Mexico -dos and don't

search: the gulf coast, between mexico city and north to monterrey
destroy: most of the west coast, any effort to find good vegetarian food

Never before in my life have these words been connected so meaningfully.

S: West Coast south of Vallarta is awesome
D: West Coast north of Vallarta, except for Baja West Coast North of Cabo.

i'm going to Cancun for the first week of June w/two other couples. i'm super duper excited

I found an AMAZING veggie place in puerto vallarta, I think they call it natural food, comida natural. It was near the hard rock cafe, I just told the cabbie I was vegetarian and could he recommend anything?

sorry I can't help in monterrey tho. :(

DON'T: Lean out a second-story window, saying "Pelujae? Pelujae?" just because a stray dog followed you home.

You could also go walking in the city's parks, first picking up some warm homemade flour tortillas from a molino and then walking around eating tortillas and looking around at the sights. You obv know Spanish, right? Because that will come INCREDIBLY handy no matter where you go. Um... you could go drive around and sightsee, that's for sure. And there are lots of movie theaters and venues to catch traditional mariachi/ranchero performances and the like.

The whole of Mexico really works on a different time schedule than what we here in the States are used to. They eat big breakfasts, snacks in the middle of the day, and really late dinners, like at around 10 p.m. or so. Then they go out and either walk around or attend various events until about 1 or 2 in the morning, at least. There are lots and lots of street food vendors throughout the city, so that makes snacking (and picking up snacks to go along with meals) easy. Oh yeah, and don't drink the water -- but you didn't need to be told that! Ha. AND -- if you're used to diet sodas here in the States, you will not be able to stomach the diet sodas in Mexico, because they're always really bitter and hard to choke down. Best stick with fruit juices or regular sodas.

How long would it take to drive from LOS ANGELES to GUADALAJARA?

I've only been to Ciudad Juarez!

My bro who lived in Chihuahua for two years says hitchhiking is the best form of transportation. If you are a man. Which I'm not.

I am a man

ALRIGHT.

I imagine this wld mainly be a possibility if you spoke Spanish tho.

I am thinking of going for some across-the-border dental care. They pick you up from the El Paso airport (~35 miles away from me) and drive you down, get yr choppers fixed. I wld have to get a passport tho.

I have a passport

The answer to your FIRST question might, possibly, maybe, perhaps be aided by google maps.

nope

It's far too racist for that

or xenophobic or whatever

May as well get yr teeth did in between getting 60¢ 40s of Carta Blanca.

I'm British

Was Queen G not the best poster evar?

British...meaning? You don't need to? Or you really need to?

Meaning haha funny teeth but really I get it free when i go home. I don't have to worry, like an American would!

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

You are living in a MAGIC LAND in other words.

sure ok

Do you speak-a the Spanish?

no

I know restaurant Spanish, some cuss words, how to ask for/offer a cigarette, basic shopping skills. I know that saying you know "un pequito" (paquito?) Espanol means people think you are fluent. And apperently that the shave-and-a-haircut door-knocking/honking style is for some reason super offensive. I also know I can't roll my r's and people can't tell if I'm saying "dog" or "but."

cuss!

cuss words!

lol!

do: buy prescription drugs
don't: go to a donkey show

Bah, no, their RX drugs are WICKED overpriced. I mean, stuff like Valium, where they will charge like $180 for 100 of them. (Whereas if you have an RX that would cost about $14 in the US.) Uh, no. Their birth control is only $4 tho, so stuff like that is a-okay.

Why does everyone think it's funny when I say "cuss words"? I have been mocked IRL SO many times for using that phrase.

i used to say that too, and also get mocked

How long would it take to drive from LOS ANGELES to GUADALAJARA?

From Nogales, AZ, it's 18 - 20 hours down the coast. If you want to go across Baja (south to San Diego, then Tijuana, then east to Nogales), you'll go through some stunning scenery, but it will add 4-5 hours of driving vs. cutting across I-10 to Phoenix then south to Nogales. So, however long you think it will take you to get to the Nogales area, plus 18-20 hours.

Thanks! I just want to get there as quickly and cheaply as possible. maybe I should fly? I enjoy the autonomy of driving. But I also knew someone who died on a Mexico road trip and this makes me irrationally paranoid about it!

Having driven the TJ to Mexicali route several times, I can understand the paranoia. I'd see about cheap flights to Mazatlán, then renting a car to drive to Guadalajara. If you drive your own car, get a rider on your insurance to cover Mexico.

jealous

I've been to Akumal 4 times. Tulum is awesome. Dive in some off-highway cenotes.

Just back from a 3 week trip and amazed to see only one mention of Guanajuato upthread. Beautiful place, maybe the nicest I've been to anywhere in Latin America.

I once left my wallet in Guanajuato. It is indeed a beautiful town.

quincie, when was the last time you were in Todos Santos?

March of this year!

It has been five years since I was last there. Are you going???

Since I *had* been there. Quite a lot of development over the past 5 years. It struck me as kind of cruise-ship destination this time around, but I had some great beer at a local micro and there is good food to be had.

Pacific side water is too brrrrrr for me, though, so I prefer the Sea of Corte side of Baja.

Heyyyyyy!

Going for a wedding next month, I havent been in a looooong time. I heard its changed.... seems like it has quite a bit!

Do you drink mescal? I normally stick to beer tbqh.

The US State Department says the roads in Michoacán are dangerous. My wife wants to go to a nature reserve there where Monarch butterflies travel to. There are group tours to a different such Mexican locale that is not in the State Department don’t go area. Folks commenting on Trip Advisor think the roads in Michoacán are fine by day to the butterflies area. Anybody know more?

the US State Department says to not travel to Michoacan at all

what do you wanna do, live forever?

don't travel at night, go with a reputable tour group and don't wander off by yourself, and avoid doing obviously stupid stuff like flashing wads of cash or expensive smartphones and cameras and you'll be OK.

IME the US State Department travel warnings do not jive with actual travel risk (in my case tested in Mexico, Lebanon, North Korea).

Friends from the State Department (I live in DC, and those ppl used to be all over the place) explain that the travel warnings are all about diplomatic relationships and not actual travel risk.

If it were me I would go without a second thought.

When I lived in southern Baja roads were in fact dangerous at night but that was due to vacas not banditos.

I've personally just gotten very weary of more dangerous places as i've gotten older. my parents went to rio a couple of years back and witnessed two distinct gunpoint robberies and i was thinking "maybe cross that off the old list".

having said that lots of cities in america are p dangerous so i dunno, live a little

incidentally I'm going to mexico in february (my first ever honest to goodness vacation!!) and am v stoked

oh! am thinking of just taking a quick trip over the border to TJ in March. like just a day trip to grab badass tacos and maybe a bottle of nice tequila or whatever. anybody have recs on anything there? considering driving to san diego and just taking a bus to avoid some of the border-crossing mess.

We found a butterfly reserve in Piedro Herrada, that is NOT in a region that the State Department says not to visit. We hired a tour guide who picked us up at our Mexico City hotel and took us out there. We rode horses part of the way up the mountain trail and then walked further uphill from there, where we saw hundreds or more Monarch butterflies high in the trees and low by bushes . It all worked out well. The tour guide played his fave rural Mexican Banda and durenguese country music for us in the car and there, plus we ate a good lunch there ( and drank some mezcal). After spending some time in Mexico City, we flew to Cancun and rented a car and went to Tulum ( where Dan’s upthread suggestions helped out).

Piedra Herrada

i am going to el DF in less than a month -- are there any music-related places i need to go while i'm there? (it's just a few days, i've wanted to go there for as long as i can remember so this is probably a first visit not an only visit)

Can't remember your music inclinations but Saturday punk/hc flea market el Chopo. Just past Revolucion station and next to the really cool library.

It was kinda corny but we enjoyed the Mexico Folkloric Dance (and singing) company that performs at the Palacio de Bellas Artes. We also were probably the only gringos at a Victor Manuelle salsa romantica concert ( he’s Puerto Rican) at a place called the Forum that gets rented out for salsa shows

i like all types of music-related places. i am trying to learn something to take home so i can get brownie points at work + personal satisfaction :) i'm collecting things/venues/publications? to google when i have time before the trip. thanks for the tips!

I saw an astonishing Mariachi band in Plaza Garibaldi one night - a skiffle punk version who looked like they slept in their suits - but it might have been a lucky one off. As I said in the DF thread, just go and hang out at one of the shitty pulque places and avoid the big tourist traps.

Here's the link to the Mexico City thread (that I had missed before, doh!) with good, detailed Aldo comments on it:

Mexico City

re music in Mexico City...I am not seeing any upcoming gigs there right now by my faves Julieta Venegas or Cafe Tacuba.

Here's a link for the corny but good Folkloric Ballet company that includes mariachi musicians and dancers and more whom wife and I did see at the Palacio de Belle Artes (they perform here regularly)

https://www.balletfolkloricodemexico.com.mx/presentaciones-ballet-de-mexico-amalia-hernandez/

I read about these Mexico City clubs but uh, never made it to any of them:

La Maraka salsa merengue dance club

Mama Rumba

Mojito Room

Multiforo Alicia - indie

Pasaguero - indie

do: have a blast :)

Near the Mexico City Airport I noticed the Discos Colombia record store but I didn’t have time to go there. It’s on this list from a little while back
http://remezcla.com/lists/music/10-mexico-city-record-stores/

thanks curmudgeon! very helpful. i plan to have 1 or ideally >1 blast :)

going to Tulum (and parts nearby) next wednesday for a week! very excited!

We enjoyed our recent time in Tulum. The beach time was nice despite the seaweed issue there ( lots floating to shore). The Mayan ruins are a must to see and going to cenotes is also fun. We enjoyed a tour of the Sian Kaan Biosphere area where via boat we saw manatees and crocodiles and birds. There we also got to float down a tributary propelled by the current. Dinner at Cetli Restaurant was impressive—fancy Mexican in a casual but nicely designed restaurant ( out on a highway and not with the trendy places on the coastal road.

The Mayan ruins at Coba aren't that far from Tulum. worth seeing as well. Chichen Itza is 2 1/2 hours from Tulum (we didn't end up going there but i want to someday)

Tulum food rec: Pollo Bronco, on the main strip in town. So good.

Can you still climb Coba? You could when I was there but then 10 years is a long time ago.