PESOS

The exchange rate right now is about 11 pesos to 1 US dollar, but 10 to one 

is a handy ratio to work with. Mexicans use a dollar

sign on their prices, so it can be confusing. For us, figure that if the

amount is up in the hundreds, you should divide it by 10 to get the price in

US dollars.

SANBORN'S TRAVELOGS

As I mentioned before, Sanborn's gave us two Travelogs for the trip. On the

back, it says "List Price $24.95" and Sanborn's sells them for $8. The one

for Brownsville/McAllen to Vera Cruz was copyright 2004, and was certainly a

help when we were on a route that was covered. However, you need a good

map -- and the one Sanborn's gives you is not big enuf. I bought a map at a

Wal-Mart in TX and it was SWISS!! Everything in three languages, and not

enuf detail, altho the map was pretty big. (And expensive -- $12.95US)

Obviously we made do, since we're now in Chetumal, but a big, up-to-date

map, even in Spanish, would be helpful.

The travelog is useful when you're in town, and the little maps, which say

"not to scale" CAN be helpful, but also misleading. I liked the ones best

that showed where the Wal-Mart was! The description of road conditions was

not too helpful, since those change from month to month. For this reason,

the travelog for the last half of the trip; for us Vera Cruz to Chetumal,

copyrighted 2002, was pretty misleading. Their little map for Chet lists the

population as 20,000!

Charlie (Sanborn) or his sub got scammed at the Pemex in Escarcega, and I

will talk about that more later. He has nothing good to say about

Escarcega, and we skipped it!

STAYING IN LITTLE OR NON-EXISTENT TOWNS

In Acayucan, we followed Sanborn's recommendation and stayed in the best

hotel in town, the Hotel Kinaku. The internet cafes were about two blocks

down Victoria Street, across from the Plaza. The hotel was very nice, big

modern room, cost $590. (Under 60 bux)

Next day, (Monday) we zoomed thru Villa Hermosa on a good four-lane road,

made great time, hoping to make Escarcega before nightfall. The tollroad

runs out, and you're down to a pretty good two-lane road, so we stopped

about 30 klicks west of Escarcega in a little no-name town, at the first

hotel we came to in an hour. It was actually a delightful experience. They

had no guests when we got there (one showed up later) The hotel, actually

the back of the downstairs, had six rooms, mostly with one double bed. Our

room had a double and a single, sheets, no blankets, so I brought in my

sleeping bag and slept in that. The bed was reasonably firm, I slept well.

Parked right in front of the patio, we brought our instruments in and played

a bunch of tunes while they were fixing our comidas. Waitress was dancing

with her broom as she swept the patio; people stopped and came over to the

wall and watched, neighbor kids, etc. and seemed pretty disappointed when

our food came and we stopped playing to eat. Food was pollo asada, frijoles

refritos, pappas fritas, cost well under 100 pesos. In fact, the total

bill, hotel & food was 250 pesos and I gave them 300. Next morning, the

kids were out in their uniforms, and we got underway at about 7:30. Sun was

already way up, and not in our faces.

The road to Chetumal isn't bad, and the last 100 klicks or so is very good

two-lane, wide shoulders, until you get about 10 klicks out of Chet and

there's a lot of construction.

SCAMMED AT THE PEMEX

I wanted to get gas before we left Mexico, so we went to the big Pemex just

down from the turnoff to Belice. As I unlocked the gas cap, I told the

young man "Magna" and "Full" which has always worked in the past. We

chatted (my mistake) while he put some gas in, and then stopped before it

was full. I said "full" again, and he started over, resetting the pump and

putting in $117 worth. Then he claimed that he had first put in $100 worth,

and he wanted $217. Well, we've never been able to get that much gas in

Betsy, and I think the bill should have been about $160. We argued about

it, and <surprise> all the other attendants backed him up, and the cars were

lining up behind me and honking, and I didn't have enuf pesos, (a $200 bill

and 8 pesos in change) so I finally dropped a US dollar on top of his change

bag and we left. Charlie, talking about Escarcega, said "Watch them like a

hawk" and I will make the same recommendation. Pumping and paying for

myself at US self-serve, pay-at-the-pump-with-a-credit-card has really

spoiled me. BTW, Charlie said that some Pemex are starting to take credit

cards, but we never found one on on our trip.

STYMIED AT THE BORDER

We went down to the BZ border at about 3:30, and I had to turn in my car

sticker. (If you don't, your passport will show that you brought a car into

Mexico, and didn't bring it out. And Mexico will assume that you sold it

and want duty!) I went to the last customs house and parked, my mistake,

the sticker goes at the first customs house and I eventually got in trouble

for being parked where I was, but the cop didn't give me a ticket. We

needed about 450 pesos to settle with Mexico on our visas, and get our

passport stamped OK, and the only cambio or pesaros were in Belize. That

$450 sounds like an "exit fee" and I don't remember ever having to pay it,

but they make the rules. So, we came back to Chet and stayed at Los

Cocos -- almost the biggest hotel here. It is very nice, and costs 600

pesos, which I can put on the Visa. BTW, MX customs in Brownsville takes

Credit Cards but Subteniente Lopez does not. We went to La Finicia, had a

couple of Leon beers, enchaladas, a hamburgesa, and a shot of Bacardi

Solera. I felt better.

Chetumal seems to be in the throes of urban renewal. Obregon, the main

street going from the BZ turnoff to downtown, is completely destroyed, and

several other streets in the downtown area were blocked off. Tony's Music,

the biggest music store in Chet, is on Obregon and was closed. (Maybe

they've moved.) It will be nice when they're done, but that could be years!

Belize in the morning.

RZ

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Afterward:  Subsequently, my friend Margaret told me that many

many people have been scammed by that same PEMEX 

in exactly the same way that I was scammed.  Be warned. 

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