Bussing to Mexico is the way to do it – if you’re broke

It was a gradual immersion into the Hispanic culture as my two traveling buddies and I made our way from Austin to Mexico City.

From Austin to San Antonio to Laredo and Monterrey, we transitioned from free copies of El Mundo beside the complementary Dallas Morning News in the Greyhound station, to Spanglish signs in the border town, and immigration officers that could only say in English, “You espeak eSpanish?”

The architecture gradually got brighter as well – from San Antonio’s mosaic-tiled buildings to Mexico City’s miles of hills covered with flat-roofed buildings of blue, yellow, pink and orange.

Once through immigration, we transferred to a Mexican bus company, Futura, which surprising was more comfortable – more leg room and a few movie feature (albeit in Spanish). The landscape was just as entertaining to watch go from arid, storm-covered plains to glorious mountains illuminated by the sun and arched by a rainbow (I don’t think the rainbow is a permanent feature, but you could have fooled me).

After a rough night of sleep (why don’t I ever remember to bring a blanket on these trips?) the three of us woke to the sun rising over Mexican volcanoes. Two hours later we arrived, hungry and tired, but richer then your common air traveler – both in dollars (at $100, a bus ride is half the price of the cheapest plane tickets) and in appreciation for the Mexican landscape.