Looking to cross the border in early October

We are thinking about the same time frame that you are talking about. Have made the same trip that you are talking about 3 times. Please stay in touch and maybe we can hook up. Send me a private message and then we can talk about it. Last year we drove to Progreso and rented a house for 4 months and then drove out but this year we are going to travel all over Mexico like we have done for many years. Missed talking to new people. Ok give us a shout if you are interested. On our profile you can see our trips. Just follow the link to travel pod.

Interesting topic. Here in Nuevo Leon we recently iniciated the Amber Alert. Calls starting pouring in about missing children. Two cases made national news. In the end, they are teenagers mostly who are dissatisfied with their living conditions at home or who are lured away by boyfriends.

I truly believe that many of the persons on the dissappearance list in Mexico will never be found. They are the ones that ended up mutiliated, burned, decapitated, buried in common graves or dissolved in acid. In other words, they were involved in the drug trade and will never be seen again as their bodies haven't been found or they can never be identified. Many Mexicans have no oficial records in terms dental records that could be used for indentification purposes.

Sad situation but a reality of what drugs have done to the Americas.

rocmoc wrote:

qtla9111 wrote:
How many Americans have disappeared in the U.S.? Thousands. How many American children have been murdered in the last year just because they were there?

750,000 children disappear each year in the USA. This is a fact that can be found with an easy search of Google. I didn't believe it when I heard it on a TV New Channel so went to the internet for the Truth. I was shocked to fine that they had in fact reported correctly. So I went one step further in wanting to know what the birth and death rates were in the USA. 2.4 mil in new births and 1 mil in deaths. So half of our net population increase in the USA disappears each year.

rocmoc n AZ/Mexico

The last comprehensive study (from 1999) puts the figure closer to 800,000. And that is the number of "reported" missing children. But I believe you imply more than is there.

From that 1999 study National Estimate of Missing Children

Fundamentally, whether a child is “missing” depends on the knowledge and state of mind of the child’s caretaker, rather than the child’s actual condition or circumstance. From the caretaker’s point of view, the child is not where the caretaker expects the child to be, the caretaker does not know the child’s location, and these circumstances raise concern about the child’s well-being. Despite this concern, a missing child may not be in any peril whatsoever, as in the case where the child and parent have had a miscommunication about the time the child is expected to arrive home.

Looking at their data, 200,000 were abducted by family members - custody issues being the primary factor. The two serious categories: 58,000 were abducted by non-family members and the 115 "stereotypical” kidnappings. The latter are the ones we hear about in the national press.

According to Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, "More than 99 percent of children reported missing in America in recent years have come home."

Tom

tplife wrote:
"Nearly 3,200 people have been killed in drug-related violence during the first three months of President Enrique Pena Nieto's government, according to Mexican government data." You can live in fantasyland and denialville and that's your business. As I said, I live ON the border, my crewbuddys lost everything in their caravan and will never go back, my daughter's friend went down to party three years ago and has never been seen alive, many thousands have died (many were innocent victims), including in tourists areas like Cancun, Acupulco and others. Anybody with an internet connection can review the incidents and statistics. If you think it's all made up and phony, good for you. Like Israel or some other hotspots, without armed security and an adults-only caravan, we wouldn't ever go. God willing the day will come when it will be safe again, as it was one of our favorite driving vacations and so close by. When you've had to ration you electric due to sabotage, heard the bombs going off as the shrapnel went into the kids legs as they got off the bus, knew families were being slaughtered for asking for more for their crop, etc. you'll understand a little better how narcotraficantes operate. We now have warning signs along the southern border posted by the US gov't, and many booby-trapped areas within our own national forests, including the large one close to us. "It won't happen to us", we all have said that. I cannot say that, and I offer my opinion and warning to you as a border resident.

I did not initiate this thread to have anonymous people issue dire warnings about travelling or living in Mexico. Thanks for your concern for our safety, but as you can see, those of us who have actually traveled there in recent years or who currently liver there, KNOW what is actually going on in Mexico. Knowing that random acts of violence can happen anywhere, I must say that I feel much safer in Mexico than in almost any city in the USA. The VAST majority (and I mean 99.999% of violent crimes) are between the drug cartels and/or military/police. Do innocent victims get caught in the crossfire once in a while? Yes, but NOWHERE near the random violence in the US. There are crimes of passion/ domestic murders in Mexico, just as in the US. If you go looking for shady characters or hang out in shady places, your chances of being a victim of a crime are greatly increased. My theory of why the cartels are not interested in harming tourists, particularly American tourists: WE (Americans) are the source of their millions of dollars of profit. And, why does the US government discourage travel in Mexico? The want our dollars to stay here. y

So, hunker down on the border if you choose. I will enjoy my adventure in Mexico and the wonderful people who live there.

We just had 5, thats FIVE, murders in Fernly NV about 3 days ago. Someone broke into one house, murdered the couple, went to a place a couple of blocks away, broke in and murdered that couple and stole their truck, headed to Reno, got stuck in a ditch, murdered the station attendant and stole his truck, returned to Fernly, parked the truck in the garage of the people he murderd, and set the house on fire. He was apprehended breaking into another house in the neighborhood. Not safe to live in Nevada I guess.

I don't seem to recall any schools or movie theatres being shot up by random nut jobs in Mexico, or freeway snipers (they do have freeways in Mexico).

Some people just seem to visit this section to spread paranoia. Maybe they are Az RV park owners. I would go to Mexico before I went to Detroit or New Orleans.

qtla9111 wrote:
How many Americans have disappeared in the U.S.? Thousands. How many American children have been murdered in the last year just because they were there?

750,000 children disappear each year in the USA. This is a fact that can be found with an easy search of Google. I didn't believe it when I heard it on a TV New Channel so went to the internet for the Truth. I was shocked to fine that they had in fact reported correctly. So I went one step further in wanting to know what the birth and death rates were in the USA. 2.4 mil in new births and 1 mil in deaths. So half of our net population increase in the USA disappears each year.

rocmoc n AZ/Mexico

tplife wrote:
"Nearly 3,200 people have been killed in drug-related violence during the first three months of President Enrique Pena Nieto's government, according to Mexican government data." You can live in fantasyland and denialville and that's your business. As I said, I live ON the border, my crewbuddys lost everything in their caravan and will never go back, my daughter's friend went down to party three years ago and has never been seen alive, many thousands have died (many were innocent victims), including in tourists areas like Cancun, Acupulco and others. Anybody with an internet connection can review the incidents and statistics. If you think it's all made up and phony, good for you. Like Israel or some other hotspots, without armed security and an adults-only caravan, we wouldn't ever go. God willing the day will come when it will be safe again, as it was one of our favorite driving vacations and so close by. When you've had to ration you electric due to sabotage, heard the bombs going off as the shrapnel went into the kids legs as they got off the bus, knew families were being slaughtered for asking for more for their crop, etc. you'll understand a little better how narcotraficantes operate. We now have warning signs along the southern border posted by the US gov't, and many booby-trapped areas within our own national forests, including the large one close to us. "It won't happen to us", we all have said that. I cannot say that, and I offer my opinion and warning to you as a border resident.

I was questioning your number of 3200 as to where it applied, to the state of Baja Norte or to the whole Republic. The number sounds good to me. The same as in the U.S., in the first three months of this year 4000 Americans were murdered. So what's the difference? Per capita? Means nothing.

To live here and travel here make all the differences in the world. That is my point. How many Americans have disappeared in the U.S.? Thousands. How many American children have been murdered in the last year just because they were there? We all have our dirty laundry but to each of us it doesn't look so bad. It's that "over there", and believe me, we feel the same about traveling in the U.S.

It's all relative. It is different I guess because Mexico for many is foreign; different language, different laws, different culture. It is this misinformation and misunderstanding I think that leads to these silly conclusions.

It really doesn't seem to matter where you travel anymore, there is risk of terrorism, drug dealers, cartels, yes even on American soil. Sad situation we have gotten ourselves into.

However, I will continue to boondock and travel in Mexico, afterall, it's my home.

Nearly 3,200 people have been killed in drug-related violence

Note the important part of the quote - drug-related - which has nothing to do with us.

many thousands have died

On average about 16,000 in the US each year for well over 20 years according to the FBI website and the US Dept. of Justice website.

heard the bombs going off as the shrapnel went into the kids legs as they got off the bus

Was that the Boston Marathon you are speaking of? Or when Timothy McVeigh killed 168 and injured almost 800 others in OK City? Which other bombs?

slaughtered for asking for more for their crop

Would this be people involved in the drug business? What does it have to do with tourists?

within our own national forests

As well as our National Parks etc. where both Americans and Mexicans are growing marijuana which consumers in the US buy up as fast as they can grow it.

"It won't happen to us",

Which anyone who pays any attention at all to the news knows happens to someone almost every day in the US.

You can live in fantasyland and denialville

Many people who live in the US do not seem to think there are any very serious problems right here at home. That is certainly denial and fantasy. People who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Before you accuse me take a look at yourself. Get your own house in order. All somewhat famous quotes.

Yes, there is crime in Mexico. Is there anywhere that is without crime? Certainly we are not expected to think the US is crime free - are we? I think perhaps it is time for one of those good old reality checks.

"Nearly 3,200 people have been killed in drug-related violence during the first three months of President Enrique Pena Nieto's government, according to Mexican government data." You can live in fantasyland and denialville and that's your business. As I said, I live ON the border, my crewbuddys lost everything in their caravan and will never go back, my daughter's friend went down to party three years ago and has never been seen alive, many thousands have died (many were innocent victims), including in tourists areas like Cancun, Acupulco and others. Anybody with an internet connection can review the incidents and statistics. If you think it's all made up and phony, good for you. Like Israel or some other hotspots, without armed security and an adults-only caravan, we wouldn't ever go. God willing the day will come when it will be safe again, as it was one of our favorite driving vacations and so close by. When you've had to ration you electric due to sabotage, heard the bombs going off as the shrapnel went into the kids legs as they got off the bus, knew families were being slaughtered for asking for more for their crop, etc. you'll understand a little better how narcotraficantes operate. We now have warning signs along the southern border posted by the US gov't, and many booby-trapped areas within our own national forests, including the large one close to us. "It won't happen to us", we all have said that. I cannot say that, and I offer my opinion and warning to you as a border resident.