The Great, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of our Mexican Caravans
This page is not meant to discourage you, but to inform you so you know what to expect. We have found that an informed customer is a happy customer. Believe me, the good / bad ratio of our caravans is much better than our competitors. We have access to far more resources than they do.
The Great
1) You will experience Mexican Culture like you never will on a 2 week all inclusive, and I guarantee you will come away with a more positive impression of the country and its people than you had before.
2) You will experience excellent cuisine on our tours. We try to accommodate vegetarians and gluten intolerant people to the best of our ability.
3) You will experience tours to places that you would never go to, or even find, on a fly-in vacation. There are great attractions in Mexico the average tourist has never heard about. As a Mexican company, we know where they are.
4) You will be fully assisted and guided through the sometimes daunting paperwork involved in taking your RV to Mexico
5) We use fully certified bilingual tour guides familiar with each location, not the Wagon Master, to conduct tours.
6) Unlike many caravan companies, we can deal with problems in Spanish or at least call someone who can.
7) We utilize the Green Angels on as many segments as possible. These are similar to AAA, but have quasi police powers, so can do things like block intersections. They are trained mechanics and do not charge for labor.
8) THE BIGGIE: You are not alone, when issues happen, and they can, you have support
The Good
1) You do not have to worry about reservations or getting lost on the road. You will be led by an experienced wagon master who knows the route and where the RV parks are.
2) You will likely make new friends, some of whom may turn into future travel companions.
3) On selected trips you will have a chance to learn basic Spanish
4) You do not have to worry about being left alone in a country with another language, should you have issues on the road.
5) Mexico now has ULSD diesel which was not the case up until 2019.
6) As of spring 2022, fuel is a lot cheaper than in the US. Less than $4 US a gallon.
7) You may find an RV Park you want to return to on your own in future years, many of our customers do.
The bad
1) You maybe subject to more rules than on US & Canadian Caravans. This is for your safety and the difficulty of dealing with issues in a foreign country with a different language. The extra rules are not onerous, but they make sense.
2) Some trips may not be suitable for larger rigs and towing a car behind is not always a good idea.
3) Some segment travel times may be longer than we, or our customers like, but we want to get to an RV Park and not have to use a gas station overnight. We always try to pre-inform customers of expected travel time and we do lots of body breaks.
The Ugly
1) Mexico is full of Topes (speed bumps in the highway). You have to be alert for these and be ready to reduce your speed. At least in a caravan, the person ahead goes over one first and it alerts you. The Wagon Master hits it first.
2) Some roads are not so good, we have to take some of them quite slowly.
4) Dealing with accidents and breakdowns can be harder, but as a Mexican based company we are much better placed to deal with the police, insurance companies and repair facilities.
5) If you are Canadian, Mexico has no Tim Horton's.
The Mixed
1) RV Parks range from close to US standards to dry parking, in essentially a parking lot. Some have power, sewer and water or maybe just 1 or 2 of those. Our Yucatan loop has the most dry camping. We use the best available in each area.
2) Bottled water is very cheap and available everywhere. On the bad side, you must use it for drinking.
3) Propane is available, but not as easy to refill as in the US. We manage fine.
4) Mexico has Drug Cartels as I am sure you know. Unless you are involved in drugs, you are quite OK. With the way things are going these days in the US, you may safer in Mexico.
In Summary
We cannot change the fact that infrastructure in Mexico is not as developed as in the US. What we can do, is make sure people know what to expect, and hopefully they approach the trip with the most positive attitude possible. If we lose one or 2 by being honest and up front, so be it. 99% of our customers have the trip of a lifetime, and we have a very high percentage of repeat customers. In 2021/2022, we had 5. The biggest problem for many of our customers is they find RVing in the US and Canada a bit dull and uninteresting afterwards, and want to come back.