• Welcome, Guest! We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMW MOA forum provides. Some forum content will be hidden from you if you remain logged out. If you want to view all content, please click the 'Log in' button above and enter your BMW MOA username and password.

    If you are not an MOA member, why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the BMW Owners News magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMW MOA offers?

MEXICO: Wanna go?

markgoodrich

New member
I'm organizing (note the word "leading" is not shown outside these parentheses) a wonderful trip to Mexico, leaving Austin, Texas, 26 April. The trip is pretty much set for the first six nights, and is evolving for the remainder, to broaden the cultural/archaeological/historical/ridingal aspects. I have "room" for two more bikes, single riders or couples, to equal six total.

So far we have me, a couple from Califa two up, a Bostonian, and a fellow from the KC area. You will not need a dual sport bike, although that'll work just fine. I ride an RT, and all routes are expected to be paved.

The first half of the trip will be to areas rarely visited by American tourists.

Details are available over on the BMWST site here:

http://tinyurl.com/yach3se

You can email me: marcosgoodrich at gmail.com

or call me at 512-415-0692.

Much of the detailed information is in a google group I set up; if you are "in" I'll add you to the group and you can read all that stuff.
 
I am currently making plans for a year long trip (girl friend and I-separate bikes) to travel around the perimeter of north america, mexico is currently our big concern, safety being #1 being that it will be just the two of us,and plan to camp 99% of our journey. Our departure date is going to be aug of 2010 maybe as late as september if we dont get our ducks in a row in time,entering into mexico about march-april. I have traveled all of the US and much of Canada but not much more then a border crossing in mexico. Do you have any info or sources for safe passage around the perimeter of Mexico or do you think there is any chance you will be making that trek in march or april of 2011 ?
any info is appreciated. Dan xcflyn@yahoo.com
 
I love bike travel in Mexico but have to say that while travelling pavement you will see gringo bikes pretty much anywhere down there just about every day, so I don't know about the "rarely traveled by tourist thing. The safe perimeter travel issue mentioned above can be resolved by avoiding the northern perimeter and enjoying the rest of Mexico. May I ask what is the reson for wanting to ride the perimeter? Why not plan atrip around the kinds of places you think you will most enjoy, perimeter or not? The interior has much beauty! Advrider is the place to go for much more information. There are some of us here that go down there but the other site is organized around that very purpose of more , shall we say "exotic" travel. As to camping in Mexico, it is done but hotels are so cheap I don't .See posts of JamieZ on Advrider for more on that subject and real expertise.
In Mexico, about the time you think you are in a far remote spot of extreme beauty, you will see a teeny bopper waiting for a bus and occupied with her cell phone. All of the colonial cities have their dose of gringo, hippie type, dreadlocked, pot smoking, children of well- to- do USA/Euro parents hanging around, which is to say that you will see gringos on bikes, gringos on buses with backpacks and expats sprinkeld all over-I haven't found those non-tourist areas there you speak of? Perhaps in the Sierra Madre mtns(where we don't belong!) you will find the non tourist areas. As to the Copper Canyon-read up on Advrider and make sure it is presently safe! Enjoy Mexico!
 
Actually we will hit the interior of mexico too,along with the other countrys we will be in, we are calling it a perimeter rider (we actually call our rides "adventures") because we will travel the perimeter of north america, bouncing in and out of the interiors too. I dont believe I mentioned the areas of no tourists or gringos, but I would love to learn mpre from you about #1 safe passage-#2 great spots to visit in mexico. I am working on getting an updated map and will study it before I post with questions. Can I PM you ? if yes- email address.

Thank you !!!!!!!!!
 
I can't make it in April but would love to go on a future trip. I'll keep an eye on the forum.

For what it's worth, crec?¡ en McAllen y hablo espa??ol.

Carlos
 
We moved to the McAllen, Texas area in order to get some Mexican riding in. The last few weeks have been a bit "sporty" around Reynosa and some of the other border towns as the cartel(s) and the Zetas work out their differences, but by and large riding around northern Mexico is safe and the folks are wonderfully nice. Get below Tampico and the climate turns more tropical than any place that you will find in the USA.

C'mon down ... and have fun!
 
I forgot to subscribe to this thread, thus my silence.

Trip is still on, we've got four bikes.

Regarding rarely visited areas, I've been to the Huasteca area of Mexico many times. It's rare to see other tourists, unless you visit a major attraction like the El Tajin ruins, . Xilitla is a good example of a fascinating off-the-beaten path sort of place (www.junglegossip.com).
Cholula, outside Puebla, will have fewer visitors than the adjacent city of Puebla. From Cholula, we'll take day trips into more remote areas. Guanajuato may have a few tourists, but it's mainly a college town/mining center/cradle of the Revolution. My goal isn't to avoid tourists or touristy places. Well, I don't particularly need to go back to San Miguel de Allende.

Tlaloc, yo tambien creci in McAllen...at 12th/Hackberry, but I left the minute I could...the day after I graduated high school, 1967.
 
Not to rain on what sounds like an awesome trip. But, The State Department issued a travel advisory for American's traveling into Mexico. Drug violence has killed 18000 people in the past year.
 
Not to rain on what sounds like an awesome trip. But, The State Department issued a travel advisory for American's traveling into Mexico. Drug violence has killed 18000 people in the past year.

You are about the fourth or fifth person to mention the State Department's March 14 travel WARNING, not advisory, to me, but unfortunately, like the others, you must not have read the actual warning. Had you read it you would have learned that the warning is for very particular parts of the country, none of which are on our agenda.

While your quote of 18,000 dead last year is exciting, it is incorrect; that figure is the total since 2007, and furthermore, it misses an important point: Americans killed in Mexico in 2009 totaled 78. There are approximately 500,000 Americans in Mexico at any given time. The murder rate for Americans in Mexico in 2009 was thus about 15 per 100,000. In Baltimore, for instance, it was 37 per 100,000. Just as a majority of Baltimore murders may have been confined to certain areas of the city, the vast majority of the unfortunate American deaths occurred along the border, with more than 33 percent of the total in Ciudad Juarez alone.

But let's not leave the 111 million Mexicans who live south of the border out of our analysis. The latest data available, from 2008, show the murder rate in the country as a whole to be 10 per 100,000 residents.

I believe I am cognizant of the potential dangers, more so than most people, actually. Just as riding a motorcycle is a risky undertaking travel anywhere, including Mexico, is, too. I at least take the time to be as informed as possible regarding those risks. I monitor not only news sources, including U. S., Mexican, and worldwide, I also monitor the State Department's reports and follow Stratfor Global Intelligence's almost-daily reports on Mexico.

Here is a link to the State Dept's most recent warning: http://tinyurl.com/yfggxob

Here is a link to a story published today:
http://tinyurl.com/yb88j8k
 
I go to parts of Mexico fairly frequently and really haven't been concerned much about the problems down there. Most of it has been in western/northwestern Mexico. However, the most recent events have moved east into Monterrey and toward Reynosa. This does begin to bother me. I have no confidence that the Mexican government can control this stuff and I expect it to get worse before better. It is beginning to effect my travel plans for April.
 
Thanks for the scolding. I was just posting to say be careful down there and hey did you hear about the warning/advisory. My leadership followed up the warning with a do not travel advisory.

I would not travel through Mexico or Baltimore without some means of self protection.
 
Thanks for the scolding. I was just posting to say be careful down there and hey did you hear about the warning/advisory. My leadership followed up the warning with a do not travel advisory.

I would not travel through Mexico or Baltimore without some means of self protection.

Like Ace, I have been down there and recently. Reynosa(my entry) has always been a milder place but getting nasty lately. As to the travel advisories they are much like TV news as if one place is bad it all is bad. As to "protection" realistically common sense is all that you can do in Mexico because you better not "carry" down there!We have some reservsations already in place for next winter in Mexico and look forward to the great time we always have. Honestly, I would have my "guard up" in Baltimore more so than Mexico, at least in certain parts of town.
Baltimore/Maryland perhaps you can carry, I haven't checked the chart for the law, but that is a complicated issue in USA as you cross state lines . We went to some ball games there last summer and had a great time as were others around us.:whistle
 
Thanks for the scolding. I was just posting to say be careful down there and hey did you hear about the warning/advisory. My leadership followed up the warning with a do not travel advisory.

I would not travel through Mexico or Baltimore without some means of self protection.

Actually, you did much more: you offered a misinformed warning, you exaggerated the number of dead (unintentionally, I'm sure, but exaggerated nonetheless), you said the U. S. Government had issued a "do not go there" warning, and now you've followed it up with an ill-advised comment that the only way you'd go to Mexico is armed. You would be correct in assuming my response was annoyed; annoyed at uninformed rumor-mongering presented as "not to rain on your...." If you have something factual and informative to add, I'll be delighted to read it and consider it.
 
Fully Booked

We've now reached our maximum of six bikes. If you are desperate to join us, you must pass the Test (below) and provide certain substantial pecuniary benefits to the Dear Leader (me). Pecuniary benefit translates as "mordida" in Spanish.


1. Where did chili peppers originate? What is the hottest pepper grown in the Western Hemisphere?

2. One grade of Mexican gas is Pemex Nova. Should the coiner of "Nova" have been given a raise, or shot at dawn? Why?

3. When the group is kidnapped, whose head should get chopped off first?

4. BBC News announces science has determined that toads can predict earthquakes. And we thought they just hop and eat flies. If toads can predict earthquakes, something modern science cannot even fathom, what OTHER powers might they have? Do they in fact cause warts, for instance?

5. Who put the Bop in the Bop Shoo Bop?
 
This gig is about to start, Monday. I've created a blog for them that wants to follow along vicariously:

http://patossentados.blogspot.com/
I have to agree with Jim I rode Mex.. 3 years in a row with my other half and never had a problem. We rode as far south as acapulco, if I spelled it right then satyed in Zhuantenjo for about a week . This was in 1992,93,94 and everyone I told I was going said we never make it back alive, well I guess we did. I will say we were a little more careful
Have fun wish I was going Tim
 
Hey, Amigos, WE ARE OUTTA HERE in an hour!

Won't be updating this, so go here:

http://patossentados.blogspot.com/

"Subscribe by Email" in the upper left corner of the blog so you can get updates, such as yesterday's impromptu tech day/Texanese lessons, etc. Pics will go onto the Travelblogue
 
Many updates on the patossentados.com blog. There's been attrition due to health issues, planned exits towards Panama, and one guy needing to visit friends in Mexico City (plus a Harley dealership).

We've had way more fun than a body should be allowed.
 
My 5/19/10 Lexington Herald paper-KY- had an article yesterday that mostly revolves around the 0ver 10,000 cargo hijackings in Mexico last year. Also mentioned are more than a few highway robberys of motorists.
As a guy that loves to travel in Mexico (and doesn't respond to many outcrys of the danger in travel down there that have been overblown in the past) I Googled "cargo thefts in the USA" for comparison. There were 859 last year which obviously pales in comparison. My past readings have caused me to worry mostly about Guatemala as to hwy robbery for a biker.
 
My research into all the murders of Americans in Mexico indicted a murder rate approximating that of Providence, R. I., and with the vast majority clustered in border towns. The statistics can push you to alarm, no doubt, but they are often misleading. If the cargo thefts were plotted on a map I wonder if most would be on the the border???

We encountered zero problems, never so much as anything other than an interested look at our bikes. The father/son team that traveled on to Panama stayed several days in Guatemala without incident, complained about large bribes at the Honduran borders, but otherwise had been having a grand time, again without incident.

Of course, now that I've said this, you will have your head chopped off ten minutes after crossing the border, right after you get robbed by a gang of kids disguised as chicle salesmen.

We can talk ourselves out of just about anything....
 
Back
Top