Heading to Mexico today

[Pb2au]

I'll be down there all week working. If I don't check in periodically, I expect a search and rescue team to be deployed by the membership here. If I counted on the government to help me out, I'm sure my goose would be cooked.

[Ramar]

I recommend a GPS locator implant.
Ramar

[Handloader109]

Make sure you double check under your seat for any stray Bullets

[nhrifle]

Round up a few of the illegals that are coming north and take 'em back home.

[Epd230]

If you see any of our Marines down there, can you bring him back?

[Char-Gar]

I live just three miles from the Rio Grande river and have lived on the Border all of my adult life. There is no job or amount of money that would get me to cross that river/line into Mexico.

If you come back it is not because you were safe or even lucky. It will be because the thugs and cartels allowed you to come back for whatever reason they had. You cannot count on the Mexican government or police for help, they are in the crooks pockets. You are on your own.

[Charley]

I live just three miles from the Rio Grande river and have lived on the Border all of my adult life. There is no job or amount of money that would get me to cross that river/line into Mexico.

If you come back it is not because you were safe or even lucky. It will be because the thugs and cartels allowed you to come back for whatever reason they had. You cannot count on the Mexican government or police for help, they are in the crooks pockets. You are on your own.

From south Texas, bit further north than Char-Gar, but still close enough to Mexico. Listen to him, he know what he is speaking of. Mexican civil government is a joke, the Cartels run everything worth more then 50 cents.

[Love Life]

I miss the good old days of crossing into Mexico for a weekend of carousing...and getting shaken down by the local police.

[Pb2au]

Well I made it to Torreon...
not really my idea of a vacation spot.
I wasn't to excited to come down here, but I have one of our local techs with me as a guide/navigator so we pretty much keep our heads down.
I agree it is a bit dicey in places down here, I wasn't too enthusiastic when I got the orders to come down here, but after talking to our local guy he said this area is pretty calm. Not too sure I believe that after going through two military checkpoints...

[Pb2au]

I've got about 15 trips down here now and I'm on full alert every gem I have to go. The cartels are no joke.

[Love Life]

Hook me up with some tacos!!

[jumbeaux]

I live just three miles from the Rio Grande river and have lived on the Border all of my adult life. There is no job or amount of money that would get me to cross that river/line into Mexico.

If you come back it is not because you were safe or even lucky. It will be because the thugs and cartels allowed you to come back for whatever reason they had. You cannot count on the Mexican government or police for help, they are in the crooks pockets. You are on your own.

Last time I went it was on a company plane (King Air) and we went well into central Mexico. We were working with a very well connected long established citizen in one of the country's oldest cities. Major industry in town. Spent several days on business. Got ready to leave...pilot had filed all the proper paperwork. Beginning with the slick sleeve private all the way thru the senior official our pilot passed out greenbacks...finally got clearance to take off. Very happy to land in Laredo to go thru customs and refuel...made it home and told the boss man that was my last trip down south. Our host moved to Canada after his "political party" lost power. He left behind a 300+ year old hacienda, a production machine shop and several pieces of property...

rick

[Plate plinker]

Darn shame the state of ole Mexico.

for those that can read it I'm going to give it a shot

El que fue a torreon perdio un sillion!

[jumbeaux]

Rusty I am...."whoever went to Torreon lost a Sillion..."

rick

[Plate plinker]

Yep that's pretty much it, Wife gramps would say that if you stood up and lost your chair to somebody else when there was not any extra seats arounds. I've heard others say it to over the years.

[Pb2au]

Hook me up with some tacos!!
I was thinking about your love of tacos last night while I was feasting on some from a local local joint.
On the menu was tacos de cabeza de vaco and tacos de arrichera served with these crazy little limes, cilantro and onion.
Say what you want about everything down here, the food is awesome.

[Char-Gar]

Mexico has wonderful food, great music, world class beer and beautiful women. That covers about all of the important stuff in life. I like Mexico and Mexicans very much having spend many good times there. It is a shame what has happened to that place, a true shame.

The only reason I don't go there anymore is the lack of personal security. The cartel employees free lance thugs that mostly support themselves in kidnapping and extortion. In exchange for protection, they work for the cartels part time.

Many people I know down here have deep family and financial connections to Mexico. They will no longer across the border, as if anybody looks like they or their family might have anything of value they are kidnapped and held for ransom. Body parts get cut off and sent to the family and whether or not the money is paid, there is a good chance the person will end up in a field with a bullet in the head. This is a common occurrence down here.

There is a complete breakdown in social order and no public or military official can be trusted. They are all standing there with their hands out and whoever puts money in their hands gets their services.

This has not always been the case. For 70 years Mexico was under the dictatorship of one political party (PRI). PRI controlled everything body there, from the Presidential palace to the cop on the street and everybody did what they were told. This changed when PRI was at last voted out of office and what resulted was chaos. There was a power vacuum and we all know what happens then.

[opos]

I live in Tijuana Norte (San Diego) and spent a boat load of time all over mainland Mexico and Baja..I quit going anywhere in Mexico about 3 years ago..nothing short of a war in San Diego would prompt me to cross the border again...No, I've never had any problems..and no I've never had a pistol blow up in my hand but the caution is there....We have friends that have had difficulties with "fake" Federales on the roads....we are older folks...don't drink nor do drugs..no hell raising..just have no need to pet the bull on the nose to see if he really is mean. It's a dirty, politically corrupt and dangerous place..and just because a person is American..remember their laws are the direct opposite of ours...you are guilty until proved innocent..

[jmort]

I know two people who had family members kidnapped. LEOs said don't send any $$$, they are dead. They were told that the victims are summarily killed and dissolved in bathtubs with acid. I will never go to Mexico again. Went many many times back on the 70's and it was a good time and yes there were shakedowns, but a distinct absence of dissolving as far as I know.

[jcwit]

And the Amish go there for medical treatment!

Ah well.

[starmac]

Maybe the cartels do not run the Amish Colonies in Mexico. I don't have a clue or not, but I do know there is at least one huge one.

[jcwit]

I don't think they go to any colony, just go across the border to a cheap Dr.

[dualsport]

It's been a long time since I've been down there. Is Tijuana and Ensenada no longer filled with drunk American teenagers?

[starmac]

I don't think they go to any colony, just go across the border to a cheap Dr.

Maybe so. I have known lots of folks, that went to mexico for dentist work or dentures, and even more to buy their medicine there, but the only ones I ever knew to go for a doctor was because they needed treatment not approved in the U.S. Mostly cancer patients.

[Artful]

Rusty I am...."whoever went to Torreon lost a Sillion..."

rick

Old Proverb:

El que se fue a / para la villa perdio su silla y el que se fue a Torreon su sillon.

If you go away, you can't expect people to keep your place for you.

http://cogweb.ucla.edu/Discourse/Proverbs/English-Spanish.html

[Char-Gar]

Old Proverb:

El que se fue a / para la villa perdio su silla y el que se fue a Torreon su sillon.

If you go away, you can't expect people to keep your place for you.

http://cogweb.ucla.edu/Discourse/Proverbs/English-Spanish.html

It is difficult to translate a Mexican dicho into English and have it make any sense. But a literal translation of the above goes like this;

He who went to the big house lost his chair and he who went to the big tower a big chair. La Villa could be a place and Torreon could be a place, but I gave the literal translation.

Now what that means I will leave to others, but it comes from Mexican culture and probably only makes sense to another Mexican. But, I would make it something like...If you climb the social ladder you will lose your place down below and the higher you climb the bigger place you lose. i.e. if you go up, you can't come back down because your place won't be there waiting for you, somebody else will be in it.

[opos]

The kids still hit TJ on a more limited basis than in the past...it's so cheap to fly to Cabo and "really get away" that they go there..takes about 1 1/2 hours by plane...I got many friends that go to TJ and Ensenada for dental work...most brag about how cheap and how clean and good things are...but I see lots of "go backs" also..that 2 or 3 hour wait in line to cross back to the U.S. doesn't appeal to me at all....We used to go to TJ all the time...Jai Lai games, bull fights, good meals out..all enjoyable....it would take an act of congress to get me across the border for anything...

I've spent a lifetime in Mexico...seen it when Cabo was just old hills...one big hotel (Finistera) and one old dump of a hotel dowtown (Mar de Cortez), and the old water tank in the local restaurant..leaking and blowing water everywhere...no marina...nada...the big trucks would line up each day to board a commercial ferry to Mazatlan...Today it's full on tourists..and the Mexicans are taking all advantage of them at every turn...the kids go there as they can booze it up and raise hell and pretend they are adults...the adults can booze it up, raise hell and pretend they are children again...

Some of the inland areas of Mainland Mexico are wonderful and beautiful areas but it's all the dope cartel's playground now...dangerous and really not a decent destination unless a person really has a set of stones. A friend is a charter and commercial pilot...he's flown the Baja for years...he still will go in but only do a major destination and no "side trips or sightseeing"..he said there are many airstrips with smaller towns and often they are just "closed" for the day for no reason...his comment is that they are "closed for a reason" and you best stay away...We often flew into Turtle Bay about 1/2 way to the tip of Baja but that's one place nobody goes any more in a small plane that has any sense.

The small picture is the San Carlos bay near Guaymas on the mainland side below Nogales. Picture taken in the late 50's or very early 60's..we were one of 2 small boats there that July for a couple of weeks...seldom saw anyone on the water and the little place we stayed was just a local "dump".....this is now a huge marina and resort area (second picture)....where the movie Catch 22 was made in the late 60's or 70's (when the real downward spiral of the area took place...Gringo money spoiled the locals)...there is a Club Med there now (I think..it may be something else now)...enormous boating and resort destination..but again..if you visit there you better be aware of what goes on in the hills and along the highways...it was different when the picture was taken...There was only one little hotel being built called the La Posada De San Carlos which grew and grew and is now huge..I'm sure it is safe and secure but getting there and back via land might be a risk.

[Handloader109]

And we wonder why there is a flood of folks headed North. Called survival. But it doesn't change my mind that we need a secure and tight border. Sorry a bit off topic, I know that after my last cruise stop in cozumel I won't be taking another that stops in Mexico.

[Pb2au]

After working down in here in Mexico a number of times, the thing that strikes me is that the people by and large just want a decent life. The corrupt government and shady businessmen have pretty much ruined Mexico. As Char-gar pointed out, when the power left, the cartels filled the void and what you now see is the result.
When I started working down here in '01, it was doable. As the years passed and the situation worsened, it just gets harder to do business and stay out of trouble with all the shifty characters.
Before I came down here for this trip, I was able to get some real onsite reports from our tech stationed here in Mexico. Basically, the Torreon area is relatively stable right now. Three years ago, no way. Even our tech (who is Mexican) told his manager to get stuffed, he wasn't going to certain areas.
I spoke with my boss today on the phone and explained to him that our risk factor down here is getting too high. The situation is just becoming to fluid, and predictability is absent from the conversation. So as a company, we have a problem ahead of us.
On a lighter note, yet another day of awesome food.

[jmort]

"On a lighter note, yet another day of awesome food."

If the cartels don't get you, Montezuma's Revenge will.

[MaryB]

Last time I was in MX was 1980, from what I am hearing you couldn't pay me to go back

[starmac]

I have been to mehico several times, but in all reality I will never live long enough to see everything the US has to offer. I know native mexicans that will not cross the border now to see their own relatives. They have them come to our side instead.

[randyrat]

I think a pic of you with a sombrero would be a great avatar for you. Have a safe, prosperous trip.

I know a fellow, years ago went to Mexico to party for a couple weeks.. first night there, he got drunk and ended up in jail..They finally released him after about a week, all they gave him back was his pants and shirt, minus his billfold, watch, shoes, socks, suit case, belt and all the rest of his money...He never went back.. I still chuckle about it.

[Rufus Krile]

Like CharGar and Charley, I have many fond memories of the valley area of Mexico from Roma down to Matamoros... ending about 35 years ago. It was scary enough even back then to keep me on this side of the river. Reynosa had places like Sam's, El Jardin's (best cabrito), and the unfortunately named La Cucaracha. (We're going to say that last one was named for Villa's marching song...). Garcia's in Matamoros was a great place to sit and drink... safe back then. All these places had one thing in common... they were all less than 3 blocks from the border bridge. Never again. As a point of information, "the Ackerman Group" out of Miami has opened shop in Brownsville. They specialize in kidnap resolution.

[JeffinNZ]

And the Amish go there for medical treatment!

Ah well.

That's an awful long way in a horse and buggy.

[MaryB]

Camped in Baja a few times in the early 80's. that was fun and relatively safe if you stayed near the main highway and off the remote beaches.

[TXGunNut]

Come home soon & safe. I've travelled to over a dozen foreign countries but Mexico isn't one of them. Never been there, didn't leave nothing there, no need to go back for it. A rescue mission is rather iffy, cartels are better equipped and much more ruthless than many nations' militaries. Hope your exit strategy is sound.

[Kent Fowler]

I live just three miles from the Rio Grande river and have lived on the Border all of my adult life. There is no job or amount of money that would get me to cross that river/line into Mexico.

If you come back it is not because you were safe or even lucky. It will be because the thugs and cartels allowed you to come back for whatever reason they had. You cannot count on the Mexican government or police for help, they are in the crooks pockets. You are on your own.

I'll never forget the time in the mid seventies, we were eating at Don Cruz restaurant in Piedras Negras and heard a lot of gun fire. Some armed federales and locals came in and scoped us out real well then left the restaurant. The owner then told everyone to get the hell out of Mexico, right then. We made it back across the river and actually didn't have to bribe the Mexican border forces to get across, which surprised the heck out of me. As it turned out, a guy from Dallas hired some ex special forces to bust his son out of the Piedras Negras jail, which they did swiftly and professionally. They also let all the Mexican prisoners out as a diversion. The shooting, we heard later, was the federales shooting the escaped prisoners trying to swim the river. I made my last trip over there about 1989, when I got a little older and wiser. Stay out of Mexico, there is nothing there for you except bad trouble.

[Char-Gar]

I'll never forget the time in the mid seventies, we were eating at Don Cruz restaurant in Piedras Negras and heard a lot of gun fire. Some armed federales and locals came in and scoped us out real well then left the restaurant. The owner then told everyone to get the hell out of Mexico, right then. We made it back across the river and actually didn't have to bribe the Mexican border forces to get across, which surprised the heck out of me. As it turned out, a guy from Dallas hired some ex special forces to bust his son out of the Piedras Negras jail, which they did swiftly and professionally. They also let all the Mexican prisoners out as a diversion. The shooting, we heard later, was the federales shooting the escaped prisoners trying to swim the river. I made my last trip over there about 1989, when I got a little older and wiser. Stay out of Mexico, there is nothing there for you except bad trouble.

I was shot at by the Mexico police about 1958. They missed me! I did swim the river to get back into the US as they were probably looking for me at the bridge.

[Kent Fowler]

I was shot at by the Mexico police about 1958. They missed me! I did swim the river to get back into the US as they were probably looking for me at the bridge.

They probably wanted the good pair of shoes you had on and the 50 cents you had in your pocket. That is, if you didn't spend it all at Papa Gallos. I've been known to do that in the far,far distant past. Usually had enough left to buy a bowl of chicken feet soup.

[Pb2au]

Heading home tomorrow!
I am back in Monterrey now and very glad to be here at least. I am about .5 miles from the airport, ticket confirmed and I am ready to go.
It has been a good trip all in all, but I am pretty sure this will be my last trip to Old Mexico for a long time.
On a side note, when I passed through the military checkpoint leaving Torreon I noticed the soldiers sporting brand spanking new SCAR 16's. I thought that was rather interesting.....

[starmac]

Sounds like Holder managed to get a little better at the straw purchase game. lol

[Pb2au]

Sounds like Holder managed to get a little better at the straw purchase game. lol
I was chuckling to myself thinking a similar thought.
It was interesting, all week the check point drones were carrying very worn M-16's and Fn FAL's. Then today, SCAR's. Most of the crews that cruised the streets in the hopped up Dodge pickup/troop carriers were carrying the same worn out 16's too. I thought to myself today, where did these rifles come from??? Those things are not cheap.
Strange...

[MaryB]

Cartels arming up... doubt MX government was buying them.

[Char-Gar]

Welcome home. It is almost impossible to get information out of Mexico these days except from social media sources. A year or two back Monterrey was a very bloody place with two cartels fighting to control the drug shipping route through Monterrey. I think the Gulf Cartel runs the place now.

As an aside, I have a friend that has just returned from San Miguel de Allende, which has been an artsy farty placed filled with ex-pat Americans. He tells me the place is now owned and run by a cartel and nothing is the same anymore. When a cartel takes over a town or area, the local politicians and police all work for the cartel. All businesses pay tribute/protection to the cartel to stay in business and kidnapping become a cottage industry.

Anybody that can get out areas controlled by cartels do so. The US has an investor visa, which allows folks to come to the US, if they will invest a certain amount of money in ways that will create new jobs in America. These folks come here and invest in very specific venture capital funds which do what is required. In the past five years we have many thousands of them come to my community. They has spiked the housing market and maxed out the private schools with their larva. The northern/frontier states of Mexico have been denuded of rich people and that trend is moving south to central Mexico as the cartels expand their control over the country. The cartels are in effect the shadow government of Mexico.

[Pb2au]

Thanks for the welcome home Char-gar, it is indeed welcome.
i just got into Atlanta, waiting on my flight to Cincinatti.
You are spot on about the cartels. I talked to a few people in the factory where I was working,
and in the case of Torreon, two cartels went to war, one was the victor at the cost of a lot of blood. Ironically the local businesses didn't recover until the cartels got finished killing one another. Once the winner took over, they got enough of the local military bought off to get back to extorting kidnapping and crushing all the local businesses.
i was talking to a couple of Americans last night in the hotel and from a work standpoint, everyone is arriving to the same conclusion that the risk is just way way too high.