chinagringo
Jan 30, 2011, 6:22 AM
Post #12 of 13
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Re: [tashby] Rolly - You Made Retirement Life To Easy
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"Being guided around México by a computer misses the point entirely"
As one who has a history of making 3000 to 4000 mile drives through various parts of Mexico once or twice a year, I would beg to differ with the above statement. I have made one trip using a GPS and all the rest using the standard Guia Roji methodology. I can say unequivocally that I (the driver) was able to observe and enjoy more of Mexico while driving than during prior trips when having to deal with physical maps. Our trips are usually divided into two distinct sections with differing priorities: 1) point A to point B on the fastest most direct route - NM to GDL & GDL to NM. 2) the fun part where we get to see as much of rural and urban Mexico as possible. The GPS removes any responsibility from one's travel companion to assist the driver and they definitely get to see everything. The driver is less distracted by having to look at a map and concentrating on just where a certain turn is since the voice directions may take care of this detail. I don't know about you but I have often accidentally found a place of interest by a great circle route and had no idea how to get back there. With the GPS, I save virtually all of our "return to spots" into my favorites for future trips. This would include everything from restaurants, hotels, shops, places of interest, parking places, etc. A further benefit is that the internal trip log allows me to plot every turn, stop, favorite place, etc on Google Maps after the trip is over for future reference.
Taking just one day out of our most recent trip and the first using the GPS: we were staying in Patzcuaro and did a day trip loop through part of Michoacan. The drive was as follows: Patzcuaro - San Francisco Pichataro - Cheran - Paracho - Cocucho - Ocumicho - Patamban - San Jose de Gracia - Zacapu - Quiroga - Patzcuaro. I had done my research on each of these towns/vilages and programed the GPS ahead of time. We were in search of specific products in each town and with the possible exception of Quiroga (because we were running out of time), we were able to accomplish our goals. I doubt we could have made that drive without any stress if I had to rely on directions from my "directionally challenged" sidekick. Since she didn't have to try and read maps, she got to see everything and was freed up to spot studios and workshops down side streets and alleys. Every one of the "go-back spots" was saved into the GPS for future reference.
From the original quote, I caught the implication that one might not experience the adventure. Given the limitations of some of the Mexico mapping and the tendencies of the GPS, I can guarantee you that with its tendency to instruct you to turn the wrong way down one way streets, its inability to handle street name changes and inability to identify exact street addresses - you will get a more than adequate dose of the driving in Mexico adventure!
Regards,
Neil
Albuquerque, NM
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