Non-Dangerous Mexico...

[gringa]

Yeah, I did take them with a digital. Personally I have never had a problem with taking pics, you just have to know when to keep it in your pocket and not get much attention. Will definitely post up more, and looking forward to going to NL again - with some friends from here hopefully!

 

[muhammad q]

sbwcbrad74, I enjoyed your post in the Juarez section. Great post, complete with pics. Please post a report on your trip to NL, after you make the trip. I realize the NL police are sort of out of service right now, but I'm assuming you took those pics with a digital camera. I'm wondering if you worry about the police taking your camera from you, if they catch you with a camera?

 

[The Great Michael]

The army and AFI are certainly well represented in BT these days. I was there last night keeping an eye out to see if they were in place to keep the peace. I didn't see any until someone fired a gun inside Los Arcos. In about 20 seconds guys in fatigues armed with machine guns came pouring out of the woodwork along with plain-clothed, machine gun wielding federalis. They just swarmed on Los Arcos in an impressive display of doing their job. These guys, especially the plain-clothes ones exuded signs of very good training.

Thinking that many negative possibilities existed for bystanders around all these high powered weapons, Takeshi Mike and I took that moment to get the hell out of Dodge and recharge our funds at my hotel on Paeo Colon. When we returned it was passed on to us that someone in the bar had accidentally discharged his gun and that there was no problem.

As someone mentioned before, the army and Federalis do their convoy thing maybe once an hour through BT with some SUVs, HumVees, and lots of weaponry. At around 3 am they take up a more permanent stance directing traffic in and out of the gate. They seemed cool, responding in kind to any waves or nods that I directed their way from my taxi on the way out.

So three points here:
1) Stay the fuck out of any place marked as local on the BT color map. Don't even walk the sidewalk in front of them.
2) The Mexican govt is not bull-shitting about keeping things under control.
3) Overall I felt safe. My impression after spending hours bouncing around BT with Takeshi Mike and also some time wandering by myself was that nobody is going to proactively make the move to do anything to you. I think you would have to bring it on yourself.

Trip report to follow soon.

-Wanderer

 

[Pompal 09.]

...those guys that you see in BT, wearing clean white shirts with the tails out, shined boots, creased pants, fresh haircut...they are cops too, and they are armed. And again, they are not there to hassle you, unless you make a big scene, get physical or very verbally abusive with someone, piss on the street, or do something egregiously negative. They will let you get away with things that would get a local's ass kicked, and are there to protect you from street predators and your drunk self. So go and have fun, fuck something, but use normal and reasonable caution, and maybe you will cheat the hangman one more day.

 

[cool_is_sexy]

...that those Federales in Nuevo Laredo are there for your protection as a tourist, to keep the dollars flowing. An incident in Boys Town can tarnish the reputation of the whole town.

As far as Juarez goes, I have never had any problems there, but the lack of enforcement is a bad sign, not a good one. The state of Chihuahua and the city of Juarez are much more corrupt and violent than the state of Tamaulipas and the city of Nuevo Laredo. Kind of like the difference between Jersey City and Omaha.

 

[p0p0]

Just spent some time in Juarez, see post at http://www.worldsexguide.com/forum/showthread.php?p=73237#post73237

Plan to do the same in Nuevo Laredo soon to prove the points I have made here...anyone up for some fun late this month or in August????