October 31, 2009
Morelia to Puebla

Today was a day of nothing but driving and not a pleasant one but one with a great learning curve.
To drive in Mexico you must remember that the map you have (2009 Guia Roji)
1. May not list the road numbers on the map you have.
2. The signs that you are looking at may say to a city that does not show on the map.
3. The road that you are on may not be on the map.
4. You will definitely be lost most of the time.

So off we went on the periferico (the circle road around Morelia) and looking for the exit with Hwy 126 that goes to Querendaro. Well no such luck but we did take a road that we thought might be it and after several stops for directions were now on a tole road headed for Hwy 15. When I asked at the tole booth what road on the map I was on I was told that the road was new and not on my map.
Finally reached the 15 going to Alacomunico and all was ok now just stops for the tole booths. When we reached Alacomunico that is when things got bad. First the new northern road was still under construction so we had to take one of the yellow roads. These are the smallest on the map and as you drive you go thru every village and hamlet known to man. There are topes (speed bumps that are really hairy) everywhere and not all of them are marked.
When you go thru a town there may be three lanes going one way. For sure the right hand lane people park in. They also stop and park in the middle lane so there is a lot of maneuvering to get around cars with sometimes just inches between you and the stores on the left side of the street. This along with no one paying attention to stop lights etc.
Well after awhile we stopped at an open air café for a great lunch of barbeque chicken, black beans, tomatoes, barbequed onions, cactus and cucumbers, tortillas and a local goat cheese.
I should say that during this time we are always climbing thru mountains on a very well potted narrow road and everyone is trying to pass us on blind corners etc.
The trip in general went thru some beautiful countryside. Up and down mountains which in the beginning were pine covered and later with lots of deciduous trees and grazing land. In the higher elevations cattle and horses gave way to goats, sheep and burros. You would climb a mountain and then go into a valley about 25 miles long and across with fields of corn or wheat or hay. Then climb another mountain and repeat the process all over again. There were not a lot of switchbacks especially when we reached Norte autopista but the grades were steep and long. One of the valleys I remembered especially because it was a floodplain for a river and there were hundreds of acres of bulrushes or pussy willows and it reminded me so much of where my sister lived outside Windsor, Canada on Lake Erie.
Finally nerves frayed and tempers short we reach Jioltepec and find the Norte Autopista after about 3-4 attempts at directions. Never fully trust a street person to know directions anywhere.
Now the Norte Autopista is a great road and they give you a credit card at the entrance from like an automated machine you drive up to.. When you get off anywhere along the line they insert the card in the machine and that tells them how much you owe. Well this had to be the best road we have ever been on in Mexico. Fully concrete with wide lanes and even a wide shoulder all in concrete.
This took us somewhere north and east of Puebla and then we had a 2 Km traffic jam with people trying to pay for the next cuota (toll booth). Finally, we arrived in Puebla and after going too far, having to turn around and then trying to find yet another unmarked street we finally arrived in the campground and only drove about 12 hours today.
Turning in Mexico can be an event also. Most of the major streets have two lanes fast traffic going one way and two the other. You may not turn right or left from these lanes except to go right onto the two lanes each way which are sort of the local lanes. These are usually separated from the fast lanes by a meridian. Entrances and exits from these are about every two to three blocks but may be less frequent if the thru fare is large. Needless to say there is a lot of jockeying for position and sometimes drivers will go on and off the fast lanes to the slow ones if the fast ones are stalled. This makes for real fun driving in a sports car not a motorhome.