Parking In Mexico

Parking is difficult in Mexico. In the downtown areas there is never any curbside parking available as the local workers take most of the available spaces early in the morning and hold them all day. There are no restrictions or meters to control this. As I said earlier, Mexicans are all expert parallel parkers. In the rows of parked cars there is never more than a foot between cars.

In Veracruz we had to park in a "sort of" legal spot about four blocks away from our hotel when we checked in as all the spots near the hotel were taken. As we walked up to the door of the hotel a car pulled out from a spot right in front of the hotel! I knew it would never last long enough for me to run back to get the car and Norma's offer to stand in it to hold it would not have worked with the aggressive Mexican drivers, so that was out. Suddenly a young man appeared holding a red rag. He is one of the many ambitious Mexican people who have created a job for themselves by "selling" parking spaces. They help you load your packages and stop traffic while you leave or back out of the space and then wave their flag to attract another car to "their" spot and guide them into it. This is all for small tips which they seem to get from people both coming and going.

I called him over and asked him to hold the spot for me while I went for the car. He understood and nodded, motioning for me to hurry! Norma stayed with him while I went back for the car. She said that she would never have stood a chance as he had to fight off three cars who wanted to park and in one case had to stand his ground as a more aggressive driver put his bumper right against his legs. The relief was evident on his face as I finally drove up and he helped me back into the tiny space, standing behind motioning which way to turn the wheel. We gave him $30 Pesos ($2.80 USA) which was about six times more than he usually gets but which he had more than earned! We left the car there for the next three days while we walked everywhere. If we had left the space we would never have found another in downtown Veracruz and few hotels provide parking, certainly none in our price range! When we pulled out to leave, the same young man was there to help us so he could "sell" our prime space to the next driver. Like many here in Mexico, he works long, hard hours for very little money. Good luck to him.

On our little side trip to Guanajuato where there is no logic to the narrow little streets going off in every direction, we hired a "Guide" to get us and the Honda to a parking lot near the Centro. We found one about six blocks from our hotel, intending to leave the car there for the two days we would be in Guanajuato. I did not inquire about the daily charge but did notice the short term rate was $10 Pesos per hour. When we picked the car up I handed the attendant $100 Pesos which I thought would more than cover the two days fee. Wrong! There was no long term or daily discount! It was $10 Pesos per hour 24 hours a day and our bill was well over $500 Pesos ($50 USA)! This is an outrageous amount in an area where the average wage is well under $100 Pesos a day. This would be equivalent to paying $700 or $800 to park for two days in downtown Vancouver! Well, I was not going to argue as I probably should have / could have bargained a better rate when I parked there but I did not. My fault. Live and learn. It is all part of the Mexico Experience and I love every minute of it (even the expensive ones)!