We got up slowly from the boat launch and I had mapped out a path to a city outside of CDMX named Salazar. We had taken the expensive toll road to Patzcuaro so I wanted to take the slower roads through the towns and mountains of central Mexico. It is dry season, but the views are really nice and the roads are pretty good, give or take a few topos (speed bumps). I set the GPS for a little campground near the Mariposa Butterfly Sanctuary outside a town called San Felipe de los Alzati. I figured it would be nice to at least pet the butterflies since they are world renowned in their migrations.
Busses
The day started off fairly normally and about an hour into our drive we came across a valley that was on fire or had recently been burned. Things are pretty dry here and we passed some flames at the edge of the road. Not far past there was a burned out carcass of a Ram 700 and what looked like a Honda or Acura on the other side of the road. We commented that this must be the source of the fire. There were wrecker trucks backed up to each of the cars to take them back to the scrap heaps, and we were ushered through by some National Guard officers. Another 30 minutes down the road and we came across a bus that was across the road, still smouldering, and another National Guard crew routing traffic around the accident. He said something in Spanish about cables, which we saw were electrical lines laying across the path, apparently burned in the bus flames. We snapped some photos making comments about sending them back to our friends about narrowly escaping the cartel here in Michoacán.
We continued down the road and thirty minutes later there was another bus in the road, blocking the lanes with two flat tires. There was a bit of a edge to the road, but this seemed odd to have both tires blown out on one side. Again, the National Guard was routing cars around the block. I got to thinking how lucky I have been with the Falken Wildpeak tires, not having the issues the other drivers on the road here seem to have. We kind of joked at that being an odd place to leave the bus, unless it had been high-centered.
Please forgive the camera photos. I ordered this last March and have been carrying it in the truck since and I finally installed it on the camper in Patzcuaro. I am still getting to know it, but it records the front and rear cameras as we drive and has a g-force sensor to capture if major events occur.
Bumps
So we continue on down the road and of course, on these back roads there are the famous Topos (speed bumps) that are used to regulate speed; some are painted, some have signage, and some are just plain hard as hell to see. Well after going over several, one caught me in an area that was shaded and I did not have other cars to watch over the thing. This time it was bad on the truck as it hit the shark fin antenna and dented the top of my truck. UGGH… more on that in another post. It straightened the eye in the eye bolt and I had to go back and get my tie-down from a considerate observer. I had another eye bolt in my spare bin, so I replaced the (now bolt) and got it all situated on the truck. I’ll have to figure out how to straighten the roof dent. But more on that later.
We were noticing that the region was kind of devoid of activity. Regular types of stores were closed on Sundays, but additionally, nothing was really open, including the convenience stores at the gas stations. Something is always open in Mexico. About that time Kathy was noticing some warnings on our Pan American Travel Facebook group about issues in Mexico. And then her brother and sister-in-law started texting. It turned out the Mexican Army killed the head of the cartel in Puerto Vallarta on Saturday night and there was backlash and the Cartel was warning everyone to stay indoors while they fight it out with the army/guard/police. Now we know why there was such a strange setting on our drive today.
Well we were about 30 minutes from our stop, Kathy was getting a bit nervous, and I was just working my way around all the road construction. We hit another bump on the road construction where a cement drainage was not completely level with the new pavement and of course I had to stop and gather the stupid tie-down again from the road. Uggh.
Roadblocks
So as we pass yet another gas station with a handwritten sign on the doors “Cerrado” and entered the little town of San Felipe de los Alzati, cars were backed up again. As we approached, there was a lot of foot traffic and I could see the road was blocked by the minibuses that shuttle people around in Mexico. Some guy was indicating we had to turn around, so we 5-point-turned in the road and headed back out. (I wish I had saved the camera footage from that town.) I knew enough we needed to get back to a safer area and I went to the iOverlander map to find a place to stay. There was nothing in the area and I could not find a route around in town I felt safe enough to get to the campsite. About 30 miles back we could get to the Autopista which had a place to stay the night. The toll roads are considered much safer for travel, mainly due to the barriers they already have restricting traffic and heavy Guard patrols.
By this point Kathy’s research fingers were finding all kinds of real and fake news of the area and she was getting pinged by family and friends in the states and we had to put down the phone. She has crossed into fear at this point. In the next town of Tuxpan, I stopped to top us off with fuel, and spoke to the attendant about safety and the road. He said he had not heard anything and heading back to Maravatio and toll road was a good idea. So we bounded forward.
Buffets
We have a rule, like most, to not drive after dark in Mexico. Some of it is for safety from bandits, but mostly it is due to animals in the road, people without lights, potholes, topos, etc. So we arrived at the Mobil station about 15 minutes before sunset. We had not stopped for lunch and were famished, and there was a Mexican Buffet place with two busses out front. Time to treat my beautiful bride to a celebratory dinner after escaping certain death.
The place said it was open til 9, but today only until 7. It was 6:25 and we were hungry. The food sucked!!! Maybe it was because we were there right before close, or because they had just been ravaged by two busses of people, but nothing was really tasty. I miss those early days of Mexican Buffets in Tucson like Gordos or Pancho’s. The cactus even tasted bad here. LOL.
Well we asked to stay the night and they said yes, out front. I checked with the lady in the convenience store next door and she talked too fast and basically said no. So we asked the Mobil station attendant next door and he said yes, park in the back. Two to One, she looses. We settled in for a rather rough night, not knowing if the country was in a full out war. Google maps showed the Autopista closed until 7:30 am and several roads blocked on the way toward Mexico City. I got about 4 hours of sleep, but I could not comfort Kathy as this was her first experience with events like this.
Fun times… and I still had to fix the broken tie-down on the truck.