Border Crossing, Nogales to Oaxaca Mexico by Bus:

Border Crossing, Tucson to Oaxaca by Bus

Update Dec. 2013 

The cross border buses run by Tufesa Bus from Phoenix and Tucson make it easier to take a bus trip from the USA through Mexico.  Tufesa runs first class buses from Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and several cities in California through Mazatlan and on to Guadalajara..

• Tucson to Oaxaca

If you travel from Tucson, Arizona to Oaxaca, Mexico, you can reach Oaxaca in about two days.
 Of course there is much to see along the way and the various buses in Mexico's extensive first class system will make it easy to visit the colonial towns and cities of Mexico.   A good event to plan for in Oaxaca is the Day of the Dead celebration, a spectacle of candle-lit cemeteries  and sand paintings that takes place during the afternoon of October 31 and the following two evenings.  The cemeteries are magic places during the evening vigils.

 See the sand painting process 

    Leave

• Mazatlan, Pacific Coast

Leave Tucson AZ in the early afternoon aboard Tufesa Bus and reach Mazatlan by dawn the following day (14-16 hour trip)

The luxury Tufesa buses are  high tech rolling hotels made for sleeping. Once darkness descends (7:00 PM) you can sleep as the miles speed by.

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

A good side trip here is the ruin site of Alta Vista  (link) 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.
Zacatecas is a great colonial city well worth a visit.
  April 2013 bus Fare: Nogales to Guadalajara, 1404 Pesos, $115 USD.

• Estimate Miles and Time Between Bus Terminal 

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 an hour and plan your departure so that you arrive in your destination terminal early in the morning.  This will give you daylight to explore the city, beach, or ruin site.

An example is the trip from Tucson to Mazatlan; it is 800 miles between Tucson and Mazatlan.  This computes to a 16-hour trip from Tucson. Therefore, it is best to leave Tucson around noon or early afternoon so that you arrive in Mazatlan at 6-7 am and have daylight to explore the beaches or search for a hotel.

Day of the Dead cemetery visits in Mexico

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.


If you do head inland to Durango from Mazatlan, pick up some motion sickness medication. The old mountain road to Durango is as steep and twisting as any you will ever see and bound to make you queasy.  A new road is in the works and will open in 2013.  It has the highest bridge in Mexico, a cable-stay bridge that offers spectacular scenery.

     Bus travel will allow you to move at your own pace and to visit various cities and beach towns.  Bus travel (Link to Mexico Bus Travel Info) will offer comfort, sightseeing, adventure, flexibility, and a boots on the ground tour through the city, ruin site, or village. You are free to detour, stop, speed through, or lounge for a few days.

• Primera Plus

Primera Plus Bus also serves Mazatlan and their luxury buses make afternoon and evening trips to Mexico City with morning and mid day trips to Guadalajara..

• Guadalajara

Tufesa Bus continues southeast from Mazatlan and ends its bus route in Guadalajara.
In Guadalajara there are many bus options including Primera Plus Bus which offers a luxury ride to Mexico City.

• Coastal Route 200

 It is also possible to continue south on coastal Route 200 to Puerta Vallarta, Zihuatanejo, (link) Acapulco and Puerto Escondido.  First class buses such as Estrella Blanca cover the Pacific coast as far south as Oaxaca State.

• Oaxaca Coast 

In Oaxaca State, ADO buses cover the coastal bus routes all the way to Tapachula Chiapas and the border of Guatemala.
Reach Oaxaca City from Puerto Escondido via ADO  (OCC) bus through the resort town of Huatulco.  If your trip is through Mexico City , reach Oaxaca City via ADO Bus from bus Terminal Norte or Terminal Tapo.
Oaxaca City is 300 miles (6 hours) south of Mexico City.

• Oaxaca City

Oaxaca is a great colonial city with many ruin sites within reach and some great indigenous festivals including the Day of the Dead.    

Bus To Oaxaca Pacific Coast Beaches

Playa Cometa, Oaxaca Pacific Coast Beach near Mazunte

 Oaxaca Beaches: Huatulco, Zipolite, Mazunte, Puerto Escondido
Update March 2014

· Huatulco

Huatulco was created in 1987 as a resort area by the government from the nine bays and 33 beaches south of Puerto Escondido. The town of Crucicita is a tidy little place that offers an ADO bus terminal, a second class bus terminal, and lodging, clubs, restaurants and shopping around the small square. In the winter months, cruise ships visit and moor in  the harbor of Santa Cruz,  a short distance away in a bay.

See Huatulco for more details on lodging, golf, beaches, hiring a cab by the hour. 

The small Huatulco ruin site called Copalita opened recently and displays artifacts from the State of Oaxaca and from the small ruin site on the coast by the river.  A fee of 100 pesos is  charged for entry.  Other ruin sites such as Monte Alban, near Oaxaca City, and Teotihuacan, near Mexico city, are more representative of Mexico's ruins; they have splendid museums of local artifacts and they offer monumental buildings and pyramidal structures commonly found in Mexico’s ancient cities.  

Reach Huatulco from Oaxaca City via OCC Bus , (ADO) with stops in Pochutla and Puerto Escondido.  Sur Buses run regular service from Huatulco to Pochutla to Puerto Escondido.  Futura buses, a division of Estrella Blanca, and Alta Mar buses out of Acapulco serve first class passengers along the Route 200 bus route between Huatulco and |Puerto Escondido.   Futura runs two buses daily from Huatulco to Acapulco from Huatulco's 2nd class bus terminal   Alta Mar also serves to Acapulco from the 2nd class terminal.

OCC buses also leave Pochutla for the 12 hour, 440 Peso trip southeast to San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas.

· Puerto Angel Beaches:

Reach Puerto Angel via taxi or collective taxi from the town of Pochutla. The collective taxi is the best option.  It runs regularly (hourly) from a stop near the bus terminal,  Go right out of the bus terminal and walk about a block to the where the road forks.  Look for the colectivo taxi there.   They also pick up at the the crossroads of Route 200 and Pochutla's main street.  12 Peso to Puerto Angel, 15 to Zipolite.
OCC buses and Sur Buses stop in Pochutla as they run up and down the bus routes on coastal Route 200, the road between Huatulco and Puerto Escondido.   Estrella Blanca Bus Line runs this bus route also, with Futura Buses and Alta Mar Buses that run bus routes between Acapulco and Hualtulco,.  The Alta Mar buses stop in Puerto Escondido, and Pochutla.

• Taxis, Colectivos

The private taxi to the beach towns from the main street of Pochutla cost 100 pesos.  Reach Zipolite Beach, Colonia Roca Blanca for instance, half way between Puerto Angel and Mazunte for 100 Pesos. 

If you group with other travelers you can save; the taxis charge by the trip not by the number of people. 
The alternative form of transportation from Pochutla to the beach is the Camioneta.  These are the budget options.  The camioneta is a pickup truck with a covered bed. It costs ten pesos per person, a budget but uncomfortable ride; an experience, however.   They are allowed to pick up and drop off anywhere along their route.

• Puerto Angel

Puerto Angel is the first town you passs as you go northwest along the coast road from Pochutla.  Puerto Angel offers the Cordelia beach-side hotel at 350 peso per night and several other hotels nearby.  Snorkel, scuba, and sightseeing boat tours leave from Puerto Angel.  
Sightseeing tours leave from Playa Panteon, a calm water beach where you can swim and snorkel.  In front of the hotel, two tour agencies offer four-hour whale watch, dolphin watch, turtle watch boat tours with visits to four secluded bays along the coast.  
There are restaurants at the beaches.           See also area dining Dining Zipolite   

Zipolite Beach, dawn looking east from the tentsites. 

· Zipolite Beach

Zipolite Beach is a nude optional beach a few miles west of Puerto Angel noted for its sunrises and sunsets. Nudism is not legal in Mexico but is allowed on Zipolite Beach.  Budget lodging, beachside posadas, beach camping, surfing, laundromat, and good restaurants such as Piedra del Fuego and a Nice Place on the Beach make Zipolite a good visit.
 See Zipolite Lodging 

Next page, Oaxaca Beaches Continued,  Mazunte Beach Camping and the Turtle Rescue Project

Oaxaca Pacific Coast Beaches

Camping Mazunte Beach, Oaxaca, Mexico, Pacific Coast 

Oaxaca Beaches, Pacific Coast, Mexico
Updated November 21, 2012 

• Mazunte: 

Sea trurtle at the Mazunte aquarium  

     Mazunte Beach is noted for its sheltered cove, small wave beach, and for the turtle museum and rescue project, the Centro Mexicano de la Tortuga. 
      At the site, sea turtles are sheltered after being rescued and they are returned to the sea if their health allows.  Turtles too badly injured become residents at the site and are displayed in tanks in an Aquarium setting.  
      The center runs projects to sustain the sea turtle population by protection of the eggs that are deposited by the female turtles on the beaches. Volunteers often join this effort to remove the eggs from the beach nests and put them in protected places for incubation.  
Mazunte(link) also offers camping and budget lodging and a hiking trail to Punta Cometa, to the right of the beach.    

• Playa Ventanilla

Crocodile at Playa Ventanilla

Northwest of Mazunte, along the Pacific coast, Playa Ventanilla is the smallest of the villages on the road that runs along the coast towards Puerto Escondido.
Playa Ventanilla  (link) offers an eco tour that takes passenger by small boat into a lagoon to see crocodiles, turtles, iguana,  and many types of birds that live in the lagoon. The tour cost 40 pesos.
The fee helps the local people maintain the lagoon, the sea turtle hatch, and the crocodiles.

• Puerto Escondido

Puerto Escondido is Oaxacas most notable Pacific Coast Beach village because of the surfing waves on Zicatela Beach and its two Ecotour lagoon locations                                                                                                                                                                                               

Puerto Escondido 

      Tours run from Puerto Escondido to the Chacahua Lagoon and to the Manialtepec Lagoon.  
      The tour to Chacahua  (link to info) is an all-day trip through the mangrove lakes where stork, roseate spoonbill, herons, and many other birds nest. 
     The tour to Manialtepec Lagoon can be a half-day trip because the lagoon os just six miles northwest of Puerto Escondido town center.
     Rent kayaks and tour Manialtepec independently or go with a tour out of Puerto Escondido    

•         Bus Service, Pacific Coast Oaxaca

Pochutla serves as a bus hub for several bus lines that run service along Oaxaca's pacific Coast and between Mexico City, Acapulco, and Huatulco.  Modern, first class buses stop in Puerto Escondido, Pochutla, and Huatulco and offer service to Acapulco, Oaxaca City, and Mexico City.   
     Sur Buses run regular service to Puerto Escondido from Huatulco and Pochutla.  Also Futura bus , a division of Estrella Blanca, an Ata Mar Buses serve first class passengers along the Route 200, Pacific Coast bus route

•        Vans  (link)

Van service by several companies provides frequent service from Oaxaca City to Pochutla and Puerto Escondido for 150 Pesos 

 From Puerto Escondido, Pochutla, and Huatulco, OCC buses leave for San Cristobal de las Casas and the road over the mountains to Ocosingo and the ruin of Tonina and to the ruin of Palenque. An option is to bus to Tapachula Chiapas for a visit to the ruins of Izapa.  
See Izapa ruins and museum for more info.

OCC buses leave Pochutla for the 12 hour, 440 Peso trip to San Cristobal de las Casas Chiapas.

Next page San Cristobal de las Casas

Ruins Tour by Bus, Oaxaca to the Yucatan

Ruins Tour by First Class Bus, 

Dawn, Zipolite Beach, Oaxaca 

Oaxaca to the Yucatan   
and Beyond      

     The ruins tour from Oaxaca’s Monte Alban to the Yucatan Peninsular ruins of Chichen Itza and Tulum makes a popular bus route for travelers.  Bus route details for a ruins trip from Oaxaca City to Tikal Ruin in Guatemala follow in the next several pages.  

ADO Bus runs service south from its first class terminal in Oaxaca City.  Many travelers head first to the beach towns of  Zipolite, Mazunte, Puerto Angel, and Huatulco.  These beach towns can be reached by OCC bus from Oaxaca to Huatulco for 288 pesos.

The night bus is a good option because you arrive at dawn, 6 am, with all day to explore.  Buses run north along the coast from Huatulco to Pochutla and Puerto Escondido.  
 The Bus line OCC runs buses that are a comfortable option along the coast while the local bus at 20 pesos is a slow ride but budget friendly.  The popular option is the Sur Bus that makes frequent trips between Pochutla and Puerto Escondido. (28-35Pesos) 
Sur Bus is run by ADO and reaches the ADO terminal in Puerto Escondido, a short walk downhill to the beach at Playa Principal or a 25 Peso cab ride to Zicatela Beach.

 Pochutla also offers van service between the Pacific coast and Oaxaca City at 120 pesos.  The vans run over the steep mountains to the southwest of Oaxaca City.   With a dramamine tablet taken about a half hour before leaving, these vans make a comfortable, budget option with a trip of six hours.  The pills are available at the farmacias.  Just one tablet seems to suffice for six hours.  
Vans also serve from Oaxaca City to Huatulco and Puerto Escondido.   

The van service in Pochutla, located a few doors north of the bus terminal, runs brand new vans that make frequent trips back and forth between Pochutla and Oaxaca City.  The best seat is the front if you are prone to motion sickness.  Book early to reserve a seat.  

Vans run also from the OCC first class|second class bus terminal.  The vans arrive in Oaxaca City at terminals a few blocks south of the Zocalo in the historic center of the city. 

Once you reach Pochutla you can bus to Puerto Escondido or take a taxi or collective taxi to the beaches of Zipolite, Puerto Angel, Mazunte, and San Augustinillo.  Collective taxis run every hour or so from the area in front of the church, about three blocks north and one block east of the bus terminal, 15 pesos to Zipolite.  Camionetas, a pickup truck with a covered back bed and bench seats, also run to the beaches for 10 Pesos.

Chichen Itza by first class bus

See more: Taxis, Colectivos, Camionetas in Pochutla,  Reaching Puerto Angel

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