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0 pointsrkuykendall-com3y ago0 comments

30 years ago in central Texas we visited northern Mexico many, many times a year. 20 years ago we thought it was funny other people were starting to be scared to do so. 15 years ago we stopped going. We haven't been back since.

It's so weird that, from a central Texas perspective, we used to be a short drive from visiting another COUNTRY, which is now effectively a blank space on the map of the world around us. Ski west in New Mexico, eat easy in New Orleans, Hike north in Colorado. South? Here be dragons.

Maybe the next 30 years will be the same story in the opposite direction, but I don't know. I haven't seen anything to give me hope of that.

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c_o_n_v_e_x3y ago

Edit: You have a last name only a Texan could pronounce ;-)

Similar experience with my family in South and Central Texas as well. They used to go multiple times per year, but never go now. Back then the cartels were more targeted with their violence. Over the past 10-15 years, it has become indiscriminate. A cheap tampiquena plate and a few drinks is not worth the risk.

mandelbrotwurst3y ago

Would you mind elaborating a bit on what has changed from your perspective please?

I have never visited Mexico and would love to although I will admit hearing things of this sort and some of the footage I've seen of carjackings and machine-gun fire and the like is admittedly somewhat of a deterrent, but then I consider how many scary things happen here as well and I wonder what's true and what's an exaggeration or simply a case of uniquely bad luck.

bombcar3y ago

People in San Diego used to treat Tijuana like part of the city, just split by a border is all.

And I have family that still visits there, but it is much more dangerous than it used to be. 30 years ago it was basically "don't drive a brand new vehicle and be polite" and now it's all sorts of things including knowing which highways to avoid, how to stay away from parts of town that may have drug lord activity, etc. There was almost an unwritten rule years ago that you don't mess with normal people or tourists; that rule has been significantly broken.

And the border waits are much more annoying, too; the people who do still cross now have to wait much longer, even with Sentri.

poisonarena3y ago

drug war, notably shift in power from Colombia to Mexico. Various power plays between different organizations advancing on eachother and government interventions. Much more dangerous for civilians in the 'wrong place at the wrong time'. But violence against tourists is by and large greatly exaggerated, even at the height of narco-violence in Mexico. It is still a safe place for a tourist in every single city and most rural areas.

CPLX3y ago

I mean it seems like the biggest change in this story is you. It’s true there’s more cartel stories than before I guess but if you wanted to go there you would go. I spent a week in Monterrey this year, it was lovely.

bigDinosaur3y ago

Mexico is of course full of some lovely places, but cartel violence has been increasing since around 1990 (so 30 years) and has spiked quite dramatically in the past 20 years.

bombcar3y ago

And the difference between "fly into a tourist zone" and "drive across the border into 'real Mexico'" is a huge one. If you do it, you should know quite a bit or have a local so that you can notice situations before they begin.

Sure, the chance of actually being beheaded by a cartel is probably relatively slim, but it's a risk you don't need to take.

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0 pointsrkuykendall-com3y ago0 comments

Maybe the next 30 years will be the same story in the opposite direction, but I don't know. I haven't seen anything to give me hope of that.

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c_o_n_v_e_x3y ago

Edit: You have a last name only a Texan could pronounce ;-)

mandelbrotwurst3y ago

Would you mind elaborating a bit on what has changed from your perspective please?

bombcar3y ago

People in San Diego used to treat Tijuana like part of the city, just split by a border is all.

And the border waits are much more annoying, too; the people who do still cross now have to wait much longer, even with Sentri.

poisonarena3y ago

CPLX3y ago

bigDinosaur3y ago

Mexico is of course full of some lovely places, but cartel violence has been increasing since around 1990 (so 30 years) and has spiked quite dramatically in the past 20 years.

bombcar3y ago

Sure, the chance of actually being beheaded by a cartel is probably relatively slim, but it's a risk you don't need to take.

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