Notes from the road #11: March ’25

As I sit here on a beach in Baja California, Mexico, reflecting back on all that happened in March, it feels surreal.  We lived a lot of life in March, and even flirted with death.  At the top of the month, the mission was simple: follow the Pacific coast from Oaxaca 1,200 miles northwest to Mazatlán, and take the entire month to do so, if we feel like it.  In the end, it was anything but simple.  Hot, beautiful, frightening, slow-going, memorable, and riddled with topes (speed bumps) are more apt words that come to mind to describe the last thirty days.  

In this edition of Notes from the Road, I’ll do my best to summarize all the highs and lows from March.  However, if you want to hear Mark and I break it all down in a raw and uncut conversation, consider joining our Patreon, where you’ll get access to our podcast that we record exclusively for our Patrons.  

Ok, without further ado, onto this month’s recap…

In March we visited 8 Mexican states, drove 1400 miles, ferried 250 miles, and camped in 13 different locations.

Adapting to a new environment

The majority of our travels around Mexico in January and February took us to mountainous locations above 5,000’ in elevation, where the weather was extremely pleasant.  When we headed to Oaxaca’s Pacific coast, that all changed with temps in the mid-90s and humidity nearly as high.  The only place to seek comfort was by driving with our A/C cranked or hiding out on the shaded side of our truck.  Being inside the camper in these conditions was too uncomfortable.  Luckily, the temp would go down just enough when the mosquitos would come out and run us inside.  

Driving through Mexico’s most dangerous states

According to the US State Department’s travel advisory map, Mexican states that are labeled red have been deemed the most dangerous and come with a “do not travel to” warning.  What the US government has determined as red states has been a topic of conversation and frustration for us.  While we believe something probably happened within the state to deem it unsafe in that particular area, we find it hard to believe the entire state is unsafe to be in.  Further, in small type at the very bottom of the travel advisory webpage reads “last updated May 1, 2024”.  Information that is nearly a year old does not give us much confidence.  Instead, it’s just enough information to scare me without being anything solid to go off of.  To try and sort out my confusion about whether or not to pay attention to these travel warnings, I asked many other travelers how they felt about them.  Everyone I asked shrugged it off, saying they either don’t understand the map or that it doesn’t make any sense.  

In March, we drove through four red states and never once had a single safety concern.  Instead, we experienced kindness, beautiful landscapes, and countless people simply living their lives.  And while walking down the road in a small coastal village, a Mexican-American laughed when he saw us and said, “White people!  In La Barrita!  Are you lost??”  That’s when I knew we were getting to see a side of Mexico that many Americans never will.

Mexico Day 96: Into the red zone

Narrowly avoiding tragedy

One of the scariest moments on our trip came when Heather & Adam’s truck caught on fire.  While driving through a small town in the state of Guerrero, Mark saw smoke billowing out from underneath their hood.  Thanks to luck and Adam acting incredibly fast, the only damage done was to the battery that caught fire and some of the cables.  This was a reminder that anything can happen at any time, no matter where you are.  It still makes me quiver to think that Heather & Adam could have lost their entire truck and home.  To read the full story on how we navigated this frightening day, check out the link below.

Mexico Day 97: Fire & Fright

Getting schooled by the ocean

While camped at a beautiful little campground on the Pacific Ocean in the state of Guerrero, what started as a dip in the ocean to cool off turned into both Mark and I being sucked out by a rip current.  While getting churned inside of breaking waves, we each had to fight the urge to panic.  The current eventually let us go, but the terror I felt in those five minutes was unlike anything I’d experienced before.  Four days later, while Mark was out boogie boarding, he rescued a guy that got caught in the same rip and was barely a strong enough swimmer to stay afloat.  Both of these events rocked us and gave us even more respect for the force of nature that the ocean is.  I wrote in detail about both of these days at the links below.

Mexico Day 100: Us against the ocean

Mexico Day 104: Good thing, bad thing, who knows

Taking the ferry back to Baja

Thanks to the kindness of a bilingual stranger, we were able to secure a reservation on the cargo ferry that would take us 250 miles across the Sea of Cortez and back to Baja.  While we could have stayed in mainland Mexico all the way back to Arizona, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to end this winter’s travels in our favorite place in all of Mexico.  

After over four months in Mexico, we’re now down to our final week in this spectacular country.  March may have come with a number of challenges, but the lessons learned and experienced garnered only left us feeling more love than ever for this wonderful way of life.  Traveling to mainland Mexico this year, for me, has largely been about overcoming fear. In the end it’s only reinforced the fact that the world has so much kindness and beauty to offer if you’re willing to take some risks and get outside your comfort zone. 

If you’ve made it to the end, thanks so much for being here.  We love sharing our travels and hope to inspire you too to step outside your comfort zone and see what might be on the other side.  

Cheers,
Michele & Mark