DON’T TELL ANYONE…. DIESEL IS $2.20 PER GALLON IN MEXICO
VIVA LA MEXICO !!! VIVA LA PEMEX 
During the Baja 500 we stopped at a PEMEX station to get a little fuel. Accustomed to the gas prices in San Diego, I yanked out a wad of Jackson’s and got ready for the pain. I don’t speak much Spanish, but I damn sure know the difference between “treinta y cinco dolares and sesenta y cinco dolares”. The fella in the PEMEX uniform said “treinta y cinco” clear as a bell. For you gringos, that’s 35 bucks, regardless of where you’re from. But I had to check…first in English, then in Spanish, hell even in French at that point to make sure I was hearing right. Well, there was no mistake, gas is HALF the price in Mexico.
That fill-up was in Ensenada, so considering the particularly lubricated state I was in, my mind sloshed over the possibilities while I did my best to see by covering one eye. Good thing I was’nt driving, concentrating on the road, with only one eye would have made be even more dizzy and I would’ve thought the half price gas was all a dream. Arriving in TJ, I made my buddy pull over at my newest most favorite place, a PEMEX station, so I could focus on the sign with the prices. After a few minutes of painful concetration and currency conversion I came up with the figure of 2.61 per gallon.
At our shop we build aluminum cross bed fuel tanks for diesel pick ups. Generally, these are purchased by contractors with heavy equipment or guys towing trailers who don’t want to stop every 100 miles to fill up their tanks. I had noticed that over the past month or so orders for these tanks had increased, but being slower than most I just welded more aluminum and turned up the country music. The morning after the 500 I came to the shop with a whole new revelation, (and a few facts), diesel sells for 2.20 per gallon in Mexico and I had just paid $5.50 at the 7-11 on corner of Mission and Balboa. I don’t like that place very much anymore. I then looked online to price out the other guys aluminum tanks. Some were a little cheaper than ours (crappy things) and most were hundreds of dollars more (crappy things). The clincher was when I called to see if I could a tank right now, “I mean now, like shipped out today”. A 30 to 45 day delivery time was the answer and prices were higher than expected…due to the increase in aluminum prices.. cough cough BS cough
I don’t mind the drive into Mexico. I’ve got the XM comedy station, a cell phone I have yet to figure out and all kinds of voices in my head to keep me company. Which means, should there be a little wait at the border I’ve got plenty to do and people to talk with while I wait. And if waiting means I’ve just saved $377.00 bucks on diesel then I would be nuts not to do it. (my truck has a 130 gal tank plus its stupid little piss pot stock one that holds 24 gal).
I have started seeing a lot of ex-patriots down across the border these days, all of us gathering at the PEMEX station, drinking coffee and telling lies. We share stories about secondary inspection and all the places on our trucks the customs guys look for dope and aliens. No worries, all I have on board is just a full tank of of fuel, a well programed cell phone, my current ID and a fading sense of humor if you mention a body cavity search one more time.
So, if anybody reads this blog, it was written with the express purpose of exposing the perils of Mexico and warning all who read it to stay away from the half price fuel just a few minutes south of the border. It burns just as well as the stuff up here that costs twice as much and you have to install a tank in the back of your truck to really take advantage of the savings. Don’t call Precision Off Road Engineering to build you one of those shiny aluminum tanks either, I hear that they are pretty nice guys who don’t charge an arm and a leg and deliver your tank in about three days, right to your doorstep. Don’t let this little secret get out, we wouldn’t want to encourage anybody into taking that dangerous drive down South, risking life and limb all for a few bucks would we? I’ll see you at PEMEX, and feel free to stop by POE and pick up a tank on the way there.
Now that’s RIDING DIRTY,
Snakecharmer
