By: Suzanne Marie Bandick

The Road Trip: Houston, Texas to Playa del Carmen, Mexico

My husband and I have just returned from the road trip of beautiful country sides, wonderful people, speed bumps and construction zones. We traveled from cold Houston, through Mexican mountains, to the Caribbean blue ocean. Now, we are not newbie’s to Mexican road trips as it was about 5 years ago we drove with our kids from Canada into Puerto Vallarta and one year later packed everything up and drove from Puerto Vallarta across Mexico to Playa del Carmen. This time for our trip, we flew into Houston, Texas to pick up our new Toyota 4Runner and then drove it back to our home here in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

We only gave ourselves a week of time before we had to be home – I know, some people may drive all day and night and can do it in a couple of days, but that just doesn’t work for us – thus a week. Our rule was no driving around trying to find a hotel in a strange city at night. So with only one week, that meant only 1 whirlwind day of shopping was allowed in Houston. In the end, I am proud to say that even with one part day I did a pretty good job of filling that truck! We were not entirely sure what customs check points awaited us at the Mexico/US border so I made sure to keep all receipts.

Before I knew it, it was day 2 and so we drove from Houston to the border town of McAllen, Texas. We used more Spanish in McAllen than we do here! When we felt we must be in McAllen we stopped and asked. "No, it’s far" we are told in Spanish – how can it be far? We should be here – "no, here is far", we are told again. After several rounds of confusing questions and answers we figured out the area we were in was called Far and McAllen was a couple blocks up the road. We are still not sure what was far or close. By the way, it was US Thanksgiving Day and the only place we could find open to eat was Denny’s! I felt like I was in a movie where the people go who burn their holiday dinners. Turned out it was a nice meal with a great waitress. Denny’s is for more than just breakfast – who knew?

The next day we crossed the border not sure what to expect as we had heard many scare stories. However, we crossed with not much fanfare or anything to speak of – the fellow in his lawn chair just waved us through without getting up - a border guard? We now figured that we had better look for the vehicle registration office. We felt pretty sure that somewhere down the road someone would need to see those papers and that sticker on our vehicle. When we finally found the registration/customs office we were greeted with a set up that flowed amazingly well. There were not many people and the person at the first desk greeted us, looked at our papers and passports, passed them to someone who put a few stamps on them and then ushered us to the next office where they photocopied what we needed and then ushered us to the next window where we paid. Within 15 minutes were out the door on the other side and free to go on our merry way. That was extremely easy! No one ever did check in our vehicle the whole trip!

We drove the day and ended up spending the night in Tampico, as planned. We found a nice hotel and had an Italian dinner. Yes, we are in a Mexican coastal town full of seafood and I have a craving for Italian - go figure! The next day was Tampico to Vera Cruz, an interesting drive as we ended up going the coastal route through ALL the small towns. Slow traffic and lots of speed bumps made of every conceivable material imaginable. It was beautiful mountainous country with sprawling hills of green, completely different than what you find in our state of Quintana Roo. We also had fresh seafood for lunch! In Vera Cruz we chose to stay in the old, colonial part of town in a historic hotel right on the main square. It was Saturday night and the party was happening – so we went and partied! Sunday morning as we left, nothing stirred.

Our trek to Villa Hermosa was a little long as we once again had to go along the coast through all the little towns and assorted speed bumps to find a little town that produces Santa Clara cigars. This was a special request from our business partner Jorge, who could refuse him as he said yes to taking our son while we were away and also volunteered to get up at 5 am to take our daughter to the bus station so she could go to school every day! How many cases of cigars would you like Jorge?

Villa Hermosa seemed really nice but we arrived as it was getting dark and left early so we did not explore. This by the way, was the same scenario as last time we stayed there, poor Villa Hermosa! Does anyone stay to see it? We left early as we were headed to Merida; I love Merida and the Hyatt was beckoning! I squeezed in a little more shopping as we know this town better so the rule of no driving after dark did not have to apply. Thanks honey! Last day and it was home to Playa del Carmen! We arrived safe, sound and surprisingly relaxed.

Side note: I had bought a cooler in McAllen so we could have cold drinks and snacks as I remember long stretches from other trips in Mexico with no place to stop for food or drinks – but that was not the case with this route. There were plenty of places for cold drinks, snacks and full meals. People even offer you baggies of assorted stuff in the small towns. They stand at the speed bump with their goodies. We did not even use the cooler once. I realized part way along the trip that it was also easier this trip as our son, who eats every 10 minutes was not with us. I should have thought of that! We had bought a flat of bottled waters and kept it behind the seat – that was a great idea. We were hydrated and got to stop for lots of breaks! Also, my advice, if you do this trip - take more time to explore this beautiful country and its people!

Suzanne Marie Bandick is the author of an exciting eBook called “Only in Mexico, You Say? The Humorous Side of Living in Mexico.” To order or get further information on living in Mexico, visit www.SuzanneMarieBandick.com

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