Before you leave
If you have never gone to México you may want to take a look at ‘Tips for Travelers to Mexico’ from the US State Department. Another good resource for general information is the AllAboutGuadalajara.com FAQ.
Getting Around
Within Guadalajara
Car Hertz (3688-6080/3688-5633) Budget (3688-6268/3688-5531) National Car Rental (3688-6582/3688-5522) and Optima Rent a Car (3688-5360) all have rental offices inside Guadalajara's Airport, you should reserve your car in advance to get the best rates. The main roads of the city are Gonzalez Gallo, which leads south from the center and connects with the road to Lake Chapala; Av. Vallarta, which continues past the La Minerva roundabout (glorieta) and eventually joins Highway 15 which goes west to Tequila and Puerto Vallarta; Av. López Mateos, which cuts the city diagonally from the Northeast to Southwest crossing Av. Vallarta at La Minerva; Calz. Lázaro Cardenas, which splits off from West Av. Vallarta and goes Southeast to the New Bus Station (Central Camionera) and Tonalá, becoming Highway 90, and its the main exit for Querétaro, San Luis Potosí and Mexico City; and Periférico, or Manuel Gomez Morin, which is a ring around the city and its suburbs.
Taxi Taxis are probably the easiest way to get around the city and most hotels have some on site or will gladly call one for you. Also, in Guadalajara you can easily get one on the street if you are somewhere around the center of the city or in a well-traficked area. Most have meters, so make sure you get a fair rate by reminding them to use them if they aren't already. If you don't have any time to spare or you're out at night, it is a better idea to call a taxi stand (called ‘Sitios’, RutasJalisco.com has citywide listings of taxi stands in Guadalajara) and have them dispatch a taxi to your location. Make sure to ask about the price of the ride beforehand when calling the taxi stand, or, if you are getting a taxi on the street, with the driver before you accept the ride. There are three rates: day, night and out-of-town. Typical fares are: from downtown to west side $6-8 USD, from downtown or west side to Tlaquepaque $6-9 USD, to the new bus station $7 USD, to the airport $14-18 USD. Radio Taxis (dispatching services that call the nearest taxi to your location by radio) are a little bit more expensive but they can be relied on at any time, should you need one, call Contaxi: 8130-0600.
City Bus There are several city bus lines, offering different grades of service. The best is the Turquesa line. Its buses are painted bright turquoise and have “TUR” written on them with large letters. They are air-conditioned and comfortable, and cost about 60 cents to ride. The handiest route its 706 TUR which runs from the Centro Histórico SE to Tlaquepaque, the Central Camionera and Tonalá. You can catch this one on Avenida 16 de Septiembre. The same bus runs in reverse direction back to the downtown area. The rest of the TUR routes, and other first class bus routes, can be found at rutasjalisco.com/plus.htm.
Outsite Guadalajara
Car First, make sure you have sufficient insurance and that is valid in México. Most of the major cities of México are linked by two classes of highways: free (libre) and toll (cuota). The toll roads are much nicer, faster and safer. Hold on to the receipt you get after you pay, having it entitles you to insurance while you are driving on that highway. On twisty, two lane, mountainous roads such as the ones you will find North of Puerto Vallarta, cars and most often trucks will often turn on their left turn signal to let you know that the road is clear ahead and it is safe to pass, some others may even wave you by. In general, a good policy is to consider this signal to mean that it is safe to look and see if it is safe to pass. An oncoming vehicle flashing its headlights is a warning for you to slow down or pull over because you are both approaching a narrow bridge or place in the road. Usually the first vehicle to flash has the right of way and the other must yield. Guia Roji's road maps of México are reliable and widely avalible. You can get them at the airport, in most bookstores or order them online. On the highway, avoid excessive speed and, if possible, don't drive at night. You can also plan your route online by going to SCT's route planning tool. Select the state (estado) and city (ciudad) of your starting point (origen) and destination (destino), make sure ‘Automóvil’ is selected and ‘Solución detallada’ is checked, and click ‘Consultar’. It tells you the cities you will go through, the route numbers of the roads you will take, the distance in km and the approximate duration of the trip. The last column shows the price of each toll road and the total cost, in pesos.
Bus There are many lines that offer excellent intercity transportation in México. ETN (01 800 8000 ETN) and Primera Plus (01 800 375 7587) offer first class service (large, comfortable, fully-extendable seats, direct trips) to most cities. You can buy tickets at the Central Camionera, by phone, at one of their offices in Guadalajara or, in the case of Primera Plus, online.
Air While México's major airlines, Aeroméxico, Mexicana and Aerocalifornia, offer great service and connect most destinations, they are quite expensive. Interjet and Alma offer low-cost tickets. Their prices are often half or less than half of what the major carriers charge. They only fly a few routes between the most important cities, so they might be a good option if you are, for instance, considering to take a side trip to Mexico City, Puebla or Puerto Vallarta. Their tickets can only be purchased at the airport, authorized agencies or online, on their own websites.
Changing Money
You can get the best exchange rate simply by paying for your purchases with your credit or ATM card. Sadly, since there are many stores and restaurants that do not take cards its always necessary to carry cash, though of course you should always try to carry small amounts. Also, if you carry dollars, don't carry big denominations, 100's can be hard to exchange, and especially in smaller cities you might find yourself planning your activities around the banks' schedule. If you have to carry large amounts of money, you could try travelers' checks. They are just as hard if not harder to exchange, but at least they are safer. You can get the second best exchange rate at ATM machines or reputable Casas de Cambio (There are many 3 blocks south of the cathedral on López Cotilla between Corona and Degollado). They are generally open weekdays 9-7 and Saturday 9-1. Which of these two is the best exchange rate for you will depend on how much your bank charges you for using an ATM abroad. In contrast, the worst exchange rate is very easy to determine: it will almost always be the one that restaurants and stores offer you. Check the exchange rate daily and make sure whoever is changing your money is offering a fair rate.
As a side note, the $ sign is used for pesos, so if something sounds way too expensive, its price is probably in pesos. On the other hand, if it sounds way too cheap, its probably in dollars. To make it clear, USD is often written.
Etiquette
“En las cortesías antes se ha de pecar por carta de más que de menos” (When it comes to courtesy, it is better to sin by doing too much than by doing too little)
Miguel de Cervantes
Formalities If you only know how to say two things in Spanish, let them be “Hello&rdquo and “Thank you”. It is considered rude to enter a shop, look around and leave without greeting the person working there. Because they are shy about their Spanish, many tourists will skip these formalities. So, practice these four phrases: Upon entering, if it is before noon, say “Buenos días” (BWEHN-nohs DEE-ahs); if it is after noon but before dark say “Buenas tardes” (BWEHN-nahs TAHR-dehs); if it is after dark say “Buenas noches” (BWEHN-nahs NOH-chehs). Now when you leave, say “Gracias” (GRAH-siyahs) or “Muchas gracias” (MOO-chehs GRAH-siyahs), and you will be well on your way. In a less formal setting you can say goodbye by saying “Adiós” (Ah-DYOHS) or “Hasta luego” (AHS-tah LOOEH-goh). When asking for something, in a restaurant for example, always ask please: “Por favor” (Pohr fah-VOHR). If you accidentally bump into someone, apologize by saying “Perdón” (Pehr-DOHN) or “Lo siento” (loh SYEN-toh). If you would like to get by someone, you can ask them to excuse you by saying “Con permiso” (KOHN PEHR-me-soh). If you'd like to get their attention, you can say “Disculpe, señor (señora, señorita)” (Dees-KOOL-peh, seh-NYOHR (seh-NYOH-rah, seh-nyoh-REE-tah)).
Tipping In México, it is customary to tip 10% of the cost of the bill at restaurants where you received good service, and 15% for excellent service. Generally, you are expected to add it to the tab by yourself when paying by card, but you should check before you do, because we have seen some places where they take the liberty of adding it for you. In places where you pay with cash, just leave it at the table after the meal. It is not customary to tip bartenders or taxicab drivers, but I bet they would be pretty happy if you did. Some people are of the opinion that everyone moves faster and provides a better service if you tip; Yasmín is of the opinion that everyone moves faster if you talk to the manager; it is up to you to decide what is your strategy.
Making Phone Calls
The country code when dialing for México is 52. After that you dial the city code: for Guadalajara it is 33, for Puerto Vallarta it is 322; and for Sayulita it is 329. If you want to call from México to the US or Canada, dial 001, then the area code and the number. To place other international calls, dial 00, followed by the country and city codes. Needless to say the worst way to call the US its by doing it from your hotel, so resist the tempation to simply pick up the phone and dial, even if they don't warn against the abusive rate they surely will charge you for it. A better way to go is to buy a prepaid card (Tarjetas Ladatel, sold in increments of 30, 50 or 100 pesos) and look for a street pay phone; they are on many corners in most cities. There are also a few coin-operated ones, but they are a dying breed. Ladatel cards are widely available and can be purchased at the airport and in many conveniece stores. Last time we went to México, the going rate for calling the US from a Ladatel phone was about 5 pesos per minute. If you plan to call frequently, or you would like to do it from the privacy of a regular phone (and you don't mind dialing a lot of numbers!), you can purchase a pre-paid calling card from a US provider in advance. To call from México to the US we have used MCI, which is currently 27 cents per minute and has a slightly better connection than IDphonecard which is currently 23.9 cents per minute. There are surely better deals out there if you have the patience to find them. However, if you are going to be talking to someone in the US a lot, you will get a much better rate by having them call you from the US (rates can be as low as 2 cents a minute).
Our cell phone number here in México is 044 33 1142 9460. If you are outside of the Guadalajara area, you will have to first dial 01 for long distance. If you are calling from a cell phone, you do not have to dial 044. If you are calling from the US, you need to dial 1 in the place of 044.
Speaking Spanish
Yasmín has prepared a Spanish Lesson, available here in .pdf format.
We also recommend Breaking Out of Beginner's Spanish by Joseph J. Keenan.