Day: October 31, 2015

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Stops by the Federales in Mexico

I’m replying to a comment Contessa made about my interaction with the Federales yesterday. In short, I described the in-depth and honest conversation we had with them and her comment implied that honesty is not the best policy with them. Hmm.

I took her comment to my two other Mexican experts, Chris, who has lived in Mexico a very, very long time, and Croft, who, thanks to a small RV, has spent many winters traveling through Mexico and getting close to the locals. In their reply, both advocated full disclosure in interactions with the Federales. Chris went so far as to remind me that if I get caught in a lie, I could have things confiscated, or worse, depending on the law being violated. He followed up with this :

Federales have a base salary of 36000 pesos a month and a university degree is required. They are only one step down from the military. Many of them speak English also, or at least to some degree. Here in the north I would bank on 75% that speak English well.
My hat goes off to those guys, they take the bullets and are back up for military and state police in some pretty big stand offs.
You’re in good shape with those guys.  We have two safety nets in Mexico, our boys in green and our men in blue.

I’m happy to know that I was right in answering the officer’s questions correctly yesterday and did not put myself into any danger.  I will continue to practice full honesty and knowledge of Spanish when interacting with all levels of Mexican authority unless, like today, something just feels ‘off.’

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A Grueling Driving Day (Or San Carlos to Guamúchil, Redux)

Today was a cautionary tale about keeping your driving days short in Mexico. In Canada and the US, I wouldn’t hesitate to plan a 1,000KM day if I was traveling on main highways, but more than 500KM at this time of year, when the days are short, is all I’d chance in Mexico. Still, I left San Carlos early enough this morning that I actually had a backup plan in case I wanted to push on to Culiacán since all I had on the table was a measly 450km and an 8AMish start time…

I took the libre through Guaymas to save myself a toll and pulled into a Pemex once I was free of the city, putting in $500 worth of fuel, which got me half a tank, so fuel prices are slightly better than last year.

After that, it was construction, construction, and more construction all the way to Ciudad Obregón. There, it was HUGE, vehicle destroying, potholes all through the city. I’m not exaggerating. I’ve only ever seen potholes that size on main roads in Quebec. Hit one of those and you’re not getting out with a tow truck and some major damage. I wouldn’t have wanted to be in a car low to the ground with no view of the obstacle course that lay ahead!

Once I finally made it through, it was construction, construction, and more construction all the way to Navojoa. Very slow speeds, too, since we were sharing the opposite driving lane. It was about 300KM to get there from San Carlos and it took over four hours to arrive. WHEW. The only stops I made were for toll booths and the Red Cross, who were collecting donations.

I learned another really important lesson today: if you think you need a bathroom, jump on the opportunity to use one even if you’re planning to use one only about 20KM away in case you encounter construction, traffic, a billion red lights, and a really bad accident resulting in a detour along the way…

Needless to say, I was very happy to reach the Soriana in Navojoa! I had lunch there, a really good slice of pizza, and then I picked up a new pump for my water bottle since I don’t like the style that comes with the casita and I wanted a spare for home anyway.

I was really parched by this point, having already downed the 2L of water of cold water I had with me and only infernal-temperature water left. I looked in the Soriana coolers to see if they had Electrolit, but struck out. Thankfully, the Oxxo across the street had some that was icy cold and I drained a whole container in just a few gulps! It did the trick, and I followed it up with a cold bottle of water over the next hour. I’m glad I was introduced to that stuff last year. No matter how much water I drink, it’s hard to stay hydrated in this climate.

I had one stop shortly after Navojoa by what I think is the major crimes unit and I didn’t ‘like’ this guy. He just made the hairs on my nape prickle. I gave him vague answers in broken Spanish and was finally sent on my way.

I saw a couple of things today that made we wish I had a navigator who could take pictures for me, or a driver so that I could take the pictures myself! One of them was a clever ad for a limeade drink that said, “Limón y nada.” “Lime and nothing” sounds like the Spanish for “limeade”, the product, and also insinuates that the product is all natural.

Another thing I saw that absolutely delighted me was a rather long stretch of road with a bunch of goats eating the weeds along the shoulder! They were not impeding traffic, just having a buffet. There was so many of them!

Finally, I saw the first signs announcing Maz! Home stretch! And speaking of Maz, it was SO GOOD to finally hit the Sinaloa roads. They weren’t great by any means, but much better than those in Sonora!

It was a tough driving day, very technical, but not stressful, not even when I was driving through the big city traffic. I’m a better defensive driver than I would have thought and definitely getting comfortable driving in this country.

My ETA to Guamúchil had started off as 1PM, but had stretched to 3:30PM as I approached the off ramp to the Culiacán libre. I was beyond done for the day! I found the motel from last year without any trouble, but they insisted on $700 when I only paid $550 last year. I wasn’t going to quibble over 12CAD. The rooms are still rather shabby, but clean, and I recognise the value they offer for the price, like access to the pool and a bottle of cold water waiting in the fridge! Speaking of the pool, I was in it minutes after arriving. 🙂

I’m off to have dinner. Early by Mexican time, but late by my body clock. 😀

Home tomorrow. I can’t believe it!

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Peaceful Morning

I really debated whether or not to come back to Totonaka and decided to give them once last chance. After the night I just had, they won’t be seeing me again. There are so many other hotels in San Carlos that surely I can find something else that is more suitable. I know the rate here is pretty cheap (about 30USD right now), but the rooms aren’t great and I’m sure better value can be found, even if it means spending a few more pesos. There’s only a stained towel in the bathroom, the bedsheets are cigarette burned, the place feels like it’s only surface cleaned, and the bed is rock hard. At least, there’s a fridge. Oh, and the WiFi is unusable. I could handle all of that for the rate, especially since I brought in my mattress topper (which made a huge difference), but this back row of rooms is apparently party central for San Carlos. I was woken up on and off during the night to squealing tires, very loud music, and other general rowdiness. I deserve a good night’s sleep after and ahead of border crossing day and this motel isn’t the place where I can get that.

Even though it was a night of broken sleep, I still woke up really early, having gone to bed really early. I just couldn’t keep my eyes open last night! In fact, as those of you on Facebook know, I ended up going to Los Arbolitos for a nightcap and bowl of soup just to stretch out my evening! BTW, adding sliced avocado to hot soup is genius. It was the second time I’ve done it and I love it! The avocado dissolves and makes the soup creamy. Yum!

Of course, the morning is now very quiet and peaceful… Guess all the partyers are sleeping in.

I walked down to the Oxxo for coffee, happy that I don’t have to schlep all the way across town for that anymore. Oxxo definitely has a ‘refill’ rate for hot drinks if you bring your own cup (I saw the clerk pick it on the computer) and their rates are not consistent from store to store. My coffee today was $13 rather than $12.50 (a 0.04CAD difference). It is also my best Oxxo coffee ever. Yum!

I have about six hours of driving ahead of me today, not counting any potential stops for coffees and baños and it’s 7:30, so I’ll be heading out soonnish. I can’t believe I’ll be home on Isla tomorrow afternoon! I don’t even know if the house is going to be ready for me. After having such a hard time getting hold of my landlady last year, I told her in July that if she doesn’t hear from me again, I’ll be arriving at 2PMish on November 1st and wouldn’t be contacting her again. So I’m prepared for the scenario that she forgot I was coming and that the house won’t be ready. Not a big deal if that’s the case since I seriously doubt she rented it out to anyone else. The plan would be to let her know I’m on site, then go have a beer and late lunch on the beach while she scrambles. 🙂 All will be revealed soon enough. I am just going to be glad to be home, even if I have to wait a few hours to gain access. Living out of a suitcase is exhausting!