
nicoli
Mar 26, 2015, 9:32 PM
Post #13 of 15
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Re: [raquelylosdinos] Nogales crossing to Sayulita / Nayarit
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Hola raquelylosdinos, I made this trip last October 2014, and it was amazingly smooth and easy for me. I went with a close friend of mine, two gringos riding a small SUV packed to the brim with moving boxes, luggage and a cargo carrier on top - and we had ZERO incidents whatsoever. No sketchy situations, no cops to deal with, nada. A bit more detail of our experience and plan: General "rules of thumb" we (mostly) kept to: - We never rode at night - We pretty much only rode on cuota / toll roads (see below) - We planned out where we would be staying, sleeping each night - We had a good map of roads and stayed track of where we were The only exceptions of veering off toll roads were once to take a short side trip to a coastal-tourist town we read about in the Lonely Planet (can't remember name), which was fine; having to ride 10-15 min. into a small town to get gas because we were almost out (we couldn't find the station at first but asked locals and they were very helpful); and starting to take another side trip to a coastal area we had NOT read about at all, started to get very weird looks from several men hanging out on corners who didn't look especially friendly, and we decided to turn right around and head back to the cuota road. In general, I'd say definitely stick to the cuota roads, try to plan ahead re: gas and you'll be totally fine and safe. Here was our itinerary: 1) We stayed overnight on the Arizona side of Nogales, and woke up at sunrise to cross the border. We used the Mariposa Truck Route to cross (see other postings on this site about this) BORDER: This was probably the main thing I was a bit worried about since we were bringing so much stuff, and I didn't want to pay import taxes, or have our car searched, etc. We pulled up with no one else in line, got a green light and was waved through by the only official looking guy standing on the side of the road. You then have to drive about 20 min. to the immigration office to get your papers / passport stamped and deal with your car import. At the office, again - no line, super friendly guy, super easy. 2) We drove pretty much straight to Navojoa, stopping for lunch along the way. Cuotas all the way. Very easy. Stayed at a simple, nice hotel in town right on the main road. No security gate, but the office had someone 24 hours and they overlooked the parking lot. We kept our stuff in the car minus major valuables. 3) Next day drove to Mazatlan. Again, cuotas, easy. 4) Final day drove to Sayulita area where we now live. Took the 200 after Tepic, which can get slow with one-way, curvy roads especially when you fall behind slow trucks. So give yourself extra time for that final leg of the trip. Hope that is helpful! I think you'll be totally fine, especially if you stick with those simple "rules of thumb."
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