By the time I returned to San Carlos, I only had a quarter tank of fuel. I headed to the Pemex gas station and asked for 300 pesos’ worth of fuel just to get an idea of what a fill would be. 300 pesos got me to the half mark, which means that a full tank would be 1,200 pesos or 100CAD. OMG. An expensive tank of fuel in Canada is 95CAD, so Mexican gas is MORE expensive than Canadian! How come no one warned me about this???!!! I am going to have to take out more cash for sure as I way under budgeted for fuel. 🙁
Before anyone says anything, I am aware of the scam where the pump doesn’t get zeroed out and parked so that I could watch the screen. The attendant even pointed to the screen and said ‘cero’ (zero) before starting. I gave him five pesos for the service.
Mexicans are driving up to the US to buy their gas. It used to be really cheap so the government started automatically increasing it after set periods of time and forgot to stop the process.
The gasoline system is a mess in Mexico with the cartels stealing huge volumes which they sell to American retailers at a discount.
Don’t worry once you get to the Isla, one tank will last you all winter. You only need drive to the panga and back. Be sure to fill the tank before you leave Mazatlan as there is no fuel on the Isla.
I know that I won’t be buying much gas when I get to the Isla. That’s the only thing that’s keeping me sane right now. 😀 Thank you for the tip about fueling up before I arrive!