Sure Horizon

The unique experience of spending a lot of time in another country is one that changes people. It opens up perspectives in a way that one just can’t get from vacationing in the best resorts for a weekend. Living in a place puts one in connections to the people, the landscape, and the culture in a very direct way. Mexico has always had a certain appeal for North American tourists, because of its proximity, and because of the widely divergent cities and towns. No corner of the country is quite like any other corner, and every trip reveals that there is always more to see, and more to know.

It is one of those strange thoughts that everyone seems to have where, after a month or two of living as an outsider here, people start to fantasize about dropping everything back home and seeing the country for more prolonged periods of time. The language barrier is one that can only be surmounted by learning the languages spoken here, but the roads are another question altogether. The mechanically-inclined traveler starts to wonder if they could do it, armed with a little bit of street Spanish and a good transmissions repair manual .

The roads are certainly their own particular beast, and it takes a very attentive eye and occasionally fast reflexes. Some of the urban areas, like Mexico City , are terrifying for even the most experienced drivers, and the rural areas have their own unusual considerations. The good news is that there are mechanically-inclined people in all the corners, and there is a certain generosity of spirit that one can only discover when the car is broken down in a very remote area. Some vehicles are more common than others here, however. Although driving through Mexico in a VW is a safer bet than others, parts can be found in most places. It’s more likely that the local mechanic will find very creative ways to fix a car, like using a twist tie to take care of a complicated problem.

Knowing one’s own vehicle pretty thoroughly won’t hurt, of course, and the Plymouth repair manual can become a kind of bible when problems on the road start to arise. More importantly, however, these kinds of moments can lead to social interactions that are life-transforming. It’s not pleasant to be stranded in a small town for days if one is worried about getting to the next location right away. But resigning oneself to experiencing the moment for what it is can be a very useful tool. Being stuck in a small town can become the best part of a trip. In Mexico, perhaps even more than other parts of the world, the journey really is the destination.

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