Nismo in Mexico- destination Puerto Vallarta

[LexusAllTerrain]

Yes, and I did my schedule as plan, 2 days to get to puerto Vallarta plus 2 days to play in puerto vallarta.
will explain further in my report!

And remember! I flew back today!
here is another teaser picture.

 

[cruiser guy]

And remember! I flew back today!

What happened to the truck? Did you import it or are you going back for it?

 

[CLynn85]

Welcome back. Can't wait to hear your opinion about the truck!

Also curious as to the exact purpose of this trip :smiley_drive:

 

[LexusAllTerrain]

Part One. The long drive...

... and the 1st Nissan Frontier Crew Cab Nismo ( 2007 ) imported into Mexico is.

We were schedule to depart from Cd. Juarez at 9:00a.m. however the Mexican Inporter was running late, we had an appoinment at 7:30 a.m and he did not showed up untill 8:30 a.m. well we continue on to the Santa Theresa border were we had lost our appointment we had to wait in line for aproximately 2 hours. Two hours that I need it to stay on schedule if I was to spend the night in Zacatecas.

It was 11:00 a.m. when we finally hit the Panamerican hwy, and had to pass by the inspection point; we had the green light the officer just took a long look at the Crew Cab Nismo and we were on our way. however we had to make a quick spot at Chihuahua for our first fill-up, (what our first fill-up? )
I did an analysis and i came up with only 15.5 miles per gallon on our 1st gas tank, I am suppose to average at least 400 miles wow!
We top off the gas tank with the premium brand gasoline and reset my mile counter, here we are again we now should have enough gas to make it to Gomez Palacios.

The Nismo Frontier has plenty of power and we were doing from 65 to 85 miles per hour slowing down only enough to pass by the small towns from Meoqui to Jimenez. The handling was good enough to keep a good pace even in the small curves that we encounter after Chihuahua and the suspension was almost perfect for the Mexico hwy system; almost as my wife notice that the ride was too bumpy on the road. I understand this is not a Lexus nor a 4Runner however we easily forgot of the bumpy ride as the roads off the toll hwy were in need of repair!

We passed Gomez Palacios our next shedule stop for fuel, not wanting to get out of the main hwy we continue on and check our computer DTS knowing we had enough yo make it to the next town before we hit the 2 line roads.
We arrive in Huarichic a very small town in Durango it is 9:00 p.m. and we see no gas stations, we have aproximately 14 miles left according to our DTS computer built in the Nismo pkg. were we are avereging 16.3 miles per gallon.
The next town Cuencame is 50.3 miles from Huarichic. I know we have enough gas because Nissan has a 2 gallon reserve, but if we are averaging 16.3 miles per gallon and we have 14 left on the computer plus the 2 reserve gallons we are at 46.6 WE ARE GOING TO BE SHORT ON GAS TO THE NEXT TOWN so we continue on after a couple of miles the DTS computer showed some blinking lines before we used all our 14 miles so now we are very worry!
We consentrated in our odometer to check how many miles we had travel... we finally hit a two lane hwy turn off hoping to find a gas station we were on hwy 45 and no gas stations, we are at mile 45 and Cuencame is still 3 miles away; very dark and hardly any cars passing by.
We continue on and over a small hill we see some dim lights at this time we are driving at only 40 miles per hour to conserve gas and since we are going down hill we hope to make it.
We finally made it to Cuencame a very small town in the middle of no where, it seems like it was a truck stop town! As we were coming into town they had a check point and we stop the vehicle to wich the police took as a chance to ask too many questions we explain we needed gas and that was why we stop the engine, well after their questioning we were guided to the next gas station finally after 52 miles in the odometer reading we were filling up. It is almost 10:30 p.m. and we still have 150 miles to reach Zacatecas we are in a 2 lane hwy with lot's of truck drivers to pass! We continue on pressing on and we finaly made it to Zacatecas,it is by now 12:00 p.m. right on schedule!
We headed for downtown were they had a sobriaty check point, some how I missed my hotel exit and continue on untill I made a stop in an Oxyo store, ask some questions and I had to return into town, made an exit into the historic area and got lost, i am tired and would like to hit the bed. I got back into the main hwy boulevard and drove back to the main entrance.
I made a stop in the first motel that I found, however their prices were high 180.00 dollars foer a room ouch! However after i had a conversation with the young man, he gave me a map to their next location taking the time to explain how to get there, he was very patient we me and understood I was very tired. We followed his directions and we found the hotel.
Hotel del Bosque periferico and nice location at only 70.00 dollars per night, a very clean convenient location for our needs, with a great view of the historic Plaza! We are soon to find what a great vew this hotel has...

 

[LexusAllTerrain]

Zacatecas

Here some of the shots I took from Zacatecas Historic area!

Overlooking the Historic area.
Overlooking from the bufa.
Tourist Train in La Bufa

La Bufa.

 

[LexusAllTerrain]

These pictures are from Zacatecas to Puerto Vallarta, we stoped in a small village to buy some sodas, and this lovely lady offer us some tamales home made, they were deliciosos home made, and she would no accept our money it was a GIFT. wow!
The next picture is om a taco stand that we found right after Jalpa town.
Inside an apt in puerto Vallarta.

Any more pictures, or should I stop now?

 

[Ursidae69]

Loving all the photos. :beer:

 

[cruiser guy]

I assume that you did not take the road from Durango to Mazatlan?

 

[LexusAllTerrain]

I assume that you did not take the road from Durango to Mazatlan?

No I did not, as per Articulate's suggestion i went and spend the night in Zacatecas, and I did not have enough time to explore the area a great area that i will put on top of my list to go back, and I will be going back soon!:REAdvRockClimber:

And i think I cross the Sierras, and believe me It was an expectacular drive, crossing some creeks and all!

 

[LexusAllTerrain]

It was 6:00 a.m. when i was awaken by the thundering sound of call, it was the call to church.

I whent outside to see what was going on, and I saw a beatiful town, I was up on a small hill overlooking the Zacatecas Historic area from east to west
here in the Hotel del Bosque Teleferico, what a convenient hotel to get, it had a great restaurant next to the Zacatecas Teleferico ( tram way ).

This Tram-way was install in 1979, The cavins and operation equipment are from the Sweden origin which garantees a secure operational transport. It's tram path is 650m from one station to the other, which takes aprox. 8 minutes to cross at an average speed of 1.5m per second. During the cross you may experience a panoramic view of the colonial city unique and worth a visit to the city of Zacatecas buy it self. ( 2.50 dollar per person each way )

After breakfast we decided we needed to explore La Bufa, an took the Teleferico the view was expectacular, upon arrival in La Bufa we took a tour of the area statues, museums, and your typical vendors areas, it has a great overlook of the city.
We spend some time in la Bufa, however we still had a schedule to meet, so here we go in search of a better day.
We took a two lane hwy thru Jalpa wich will cross the Sierra Madre, instead of taking a 4 lane hwy thru Aguascalientes-Guadalajara.We made a great choice as we were rewarded with great people and great vistas of the Sierras.

On our way thru Jalpa we stop by a small store to purchase some sodas, my wife had a great need to use the restroom, the lady in the store had no resroom instore, however she offer to take my wife to her home in back of store to use her bath... as we enter her home we saw some tamales freshly made with corn and mole, the aroma was overwhelming and after guiding my wife to the room, she offer to re-heat some tamales for us ( wow! )

These were the best tamales I have ever tasted they were made with real corn, and the mole was spicy and made from scratch! We took some time to discuss their way of life, she was originaly from Chiapas and she got married in Zacatecas, and she decided to stay in Jalpa out in the Campo.What a way to leave life I am jealous!

We had to press on and as we encounter the Sierra Madre we encounter a traffic jam, and as plan we enjoy the vistas, we stop in between the Sierras in a taco stand to eat some tacos, they were deliciosos, we took only a 30 minute brake before we knew we had to go, our next stop would be the busy city of Guadalajara.
As we enter the next Sierra they had a military check point, we are used to them by now! so we just let them open the hood, doors and our luggage as we discuss the Nismo, suspension and rear locker. These young fellows are very smart and full of life and really enjoyed our conversation!

We finally got to Guadalajara, had still a half of tank of gas, for whatever reason or fuel consumption had beign inproving, we are now averaging 16.9 miles per gallon evendough we just cover both Sierra! I guess we had broken-in the engine by now!

The drive from Guadalajara to Tequila is on a very, very good 4 lane toll hwy, it has great panoramic vistas and it invites speed, however they have radar to keep us from speeding, I guess we encounter 4 troopers in a small area just before we had to take a 2 lane road to Compostela a short cut thru the jungles to hit hwy 200 to Puerto Vallarta, it was very dark and narrow drive, but we had to press on as we had to get to Puerto Vallarta before midnight.
We had spend too much time making all these stops in the Sierras, and now we had to concentrate on this narrow hwy. we finally hit the hwy 200 at Las Varas a small smal town.
The drive now is congested and slow, we can see the jungle all around the road, almost like a tunnel like, it sure is nice, but the drive is slow! As we enter Puerto Vallarta it is almost 10:30 p.m. and now we are looking for the Marina, I had a map and we easily found our hotel The Natilus, right next to The Westin Hotel.

By now we have spend 25 hours in two days on the road, we have 1,286 miles in the odometer and we need to get some sleep! We look forward to a great next day with out driving in Puerto Vallarta.
I have a busines appointment at 10:00 a.m. the following day,and I need to get some sleep!

 

[LexusAllTerrain]

Puerto Vallarta

It is 9:00 a.m. and i have an appointment to turn in the Nismo, we had the frontier clean and here we go to turn in the vehicle!

It had beign a long two day drive, a scenic drive and a boring 12 hour day drive, the road from Guadalajara is the most beatifull 4 lane toll hwy that takes you past Tequila town, and then you take the 2 lane hwy to Puerto Vallarta trhu the jungles wow what a beautifull drive!

We are planning another trip to Puerto Vallarta, and the jungles. there is alot of places we need to explore around the Bay area.

The Nismo is a great vehicle, it was a perfect match for the Mexican hwy system, we average 16.5 miles per gallon after the first gas tank, and remember we were traveling thru the Sierra Madre, from below sea level to over 10,000 feet, this is a beatiful country, and the people wether poor or rich they were great to deal with.
I would not hesitate to highly recomend the new Nissan Frontier, no wind noise as stated before due to the luggage rack, the sun roof worked great and we did use it, the sound system was incredible, we would hear things that you will not in a lesser system.
The engine was very responsive, lot's of torque, and quick response for passing in the mountains, the handling was good with the tires we had, and we needed these tires for some areas ( 2 lane hwys ). Nissan has a winner with this Frontier!


As for Puerto Vallarta, I will be going back hopefully in the raining season, so that we may explore the falls in the deep jungle! I hope its is in September 2007.

 

[LexusAllTerrain]

Rio Cuale
El Malecon at night
Rio Cuale next to my friends Restaurant
My wife at breakfast at the restaurant
My breakfast!
The jazz piano man at Le Bristos.
My friends Ladyfriend!
Le bristos entrance
Art work at Le Bristos
The owner and I at Le Bristos.

 

[LexusAllTerrain]

Damn. I thought I was original. You're going to love this trip, and I can't wait to hear about your travels. We should swap stories . . .



Are you going to stop in Zacatecas? You should. Phenominal town. It's classic colonial Mexico:

I wish you the best of travels. Vaya con Dios, amigo.
Mark

Thanks for the scoop!
We fell in love with Zacatecas, and we will return!:drool:

 

[OnTheTrail]

I have also taken this trip many times but have never been the driver. My parents are from a small town about 45 min. from Jalpa. Once a year they drive down and relax for a month.

Zacatecas is a beautiful city. We rode the teleferico and took the tour of the Mina del Eden. Many great museums and Cathedrals. Aguascalientes has a pretty huge Fair in April its an all night and day party and some pretty intense bullfighting. I'll be down there for a week in May.

 

[LexusAllTerrain]

I have also taken this trip many times but have never been the driver. My parents are from a small town about 45 min. from Jalpa. Once a year they drive down and relax for a month.

Zacatecas is a beautiful city. We rode the teleferico and took the tour of the Mina del Eden. Many great museums and Cathedrals. Aguascalientes has a pretty huge Fair in April its an all night and day party and some pretty intense bullfighting. I'll be down there for a week in May.

Congratulations! It is a great area to be around, when we were crossing a small town there was a Bautiso going with life music wow! What an experience!

I am glad somebody is familiar with the area, plus you get to spend some time great!

please post some pictures if you atend the fair!

Here is a picyure of the area, look at the background!