Mexico

If you're reading this because you're thinking about biking through Mexico, go for it!  In the three months we spent biking from the U.S. border to the Guatemalan border, we found the people to be incredibly friendly, the food delicious, and the experience on the whole extremely positive.  Mexico is huge and amazingly diverse, with each state and region having its own traditions, food, history, and geography.  Our Lonely Planet guidebook helped us get started learning about the country's history and about specific places.  But it didn't have much bike touring specific information, so hopefully this "biking guide" can help you fill in the blanks!  

Click here to see all of our blog posts from our time in Mexico.

Sunrise from our palapa at the Bahia de Concepcion, Baja California Sur

Safety and Security 

This is most people's first concern when considering traveling south from the US. In one small town in California, no less than four different people told us we were going to get robbed/killed/kidnapped (or worse!) if we biked through Mexico.  I doubt any of them had ever actually been to Mexico, because the reality is far different than those people would have had me believe.  That's not to say that Mexico doesn't have problems--it does--but most of them are avoidable.

Social Safety

There are a number of things you can do to limit your exposure to unfavorable or dangerous situations in Mexico. 

1. Avoid biking at night.  People have varying opinions on the safety of specific places, but everyone can agree on this.  Most bad stuff happens at night; avoid it by traveling by day.
2. Use common sense. This means being careful in crowded places, avoiding totally deserted places near cities, keeping valuables hidden, etc. 
3. Talk to the locals and listen to or read the news. Often these will be your best sources for finding out which areas are safe, and which are dangerous at the time.  Because of the information we gained from the locals, we decided to avoid Michoacan and Guerrero entirely.
4. Stick to main roads in areas that you are unsure about. Every mugging story we heard was about a cyclist on a remote back road. If you're on a populated road, there is an extremely minimal chance that anything will happen.  Although, of course, there is increased danger from traffic (see below).
5. Remember that large-scale crime, like that involving drug cartels, has nothing to do with tourists, especially bicycle tourists.  Don't let your route choice be driven by fear; small-scale crime can happen anywhere and is driven by opportunity, so as long as you are aware of your surroundings and take general precautions, you'll be fine.  We've met other cyclists who have biked everywhere in the world, including famously dangerous areas, without any problems.

Our friend John, on the left, intentionally biked through all of
the "dangerous" areas of Mexico - and had a great time. His
biggest problem? Finding space in his bag for all the beer
people gave him.

What's the deal with roadblocks?

We were warned by many people to be careful of the military roadblocks, that the military is corrupt and we would have to bribe our way through. While it was always a bit disconcerting to see teenage soldiers toting assault rifles, we had no issues passing through these checkpoints.  Of the maybe seven puestos militares we encountered (most in the Baja, some in Oaxaca and Chiapas), we were waved through with no questions asked at all but one.  At the one we were stopped, a guy asked us a few simple questions before sending us through.  No bribes, no problem.  A friend of ours from Mexico City, Lu, told us that he was temporarily detained once for maybe thirty minutes at one of these checkpoints.  Because of his light skin color, the soldiers didn't believe he was Mexican and "had to verify the authenticity of his passport".  He got out of it, Lu said, by recanting an interesting experience from his trip.  The soldiers all gathered around, listening with rapt attention, and let him pass when he finished his story.  "They were probably just really bored."

We had also heard about unofficial roadblocks where people hold a rope across the road, forcing you to stop, and then demand "payment" to pass.  We did not encounter any of these.

Traffic Safety

The biggest danger to cyclists in Mexico is undoubtedly traffic.  And while it's not hard in theory to avoid the possibility of getting hit--either take the big roads with huge shoulders or the small roads with no traffic--at some point the shoulder will disappear or the traffic suddenly increase, and you'll find yourself riding on a busy road with no shoulder.  The same biking skills apply here as anywhere, and there are numerous ways to get through such a situation.  Here are some techniques that we've found helpful. 

No shoulder + drainage ditch in the median = bike path

1. Look for another route: a shoulder on the other side, sidewalks, dirt paths by the side of the road, smaller back roads, the drainage ditch in the median... be creative. 
2. Take the lane.  If you're not in a big group of cyclists and you don't feel confident riding out in the middle of the lane by yourself, you can try our "bluffing" tecnique. Essentially, we make the cars behind us think that we're taking the lane by riding farther out in the road than would allow them to pass safely (1-3 feet from the white line).  They almost always try and pass anyway, and right before they do, we scoot back over to the edge of the road as far as we can go.  This way, even if they decide to not give us a lot of space, we're probably safe.  In effect, we're making the cars think they need to take a wider berth than they actually do. We rely heavily on our mirrors to do this well, and while it sounds scary, it works.  
3. The least favorable option, which, although it sounds dubious, seems to work quite well for many cyclists: ignore the traffic, put your head down, and ride as far to the right as possible.



North of Mexico City.  Big shoulder, but why ride this road?

4. Get a ride.  Not every road is worth biking.

With all the trafficked roads we took in Mexico, I never felt any more threatened by traffic than we did in parts of the U.S. and Canada.  The drivers in Mexico are crazy, yes, but at least you know they're paying attention; unmarked speed bumps and general craziness ensure it.  If I saw an oncoming car in the U.S invading my lane to pass, I would assume that the driver either doesn't see me or has a vendetta against cyclists, either way the end result being me getting off the road.  In Mexico and generally in Latin America, there's a different standard of aggressiveness.  Passing in spite of oncoming traffic happens all the time, and they always (as far as we saw) manage to squeeze back in safely.  Of course, don't bet your life on the assumption that any driver anywhere sees you.

Route Finding

Google Street View is a good place to start.  It has really comprehensive coverage of Mexico and is a great resource for finding good routes. In general, you have three main options for roads to take in Mexico. 

Autopista south of Mazatlan, Sinaloa

1. Autopista (toll road). A lot of Mexico is covered by new autopistas, beautiful cuota (toll) roads that go to the same place as the older libre (free) route but faster, straighter, and with a smooth surface, big shoulder, and accurate and ample signage.  They're expensive for the average traveler, but we never had to pay.  A friend told us he was stopped at one tollbooth and not allowed to pass, even after offering to pay the motorcycle fee, so he went back a little ways, hitched a ride past the tollbooth, and that was that.  This same guy told us that you have to pay if the camera sees you, so you should always walk your bike through on the sidewalk.  We walked through after that and didn't ever have issues, though then again, we didn't have issues before either, when we were riding through.  On the autopistas, traffic varies depending on the area, but we almost always found there to be a lot of trucks.  The danger is low because of the wide shoulder, but the riding can be loud and not very enjoyable.  The only specific recommendation I have regarding autopistas and carreteras is where they run parallel. The autopista's existence in these areas usually indicates a well-trafficked region, so the autopista, having a shoulder and most likely less traffic (because, as mentioned above, it's expensive), would be the better choice.
2. Carreteras, or primary highways. These vary highly from region to region.  Rarely do they have a shoulder wider than a few inches, so traffic, or lack of it, should be a priority.  How many towns the road passes through and its general area (is it within 100 kilometers of Mexico City?) can usually indicate the amount of traffic on a road.  Analyze also the speed the traffic might be going; in areas with a lot of development, stoplights and stop signs keep cars moving slowly enough that you can ride with them.  The same amount of cars flying by at top speed would present a much greater risk.  The carreteras generally have a good surface, decent enough for road tires, but sometimes, infrequently, they're randomly torn up and you have to ride a kilometer or two of dirt or gravel through a construction zone.  Signage is decent; at intersections, expect arrows pointing to the next big town in every direction. Be ready for unexpected steep hills both on carreteras and back roads. The construction workers were not thinking of how many small gears you have on your bike when they built these roads. 



Nice quiet road in Oaxaca

3. Rural back roads vary as much as the carreteras.  Generally signage, shoulder, and surface are poor to nonexistent, as are, theoretically, other drivers.  Rural back roads are thus quiet and free, but they're slow going, wear down your gear faster, and bring an added social safety risk.  It's a risk-benefit analysis.  A peaceful road passing through little towns puts us much closer to the reasons we cycle tour than do bigger toll roads, and in most areas, the risk of getting hit by a car on a more populated road probably far outweighs the probability that someone will jump you in the middle of nowhere.  Yet there were still times in Mexico (and in other parts of Central America) where we didn't feel safe taking back roads, most notably northwest of and immediately around Mexico City.

Our Route

We traversed Mexico northwest to southeast, starting in Baja California and ending at the Guatemalan border almost three months later. 

Our route through Baja California
Map created with ProfileChart and GPS
Hiker apps for iPhone

 

We crossed initially in Tecate to avoid Tijuana and the big highways in the area, and the border crossing was a breeze.  However, we talked to many cyclists who went through Tijuana and had no problems.  Honestly, the narrow, winding road to Tecate is probably more dangerous for cyclists than Tijuana.

Down the Baja, there's only one major route: the Trans-Peninsular Highway.  There is another route in the northern half that follows the east coast south of San Felipe to Santa Rosalia, but we've heard that parts of it are pretty rough.  Still, if I had to choose again, I would go that way because it beats the area around Vicente Guerrero and San Quintin.  No shoulder and a continuous line of fast-moving traffic forced us to ride on the dirt paths next to the road.  South of San Quintin the traffic dropped off sharply, leaving us with a remote road through the desert pretty much all the way to La Paz.  If that's what you're looking for, Baja's a great place to ride; boojum trees, giant cacti and huge rock piles a la Joshua Tree make for wonderful scenery, and there's great camping if you can get far enough from the road to minimize noise from the truck traffic.  The area around Guerrero Negro is flat desert, and the wind was blowing consistently hard from the north.  Traffic isn't too bad in most parts, but do watch out for the ABC and Aguila charter buses; even with space, sometimes they didn't move over for us.

Our route through Mexico

From La Paz we took a ferry to Mazatlan, and from Mazatlan we rode toll roads to Guadalajara.  They were exactly as described above: loud and trafficked at times, but always with a big shoulder.  The reasons we headed inland after Mazatlan are, in no particular order:

1. The coast gets boring after a while
2. Most of Mexico's history and culture is inland
3. Altitude = cool weather
4. We were warned by many people that Michoacan and Guerrero, two big coastal states, were dangerous at the time.

From Guadalajara we headed northwest to the the highland cities of Leon and Guanajuato.  Getting out of Guadalajara was awful, and the roads after that were exactly as before, becoming more and more trafficked the closer we got to Mexico City.  We took some nice carreteras in between Guadalajara and Leon, but there was too much traffic after that, so we skirted around Queretaro on the toll road and, when we just weren't enjoying the noise any longer, hopped on a bus to Mexico City in San Juan del Rio.  After staying some days in the city, we took another bus out to Puebla and then took smaller roads to Oaxaca and Tuxtla Gutierrez, and then the toll road to San Cristóbal de las Casas, which saves about 40 km and a lot of altitude.  My only specific recommendation for the area is to take the toll road around Juchitan, Oaxaca.  The winds in that area are consistently strong from the north, so it's better to head into the wind on the west side of the city, on the toll road, before it gets really strong around La Ventosa.  There's less traffic on the toll road anyway.

We crossed into Guatemala at Ciudad Cuahtemoc/La Mesilla and had no issues.  Remember to get your exit stamp before you go up the steep, four-kilometer climb from Mexican immigration to the border!  Or just go to Guatemala anyway; the border officials there didn't seem to care about our not having an exit stamp.  Another well-traveled border crossing is south of there, and there is a much quieter, more remote river border crossing in the sparsely populated north.

Mexico is huge, and there are tons of route options.  We enjoyed the areas we went to, but, knowing what we know now, if we went again we would probably take more back roads through the mountains.

The Basics: Food, Water, Shelter, Restrooms

Food

A gordita in San Miguel de Allende: cheese,
chickpeas, and nopal cactus in a corn pita wrap.

The food was one of the highlights of traveling in Mexico for us.  Every little town has at least one tortilleria for piping hot corn tortillas (flour tortillas aren't common outside of the Baja); a fruteria for fresh, local fruits and veggies; and most likely a general store to fill in the blanks.  Tortillerias often have un-advertised beans, cheese, and/or eggs as well; just ask. The cities have big box stores where you can find imported goods like couscous, but it's much cheaper and more accessible to find the tiny stores.  They're on just about every corner.  Sometimes we bought bulk grains at a big supermarket and used that to supplement our local food for a few days.

Water

The locals in most places don't or can't drink tap water, so most drinking water comes from garrafones, 20-liter (5 gallon) jugs.  In the Baja, there are water purifying stations where you can pay a peso or two per liter of purified water.  We never had issues with water from these stations, and only once (we suspect it was the water) with that from a garrafon.  Where the locals drink from the tap, we attempted to as well, but after it upset our stomachs mildly, we started zapping each bottle with our SteriPen and had no further problems.  When filling up on the road, little rural stores will happily fill your water from the tap, and it's easy as well to buy bottles in 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6, 10, and 20 liter sizes.  Any of the million Oxxos and smaller convenience stores have water.

Shelter

We wild camped a few times in the Baja, but once in mainland Mexico, we were in areas far too populated for true wild camping.  We did, however, find many places to camp.  Bring earplugs.

At the estacion de bomberos in Tequila

1. Fire stations.  Ask for the bomberos.  These guys were always extremely nice and welcoming, letting us set up camp somewhere in their yard or often inside.  Often they let us take showers and use their kitchen to cook food. 
2. Churches.  Every town has a church, and once we found the right person to talk to, usually the padre, they always let us camp in the yard. 
3. La Presidencia.  Every town has government buildings and the police station on one edge of the central plaza.  The police will let you set up camp here and keep an eye on the bikes. We had heard that many police in Mexico were corrupt, but they were always very friendly and helpful. 
4. Random houses or restaurants on the side of the road. We tried to stop at restaurants or small stores, and if they let us camp we would buy food from them for dinner. 

Camping on the beach is always a nice option, too!  Here in San Blas, Nayarit.

When we wanted more of a quiet place, or a shower, we used online resources such as Warmshowers, and sometimes we stayed in hotels, paying 200-400 pesos (US$14-28) for the night.

Restrooms

Pemex, the ubiquitous Mexican gasoline monopoly until 2012, has bathrooms at all of their stations.  Sometimes they require a payment of two to five pesos. If you're paying, expect toilet paper, at least a communal roll outside, but otherwise bring your own. Oxxo sometimes has a bathroom inside. In super rural areas of Oaxaca, we encountered toilets with a nonfunctional upper bowl or with none attached; for these, find a bucket and roughly a gallon of water, and pour the water directly in the lower bowl.  By the graces of modern toilet engineering, the water will flush! 

Climate

Of course, climate will vary depending on what time of year you are visiting Mexico.  Generally, the Baja desert is comfortable to hot during the day, and can get chilly at night. Coastal areas are hot and humid. Higher elevations are usually comfortable. 

During the months we were there (late December - early March), we enjoyed very little rain and mostly comfortable riding weather.  The only unbearably hot days we had were on the coast of Sinaloa, Nayarit, and Oaxaca. 

Language and Culture

This is what makes traveling in Mexico such a rich and rewarding experience. There's no way we could describe everything here (that's for you to discover anyway), so we're just going to give some details relevant to cycling. 

Cycling Clubs

A promotional cycling poster from the bike
club in Tuxtla Gutierrez

Pretty much every city and many small towns have active cycling clubs. Often members are psyched to host touring cyclists and will point you to their friends in the next city. Try asking a local bike shop to recommend a place to stay. Some cycling clubs host weekly or biweekly paseo nocturno where a big group of cyclists ride around the city at night. This is a neat way to meet some other cyclists and see a bit of the city, if you're not too exhausted from already riding all day. In several large cities, main streets are closed to cars on Sundays so that bikes have free reign. Woohoo! 

Female Cyclists

As a female cyclist in Mexico, be ready for lots of whistles and comments from men.  My response was to answer with a polite greeting in Spanish and then ride past, or to simply ignore them. Sometimes Danny would exagerrate flattery and say, "Gracias!" which always drew a laugh.  I never had any real issues.

Although cycling culture is huge in Mexico, it is extremely male dominated. Don't let this deter you. Not a single cyclist we met was discouraging or discriminatory against me because of my gender.