Mexico
 

Hey everyone, I'm going to Mexico soon (31st) for a month and I thought I'd ask if anyone on here lives or lived there, visited the country or whatever.

The city is San Luis Potosí; I'll be there all the month I'll spend in Mexico, working my ass off.

I'm interested in general stuff, whether it's safe to walk/ride around the streets randomly in the precious little free time I'll have (day/night), what to eat (I know I better forget drinking tap water), whether there's any danger of malaria, whether they'll accept my pitiful Visa Electron card etc.

IIRC we have a couple of Mexicans here, maybe Huerro?

It'd be especially cool if someone from San Luis popped in but I guess that's a long shot.

Not Mexican, but I lived in Mexico City for a couple of years, I've never been to SLP though. I would imagine it's a bit more laid back than the DF.

I never had any problems roaming the streets of the big city any time of the day or night. Just take the same precautions you would anywhere else (mostly just don't carry anything you can't afford to lose). SLP is in the mountains so there's no chance of Malaria or any tropical diseases. Anything's fine to eat, just avoid raw veggies for the first couple of weeks.

Take the bus to Guanajuato one weekend.

Have fun and send me a PM if you have any questions.

Thanks.
No malaria is just what I thought and really good to hear... we were all given these pills (Lariam) to take preventively... they have killer side effects so I didn't take any so far. San Luis is supposed to be way outta the malaria zone and almost entirely too high up for the wicked little *******s (6000ft) so I should be ok.
Now I have some Lariam in case I ever go to Africa:)

My biggest concern is accessing the money on my bank account w/ the Visa Electron card. I guess I'll find out once I'm there.

My old boss lived there; as I understand it, it's a pretty town full of nice people, and the center of Mexican Wrestling.

I've never had trouble taking money out of machines in Mexico (or anywhere else in the world where I could find a machine actually) with my Visa debit card. I'm sure ATMs will be plentiful in SLP.

It's probably worth bringing a couple hundred in US$ just in case you travel out of the city or to tide you over until you can get things straightened out if for some reason the card doesn't work. And if you don't have to use it, it's no problem to take home with you.

i lived in guadalajara for a while. like Huerrolito said, pretty easy to get monies.
i never felt threatened walking through GDL at any time of day.
hope you have a great time.

ps. go to Real de Catorces.

Huerro- you didnt have a bike down there did you? i would think the survival rate of a cyclist in mexico is 2 weeks.

this thread bums me out cause my good friend just got deported back to mexico and i wont get to see him for a long time.


F the man, man

No, thank you, although I often thought about it. I had to be at work at ten till seven in the morning and the streets were empty. Then when I left work every afternoon I remembered exactly why nobody rides. It would be a great city for cycling if they could make it work. It's nice and flat and never really hot.

I've ridden a bunch in Central America outside of the big cities and have had nothing but great experiences. Nicaragua is especially good for riding (a somewhat positive consequence of an otherwise horribly depressing poverty) This pic is a bad stretch of road on the island of Omotepe, but the roads tended to be good dirt or concrete without much traffic.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2.../roughroad.jpg

On sundays, Mexico DF closes down some major streets and makes them bikes only. Or at least that's what I saw when I went there last month. It was really awesome.

Thanks a lot and if anyone knows anything about San Luis, don't hold back:)

I'm certainly going to skip Mexican wrestling, but Real de Catorce sounds like fun with indians high on peyote and MTB-ing and whatnot...

Yeah, I'm bringing some US dólares and the company will take good care of me anyway... I just need the $ from my account for when I go crazy and buy a house or a case of tequila or something:) I know there will be ATMs only my card is not a proper Visa so it's tossup... they may swallow it or they may spit it:)

That is a bad stretch of road? They would love to have that quality of road into Plantanilla Panama. But, it is in the Darien, so what would you expect. Loved it there, but would definitely have needed a MTB.

**** lariam, good choice to avoid it if at all possible.

Depending on where in Africa, you shouldn't have any problems with malaria.

You'll be fine with the Visa as well.

"high on peyote"? Come on.

Yeah, I guess. Havent been there but my reading suggests that traditional ceremonies of Real de 14 involve peyote use for... ummm.. visions.

http://peyote.org/

Yes it's true, it's for "visions" and seeking your power animal/communicating with ancestors. I guess the way I read your post it made it seem like people just ingest peyote for the heck of it to have fun... not the case. It's a very serious experience...I doubt you'll see people just skipping around "high on peyote"... it's not like that.

Hey people, I just digged this up to say thanks for the malaria info and whatnot.
I'm now safely back and had no problems apart from the obligatory stomach infection.

I didn't get to ride a bike at all there... and there were just 2 kinds of riders in and around San Luis anyway: 1) totally broke people on ****ty MTBs and on age-old rusty coaster brake singlespeeds; and 2) the occasional roadie on a training ride.
Because of the above there is no bike rental place in SLP even tho it is a decent sized city (~800,000).