Taking The Bus to Juarez

I need to get from Guadalajara to Ciudad Juarez so I can get across the border to El Paso and then rent a car to drive to Santa Fe. I´m thinking the best way to do this is to bus to Zapatecas and spend the night and then take another bus from Zapatecas to Juarez before taking a taxi on to the border and then on to El Paso. Has anyone participating here done this? Is there a better way to bus up there? Ain´t gone fly ain´t gone drive.

hound dog wrote:I need to get from Guadalajara to Ciudad Juarez so I can get across the border to El Paso and then rent a car to drive to Santa Fe. I´m thinking the best way to do this is to bus to Zapatecas and spend the night and then take another bus from Zapatecas to Juarez before taking a taxi on to the border and then on to El Paso. Has anyone participating here done this? Is there a better way to bus up there? Ain´t gone fly ain´t gone drive.

It turns out that this was a dumb idea. This bus ride from Guadalajara through Zacatecas to Ciudad Juarez would have been the equivalent of suffering through purgatory without the prospect of moving on to the Christian concept of heaven - a doubtful goal as it is. So, upon further inquiry, we found we could fly from Guadalajara to Phoenix nonstop and drive over to Santa Fe for a pittance and screw Ciudad Juarez and a 16 hour bus ride from Zacatecas to that hellhole. As it happens, it is not necessarily more expensive to fly from Guadalajara to Phoenix than from Guadalajara to Juarez so why would I fly through the Juarez miserable hellhole to get to Santa Fe. Any of you who may have visited Juarez over the past thirty years know what I mean.

God, am I glad we are not traversing the Chihuahuan desert through bandit territory in the middle of the night.

I am reminded of my journey through the deserts of Gujarat state in India in 1969. They told me I was lucky to be going through that wilderness second class and not first class as in first class they would skewer my testicals whereas in second class they would have lower expectations and simply take my wallet.

Good choice Mr. Dawg. Skewered testicles are best avoided..........jaja.

BTW...what's going on in Santa Fe?

CanuckBob wrote:Good choice Mr. Dawg. Skewered testicles are best avoided..........jaja.

BTW...what's going on in Santa Fe?

Yes, indeed, CB. Just this morning I read news of Zetas highjacking buses, killing off the elderly (Dawg´s contemporaries), raping the women and forcing young, strong men into service in their cause. By the way, there is nothing I would rather do than spend 16 hours on a bus from Zacatecas to Juarez arriving in Juarez at 3:00AM.

We are, or at least my darlin´ wife is participating in the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market in concert with a friend who is an accomplished iron working artisan in San Cristóbal de Las Casas who specializes in making the famous San Cristóbal religious crosses that often adorn houses in that town. I volunteered to run my own booth at the fair but when they found out that the only skill at which I truly excelled was building Budweiser Beer can pyramids on the sand at Panama City Beach, a skill I perfected during spring breaks from about 1958 through 1965, they politely declined my offer. Besides, how do you sell a beer can pyramid without destroying the damn thing and do you really care whether you sell it or not after the requisite task of consuming all that beer during the course of actual pyramid construction. These are serious issues, CB.

Vivaaerobus has some cheap flights to the Mexican side of the Texas border or you can fly GDL to Tijuana on Volaris or Interjet.

Intercasa wrote:Vivaaerobus has some cheap flights to the Mexican side of the Texas border or you can fly GDL to Tijuana on Volaris or Interjet.

The Vivaaearobus flights from Guadalajara to Ciudad Juarez are far cheaper than the U.S. Air flights from Guadalajara to Phoenix so keep in mind that our itinerary is dictated somewhat by our schedule. We were guided by the fact that we wish to take a motor trip through Arizona and New Mexico before attending an event in Santa Fe. If one´s goal is first and foremost to simply get to the border at El Paso, it seems to me that Vivaaerobus is the best alternative. Vivaaerobus is also the best way to get from Guadalajara to Chiapas with a cheap nonstop to Tuxtla Gutierrez and the equipment is comfortable with only one class of flyers so they don´t treat coach class passengers like cattle. We have been told by at least one travel agent, however, that she won´t deal with them because they sometimes cancel flights without notice and are slow to refund. Since we must be in Santa Fe on a tight schedule, we want to avoid this sort of possibility. There is no question that Vivaaerobus offers a bargain price.

Also please note that there have been bus hijackings and robberies so any savings in negligible compared to personal safety.

Gosh HD, I won't get to show you the joys of Mazatlán on this trip! Actually, flying sounds like a nicer way to get where you are going at this time of year. The weather here is like a steam bath now, and I only like to go to places with AC. However, you must understand that the road from here to Phoenix is perfectly safe. Sure, anything can happen at any time, but my Mazatleco friends make that trip constantly, with no security problems. Most of them drive, some take the ejecutivo bus (rave reviews) and they all get where they are going. So, when you get ready to experience this big bad town, just let me know and I'll make the reservations. (We haven't lost a gringo yet.) Dee

mazdee wrote:Gosh HD, I won't get to show you the joys of Mazatlán on this trip! Actually, flying sounds like a nicer way to get where you are going at this time of year. The weather here is like a steam bath now, and I only like to go to places with AC. However, you must understand that the road from here to Phoenix is perfectly safe. Sure, anything can happen at any time, but my Mazatleco friends make that trip constantly, with no security problems. Most of them drive, some take the ejecutivo bus (rave reviews) and they all get where they are going. So, when you get ready to experience this big bad town, just let me know and I'll make the reservations. (We haven't lost a gringo yet.) Dee

Actually, Mazdee, it wasn´t the fiends out there designating Dawg´s head as a future lampshade that bothered me. It was the 25 plus hour bus ride from Chapala to Nogales or Ciudad Juarez that was discouraging. Get on the plane in Guadalajara and get off in Phoenix I say. Later we can do Mazatlan but to tell you the truth, we´ll probably head for the beaches at Huatulco in Oaxaca or Puerto Arista in Chiapas or Puerto Morelos or some other place in Quintana Roo or the Gulf Coast of Yucatan such as Isla Holbox. To each his own.

Ok, If you just want beaches, go to those other places. If you might like theatres and art museums and other stuff, we might be a better choice. See if I care! Hmmf.

mazdee wrote:Ok, If you just want beaches, go to those other places. If you might like theatres and art museums and other stuff, we might be a better choice. See if I care! Hmmf.

Mazdee, Darlin´ it just happens that we spend the winter months in Chiapas so the beaches in that part of Mexico are places we would find attractive as reasonable journeys from our home in San Cristóbal de Las Casas. Mexican beach communities during the humid and hot summer may prove a strain on folks who lived in coolish San Francisco for 30 years. We do like "other stuff" but those things are abundant in San Cristóbal; nevertheless, we have as personal ambitions a desire to take the ferry from Mazatlan to La Paz and back with a drive to Cabo San Lucas in the interim so perhaps we will still make it to Mazatlan soon, God willing. Actually, we hope to do that trip around September or so. Have you taken that ferry and, if so, was it a pleasant journey?

September? That is the worst month of the year for us Mazatlecos! Humid and hot, and coming to us after 3 previous months of humid and hot. Former San Franciscans (I am one, too) won't like it any better than the natives do. I'm not sure what it's like on the other side, but I suppose La Paz might be similar. I will be in Ajijic all of Aug and Sept! (My 3rd year escaping part of the summer at Lake Chapala.) I haven't made the ferry trip to LaPaz yet, but look forward to it. My friends say it is wonderful if you get the new ferries. Apparently there still is one old bucket that's not that great. It seems like they suspend passenger service from time to time, and even change operators. People who have to go over sometimes must use the truck ferries, which of course are rather important to the Baja! As long as you plan ahead and talk to them, should be a great trip. Try October?