Autumn's Adventures in Mexico: Tales of Traveling

I recently saw a man sitting on top of a motorcycle that was in the bed of a truck that was driving down the road, followed later that day by a woman sitting on 5 plastic chairs stacked in the back of another truck bed. Every time I have to travel, a potential adventure awaits me. It turns out the same is true for my guests.

This is the form of transportation I see most often (but never do - that's one of those PC rules).

The red and white moto-taxi in the distance is a big hit in my town.

My friend Chris came to visit me earlier this year and people at the bus station talked him in to taking a different route than I normally take. He ended up on a bus that brought him about 30 minutes outside of town and then needed to find a ride the rest of the way. While the locals in Guadalajara had suggested a taxi for the last leg, the locals in my town told me "good luck with that", so I was a little nervous. Luckily, he met some kind people on the bus who helped him exit at the right spot. When he exited the bus, he found himself on the side of the road with two women. He jokingly put out his thumb, and sure enough a truck pulled over right away. He thought he was super lucky and was ready to ask for a ride for the women as well until he learned that the driver was the women’s uncle, and they were actually offering him a ride! They moved the many bottles of tequila and bags of limes into the truck bed to make room for everyone and then gave Chris a ride all the way to his hotel (along with a great story to tell).

I took this picture months ago and have been waiting for a reason to use it. I think it's associated enough with "transportation" to qualify here. That poor, poor doll.

Another friend came to visit me in December and stopped in a touristy beach town along the way. She set down her bag with her computer, passport, money, camera, etc. while getting a snack and then walked away without realizing she didn’t have her bag. She called me in a panic, doubting that she would be able to continue her trip. She must have had some good karma built up, because she found her way back to the snack vendor who miraculously had her bag inside, with everything intact.

When my friends from Seattle came to visit, they took a local bus about 3 hours from a tourist hub to my small pueblo mágico. When they reached the top of the mountain pass that leads into my town, they were more than a little concerned when the people next to them started making the sign of the cross as the bus hurtled down the mountain. They are both fairly tall and fell prey to the dreaded reclining bus seat on that ride as well. The fact that most bus seats can fully recline to a horizontal position is not my favorite part of travel in Mexico. It's awkward to spend hours with a strangers head in your lap and the seats can go so far back that you physically cannot get out of your seat until the person in front of you moves. Claustrophobia can kick in big time on buses with reclining seats.

No leg room for Tim!

Clearly there are lots of adventures awaiting you when traveling through Mexico, and there are just as many different forms of transportation. At the top of the list, there are the really nice buses with personal entertainment screens, plush seats and footrests, tinted windows, air conditioning and bathrooms. I can't say that it's easy to use those bathrooms while barreling down the highway and jostling about, but it's better than the alternative. In these buses, you choose what you want to watch and the volume for your entertainment.

Super posh ETN bus.

This is a bus station where you can find the fancy lines, like ETN and Primera Plus.

The nice bus stations even have recycling!

There are also really old buses with seats that may be permanently reclined all the way back, fabric window curtains that you can’t keep in place, and windows that you'd like to open for natural air conditioning only to find they are stuck shut. In those buses, you often have one TV screen at the front of the bus that is playing movies at a very loud volume. I didn’t really want to watch another iteration of the Die Hard franchise on the bus, but there was no avoiding it. There are also vans that pick people up and function as short-haul buses, yellow taxis, moto-taxis that can give you an affordable, albeit bumpy, ride around town, bicycles, horses, donkeys and no doubt many more options that I've yet to encounter.

Local bus station, which is located on the sidewalk by the grocery store.

The azul line seems to have nicer seats, and sometimes AC. Notice the religious image at the back of the bus.

This bus had the dreaded one screen, no-choice-but-to-listen-to-it movie playing.

Here in town, I walk everywhere. I went to visit my friend Maria earlier this year and started out at 12:30 PM for an 80-minute walk in the heat of the day. That’s admittedly not the best time to go for a walk in the blazing sun; however, I had been longing for a hike and took advantage of every tree providing shade along the road and the nice breeze at the top of the climb. I will admit that I said yes to a ride back home after a glorious lunch of turkey pot pie and cinnamon sugar twists. And I was very happy to be in a truck when we passed a large number of cows with horns sauntering down the road.

I have plans to see more of Mexico this year and I'm sure those trips will yield some more good stories. In the meantime, if you're headed my way, be sure to bring some comfortable walking shoes, some extra patience and a good sense of adventure.