We did this guided trip 21 Oct. to 2 Nov. Our first time in Mexico. Great trip. Pictures later. We took our stock 1999 Dodge RAM pickup.
http://www.4westernadventures.com/4x...nyon/index.htm Mexico Trip Report
Saturday 20 2007
Arrived in Douglas AZ at 12:35. Odometer 90901. 92 degrees with a breeze.
Met up with the Wilsons, the Geschreys, Frenchie and super navigator Rich H. Visited Walmart, drove thru old town then got our visas and car papers at the border. Came back to Motel 6. Nice group dinner at the historic Gadsen Hotel. Neat old time lobby.
21 Oct. 2007 - Sunday
We are up at 4 am and packing. Went to the Walmart store at 5:15 am to get a few last minute items.. Group breakfast at 7:00 am. The Wilsons, Frenchie and Rich leave to get visa’s. The rest of us re-visit the Walmart then we drive over the border and wait visa people to finish. At 9:00 we are on our way. Instant culture shock as we drive thru Aqua Prieta. We make our way slowly thru the town of Aqua Prieta and finally pickup Highway 2 heading east. Our CB quits working about this time. Frenchie replaces it with a spare he carries. We drive over a lot of barren land – no people, no animals – just dirt, rock, grass and small brush with occasional small trees.
The highway is like a paved 2 lane country road with lots of semi trucks. I try to see how close I can come to dying by passing two semi’s on a blind curve. About 2 car lengths close….
Up and down. We cross the continental divide and pickup highway 10 south at the bottom of the hill where we are greeted with an army road block. The soldiers waves us thru. We continue south thru a lot more deserted land. North of Nuevo Casa Grandes we encounter a police road block. They take a quick look at our visa’s and wave us thru. Just north of Nuevo Casa Grandes we begin seeing farmland and a few houses. Into Nuevo Casa Grandes were we have a lunch at Hotel Hacienda. After lunch we drive to the hospital where Sara Leigh visits the emergency room. She gets right in, has an exam and an ultra sound. $40 and she is out within the hour.
I like Nuevo Casa Grandes. Like the name suggests, it has nice houses, wide streets and just looks nice (especially compared to next door Casa Grandes.)
We gas up (including the gas cans) and drive a few miles to the Parmquime Cultural Center where we are given a special tour by the center director. Parmquime is the site of an ancient (1200 to 800 AD) ruins.
We leave there a little after 4:00pm and drive about 10 miles to Mata Ortiz. Mata Ortiz is a small village that is the thin wall pottery center of Mexico. We stay at the Adobe Motel which is a nice rustic hotel hidden away on a back alley (street?). We have a shared taco dinner there. Before dinner the women potters display their wares for us and they leave with a lot lighter load. After dinner the men display their wares. They don’t do as well as the women tapped most of us out. It is VERY nice pottery with some amazing hand painted designs.
A long and tiring day. I’m in dream land by 8:00.
PS: We quickly learn the signage (Tope or Topes) for the speed bumps that all towns with paved streets have.
GPS: 163 miles in 4 hours of driving time at an averages speed of 20 mph. Elevation at Mata Ortiz in 5000’. It was about 85 degrees to day and felt perfect.
22 Oct. 2007
Up at 4:00am. The Adobe motel serves a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon,, beans, salsa, tortillas, juice and melon slices. It is a bright sunny morning. We drive thru Mata Ortiz and take a short side trip to the old Hacienda San Diego. Then back to the highway and the turn off to the caves/ruins at el Willy. This road is our first rock/dirt road. A hitch hiker asks if he can ride with us. We make room for him in the back of our pickup.
We slowly make our way up the Sierra Madre Mountains and start seeing small trees as we climb. We average about 9 mph. On top it is like a plateau with small hills. Up and down until we reach the final down slope. Down and down until we cross a small river and proceed to the small village of el Willy. Thru the village and on a rough track to the camp site. We arrive about 2:30pm. We have lunch then hike to several caves with Indian ruins. The first cave features a HUGE olla (jug/jar). I think it was like 13' tall.
After hiking, we setup camp. We are at 6,000 feet and even though it is the middle of a bright sunny afternoon, it is chilly and downright cold when the sun goes behind the trees. . We set around and BS then Frenchie cooks an excellent burrito dinner.
The GPS reports we drove 204 miles in 7.5 hours of driving. That seems like too many miles. Average speed of 12 mph.
23 Oct. 2007
Odometer 91122. Cold night. 26 degrees at 6:00am when I get up. We are up at 6 when it is first light. Muffins and cereal for breakfast. We pack and break camp and are off at 8:13. Another bright sunny morning. After 2 hours of crawling back up the hill we came down yesterday, we reach the top and turn south towards Madera It was 9 mph or less coming up from the camp ground.
The road starts to slightly improve. It will continue to get better as we travel south. We drive up and down over the hills and driving thru numerous creek crossings in the valleys. As progress towards Madera, the trees start to grow slightly taller (still pretty small) and in thicker stands. We pass thru a few VERY small villages – no power, phones or any services. Just poor houses and a dirt road. Even in the poorest villages some of the houses have a small solar panel. I assume it was provided by government.
At 2:30 we pick up a paved road at El Largo 71 km north of Madera. Lots of logging and sawmills around here but is just ‘pecker pole’ pine. We gas up here and charge towards Madera arriving there at 4:00 pm. We stay at the Hotel Real del Bosque.
Madera is at 6,500 feet elevation and even though it is still bright and sunny, it is cool.
6:30 – dinner at Sam’s Saloon. Sandy and I have the only thing we can recognize on the menu – chicken fajitas. They are good but just average. Frenchie and I try to order ice cream. Rich tries to remember his Spanish but his word for ice cream brings us sugared milk. (Tomorrow Rich finds out that he had the correct word for ice cream in Spanish but it completely different in Mexican. (nieves)) The group talks about camping tomorrow night but because of the cold decides to stay another night at the motel in Madera. We leave the restaurant about 8:00pm and the town is closed down. The Pemex gas station is about the only thing open.
The GPS says we drove 103 miles in 6 hours and 20 minutes of driving time at an average speed of 16 mph.