Tips for RVing in Mexico

Note: This article was written following a trip to Mexico in early 1994. Some things have very likely changed, including the costs shared here, but the general content still provides good guidelines.

We traveled to Mexico with our rig for the first time this winter. What an adventure! I would recommend you not even consider going to Mexico without Church's Traveler's Guide to Mexican Camping . I don't know how you would ever find the campgrounds without this book!

Plan on spending $11 to $22 a night for campgrounds that often do not have sufficient power to safely plug in. We dumped 5 gallon jugs of purified water in our tanks. Using the public showers helped conserve our water. Some of our group used tap water with bleach added and had no problem.

You do need to get stickers for your motorized vehicles and tourist visas when you visit Mexico. This is time consuming, confusing and a hassle. And you have to return them when you leave Mexico or they may not let you in the next time you want to visit. Church's book provides good information on crossing the border.

There are a lot of restrictions on what food you can take across the border. Check before you go to see what the restrictions are at the time. Beef was the big one when we went, but we also had been told no chicken, pork, eggs and most produce items. But don't worry, grocery stores in the larger communities were as good or better than many of those in the states. Markets, which are in the downtown areas, varied a lot. We would buy produce, fish and cheese at some and not touch it at others. You will know which ones you feel comfortable buying at.

We had been told to take paper products as they were not as good in Mexico. We took toilet paper, but bought paper towels and Kleenex in Mexico. The Kleenex was okay, but the paper towels were not great. Napkins are also much smaller than what we get in the US. I guess they don't make as much of a mess when they eat as we do!

We also found we could not buy good pickles in Mexico. Salad dressing was limited in choice and came in very small bottles. Peanut butter also only came in small containers and only came in creamy. Produce is priced by the kg. One kg equals 2.2 pounds. The cost of produce was very inexpensive and meat was generally less than in the US. You do need to soak produce in a product like Microdyn, which you can buy at any grocery store. I took a bucket just for soaking produce so I could recycle the water Microdyn solution for several bunches of produce.