Mexico

We knew that our drive across Mexico would be a fast and furious mad dash for the US border.  Well, if you consider a top cruising speed of 100 km/hr fast and two kids in the back seat regularly reminding us that they’re suffering from acute boredom and can't take it anymore driving. 

The trip throughout Mexico was a series of long drives which first took from Las Champas to San Cristobal de las Casas.  A beautiful and peaceful drive through the high pine mountain forest of Chiapas.  When we arrived it had started to rain so we cleaned up and went to a great local Thai Fusion restaurant owned by a couple of American Ex Pats.  Although we had heard lots about San Cristobal, the kids (ie: youngest) did not want to walk around and explore ANY more colonial towns. 

After some checking, we decided not to drive up into the Province of Veracruz and decided to “loop around” via Oaxaca.  We drove down from the Chiapas mountains until we reached Arriaga and then climbed back up again to Oaxaca.  We also managed to time our arrival perfectly with a torrential down pour, in rush hour traffic as the sun was going down....perfect.  It ended being a 12-hour day and when we eventually found a hotel, we ordered pizza and called it a night.

The gray overcast sky and drizzle the following day only convinced us to keep driving.  This time we headed towards Mexico City via Puebla but the four lane divided highway helped the drive considerably.  We aimed our sights on the town of Teotihuacan where we would visit the Pyramides of Teotihuacan and see the largest pyramids outside of Egypt.

We arrived Teotihuacan early enough where the kids enjoyed a much needed swim while mom and dad a cold drink pool side.  

The following day we visited the ruins but not before Mateo became sick from running up the pyramid steps.  Again with his ego staggered and his brother laughing, we spent the rest of the day building him up.

We went from DF to Guadalajara to Los Mochis to the border and we paid for it in sweat and tears…when we drove through Hermosillo the temperature climbed to 43c and over 50c inside the truck. 

When we listen to the news or read an article about Mexico's struggle with drug cartels, senseless violence, corruption and political scandals we forget that the vast majority of people are going about their regular day to day.  We saw a beautiful, culturally rich country with great highways.  Perhaps we were fortunate, because there are countless stories on blogs about travelers being harassed, intimidated and at times extorted of money.  We were stopped several times at well marked road blocks.  They were always intrigued in our adventure and once they realized what we were in the middle of doing, asked the usual questions and always wished a safe journey home.

However, we when stopped in Los Michos, Sonora for the night we asked the hotel for a good restaurant.  The hotel front counter staff  suggested the “El Farallon” three blocks down the road.  We read good reviews about this restaurant which specialized in seafood and didn’t think twice about checking it out.  It also turned out that the local crime figures also enjoy a good meal. 

It could have been the older gentlemen with slicked back hair, insisting and undoubtedly paying for exclusive rights of the mariachi band while he danced in his seat.  It could have also been the group inside a private room ordering large quantities of wine and platters of food.  However, when we walked out of the restaurant, the bullet proof SUV’s, armed body guards wearing earpieces looking at everything that moved with suspicious eyes convinced us it was a good time to head back to the hotel. 

We finally reached the Nogales border crossing on Friday Aug 24 around 9 pm, 45 minutes later we were on US soil and it felt great!