Quote:
Originally Posted by Pride of Cucamonga
My main concern w/ a vehicle such as your would be how to securely store things in it when I was out exploring, walking around town, etc. Almost always worth parking in a secured lot or a parking lot where you tip some guy 5 or 10 pesos to watch your car. What's this "Tuffy locking drawer thing" you wrote about? Pictures or online link?
While the chances of encountering real violence is likely overestimated, petty theft (pick pocketing, breaking into cars, etc.) is a real concern throughout Central & South America. For the most part the only thing locking the doors in a vehicle like your does is keeping honest people honest, as there's nothing to prevent someone from simply breaking the glass & unlocking the doors. Same goes for any-town USA for that matter...petty thieves breaking glass in car doors is a major problem in San Francisco.
With regard to the food, yea, I just got back from 3 weeks in Mexico and fly to Peru tomorrow. Central & South Americans are big on meats and starches & not so much on green veggies; for the most part food is cheap & taste great, good luck on losing any weight!
I haven't left my car overnight anywhere that wasn't protected or I was near my car and could hear the alarm. Most of the hotels and motels on the road in Mexico have secure parking. The city ones either have parking or you can find a secure lot nearby. Maybe this will change in Central America, not sure.
Here's the post on the tuffy drawer:
http://ushuaiaorbust.com/2017/11/08/preparations/
It's super sturdy. The idea is even if they try to smash and grab, they won't have time to break into this thing while the alarm is going off. You'd need a serious crow bar. Also the FJ is pretty good for not being able to see what's in the back seat or behind. It's super dark back there, and what you can see just looks like clothes. Gramps took one look at it and said - yeah this isn't much of a smash and grab target.
As another security measure if I have to leave it somewhere, I can back it up against a wall or something. This means they'd have to put it in neutral and push it to get into the back - another thing that would take time and make them more likely to just grab some **** they can get to and run.
The car carrier on top is super easy to break into. But I don't have valuable stuff up there. It would suck to lose my hiking backpack and backpacking tent - but I'd survive. I think people see something like that and pretty much assume you're not gonna load it up with valuable items. Not that it would stop them from breaking in at night if no one is around.
On the eating front - I've actually lost some weight by avoiding dessert or sweets (I think the crepe I ate in TJ is the last desert thing other than maybe a tiny cup of ice cream) and have a fasting day once a week. Even though there's so much food here, the portions are generally pretty reasonable. I'd say about 25% smaller than the US on average. Not quite Asia-level, but smaller.
When I'm driving it's pretty easy to eat a light breakfast, take a ritalin lol - which kills my apetite, then eat a few tacos at 4pm or something - which is late lunch for locals, but dinner for me. I realized early on - well after TJ which I blame Gramps for
- that I can't be in my normal vacation eating mode for a year, or I'll weigh 300 lbs by the end. Also I'm very motivated because I know every lb I lose will make the trip more enjoyable, and make my hiking trip in April with cardshark's BFF much easier.
Puebla has been a challenge though as there's so much amazing food here. Everything is good. And yeah - you get the bill and it's like $7 for an amazing meal and 2 cervezas. $11 for an amazing meal with white glove service. I've heard this and Oaxaca are the culinary capitals of Mexico. I'm very excited for Oaxaca next.
Last edited by suzzer99; 01-20-2018 at 11:09 PM.