I discovered this amazingly detailed guide to driving to Monterrey via the southern border crossing at Laredo. It has inspired me to take this trip, if I can afford it.

Here’s why, though — Monterrey is a true Latin American city within a day’s drive, much safer than the average Mexican metropolis. It also abuts the Sierra Madre Oriental, which is not the highest mountain range in Mexico, but is the most prominent range (consider that Monterrey is at about 1,500 feet above sea level, and Cerro El Potosi, 50 miles south of Monterrey, is 13,000 feet above sea level — that is a level of topographical prominence almost unseen in the United States. It is a few thousand feet more prominent than Denver is to the Rockies.)

As a result, mountains tower over Monterrey, and Google Maps shows that off.

Here are some of the more affluent parts of the region:

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Right up against the mountains in Southeast Monterrey:

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Downtown, complete with a Sears:

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I forget the bridge’s name, but it has to be a Calatrava:

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Here’s a Mexican 7–11 in San Pedro Garza Garcia, a suburb of Monterrey:

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Some weird store called “Waldo’s Mart”, in Northwest Monterrey:

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Looks like LA!

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But Mexico is a different story, having an income stratification that makes New York City seem like Denmark. So the side streets of its major cities have the potential to expose us to a very different, but very interesting, urban landscape.

So far, it appears Google has added Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puerto Vallarta, D.F. (Mexico City and suburbs), and Puebla. Those cities alone accounts for much of Mexico’s upper and middle classes, so it makes sense.

Let’s go on a quick journey.

The first thing about Guadalajara I noticed was the shocking amount of graffiti. It reminded me of New York in the 1980’s. The trees are more shrubby and subtropical than I thought (jacaranda trees and palms); the terrain quite flat. It reminds me of what I saw in Colombia — a lot of 19th century buildings mixed with early modern mid-rises. It seems that the 1950’s-1970’s were good times for Latin America based on the prevalence of mid century skyscrapers.

If you pan around this map, you will see a traffic circle with a gigantic ugly supermarket taking up most of the real estate. But I love those directional signs!

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This is the upper class and relatively new commercial district, Puerta de Hierro. Pan around all the way and you’ll see a shopping mall with a Chili’s!

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The intersection of “Montreal” and “Bogota”, not too far from Puerto de Hierro:

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An older part of town with a fair amount of graffiti:

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A few political murals in a more run down part of town. PAN is one of the major political parties of Mexico. This resembles some of the political “billboards” I saw for local candidates in Barranquilla, Colombia — the same painting schemes, painted on similarly short walls.

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More to come!