# driving from Puebla to Nuevo laredo



## 13JohnnyL (Jun 27, 2010)

I have decided it would be better all around to drive to the US and sell my vehicle. I plan to take Arco Norte around Mexico City and proceed north to Nuevo Laredo. My idea is to leave Puebla around 7am and get to Matehuala by 5pm. My concern is the narco activity around Monterrey and Nuevo Laredo. I will only be driving during the daylight hours and (hopefully) only on the toll roads. Web sites seem very outdated as to travel alerts and I'm wondering if anyone can fill me in as to problems i may encounter. I will be traveling alone with just a couple of suitcases, no souveneirs or jewelry, and just enough cash to pay for tolls, gas & food. Any advice will be more than welcome.


----------



## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

Driving in the daytime, you'll be just fine. Relax and enjoy the trip.


----------



## ReefHound (Aug 9, 2010)

At least half of your driving will not be on toll roads because most of Mx57 is not a toll road (except bypasses around Matehuala and SLP and Saltillo, and from DF to a little north of your Arco exit) but that's ok as 57 is good 4-lane divided highway.

Travel alerts are pretty useless and always a step behind. I would say be sure to take plenty of cash for contingencies. Of course don't flash it around but you never know when you're going to have to get a tire patched or something.


----------



## chicois8 (Aug 8, 2009)

A Lady friend just drove Dolores Hidalgo on 57 north to San Antonio last friday and had no problems what so ever, she did enter the US at Columbia Bridge #3.......


----------



## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

13JohnnyL said:


> I have decided it would be better all around to drive to the US and sell my vehicle. I plan to take Arco Norte around Mexico City and proceed north to Nuevo Laredo. My idea is to leave Puebla around 7am and get to Matehuala by 5pm. My concern is the narco activity around Monterrey and Nuevo Laredo. I will only be driving during the daylight hours and (hopefully) only on the toll roads. Web sites seem very outdated as to travel alerts and I'm wondering if anyone can fill me in as to problems i may encounter. I will be traveling alone with just a couple of suitcases, no souveneirs or jewelry, and just enough cash to pay for tolls, gas & food. Any advice will be more than welcome.


You probably won´t experience any problems but may I suggest that, rather than spend the night in Matehuala, you stop in San Luis Potosí and spend the night in a nice motel along the commercial strip there or in a fine old colonial hotel in the nearby historic center where you can enjoy a fine dinner in a more sophisticated and interesting atmosphere than in the Matehuala cow town. 

Take a bit more money than you think you´ll need to take care of unforeseen contingencies.

You could possibly sell you car without ever crossing over into Texas and plan on spending the night in one of a few very nice hotels in Nuevo Laredo where there are plenty of places where you can enjoy a pleasant dinner, relax and take a luxury bus back to Puebla the next day. 

A couple of years ago, I drove to Nuevo Laredo from Lake Chapala with a Mexican friend in my U.S. plated vehicle; exported the car at the border without ever crossing into Texas simply by having the sticker removed and a receipt issued by the Mexican authorities; sold him the car for cash with a simple bill of sale evidencing the transaction; checked into the Fiesta Inn in Nuevo Laredo; had a fine dinner in a nearby shopping mall with several good restaurants and took the luxury bus back to Guadalajara the next morning. My friend who had purchased the car (actually a 1995 Ford Ranger) , nationalized the thing on his own and drove it back to his home in Oaxaca. 

Done deal. Clean sale. Never any need to cross the border.

By the way, if you sell your car to one of those crooked used car dealers across the border in Texas, you´ll have to accept a bank draft for recompense and sign over title to that dealer before heading back to Puebla. If you are not familiar with bank "drafts"just be aware that a bank draft can be unilaterally canceled by the issuer and there you are back in Puebla with a worthless bank draft and no car so watch your butt if you take that car to Texas and sell it.


----------



## circle110 (Jul 20, 2009)

We just made the trip up 57 through Nuevo Laredo and had no problems other than being pulled over by the Federales and searched for drugs a little north of Matehuala. 
They pulled us over and one began to grill us with questions while the other did an extensive search of our car. Of course, they didn't find anything and we answered the questions to their satisfaction so they smiled and wished us a nice trip and that was that.
Apart from that, our trip was uneventful.


----------



## tepetapan (Sep 30, 2010)

circle110 said:


> We just made the trip up 57 through Nuevo Laredo and had no problems other than being pulled over by the Federales and searched for drugs a little north of Matehuala.
> They pulled us over and one began to grill us with questions while the other did an extensive search of our car. Of course, they didn't find anything and we answered the questions to their satisfaction so they smiled and wished us a nice trip and that was that.
> Apart from that, our trip was uneventful.


 As usual, hundreds if not thousands do it every day. The biggest threat was always the media and the trolls on Mexico forums.


----------



## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

Actually, millions cross every day. It is amazing how little most people know of the border or of Mexico in general. US citizens are still, collectively, among the most isolated people in the world with little capability in other languages and little knowledge of other cultures and countries. In fact, most can't identify many other countries on an unlabeled map of the world.


----------



## circle110 (Jul 20, 2009)

RVGRINGO said:


> In fact, most can't identify many other countries on an unlabeled map of the world.


I did some volunteer work in Nicaragua several years ago and as I was preparing to leave, many of my American acquaintances asked me what part of Africa Nicaragua is in.

'nuf said.


----------



## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

RVGRINGO said:


> Actually, millions cross every day. It is amazing how little most people know of the border or of Mexico in general. US citizens are still, collectively, among the most isolated people in the world with little capability in other languages and little knowledge of other cultures and countries. In fact, most can't identify many other countries on an unlabeled map of the world.


Well, of course, this is a universal problem. As we live in both Jalisco at Lake Chapala and Chiapas in San Cristóbal de Las Casas and my wife is a French citizen, I have seen the ignorance of geography played out repeatedly both at Lake Chapala and in Chiapas (to say nothing of the United States and France among other places) . You might be surprised at how many Chiapanecos never heard of Lake Chapala - Mexico´s largest and most famous natural lake. Those same folks have probably heard of Guadalajara - Mexico´s second largest city but might find it hard to point that city out on a map of Mexico. Just the other day we were asked by a local indigenous person in San Cristóbal if it was true that everyone in Guadalajara spoke English.

Now, if you really want to draw a blank, just tell them, as my wife does that you are from France. A young woman we met the other day in Huixtan, an attractive indigenous town in a beautiful mountainous setting near San Cristóbal, exclaimed, upon hearing that my wife was from France, that she would love to go there but that they would never let her in in her Huixtan clothes which, by the way, are strikingly attractive. Of course, she was wrong about that but, then, perception is everything, no?

NOTE: For those of you unfamilar with the Chiapas Highlands, each indigenous municipality has its own traditional attire - often very colorful and attractive which strangers find very appealing. It was a revelation to find that this young woman was ashamed of her clothes and certain that no foreign country would let her in dressed in that fashion.


----------



## 13JohnnyL (Jun 27, 2010)

*Thanks for the responses*

Thank you all for your information. The first time I drove to Puebla, in 2001, I did stay overnight in SLP. Beautiful hotel very close to the highway, but no idea what the name was or where it was. I won't be selling my car in Texas. I have a lot of business to take care of in Wisconsin and will be selling it there. As it is illegal to sell it here and no one else can drive it, i wil be flying back and buying a car locally. My wife has friends in the business, so I am reasonably assured that we won't get 'taken". I drove back to the US in 2003, and returned here in June of last year, so this will be my 4th time driving thru Mexico. The ony problems I had before were with police looking for a "favor". Seems "mordida" is out of style. Anyway, thanks to info found on this site I no longer worry too much about that. I was stopped just south of Saltillo coming down. Took a wrong turn, drove thru Monterrey (getting really lost in the process) and about 2 kilometers from the cuota got pulled over for an imaginery $1200 USD infraction. Got it down to $30, but swore it would be the last time. Will let you all know how it went when I get back to WI.


----------



## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

If you actually violated a traffic law, insist on the ticket (folio).
If not, stand your ground and start taking down the officer's ID, his vehicle, etc. He'll go away.


----------



## elpaso (Mar 10, 2009)

*Lodging in San Luis Potosi*

We usually spend the night in Matehuala but would like to stay in SLP. Would you give me some recommendations? Thanks. 



Hound Dog said:


> You probably won´t experience any problems but may I suggest that, rather than spend the night in Matehuala, you stop in San Luis Potosí and spend the night in a nice motel along the commercial strip there or in a fine old colonial hotel in the nearby historic center where you can enjoy a fine dinner in a more sophisticated and interesting atmosphere than in the Matehuala cow town.
> 
> Take a bit more money than you think you´ll need to take care of unforeseen contingencies.
> 
> ...


----------



## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

When we have stopped in San Luis Potosi, we have stayed in Centro at the Concordia, Morelos #705. They have a restaurant and inside parking with attendants just across the street.


----------



## elpaso (Mar 10, 2009)

*Thank you.*



RVGRINGO said:


> When we have stopped in San Luis Potosi, we have stayed in Centro at the Concordia, Morelos #705. They have a restaurant and inside parking with attendants just across the street.


Thanks RVGRINGO for the information. elpaso


----------

