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  #1  
Old Posted Jan 11, 2011, 6:44 AM
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Monterrey, Nuevo León, México: Sultan of the North

I just moved to Mexico City, and my friend and I drove down from Austin, Texas. Monterrey is the natural 'resting spot' for the 940 mile drive, as it is just under halfway between Austin and DF.

It is a formidable city in its own right - the metro area competes with Guadalajara for #2 status and is headquarters to many of Mexico's blue chip companies like FEMSA and Cemex. It is the capital of Nuevo León, and is just under 2 hours from Laredo, Texas.

The area has a beautiful natural setting, right at the foot of the Sierra Madre mountain range. If the US and Mexico had no borders, Monterrey would be situated essentially where Denver is, but several hundred miles south - right against the mountains on a plain. These mountains are essentially the southern continuation of the Rockies.

It is a warm city (it was 27C when we were there) and pretty smoggy. The mountains trap some of the air, giving it pollution nearly as bad as Mexico City (at least in my limited experience).

This is basically downtown Monterrey in a nutshell. It is dominated by the Cerro de la Silla (Saddle Hill, since it looks like a saddle), which is about 6,000 feet above sea level (Monterrey's at about 1,500).



The Silla also doubles as the silhouette for NL's state highway signs:











Monterrey Centro is dominated by the Macroplaza, which is exactly what it sounds like, a really big plaza. It contains most of the city's cultural/governmental fixtures, such as the city theatre, N.L. senate building, and the government palace.







Monterrey has an abundance of 1960's and 1970's high-rise architecture, foreboding and cold, but I still like it anyway.







Most streets in Centro look like this, though:







The state government palace (i.e. state capitol)



The fabulous "Fuente de la Vida"



Monterrey city hall (I believe)





At VIP's, the venerable diner chain that is prevalent throughout Mexico. The sign is basically reminding the waitress that her place is out in the dining room with her customers, not in the back with the silverware.



61 pesos is $4.98





Monterrey has a small subway system, called Metrorrey (pretty cool name if you ask me). We had no time to take a trip on the train, though.









Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend much time in Monterrey. It was a nice city, but not our destination. I also regret not having any time to spend in the ultra-fabulous and rather wealthy suburb of San Pedro Garza Garcia. We had planned to eat dinner there, but decided to get going onto the toll road so we could make it to Mexico City by 1 or 2AM.

We drove through San Pedro on the way out, though. This is the Calatrava-designed bridge that goes over the sometimes river (I forget its name).



SPGG looks like middle class California!









This is in rural Coahuila (or possibly still N.L.) in the mountains on the way to Mexico City. And that's my car! They did not sell the Miata in Mexico until recently, so every time we went to PEMEX to get gas, everyone commented on how unique and cool it was! I am not joking, the car gets comments at least once a day.



The obligatory PEMEX sign (they're a state-owned monopoly, and gas is about as cheap as gas in Texas):



I'll start posting my Mexico City pictures shortly. So far, I'm enjoying the country and am not regretting moving here. (For the record, this was the first time I had been to Monterrey and I moved to Mexico City sight unseen. But I did my homework, which is why I think it's going to work out fine!)
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  #2  
Old Posted Jan 11, 2011, 11:07 AM
JoninATX JoninATX is offline
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Cool pixs Arbeiter I always wanted to go to Monterrey, looks like a interesting place to visit .
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  #3  
Old Posted Jan 11, 2011, 12:08 PM
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Viva Mexico!
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Old Posted Jan 11, 2011, 12:57 PM
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from the pictures I usually see, Monterrey is quite green (at least the mountains around, although you cant see that in your pics because of fog).

thus, it surprised me how soon, south of Monterrey, it became "desertic".


anyway, your photos are awesome. Since you are on the move, why dont go further?? And take the PanAmerican road and then down through Brazil, into Uruguay, Argentina, and back north throught the Andes??
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Old Posted Jan 11, 2011, 1:18 PM
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I love Monterrey. I have never seen it so smoggy before though. Shopping in San Pedro is fun. It is a must next time you go. Great shots man.
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  #6  
Old Posted Jan 11, 2011, 3:17 PM
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Great tour!
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Old Posted Jan 11, 2011, 5:15 PM
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Too bad you didnt get more time in monterrey. i hear its awesome.
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  #8  
Old Posted Jan 11, 2011, 5:32 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Trantor View Post
from the pictures I usually see, Monterrey is quite green (at least the mountains around, although you cant see that in your pics because of fog).

thus, it surprised me how soon, south of Monterrey, it became "desertic".


anyway, your photos are awesome. Since you are on the move, why dont go further?? And take the PanAmerican road and then down through Brazil, into Uruguay, Argentina, and back north throught the Andes??
It's not fog, it's smog! LOL

You are right though that it becomes arid very quickly after Monterrey. Monterrey itself isn't all that lush, it's officially semi-arid, but they planted a lot of trees in the city. However, it becomes very dry just 20-30 miles away because of the rain shadow of the mountains. They're very tall mountains and it blocks nearly everything that comes up from the Gulf of Mexico.

It stays semi-arid until about Queretaro, and then from there to Mexico City, there are increasing amounts of trees, especially oaks and pines.
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Old Posted Jan 11, 2011, 5:56 PM
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Very nice tour, thanks! Is that hail damage on your hood?
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  #10  
Old Posted Jan 11, 2011, 6:05 PM
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Cool! I have always liked the mountain ranges that surround Monterrey. Thanks for sharing. How exciting about your new life in Mexico City. I will be looking forward to those pictures.
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  #11  
Old Posted Jan 11, 2011, 6:23 PM
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Originally Posted by LAsam View Post
Very nice tour, thanks! Is that hail damage on your hood?
Yeah. We had a hail storm in Texas back in April 09 and someone had just gotten the paint redone the week before. They were so fed up with their loss that they sold the car to me really cheap. Really, really cheap. The car is otherwise fine, except for dashboard rattles and an AC that needs to be recharged (which is not a concern in Mexico City really)
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Old Posted Jan 11, 2011, 7:31 PM
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Cool pix. . . I was in Monterrey back in 1995. . . had some of the same observations you did. . . parts of it look like Los Angeles. . .

. . .
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Old Posted Jan 11, 2011, 8:26 PM
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Nice thread. I spent a week in Monterrey back in June of 08.
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Old Posted Jan 11, 2011, 9:48 PM
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Monterrey looks nice from your photos. It is great to see more of Mexican cities here. I look forward to seeing more. Thanks!
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Old Posted Jan 11, 2011, 11:22 PM
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Awesome!!!
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  #16  
Old Posted Jan 12, 2011, 12:06 AM
llamaorama llamaorama is offline
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Love it.

My friend did a road trip from Texas to Monterey. Not really all that far at all, only about 8 hours or equivalent to driving from where I live to Lubbock and that's still in the same state An adventurous trip to another country you can pull off in a weekend for reasonably cheap.

Still, was safety a concern when you were there?
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  #17  
Old Posted Jan 12, 2011, 1:10 AM
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Originally Posted by llamaorama View Post
Love it.

My friend did a road trip from Texas to Monterey. Not really all that far at all, only about 8 hours or equivalent to driving from where I live to Lubbock and that's still in the same state An adventurous trip to another country you can pull off in a weekend for reasonably cheap.

Still, was safety a concern when you were there?
Safety was not an issue.

We crossed the border from Laredo at about 7PM - after visiting the Aduana and paying the Banjercito, we were on our way through Nuevo Laredo. You basically bypass the entire city by taking the recommended peripheral road, which takes about 15-20 minutes.

Once you merge onto the main highway, the traffic at night is kind of nerve-wracking (at least if you drive a small Mazda Miata like I do). 95% of the traffic was 18-wheelers - the entire drive to Monterrey was like this.

But we drove through the theoretically no-go zones at night, and it was just fine. No safety concerns at all. Everyone wanted to make comments about how unusual my car was, though.

After Monterrey, the traffic is mostly cars and not 18-wheelers, which gives you an idea of the sheer economic power and symbiosis between northern Mexico and the southern US - i.e. NAFTA.

The closest to 'danger' we were in was when I accidentally told my friend to merge into the truck lane at the checkpoint. Then two "window cleaner" types started frantically yelling at us and told us our car would be towed (?) if we didn't get back onto the main lanes. My friend scraped the bottom of the car while trying to escape. But it wasn't 'danger' per se.
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  #18  
Old Posted Jan 12, 2011, 2:02 AM
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The mountains at Monterrey are my favorite anywhere. They are very high and jagged, and once you get up into the mountains, it's like a rainforest (with waterfalls). It's been so long since I was there I can't imagine how much the city has changed. Would like to go back. It wouldn't be a long drive for me.
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Old Posted Jan 12, 2011, 3:38 PM
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my first thought at the first picture was "damn, that's an unusual, iconic looking mountain" and then your second and third pictures show it as an icon. i'm on that shit, boy.

lookin' good down there with your dinged up miata. congrats on following through.
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  #20  
Old Posted Jan 13, 2011, 1:34 AM
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Monterrey is a big city, but yet it appears to be very sprawl-oriented...what is it like as a city? Is it very auto-oriented and full of chains?
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