Narrative:

Night landing in mmgl; my first trip into mmgl; end of a long 4 leg day; including an aircraft swap on the second leg after we preflighted it; causing us to be delayed all day. After landing runway 28; we were given clearance to taxi to the gate via a and D; cross runway 02; contact ramp entering D. Captain was taxiing; I was heads down completing the after landing checklist. He asked if this was D; I looked up and couldn't quite read the sign; which was obstructed by tall grass and dark. At the last minute; I made out a 'D' and said yes; turned out I was mistaken; it indicated D was the next taxiway. After he made the left turn; we saw F painted on the pavement. He stopped the aircraft and I advised ramp we had entered at F instead of D. Even though our path to the right was clear; ramp did not allow us to turn right toward our gate from F; but instructed us to taxi to the left out G; hold short of a and contact ground. There were no light aircraft in the ramp area blocking our path; and after clearance from ground we proceeded back down a to D without incident. Suggest encouraging mmgl to trim grass around taxiway signage; and ensure signage is clearly lit and visible at night. Suggest encouraging crews who are unfamiliar or lack recent experience to a field to suspend/delay checklists well prior to upcoming turns; and ensure both pilots are heads-up to provide a positive cross-check of taxi route.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier First Officer reports entering the ramp at MMGL on the wrong taxiway due to tall grass obscuring a sign and night time conditions.

Narrative: Night landing in MMGL; my first trip into MMGL; end of a long 4 leg day; including an aircraft swap on the second leg after we preflighted it; causing us to be delayed all day. After landing Runway 28; we were given clearance to taxi to the gate via A and D; cross Runway 02; contact Ramp entering D. Captain was taxiing; I was heads down completing the After Landing checklist. He asked if this was D; I looked up and couldn't quite read the sign; which was obstructed by tall grass and dark. At the last minute; I made out a 'D' and said yes; turned out I was mistaken; it indicated D was the next taxiway. After he made the left turn; we saw F painted on the pavement. He stopped the aircraft and I advised Ramp we had entered at F instead of D. Even though our path to the right was clear; Ramp did not allow us to turn right toward our gate from F; but instructed us to taxi to the left out G; hold short of A and contact Ground. There were no light aircraft in the ramp area blocking our path; and after clearance from Ground we proceeded back down A to D without incident. Suggest encouraging MMGL to trim grass around taxiway signage; and ensure signage is clearly lit and visible at night. Suggest encouraging crews who are unfamiliar or lack recent experience to a field to suspend/delay checklists well prior to upcoming turns; and ensure both pilots are heads-up to provide a positive cross-check of taxi route.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.