well, this is it: the border of mexico! overall, driving in mexico has been fine. here’s a brief summary of my driving experiences thus far:

1) GASOLINE is usually very accessible and can be found at least every 50km. except for natural gas (and some little gas shops in the middle of nowhere), all gas is sold by one company (government owned, i think?). that means that it’s all the same price, which is nice since you don’t feel the need to hunt around for a good spot. the prices are similar to the US, except it’s always full service. also, about 1/3 of the shops only accept cash.
2) ROADS are currently being repaired in much of the country. that means that some roads are in disrepair, while others are awesome. The toll roads tend to be better, but can definitely add up (tolls are usually every 50km, and range from $2 to $10). route 200 ranges from great to awful
3) TOPES suck and are everywhere.
4) STREET SIGNS are usually decent…but can range from non-existent to 100 feet across (see pic).
5) COPS are much less common than in the US. I never had any issues with them. One friend (who i won’t embarass) told me that the cops are all awful. Eric (oops!) even told me that they sometimes plant drugs in your car and demand you pay them upwards of $3k USD.
6) LINES are guides…kinda like a first grader learning to write. sidewalks are there to let you know when you’re close to buildings.
7) HAZARD LIGHTS can mean there’s a cop coming, there’s a tope, i’m stopping, i’m turning left or just watch out.
8) PASSING is either done without any signals, or with the left turn signal…which then stays on for the next 10 min or so (no joke!).
9) RADIO can be pretty awful. Some stations have more commercials than music. Also, for some reason, when in the country, my radio seek button would skip over perfectly good stations…so you might have to do it manually if your car is racist like mine.
10) SPEED LIMITS are limited by your vehicle…not by the posted limit. similarly, seat belts depend on the number of passengers.
11) MILITARY CHECKPOINTS are quite common…usually at the borders of states and big cities (every 200miles or so?). They almost always either just let me go, or asked me where i was going, then let me go. only twice was i actually stopped (once in the state of oaxaca, they searched my car decently & once in comitan where the man asked my for car importation info). It’s unclear if their purpose is to find potential threats, scare potential threats (like TSA in the US), or simply to show the population who is really in charge. i’m guessing it’s a bit of all three…but mostly the latter.