Americans tortured and drugs planted in their car. Anything new? Sadly just more of the same.
crazy scary. I haven’t been there in a while and don’t see a trip anytime soon. I’m just surprized the American papers are FINALLY picking up these stories and alerting the public.
Our US drug consumption fueled the rise of the drug criminals, then we had some success in pushing back on drug imports, then the Mexican drug sellers (now a successful industry) started paying their sellers in drugs and started a homegrown Mexican drug culture. Every once in a while the Mexicans have to show some progress to their bosses and the Americans so they round up some dupes crossing the border and frame them.
This is just the tip of an iceberg. Most of which goes unreported and/or unnoticed by our media.
i say bring the boys (and girls) back from iraq. post the ones who re-up on border patrol with full legal authority to deter illegal immigrants.
You gotta get south of the troubles…
They wher in Juarez. Its always been dangerous there at least since I have been alive. Its asking for trouble from juarez to nuevo laredo. I think no body should surf the west coast this year so I can have it all to my self, LOL. I got pulled out of my car by feds at the first milatary check point after NL when I was 18 they beat the shit out of me and accused me of be a drug dealer then let me and my friends go. Now I stick to the west coast. It has gotten progressively worse over there in the last 10 years. It makes the stuff in TJ look like nothing. It is strange that it is being covered by a non Texas paper. Since I moved I rarely see stuff on that area just TJ and ensanada. My uncle grew up outside Juarez and her won’t even go visit family anymore bc of the corruption.
I think we should invade Baja and make it the 51st state. Who’s with me?
They already call it the Gulf of California. We don’t even have to change the maps.
See you at the Vinorama access trail. (name dropping)
I miss surfing In Mexico so much. But, I stopped going when my first daughter was born 19 years ago. Not worth it to me anymore. I can find smaller crowds at home. But, I miss the adventure and people. Sad. Mike
Yeah damned sad. I'd rather see it become the 51st state than see Calif. Arizona, New Mexico and Texas be annexed to Mexico. The thought of all those Cadilac Esplanades and old Chevy camper vans sittin' in front of run down shitty looking houses with dead lawns and more litter and trash than the "Pack Your Trash" crowd could ever pick up is enough to make a Calif. "Prune Picker" wanna sit down in sack cloth and ashes and have a good cry.
Heading south of the border towns might be a good idea to a point. I've heard stories of what can happen deeper in the mainland at places like Oaxaca. The State Dept has issued travel warnings. As in many parts of the world, it's all OK until it isn't. When things go bad, things can go very bad and there's not a whole lot anyone, including the State Dept, can do about it.
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_4755.html
As dangerous as Mexico may be, the worst (and scariest) experiences I've had were coming back where I received rather shabby treatment at the hands of our own border agents. Anyone else been hauled in to secondary and had their stuff torn apart?
This is such a drag, it used to be so open and free. Had so many good times in Baja. Not any more. It’s too sketchy nowadays. I don’t go camping anywhere without being armed anymore. Won’t cross the border…it’s crossing us.
Mr. Mellor, the worst I ever got was being shaken down by phony Feds. with AK53s They KNEW we were out numbered and out ARMED! And money wasn’t all they were after. We got out by the skin if our teeth. Mexico, no more.
Some times it gets lonely
But you can find someone to have a beer with
Or some other jackasses to talk surf with…
Never drive at night…and during the day drive…
It ain’t just around the northern border any more:
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/04/14/mexico-acapulco-shootout.html
We were going down on a regular basis up until a couple years ago.
It's just gotten too friggin' scary. I really miss Baja and my Mexican friends tho'.
I've not been across the border since BEFORE Sept. 11, 2001. I miss the food stands, and really miss the fishing out of Castro's Fish Camp. As much as I enjoyed the ''Mexico Experience'' the risk (danger) is just not worth it! Sad. I don't expect to ever go down there again.
The Mexican Tourism Industry Has to be suffering. Maybe they will start putting pressure on the Government rather then on the media for printing negative stories.
I was thinking of doing a surf trip to Costa Rica Driving down the Baja crossing the Golf then surfing my way south. But with Mexico getting so violent, seems like not such a good idea. Sad sad sad situation. In the 1970's it was an adventure and fun.
Yah. The last time I was pulled into secondary was after a hard night of partying with my buddies at the Rosarito Beach Hotel. The last thing I remember was them tearing my van apart and me putting it together. They let my drunk ass go because the next thing I remember was waking up with my head on my stearing wheel, parked in front of my house. Got all my buddies home alive. I don’t know how I survived my adolescence…I’ve been searched many times by Federales (guys in cowboy boots, cowboy hats, and semi-autos tucked into their tight jeans) but, never abused by them. One guy smelled my fingers to see if I had been smoking dope. I tried not to laugh because I had been wiping my ass with that hand for a week with very little water for washing. God, I love it down there. The fisherman, rattlers, scorpions, cactus, dust, wind, and waves. Mike
The marine checkpoints and massive road repairs weren’t just done for shits and giggles…
The problem remains, though.
The crowds are definitely coming back to baja norte…this summer has been a shitshow at the spot I go to (super cushy gringo community…good bellweather for the general perception).
I have been going to Baja forever. I have heard first hand horror stories. I have also had some of the best times of my life.
Here is the most recent Mexico fiasco. We were giving my older laptop computer to a friend of ours in a very poor part of Ecuador. A Ecuadorian friend of ours was going to take it with him an deliver it to her. He was in the TJ airport and had the computer stolen BY IMMIGRATION IN THE AIRPORT.