Driving from Phoenix, Arizona to La Ceiba, Honduras – April 4, 2011 to April 9, 2011
Day 1 – 14 hours – 662 miles
Phoenix, Arizona to Ft. Stockton, Texas
This was our longest day of travel. Mostly through the repetitive deserts of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
Day 2 – 11 hours 30 minutes – 397 miles
Ft. Stockton, Texas to Monclova, Mexico
Four hours in Texas followed by a border crossing at Eagle’s Pass/Piedras Negras. Our bags got searched three times including when the police pulled us over. Lost several hours getting lost in two cities.
Day 3 – 11 hours – 503 miles
Monclova, Mexico to Queretaro, Mexico
Started the day badly by realizing Mike’s wallet was lost. Traveled along the high deserts of Mexico. Very fast travels. Stopped for an hour at a great rest stop in San Luis Potosi.
Day 4 – 12 hours 45 minutes – 606 miles
Queretaro, Mexico to Matius Romero, Mexico
Traveled on toll roads almost all day. Bypassed Mexico City with a major toll road. Only time driving into the night through Mexico. Ate yummy fish tacos from a little vendor. Spent the night in a dumpy hotel in the middle of nowhere.
Day 5 – 13 hours – 464 miles
Matius Romero, Mexico to Guatemala City, Guatemala
On the road by 6:30am. Fast roads through Mexico. Only 40-minute border crossing into Guatemala. Slow driving through Guatemala. More yummy tacos from a little restaurant.
Day 6 – 12 hours – 377 miles
Guatemala City, Guatemala to La Ceiba, Honduras
Found our way out of Guatemala City with no problems. Only a 35-minute border crossing into Honduras because the customs people really helped us out. Great baleadas from a little vendor. Last hour of driving after sunset.
TOTALS – 74 hours 15 minutes behind the wheel – 3011 miles – averaged 501 miles per day.
Thursday we drove from Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico to Matías Romero, Mexico. It was 536 miles and 13 hours. This was a great day of driving. We feared driving anywhere close to Mexico City. Something about driving through the 5th largest metropolitan area in the world was intimidating. About 50 miles before downtown Mexico City we found the North Arc. For a fee you could enter toll road and drive on fresh, new roads that curved all the way around Mexico City and allowed chicken drivers an easy bypassing the area altogether.
On Friday we drove from Matías Romero to Guatemala City, Guatemala. It was 492 miles and took 13 hours. In order to try and make Guatemala City by sunset we got on the road at 6:30am. At sunrise we were treated to a massive wind turbine farm along the Pacific coast. Clear, fast roads got us to the Mexico/Guatemala border just after noon. With little fanfare we cleared the border in 40 minutes. We took CA 2 (a different route than last time) and got into our hotel in Guatemala City just after 7:30pm.
This being our second drive through Mexico we have learned a little about navigation. We trust our GPS a little. We trust our map a little. We trust the road signs a little. None of the methods are perfect, but together they seem to work.
Because of our excessive number of bags in the bed of the truck our 100 lbs. rottweiler is in the back seat with Madison the entire trip. Neither seems to complain too much. In fact they take turns sleeping on each other.
Driving on Mexican roads can be a little slow going at times, but the toll roads are a great blessing. For a couple of dollars you can drive on a straight, flat road with few potholes or speed bumps with a faster speed limit. They are well worth the money and we take them whenever we find one.
On Tuesday Mike did all the driving and Erin was the master navigator. That was a good place for Mike to be as he seemed to get abnormally stressed by the lengthy border problems.
Mark is the Leader for Team Honduras, and a dear friend of ours. Mark has spent this last week at home very ill. Mark’s doctor believes he has Dengue. While Mark’s test results are not back from the CDC his doctor is “99%” sure it is Dengue.