

Dave Very Happy

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

I know of several people who have driven to here from the US/Canada - but they didn't treat it as an adventure. They loaded up their car to the gills with stuff and drove all day long for several days. Pretty much all of them report that it was just a long, mostly boring drive.

jillford64 · Joined: 15 Feb 2006 Posts: 397 Location: Sin City

My brother drove from the US to Costa Rica and back in his VW bus. I don't remember how long it took, but he wasn't in a particular hurry. He got hassled a lot by the police and border officials (bribes were required) in Nicaragua.

sickbag · Joined: 10 Jan 2005 Posts: 155 Location: Blighty

We drove down from Reno to Puebla last summer. We spread it over a couple of weeks and managed to visit Grand Canyon and a couple of other cool places. Only saw one car accident in all that time and we survived the journey unscathed (even negotiating DF on a Friday in rush hour). If you can fit in a rest day every couple of days I would definitely recommend it - we had a fantastic trip.

MELEE · Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 3:00 pm Post subject:

I drove from Houston to Oaxaca with another gringa several years ago. We crossed the boarder at Laredo, like LS said, with the car loaded to the gills with household appliances. There was a major accident on the highway between Saltillo and Matehuala, we didn't see it but cars were backed up waiting for the scene to be cleared away for 8 kilometers! it made the trip half a day longer than we had planned. We are both morning people and got up early and left each day around 5 am, and stopped about 5 pm each evening. It was fun and I'd do it again. We talked to a lot of interesting people--especially when traffic was stopped due to that accident, and everyone was nice to us. Many were surprised to find a car full of two Spanish speaking gringas heading to the hinterland of Mexico.

sarliz · Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 198 Location: Jalisco

I'm about to do the reverse - in a week my boyfriend and I will be driving from Guadalajara to Detroit and then Chicago. I plan on a mandatory stop in Graceland, but if anyone has any other suggestions for points of interest (with good food or tackiness earning bonus points) on either side of the border, I'd be thrilled to hear them. We plan on crossing in Nuevo Laredo, if that bears noting.

cangringo · Joined: 18 Jan 2007 Posts: 327 Location: Vancouver, Canada

We drove from Vancouver to Monterrey so not a lot of driving in Mexico but we took our time across the States. It was a fantastic trip and we wish we were still traveling. We camped all the way down, well two nights in a crappy motel in New Mexico. Anyway we saw a few sites and it was just a great trip. I wouldn't recommend it in the summer so much because we did it last August and it was hot, hot and hot. We lost weight though. Anyway I think it's a better trip when you can take your time and enjoy it.

We camped in the back of our crappy 84 Plymouth Voyageur and we didn't want to travel on the interstate so most of the way we were on back roads which made it more interesting as well. Definitely not boring. It took us three weeks but it was so worth it. Very Happy

geaaronson · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 948 Location: Mexico City

Last July, I drove from Baltimore to Merida, Yucatan and kept to route 180 most of the time. Parts of it were interesting, particularly north of Veracruz, west in Ciudad de Valle, ( a little side trip) and near Ciudad de Carmen in Campeche. Other than that not particularly scenic or eventful.

danielita · Joined: 06 Mar 2006 Posts: 281 Location: SLP

I did it last August from Michigan to Oaxaca. The car was loaded with stuff and we did it in 6 days. It was pretty boring and I was happy to see the end of the road. I am ding the reverse this August and I hope to take some extra time and enjoy more stops along the way.
D

davechile · Joined: 17 Mar 2006 Posts: 87 Location: San Francisco, CA

Thanks for your replies
Can you give some details of your dealing with the police, military, and Imigration via your car and goods you were caring? Deposits? Car permit? - 6 months max???

Has anyone dont the Baja-Yucatan?

Much Love,,
Dave

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

You might also want to try posting your questions over in the Lonely Planet's Thorntree forum for Mexico. There are lots of non-teacher types over there who can probably answer such road travel questions in detail.
http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/

sarliz · Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 198 Location: Jalisco

Amusing activity if you're bored:
Go to Google Maps, choose the find driving directions option. Enter Guadalajara and Chicago as your starting and ending points. Smack head at resulting lack of information (at least on my behalf).
Now enter New York and London as your starting and ending points. Chuckle gleefully at the absurdity of the world.

danielita · Joined: 06 Mar 2006 Posts: 281 Location: SLP

Cuisinette · Joined: 26 May 2007 Posts: 9

cangringo · Joined: 18 Jan 2007 Posts: 327 Location: Vancouver, Canada

I can't say for sure because we were greenlighted at the border but I think household items are ok but I guess you are only allowed so many electric items. If you were bringing in 4 laptop computers they might be suspicious. This is only what we read though - as I said we didn't get stopped. We were stopped by the military but they took one look at all the crap stuffed under our bed in the van and sent us merrily on our way.