Driving in Mexico

It's always an adventure driving in Mexico—an entirely different experience from Canada and the US. For one thing, the roads have no shoulders, even the pricey four-lane toll roads. The right hand edge is marked with a white line and the pavement extends a couple of inches past that. In some places, there's an actual drop-off of up to 8 inches or more beyond that. From time to time there is a gravel or dirt pull-off but if you run into trouble you just have to pray that you can safely manage to get off the road.

Also, there are lots of topes. This is the word for speed bumps in the road and they can occur at any time, especially around little settlements. Sometimes there are signs warning you of topes ahead (see photo), but other times they just appear. In some places there are multiple tiny topes called “vibradoras” which are usually marked by parallel white lines across the road. It doesn't take long before both driver and passenger become very alert for topes and vibardoras.

We went over our first big one just past the border and we came down with such a crash that the closet door flew open and all the clothes on their hangers landed on the floor. We suffered some breakage of wine glasses and mugs in that one. Since then we've been extremely careful.

Another difference is the numerous shrines along the side of the road. Some are just simple crosses with a wreath; others are elaborate cement chapels with steeples and crosses, often painted a bright colour like turquoise or salmon pink or lemon yellow. We're not sure but we think these mark a place where someone was killed on the road. So there are warnings about safe driving as you go along. Other warnings are given by overturned cars and by the road kill along the way. We've seen two dead cows, a dead horse, and numerous dogs as well as smaller wild animals. The cows and horses are often being driven along paths by the side of the road by Mexican cowboys, but sometimes they're just wandering along.

Despite the warnings, the buses and trucks speed by at well over 100 km per hour on the straight sections. These vehicles take the toll roads and so do we, because the other roads are filled with slow farm trucks and pedestrian traffic. Being passed by a huge bus going that fast on a road with no shoulder is a challenge indeed. Harry is developing nerves of steel.

This afternoon we drove south from Guymas heading for Alamos. We passed through Ciudad Obregon, an agricultural area with lots of bright green fields, resulting from irrigation in the desert. Where there isn't any irrigation, the desert is a soft green right now with bushes and shrubs scattered around among carpets of tiny wild marigolds. My book tells me that these are harvested and sent to the US for chicken feed. Apparently it gives the egg yolks a nice orange colour. In places it's a lovely sight.

Right now, I'm sitting in Mohita in Navojoa at a llantera—a place that fixes flat tires. By some miracle, Harry noticed that one of our dual rear tires was looking a bit low. In fact it was flat. We're not sure if it was a puncture or a slow leak but it's totally flat. We're waiting for the fellows to fix it before we head on to Alamos to join Lorne and Anne. It may be that we end up here for the night as we've been advised never to drive after dark and it's now 4:30. It's 56 kilometers to Alamos so we may have to wait until tomorrow morning to get there. I'm crossing my fingers that it won't take too long.