Border Crossing, Nogales to Oaxaca Mexico by Bus:

Border Crossing

This travelogue is meant to share information that will make your bus trip through Mexico easier.

I am traveling from Tucson Arizona to Oaxaca, Mexico, where I live part of the year. I want to reach Oaxaca for the Day of the Dead celebration, an event the I have witnessed for the past 12 Day of the Dead celebrations. The event is a spectacle, one of which I can never get enough. The candle-lit cemeteries in XoxoCotlon where my friend Juan Cruz Pascual will create his sand painting during the afternoon of October 31, are magic places during the evening vigil. See the sand painting process http://www.softseattravel.com/Day-of-Dead-Sand-Painting-Juan-Cruz-Pascual.html

XoXocotlan’s old cemetery is a magic place on October 31 during the night. The thousands of candles light up the tombs and the faces of the people as they sit by the graves. On the following night, the village of Tlalixtac de Cabrera holds a livelier celebration with brass bands and strolling guitar trios. The village of San Filipe del Agua holds a friendly celebration. Follow the Aqueduct north of the city of Oaxaca to the Pitico market and cross the street to the cemetery. Bus service or $3.50 taxi. Taxi back to the city. The Panteon General is a good take the first night of November.

I am leaving Tucson in the early afternoon with a plan to reach Mazatlan by dawn the following day (16 hour trip)

This might sound grim to some but the luxury Tufesa bus is a high tech rolling hotel made for sleeping. Once darkness descends (7:00 PM) I will sleep and the miles will speed by.

Farmland reaches all the way south for 600 miles but at Mazatlan the mountains below Durango start to pinch in and the farms turn to citrus and tropicals. At Mazatlan you cross the Tropic of Cancer and enter the tropics.

See "Alta Vista Ruin Site on the Tropic of Cancer" for the ruin site; go to Zacatecas either from Durango City or from Zacatecas City. Alta Vista is near Sombrerete in the small town of Chalchuhuites. It is a little-known site except for those that follow the solstice and the Zenith days.


Tip: Estimate Miles and Time Between Stations

I plan a long bus trip through Mexico by using the maps offered by Guia Roji, a book of 42 maps that fits in the daypack. It is important on a long bus trip to estimate your miles between cities and bus stations, more importantly, your time between stops. Plan on doing 50 miles and hour and plan your departure so that you arrive in your destination terminal early in the morning so that you have daylight to explore the city, beach, or ruin site.

An example is the trip from Tucson to Mazatlan; it is 800 miles distant, which computes to a 16-hour trip from Tucson. Therefore, I want to leave Tucson around noon or early afternoon so that I arrive in Mazatlan at 6-7 am and have time to explore the beaches.

Mountain travel will be much slower than 50 mph. A trip from Oaxaca City to the Pacific Coast beaches of Puerto Escondido or Zipolite for example will cover only 125 miles but take 7-8 hours. You can ask the ticket sellers at the station the trip duration but they are not always informed.

If you do head inland to Durango from Mazatlan, pick up some motion sickness medication. The mountain road to Durango is as steep and twisting as any you will ever see and bound to make you queasy.

     Bus travel is not about saving Money: the trip might actually cost more when you consider the expense for hotels, food, and sightseeing. Bus travel in Mexico for me is about comfort, adventure, flexibility, and a boots on the ground tour through the city, ruin site, or village. I am free to detour, stop, speed through, or lounge for a few days. It is comfort and lack of anxiety that I like.

These tips might help you see more and see it comfortably. Saving money (not likely) if it happens at all, will be a plus.