Border Crossing Bus, Oaxaca, Mexico to Douglas, Arizona

Oaxaca Mexico festival

Oaxaca City Mexico:  August 18, 2011. 
      I wanted to experience a long, non-stop bus trip from Oaxaca, Mexico to Douglas, Arizona in the USA, a distance of 1600 miles.  This would be a first class bus trip of 44 hours or so on various buses but for the most part, non-stop.  Friends have done similar trips numerous times and they tell me that it is easy.  Just drink lots of water they tell me and exercise whenever you can.  Only one way to find out.

Night Bus to Mexico City, ADO First Class Bus Leaving at 11:00 PM 

     The TV flat panel monitor that displays the prices and schedule in Oaxaca's new ADO Station is nearly impossible to read because of the reflections and the fuzzy quality of the graphics.  I thought it said 448 pesos for a first class ticket to Mexico Norte Station from Oaxaca's ADO Station on ADO regular first class service.  When I reached the ticket counter, however, the price was 483 pesos, up about a hundred pesos from a year ago but at $37.50 USD still not a bad price at about 12.5 cents USD per mile for the 300 mile trip.   See Exchange Rate.

     ADO is a smooth running operation and a safe one.  The security guard does a pat down of each passenger for weapons and they do a metal scan.  They video tape each passenger.   
      The driver backs out of the slot exactly on time and there is no BS about it, no loud music from the driver's compartment, no driver with his shirttails hanging out eating burritos while jawing on cell, no horrible action flicks blaring away on the TV screens.  The passengers are soon asleep for the 6 hours of super highway between Oaxaca City and the mountain pass below the volcanoes Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl and the glide down into Mexico City.

     Norte Bus Station is a huge middle age station, an under lit and cavernous gateway to all points in Mexico but a welcome sight as we pull in at 5:00 am. 

Clean bathrooms for 4 peso, ATM machines, pastry shops, convenience stores, and dozens of ticket booths for bus lines going in all directions, but predominantly north, competing for business.

Zacatecas City

Most of the clerks could use a shot of happy juice but, after all, it is 5:00 am and they are dealing with droves of passengers. 

 Zacatecas would make a good way station city for my trip north in case I was not able to go all the way in one shot so I bought a ticket for a Chihuahuenses Bus leaving at 6:00 am. 
 Chihuahuenses is a division of Estrella Blanca and they run several other bus lines north, Futura is one that I also like. 

At Mexico City Norte Station there are many options for first class bus service to the US border, Chihuahuenses, Futura, ETN, Omnibus, and others.  
Primera Plus is a good quality option but they reach only as far north as Mazatlan on the Pacific Coast.  From there, Tufesa Bus and ETN reach Nogales and the border.

     I chose Chihuahuenses and paid 540 pesos ($42. USD) for the 376-mile trip to Zacatecas, about 11cents USD per mile.

  I was careless in choosing my seat and found that seat 36 was too close to the bathroom.  I prefer any seat in from 4 to 20.  It is convenient to be within a short walk to the lavatory if you are hydrating but not too close. 

No problem it turned out; there were few passengers aboard and the bathroom was clean and did not smell.  The ride in the back of the bus is less comfortable, however, with the wheel noise and the harsher bumps.  The roads proved smooth and for the most part new, however, and the ride was comfortable.

 We soon were speeding along towards San Luis Potosi through the high, Alto Plano of Central Mexico where cactus and Joshua trees prevail and distant mountain loom above lush river valleys.  The rainy season was nearing its end and had turned the landscape green.

We arrived in Zacatecas at 4:00 pm.  The station is new and clean with a decent food vendor and clean rest rooms for a shave and brushing of teeth.  After a snack and a short walk, I booked a 6:45 Chihuahuenses bus for the City of Chihuahua, a twelve hour, 520- mile trip for 765 Pesos.  ($59. USD or 11 cents USD per mile)

     I usually stop in the colonial cities for a day or two but on this trip I wanted to experience a straight shot so after a rest and cleanup I was soon headed north.

     We arrived in Chihuahua at 5:00 am and after a brief rest I was on my way to Agua Prieta by 5:30 am.  The first class ticket aboard Chihuahuenses bus cost 530 Pesos for the 8 hour,  337-mile trip.

Tucson Arizona

We arrived in Agua Prieta at 12 50 in the afternoon.

    The buses do not cross the border at the Agua Prieta Bus Station, shuttle vans leave for Tucson and Phoenix Arizona from the bus station with a ticket price of $25 USD for passage to Tucson.

Shuttle vans leave from both sides of the border and head north.   

I arrived in Tucson at five PM and was surprised to feel rested after the 42 hour trip.


Next, Return Trip, Tucson To Oaxaca City 

   

Nature Hikes in Oaxaca, Apoala Oaxaca

Mountains of  Mexico.  Apoala is located in a river valley in the 

Mixtec region of  Northern Oaxaca State 

Nature Hikes in Oaxaca

Apoala, Two Rivers of Paradise   Updated August 2011

     You duck deep into the cavern called the Cave of the Snake and then enter a vaulted room with stalactite ceilings. You hear the gurgling of water. It tells you that you have reached the pool where the underground river bubbles through the rocks. This river will emerge from the cliffs and join the main river in the valley where, according to ancient legends, life first began in the Americas.

    

Apoala Camping  beside the river

     That legend tells how the river bubbling through the grotto gave life to a sacred tree in the valley that in turn gave life to the first humans. The Codex Vindobonensis, now  in the National Library of Vienna, relates the marriage of Lord 1-Flower to Lady 13-Flower, both born of the Great Tree in the valley of the two rivers of Apoala, Paradise in the eyes of some Native Americans.

     From that valley of shading cedars,  the river tumbles over the Tail of the Serpent Cascade, plummeting 400 feet into a green pool and then spilling out into a broad valley, eventually tumbling 5,000 feet and 300 miles to join the Papoloapam River. There it spills into the Gulf of Mexico where Mexico’s first great civilization formed, San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan, the home of  the Olmecs.

Apoala hiking beside the river 

     In the river valley, lodging rooms serve guests who come to hike and bike in the valley of Apoala.  There are small cabins for singles or doubles, and cabins large enough for families.  
Several hours of dirt road scraped from the high plains northeast of Nochixtlan has kept all but the hardiest traveler out of the Valley of Apoala.  

     To protect the pristine environment, the State tourist agency hopes to lure visitors to Santiago Apoala and spread their dollars among the 260 local residents, easing pressure on the scarce resources of palm fronds, building lumber, exotic birds, and endangered animals. 
Oaxaca Ecotours

     To visit and hike in Apoala you must hire a guide at the village visitors center, otherwise, you could not find the cave where the river bubbles through the rocks, the ancient stone carvings, the cascade, or the canyon cliffs where climbers come to repel.  The fees paid to the guides helps the local people preserve the valley.

Mixtec kitchen, ollas and the comal

  Naturalists find a paradise in Apoala; many species of birds visit the valley including Rufous-Capped Warblers, Western Tanagers, Yellow Grosbeak, Violet-Crowned Hummingbirds, and the White-Throated Towhee. A few years ago a naturalist discovered a new variety of small-eared tree frog that lives below the cascade.

      Villagers will put you up for the night if the tourist cabins are full. (Easter week is the only busy time) The local people will feed you fresh cooked tortillas and memilitas in their simple kitchens.
   

Apoala roads for biking and hiking, Apoala, Oaxaca            

     Apoala is a simple paradise where fruit trees are abundant, water pure, and the air crystal clear. While three hours of dirt road through the plains of the Mixtec Alta’s high divide has kept the valley somewhat isolated, these same dirt roads offer the visitor great mountain biking and hiking.




Next, Road Trip, Pacific Coast