Some people believe in God, or some sort of divine being. Others believe in the Universe, others in fate, others in a mixture of things learnt throughout a lifetime of living with some sort of faith. Others don't. This, what you live today, is "it". Ralph is the later. I fall into the "God" category, with some other stuff mixed in for good measure. So when I say things to him such as "God is sending us a message that we should not be traveling through Mexico on Saturday." I generally get a bit of a look.
Our plan for our Mexico leg of the trip was pretty simple. Drive the same route that we drove in 2009: Austin to Ciudad Victoria on day 1, Ciudad Victoria to Vega de Alatorre on day 2, and then through Veracruz to Oaxaca on Day 3, with a short stop to see family in Cordoba along the way.
Snag: The pet friendly hotel we stayed at in 2009 in Victoria was booked solid for over a week, no availability and no other available alternatives.
The other city that is within a daytime drive of Austin is Tampico. Let the research begin. Well, the research scared the pants off me. Gang run city, drive by, broad daylight shootings, no one lives in the city centre anymore except the poor, abandoned buildings... scary stuff.
I then looked at the US and Canadian government websites for travel warnings. More scary stuff, but the advice was consistent. Don't drive at night, and leave your pink diamond wedding rings and other associated bling, along with your Mercedes SUV at home. Got it.
We had a few options, but we decided to drive to Brownsville, Texas on Saturday and stay there overnight, then drive a long day on the Sunday so we could get deep into Veracruz (and relative safety at a hotel we knew and liked). This kept us driving entirely daylight hours through the north of Mexico.
I also put in place a security plan with my sister and the Canadian consulate network in Mexico. I had been through putting these together as part of my job for international workforces for many years, but having to put one in place for myself was really... Scary.
Here is what the security plan looked like:
From Sunday morning, once we cross the Mexican border (estimated time is between 7 and 8 a.m), we will text you approximately every 60 minutes. If you can respond to the texts to assure us that they are being received, we will continue to text. If you don't respond, we will call you after 30 minutes. If we miss 2 check in times, please try to call us at 416 407 4601 every 30 minutes for the next 90 minutes.
If we fail to respond, please contact the consulate in Monterey to advise them. They will need to liaise with local police according to their usual protocols.
http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/mexico-mexique/offices-bureaux/index.aspx?lang=eng&menu_id=18
Vehicle is a blue grand caravan, 2010, Ontario plate BVRC 665. Our travel path is in a screen shot attached. Basically the 101 and the 180.
I also registered on the Registrar of Canadians Abroad (ROCA) database and emailed the consulate in Oaxaca with our travel itinerary.
As you all know we arrived safely in Oaxaca, I am presuming you have two questions: was it scary, and did my sister have a nervous breakdown?
From the border all the way through to Tampico, the road conditions were excellent and there is a lot of military and federal police presence. By a lot, I mean you see military convoys (2 to 3 jeeps with 5 to 7 heavily armed troops) about once every hour, and you also see federal police stops at almost every gas station, and then about every hour as well. We were waived through the roadblocks in all cases. In each instance the officials were friendly and courteous.
We had cell service almost the entire way, so the hourly check ins went well. When we were going through a particular mountain pass (by Xoxotitla) and our hourly text message was not going through, we knew my sister would not activate any consulate assistance for several hours of failed attempts, and we were confident we would be back into a cell zone within that time frame., and we were.
Our lovely GPS guided us right through the centre of Tampico (ugh) but it was fine overall. I am very glad we did not stay there, there is a roughness to the town I have not experienced anywhere else in Mexico, but driving through in the middle of the day on a Sunday meant lots of people were around and it felt reasonable to be there.
Road conditions deteriorated quickly after Tampico, but safety obviously increased, as military and police presence dwindled at about the same rate the potholes got deeper and wider.
Would I do the drive again - yes, and following all the same steps we did this time. I felt secure in my plan. I would stop, though, at one of the many hotels along the Costa Esmeralda, as it was just about getting dark when we driving through there, but I did not want to waste time going from place to place to see if they accepted cats.
Before we left, our friends frequently asked us if Mexico was safe, and I always used to answer that Oaxaca is incredibly safe, which is still true. However, now I would add that they should please fly to come and see us, and not drive through the north of Mexico if not necessary.
Our plan for our Mexico leg of the trip was pretty simple. Drive the same route that we drove in 2009: Austin to Ciudad Victoria on day 1, Ciudad Victoria to Vega de Alatorre on day 2, and then through Veracruz to Oaxaca on Day 3, with a short stop to see family in Cordoba along the way.
Snag: The pet friendly hotel we stayed at in 2009 in Victoria was booked solid for over a week, no availability and no other available alternatives.
The other city that is within a daytime drive of Austin is Tampico. Let the research begin. Well, the research scared the pants off me. Gang run city, drive by, broad daylight shootings, no one lives in the city centre anymore except the poor, abandoned buildings... scary stuff.
I then looked at the US and Canadian government websites for travel warnings. More scary stuff, but the advice was consistent. Don't drive at night, and leave your pink diamond wedding rings and other associated bling, along with your Mercedes SUV at home. Got it.
We had a few options, but we decided to drive to Brownsville, Texas on Saturday and stay there overnight, then drive a long day on the Sunday so we could get deep into Veracruz (and relative safety at a hotel we knew and liked). This kept us driving entirely daylight hours through the north of Mexico.
I also put in place a security plan with my sister and the Canadian consulate network in Mexico. I had been through putting these together as part of my job for international workforces for many years, but having to put one in place for myself was really... Scary.
Here is what the security plan looked like:
From Sunday morning, once we cross the Mexican border (estimated time is between 7 and 8 a.m), we will text you approximately every 60 minutes. If you can respond to the texts to assure us that they are being received, we will continue to text. If you don't respond, we will call you after 30 minutes. If we miss 2 check in times, please try to call us at 416 407 4601 every 30 minutes for the next 90 minutes.
If we fail to respond, please contact the consulate in Monterey to advise them. They will need to liaise with local police according to their usual protocols.
http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/mexico-mexique/offices-bureaux/index.aspx?lang=eng&menu_id=18
Vehicle is a blue grand caravan, 2010, Ontario plate BVRC 665. Our travel path is in a screen shot attached. Basically the 101 and the 180.
I also registered on the Registrar of Canadians Abroad (ROCA) database and emailed the consulate in Oaxaca with our travel itinerary.
As you all know we arrived safely in Oaxaca, I am presuming you have two questions: was it scary, and did my sister have a nervous breakdown?
From the border all the way through to Tampico, the road conditions were excellent and there is a lot of military and federal police presence. By a lot, I mean you see military convoys (2 to 3 jeeps with 5 to 7 heavily armed troops) about once every hour, and you also see federal police stops at almost every gas station, and then about every hour as well. We were waived through the roadblocks in all cases. In each instance the officials were friendly and courteous.
We had cell service almost the entire way, so the hourly check ins went well. When we were going through a particular mountain pass (by Xoxotitla) and our hourly text message was not going through, we knew my sister would not activate any consulate assistance for several hours of failed attempts, and we were confident we would be back into a cell zone within that time frame., and we were.
Our lovely GPS guided us right through the centre of Tampico (ugh) but it was fine overall. I am very glad we did not stay there, there is a roughness to the town I have not experienced anywhere else in Mexico, but driving through in the middle of the day on a Sunday meant lots of people were around and it felt reasonable to be there.
Road conditions deteriorated quickly after Tampico, but safety obviously increased, as military and police presence dwindled at about the same rate the potholes got deeper and wider.
Would I do the drive again - yes, and following all the same steps we did this time. I felt secure in my plan. I would stop, though, at one of the many hotels along the Costa Esmeralda, as it was just about getting dark when we driving through there, but I did not want to waste time going from place to place to see if they accepted cats.
Before we left, our friends frequently asked us if Mexico was safe, and I always used to answer that Oaxaca is incredibly safe, which is still true. However, now I would add that they should please fly to come and see us, and not drive through the north of Mexico if not necessary.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment