Getting down to the start of La Carrera Panamericana gets easier each year, but it is always an adventure.  Instead of everyone trying to get to Tuxtla Gutierrez on their own, six years ago we started the Coyote Convoy.  Strength in numbers seemed to make sense.  Leaving together from Texas and stopping in San Miguel de Allende also means we get to know each other on the way down.  During the race, we hardly have time to say hello.

The Coyote Convoy will leave Laredo, Texas at 6:00 AM on Saturday, October 18, and will stop in San Miguel de Allende, which is 590 miles south, around 4:00 PM.  We’ll display our cars in the main square on Sunday, and then leave on Monday, October 20 for the long drive down to Tuxtla Gutierrez.  We will arrive in Tuxtla on Tuesday morning, October 21. 

If you plan to drive down on your own, you should arrive in Tuxtla by the morning of October 21.  That will give you two days to complete the registration and inspection process.  The “pre-qualification” run is the afternoon of October 23.  The race starts the next morning.

TRAVEL INFORMATION - GETTING TO TUXTLA

Can you find Tuxtla Gutierrez (tooxs'-la gu-ti-er'-rez) on the map?  Hint: find Guatemala and move your finger slowly northwest 125 miles or so.  Can you pronounce it?  You need a good map of Mexico and a couple of Spanish lessons.  I recommend a map from AAA and the AAA "Mexico Travel Book," because some other maps are hopelessly out of date.  The Mexican Guia Roji series of maps is pretty good, too.  Also check the Quimera map series.  GPS software is also available for the Garmin units.

Take out a colored marker and on your map trace the path from Laredo, Texas, to Tuxtla Gutierrez.  Connect these cities: Laredo, Monterrey, Saltillo, San Luis de Potosi, San Miguel de Allende, San Juan del Rio, Actopan, Pachuca, Shahagun, Puebla, Cordova, Minatitlan, and Tuxtla Gutierrez.  Whew!  With another color marker, mark the route of La Carrera back the other way.  The total length that you will travel in Mexico is equal to a trip across the USA!  Are you are being to feel the pain in your backside?  But we are up to the challenge, right?

Tuxtla Gutierrez is 670 miles south of Mexico City.  It's a city of around 700,000.

DIFFERENT ROUTES TO TUXTLA

If you start in Nuevo Laredo, it takes two days of hard driving to make it to Tuxtla by the best route.  The recommended route is from Nuevo Laredo to Mexico City (770 miles) via Monterrey and San Luis Potosi (Highway #57), and then to Puebla (75 more miles).  It's four-lane highways the whole way.  On the second day, Tuxtla is another 9-10 hours down the road.  Tolls will cost you around $250 USD--cash. 

Driving in Mexico at night is not recommended, primarily because so much of it is open cattle range.

From Arizona and California, some experienced Carreraistas cross at Nogales, AZ, and then follow the coastal route before turning toward Guadalajara and Mexico City.  It's at least 150 miles longer to go through Laredo, Texas, but the roads south from there are better, safer, and faster.  We know of no one who goes through El Paso or other border towns.  However, the roads from El Paso (Ciudad Juárez) to Zacatecas are excellent. 

A couple of fellows use the route through Brownsville and down along the Gulf of Mexico. The roads are slow and rough in some areas.  It has the big advantage of avoiding Mexico City, however.  The seafood is also cheap and excellent (only eat steaming hot seafood).

It is also possible to go down the Pacific coast of Mexico, but add several days for this scenic, twisty drive!

Check the weather before you leave.  It is not uncommon for tropical storms to hit southern Mexico in October.

AVOIDING MEXICO CITY

All roads lead to Mexico City, but you really do not want to go there with your racecar.  First, there are days that you cannot drive your car or truck in Mexico City, based on the last number of your license tag.   Second, it is illegal to take a truck or trailer on most of the freeways and elevated roads in the city.  Third, the police are underpaid.  An Escalade pulling a racecar with Texas plates is an immediate $400 “fine,” paid in cash on the spot.  Make sure that in the negotiations you get an escort out of town, so you won’t get busted buy another patrol car two miles down the road.

The only other option is to go through this city late at night (1:00-3:00 AM) with a full tank of gas and a guide who is the cousin of the chief of police.

This is why the Coyote Convoy goes around Mexico City on the truck route.

CROSSING THE BORDER - THE JOY OF BUREAUCRACY

Obtaining your tourist card (visa), and the tourist permits and windshield stickers for your vehicles at the border is pretty easy, if your paper work is in order. It does require patience, however.

Bring the original title and/or current registration for your racecar, tow truck, and trailer.  Nothing else, like a photocopy or affidavit, will suffice. 

The basic rule is: one foreign visitor can bring only one vehicle into Mexico.  Thus, one of your two vehicles (racecar or tow truck) must be titled in the name of another member of your travel party.   (The trailer goes with the truck, as one unit.)  If your vehicle is leased or financed, you should have written permission to bring them into Mexico.

It takes an average of two hours to get your personal tourist card and vehicle permits. Think DMV.  These are the four big steps in the process:

1. Obtain your tourist card (visa) at the Immigration Office at border crossing.  Show your passport, fill out the form, and have it stamped. 

2. Pay $22 for the tourist card at the closest bank window and change some dollars for pesos.

3. Step over to the photocopy booth to have copies of all your documents made, like your new tourist card.

4. Stroll down to the “Banjercito” window (looks like a bank window, because it is) to get the tourist permits and stickers for your vehicles.  (You cannot pay for your tourist card at this window.)

Save all the documents they give you. The permits will be checked along the way, and you will need them when you exit the country!  You may also register by computer to import your car(s) or at certain Mexican consulates.  Go to www.banjercito.com and click on "tramites."

Remember where you get your car stickers, because you must return to this place before you leave Mexico to have them removed.  Do not go across the bridge into the USA without having these stickers removed and getting a receipt.  At some border crossing there are roadside booths where the stickers can be removed.

Going across the border in Nuevo Laredo is highly recommended because the people there know La Carrera Panamericana and they will bend over backwards to get our cars and trucks across.  Things may be much different at other border crossings, like Nogales, Ciudad Juárez, Matamoros.

IMPORTING VEHICLES WITH A F.M.A.D PERMIT

If you do not have clear title to your vehicles, have a huge truck, or have all the vehicles in one name or the company’s name, you must import your vehicles by going through the Mexican Federation of Auto Sports (FMAD) and hiring a licensed Mexican customs broker.  Do not confuse this process with what was described above–the car permits and stickers.  These two processes are very different.  Here’s the FMAD process:

1. Download and fill out the application for the FMAD vehicle permits and your racing license, and express mail these applications to their office in Mexico City with the required payment.  (You need only apply, not pay for the racing license, at this point.)

2. Secure the services of a Mexican customs broker in your POE.

3. FMAD will send the approved permits to the Mexican customs broker.

4. You go to the broker’s office on the U.S. side of the border

5. The broker’s staff member jumps in your truck and takes you across the border and handles the transaction.

The FMAD permit costs $150 each for the racecar, the truck, and the trailer (a total of $300).  You must also apply for the FMAD rally license issued by the same organization ($280).  See the Entry page for information on contacting FMAD, or go to www.femadac.com.mx.

The services of a licensed Mexican customs broker will cost between $300 and $1500, because it is a negotiable fee for services.  You must also provide the broker a list of all the spare parts, extra tires, and equipment that you are taking into Mexico—and that you will return to the USA when the race is over.

If you use a customs broker, you must stop at his office in Nuevo Laredo on the way back to the USA to reverse the process, or he will forfeit his bond that guarantees the return of your vehicles and spare parts.  He will not be happy, if you forget to stop.

ARRIVING IN TUXTLA GUTIERREZ (CHIAPAS)

Well you've made it!  You spent an extra day and racked up a couple of "tickets" in Mexico City for driving on the wrong day and on the wrong road because you did not make the Coyote Convoy, but that's part of the Carrera challenge and charm.  Smile, gringo, because you are just a guest in this country! 

Now you've got to find the Camino Real Hotel in Tuxtla, the usual HQ hotel, and the parc fermé—to complete registration and inspection.  This is usually conducted at the "county fair grounds" or "fería” on the western edge of town. (This information has not yet been posted for 2008.)

If you arrive at the airport, just grab a cab to the headquarters hotel.

Remember, the optional speed trial or pre-qualification is Thursday afternoon, October 23.  Arriving Wednesday morning is OK, too, if your car is ready to roll.  You'll just have less time to get it ready and rest up a bit before we race north on Friday at 8 AM.

HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS IN TUXTLA

When you register for the event, a hotel reservation for a double room is automatically made in the name of the driver of the racecar for the eight nights of the race (October 23-30).

Since most of us will arrive in Tuxtla before October 23, we will need extra hotel accommodations.  You probably will need an extra room for your support crew.  If so, email your needs to Monica.Grossmann@yahoo.com.mx.  Make sure that you send clear her messages about your room needs before and during the event.  Insist on written confirmation of your hotel reservations.  Hint: try to make your travel plans early and avoid changing them. 

The Carrera Office charges $150 for each extra night in Tuxtla or along the way, taxes included, or $1200 for a room during the event, Oct. 23-30.  Rooms in luxury hotels costs $150 extra.  You may also make your own hotel reservations.  Once you pay the Carrera Office for your hotel rooms, there will be no refund.

Most people park their cars and trailers around their hotels at night.  One recommendation: use small locks on your hood pins at night to deter people from checking underneath or use a car cover.  There are guards around the hotel, but they cannot cover an entire parking lot at all times.

GASOLINE AND FOOD WHILE TRAVELING

PEMEX gas stations are plentiful on most major highways in Mexico. Most stations carry non-leaded regular and non-leaded 92 octane premium.  Quality is OK.  Diesel fuel is also generally available.

Take gobs of cash, since most stations do not accept credit cards.  Regular was about 7.8 pesos a liter or around $2.60 a gallon last year.  If the attendant cleans your windshield, tip him a couple of small coins.  Sometimes it is necessary to tip the bathroom attendant 2 pesos, but it is worth the money!

There are small restaurants along the roads and at the larger PEMEX stations throughout most of Mexico.  If the place looks clean, then it's probably OK. Don't expect to find a better one down the road.  Just eat hot food and drink from a can or bottle.  A case of bottled water in your truck comes in handy. 

Remember do not brings guns or drugs into Mexico.  Mexican jails are not nice places.

The Mexicans that you meet along the way, especially the children, will be friendly and curious about you and your vehicles.   Everyone will try to be helpful if you are having a problem.  However, if you spend the night at a motel, it's best to park your rig inside a locked or guarded compound.  Most of the better motels have one.

And yes, getting there is half the fun!  It is always an adventure!

Viva la Carrera!

Gerie Bledsoe
North American Coordinator
gbledso@aol.com
3/1/08