Brazil Drive

Call me Grant. Some years ago, never mind how long precisely, I though I would drive about a little, and see the sandy part of the world. Since deciding to pursue our goal of driving to Brazil for the World Cup, David and I realized that, having very little to no experience ACTUALLY driving through foreign countries and living out of our car, we needed to go on a practice trip. With the summer fast approaching, the only time we could both manage to have some free time for a trip like this was the week and a half after New Years Day and David heading back to Boston for school and me going back to work. We left for Mexico on Thursday, January 2nd at 10:00 pm.

Early morning shadows

We arrived some 24 hours later in Laredo, TX, where we camped at the Lake Casa Blanca State Park. We arrived after the park had closed for the night, but we called ahead and they graciously left us the code to the gate.

After a quick but much needed night of sleep, we woke up early the next morning and headed for the Mexican border. Laredo has two bridges into Nuevo Laredo in Mexico, but only Bridge II has the aduana (customs) and facilities to import your vehicle. Traffic coming into the United States was already backed up for what looked like miles, but going the other direction was quick and easy. An official glanced into the rear, asked about our cooler, then shrugged and waved us on. We were in Mexico! To travel outside the Border Zone (some 20 km’s from the border), though, and bring our car into the country, we had to go to the customs building and obtain our tourist visas and a temporary import permit for the Land Cruiser. Upon accomplishing this, we set off on the toll highway for Monterrey.

Northern mainland Mexico

Driving through the northern mainland of Mexico was very similar to how we would find driving through the Baja. Large town or city, 100+ miles of emptiness and mountains, another large town or city. This is not to say the drive wasn’t interesting. Our first taste of mountains and desert was very pretty, and when the highways would hit the cities, we inevitably would get lost trying to find our way to where they started again on the other side (roads signs virtually disappeared once we left the border areas). In the city of Torreon, especially, we spend a good 45 minutes driving though the backroads and poorer areas until we found a local bus that eventually led us back to the highway.

We arrived in the coastal city of Mazatlan under the cover of darkness, and found our hotel (the only one we stayed in on the entire journey!) and a safe place to park. Although we wouldn’t appreciate it until the morning, we stayed at a place called Hotel La Siesta and paid $50 for an oceanfront room. We ate at a small cafe nearby where a local band was playing. I tried to practice my Spanish, we each drank a few of the most refreshing Pacificos I have ever tasted, and we promptly went to sleep.

Good morning, Mazatlan

The next morning, we awoke to an awesome view and leisurely got up and loaded up the car. I had gotten very sunburned driving the previous day (the entire left-hand side of my body), so we both put on sunscreen and started meandering northward towards the town of Topolobampo, where that night we were getting on a ferry and heading to the Baja. As we headed north out of Mazatlan, we realized that the town is actually a pretty major tourist destination! About a mile from our aging, two story hotel, we began encountering highrise luxury resorts and gringos in flip flops. Driving in at night, we never would have noticed if we had driven south out of the city that morning.

Old Mazatlan

After a relatively quick (4.5 hour) drive, we arrived in Topolobampo mid-afternoon. I was a little apprehensive about our ferry tickets, and thankfully David was willing to accommodate us getting to the port 6 hours early for the estimated 11:00 pm departure time without complaining too much. There was a little confusion as to what we were supposed to do with our car, but thankfully we met a nice retired Canadian couple who helped translate for us. It turns out, you have to get your car weighed and measured before they can validate your ticket.  The couple were taking 6 months and driving their full-sized RV up the Baja and back to Canada. We doubled back to town after verifying our tickets and found a local food shack where we ate delicious shrimp and marlin quesadillas, and headed back to the port to wait.

We eventually loaded onto the massive ferry, and after a surprisingly above average included meal onboard, we found some recliners and slept fitfully for a few hours before arriving in La Paz at around 7 am. Once there, we were only a long line of cars and a military checkpoint away from the Mexican Baja!

Awesome sauce

Part II: La Paz to Loreto

[future links to parts 3 and 4]

Do you have any plans for the new year? Personally, we’re still trying to work off the pounds we picked up between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but we also have a few bigger fish to fry. Come May, we are going to have to cross quite a few borders and log many hours on foreign roads, and we think we could use a little practice. What better way to get a feel for the road than a little test run down to Mexico?

Tomorrow Grant and I are setting off on a mini-adventure to the Baja Peninsula in Mexico. The peninsula is a popular destination for overlanders and adventure enthusiasts alike. Known for whale watching, fishing, and relaxation of all varieties, the scenery and the beaches alone are a good enough reason to drive across the continent. But that’s not the only reason we are going. A vacation to warmer weather certainly is nice, but the practical side of our trip is far more important. It’s already 2014 and the summer is on the horizon, so BrazilDrive is headed to Mexico to prepare for the World Cup.

Like the real trip in the spring, we will be passing through Laredo, Texas as we head into Central America. The first real test is the border crossing. Most people agree that the further south you get, the more relaxed the borders, so naturally the US-Mexico border is the most heavily guarded. Borders are going to be stressful no matter what country you’re in, but we’re hoping to get some practice under our belt before the real deal. We’ve done the paperwork and made photocopies, so we’re hoping for a painless transition, but I’d rather experience any issues now, before missing World Cup games is on the line.

Driving to Baja is going to test more than border crossings. Driving long hours, cooking along the route, sleeping in our newly crafted sleeping platform, and updating the website are all areas we are hoping to work out. So far all of these things work on paper, but we need to try them out in the field before we take on Brazil. Keep an eye on the site in the days to come, as we’ll be posting pictures and updates from the trip!