{"id":256,"date":"2019-01-16T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-16T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/16\/gas-crisis\/"},"modified":"2019-01-16T16:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-01-16T21:00:00","slug":"gas-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/16\/gas-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Gas Crisis in Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nWe didn\u2019t make it to Tlaquepaque! We literally ran out of gas. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWell, we didn\u2019t completely run out of gas, but we did get low enough on gas to not have enough make it to Tlaquepaque, and we couldn\u2019t find any more.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

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\nWhy No Gas?<\/div>\n<\/h3>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nMexico has what are called huachicoleros<\/i>, or gas thieves. The initial image that comes to mind is someone with a 5-gallon container and a hose that siphons gas out of cars. But in Mexico, the issue is far, far bigger, to the tune of $3B USD a year in stolen gas. And it’s not stolen from cars, it’s siphoned right out of the large gas pipelines that distribute the product from refineries to various points in the country. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe gas is stolen by the cartels in a very systematic, almost professional manner. Tapping these lines, with flammable gas running through them, is a dangerous process, and can only be done by extremely skilled people. The government says over 12,000 taps have been put into the gas distribution pipelines. <\/div>\n
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Sad, empty gas station<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

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\nA Government Crackdown<\/h3>\n
\nThis has been going on for years, but Mexico’s new, anti-corruption president, Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador, took office last month and started cracking down.<\/span> <\/span>He decided to fight the huachicoleros<\/i> by stopping the distribution of gas through the pipelines, identifying the taps and then more vigorously guarding those lines. The plan was to replace pipeline distribution with distribution by tanker truck.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nUnfortunately, that distribution plan has failed to meet the needs of the population, leaving some areas, mostly central Mexico — where we are — with a gas shortage (actually a distribution shortage).<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWe knew about this 10 days ago before we left Pennsylvania. Fully aware that we were heading into the area hardest hit by the shortages, we thought that surely the kinks in the distribution system would be worked out by the time we got to Mexico, especially after we were delayed another two days at the border.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nOur trip through northern Mexico was uneventful and there was plenty of gas. There was even plenty of gas in Matehuala, six hours in, where we stopped overnight and easily gassed up the next morning. We knew that one tank of gas wouldn\u2019t get us to Tlaquepaque, so we wanted to go far enough before stopping to ensure we had enough in the tank to make it the rest of the way. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nUnfortunately, when it came time to stop, first there weren\u2019t any gas stations for miles, and then the next one we found didn\u2019t have any gas. Its gas nozzles were just lying on the pavement, and a long line of cars idled a half mile back along the roadside. We drove 40 miles to the next town where there was a possibility of finding gas, but none of the five gas stations there had gas either. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

\nChoosing a Detour<\/h3>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nSo we were faced with a decision, and discussed it while looking at a map of Mexico: continue on toward Tlaquepaque and hope we could find gas, or turn left and take a detour toward the closest city, Leon, where we could find pet-friendly lodging and hope to find gas. We chose the Leon option, not wanting to chance being stranded on a roadside with three cats.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWe found the Hotel Soleil Business Class<\/b><\/a>, an affordable, pet-friendly three-star hotel, and walked down the street to a gas station that didn\u2019t have any gas. The attendant told us he wasn\u2019t scheduled to get gas for 4 more days.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWe knew we had a problem, so we went and booked a two-bedroom Airbnb apartment in Leon for a week iand decided to make lemonade out of lemons.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

\nMaking Lemonade<\/h3>\n
\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nLeon wasn\u2019t on our initial list of places to visit, but it has turned out to be a wonderful discovery! There\u2019s lots to see and do here, the cats like the apartment, and we are really enjoying our stay.  <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nMeanwhile, we’re monitoring the gas situation online. We have seen a few open gas stations with long lines, and have heard about people waiting four or six hours or more for gas, and then coming away with only a few pesos worth (because of 500-peso limits, about $28US), or not getting gas at all. We are not “line” people.<\/div>\n
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We are not getting in that line<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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\n At some point, when the situation improves, we’ll get in what should be shorter lines, only when we can get enough gas to make it all the way to Tlaquepaque. And then we’ll move on to our next adventure.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIn the meantime, join us in exploring Leon!<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We didn\u2019t make it to Tlaquepaque! We literally ran out of gas.  Well, we didn\u2019t completely run out of gas, but we did get low enough on gas to not have enough make it to Tlaquepaque, and we couldn\u2019t find any more. Why No Gas? Mexico has what are called huachicoleros, or gas thieves. The … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Gas Crisis in Mexico”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[30,127,125,114,115,4,65,12,5,6],"class_list":["post-256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-adventure","tag-adventure-cats","tag-cat","tag-gas","tag-leon","tag-mexico","tag-tlaquepaque","tag-travel","tag-travel-blog","tag-travel-blogger"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}