Any Mexican border city safe to travel in at the Arizona line? (Phoenix: to buy, prices)

[jgunn72]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Rocky Point police chief is in critical condition after assassination attempt on major street in RP last night. Gun battle on Hiway 8 north of town the day before. No where in Mexico is safe to travel anymore and the violence will be coming to AZ soon.

Why anyone would vacation there to save a few bucks is beyond me. My life is worth more than saving money over say going to cali. Front page news on the rag:

Rocky Point police chief critically wounded in ambush

The police chief of Rocky Point was critically shot and his bodyguard also wounded during a Saturday night ambush by gunmen on a major street in the Mexican resort town, according to municipal officials.
Chief Erick Landagaray Macias was flown to an Hermosillo hospital after the attack and remained in critical but stable condition as of Monday morning, said Fausto Soto, director of international relations for the town known in Sonora as Puerto Peñasco.
Luis Huerta Ibarra, the bodyguard, reportedly suffered less serious wounds and is expected to make a full recovery.


Also


At least two other shooting incidents on Friday also had links to Rocky Point. According to Mexican news outlets, three Puerto Peñasco residents were murdered Friday in Sonoyta, the Sonoran town just south of Lukeville, while parked at a service station.
That same day, two vehicles sped out of Rocky Point in a chase along Highway 8 and wound up in a gunbattle north of town. Police arrived to find a bullet-riddled vehicle, but it was unclear whether anyone was killed or wounded.

[KarmaPhx]

Originally Posted by jgunn72

Why anyone would vacation there to save a few bucks is beyond me. My life is worth more than saving money over say going to cali. Front page news on the rag:

Rocky Point police chief critically wounded in ambush

The police chief of Rocky Point was critically shot and his bodyguard also wounded during a Saturday night ambush by gunmen on a major street in the Mexican resort town, according to municipal officials.
Chief Erick Landagaray Macias was flown to an Hermosillo hospital after the attack and remained in critical but stable condition as of Monday morning, said Fausto Soto, director of international relations for the town known in Sonora as Puerto Peñasco.
Luis Huerta Ibarra, the bodyguard, reportedly suffered less serious wounds and is expected to make a full recovery.


Also


At least two other shooting incidents on Friday also had links to Rocky Point. According to Mexican news outlets, three Puerto Peñasco residents were murdered Friday in Sonoyta, the Sonoran town just south of Lukeville, while parked at a service station.
That same day, two vehicles sped out of Rocky Point in a chase along Highway 8 and wound up in a gunbattle north of town. Police arrived to find a bullet-riddled vehicle, but it was unclear whether anyone was killed or wounded.

Again, the violence is only between drug cartels and some citizens, there is no crime or violence towards tourists.

Pull up the news for Phoenix, there are shootings, deaths, and tons of violence daily, does that deter you from living here?

[olegk]

Originally Posted by KarmaPhx

Again, the violence is only between drug cartels and some citizens, there is no crime or violence towards tourists.

Pull up the news for Phoenix, there are shootings, deaths, and tons of violence daily, does that deter you from living here?

With full-auto weapons? Execution style? Common.. If some one wants to gamble with own life to save a few bucks go for it..

[twiggy]

Originally Posted by KarmaPhx

I think some people get intimidated by the policia with their assault rifles, but it justs means it's more safe for everyone around them.

I took some friends down to our beach house in Rocky Point last year and one of the girls started freaking out when we went over the border and she saw a bunch of guys with assault rifles, she thought they were the bad guys!

Depending where you are some of them are the bad guys. They have a problema with the policia enforcing the cartels agenda if you haven't heard the news? It's pretty much common knowledge now.

I've had several friends arrested and harassed down in Rocky Point. It happens, and it's scary in a Mexican jail.

So, just curious, because of our new law are you more apprehensive on telling them your from AZ? lol You know they hate us, right? I was just wondering if you were brave enough to go to Mexico and say, hey, I'm from AZ, nice to meet ya. he he he

I mean, we have warnings not to go to some places in Arizona, much less Mexico right now. Am I right? I don't think it's paranoid to NOT go to Mexico in this climate, I think it's sort of smart.

I have friends that live in Rocky Point as well, they rent condos on the beach and are talking about how this drug issue and the law form AZ is making business bad. They say Rocky Point is getting a little barren as well as the cartels appearance in town cutting business to a slow pace. Only the brave enough I guess. They do enforce speed limits, drug use, etc. there. You can easily end up in a jail there as well. People go there thinking it's lawless because they aren't in the U.S. Thats just plain stupid.

[kdog]

Originally Posted by twiggy

So, just curious, because of our new law are you more apprehensive on telling them your from AZ? lol You know they hate us, right? I was just wondering if you were brave enough to go to Mexico and say, hey, I'm from AZ, nice to meet ya. he he he
[...]
They do enforce speed limits, drug use, etc. there. You can easily end up in a jail there as well.

Twiggy, have you ever been to Rocky Point? I'm guessing not. Your contention that they hate us there is absurd. They love us there, as well they should. We are there entirely livelihood. There are only two types of people in Rocky Point: Arizonians, and the Mexicans who serve them. There is nothing else. Now for the sake of argument, let's say they inwardly hate us there while putting on facade of loving us. They are still going to treat us with kid gloves because we are their sole source of income. Follow the money. The net result to Arizonians is the same; they are going to make damn sure we have the best vacation experience possible so that we hurry back soon.

You brought up speed limits and drugs. My answer is "so what"? Obey laws, and you don't meet the popo. Anybody stupid enough to get mixed up in drugs in Mexico deserves what they get, and I really mean that. As far as speed limits go, now I know for sure you've never been to Rocky Point, as the Arizonians on Rt 8 drive DOUBLE the speed limit. I'm a pretty fast driver and I felt like an old fart because I was only running 20KPH over the speed limit and getting passed constantly. I never saw any Arizonians pulled over for speeding.

[KarmaPhx]

Kdog is right, without us they have no source of income, the majority of tourists to the RP area are from Arizona.

I have noticed tha the citizens always follow the speed limit, or go slower even, but have no problems being passed and keeping to the left. I do not like to speed too much, but like kdog I usually do about 20kph over the limit, keeping with the flow.

[Momma-K]

Nogales, mexico is safe. Stay on the beaten path and you should be ok.

[twiggy]

Originally Posted by kdog

Twiggy, have you ever been to Rocky Point? I'm guessing not. Your contention that they hate us there is absurd. They love us there, as well they should. We are there entirely livelihood. There are only two types of people in Rocky Point: Arizonians, and the Mexicans who serve them. There is nothing else. Now for the sake of argument, let's say they inwardly hate us there while putting on facade of loving us. They are still going to treat us with kid gloves because we are their sole source of income. Follow the money. The net result to Arizonians is the same; they are going to make damn sure we have the best vacation experience possible so that we hurry back soon.

You brought up speed limits and drugs. My answer is "so what"? Obey laws, and you don't meet the popo. Anybody stupid enough to get mixed up in drugs in Mexico deserves what they get, and I really mean that. As far as speed limits go, now I know for sure you've never been to Rocky Point, as the Arizonians on Rt 8 drive DOUBLE the speed limit. I'm a pretty fast driver and I felt like an old fart because I was only running 20KPH over the speed limit and getting passed constantly. I never saw any Arizonians pulled over for speeding.

(just because you have never seen it doesn't mean it doesn't happen)

Ha ha, I have indeed been to Rocky Point more times then I can count. For the last 20 years. I have been with a lot of people and occasionally some have attitudes like yours about speeding have been pulled over, harassed, taken in to jail for a night or two while we went on to the beach. Meanwhile the friends of ours who speak spanish go down there and try to neg a deal to get them out. One time it was a girl and she wasn't let go for awhile, it was a bit scary.

I told ya, I have friends who rent condos down there, beautiful beach, but most of the kids that hang down there from Cali and AZ do a lot of crap that gets them in to trouble. I was there as a young person, and as an older person.
Oh, and while the natives love your money, they don't really love YOU.
They put up with you, that is different. I was just curious how they are after our new law. I haven't been since then. It wasn't meant as a warning, or a statement, it was really just a curious question.

I also use to go across the border to deliver goods to the poor mexican clinics past Tijiuana. Stuff like our old artificial legs and certain things they needed. They don't make that much money off of us, not enough to afford good medical care. Remember, we go there because it's cheap.

[jimj]

Originally Posted by KarmaPhx

Again, the violence is only between drug cartels and some citizens, there is no crime or violence towards tourists.

Pull up the news for Phoenix, there are shootings, deaths, and tons of violence daily, does that deter you from living here?

Bullets from full auto weapons don't ask nationality or affilliation before they strike you. You are acceptable collateral damage in their turf war and THAT's all. Heck we're talking about people who've got no problem with killing Priests, Federales or Presidents so what makes you think being a tourista will matter?

For arguments sake dwell on this, during the Vietnam war would you have knowingly walked through a free fire zone and when you run into a vietcong yell I'm Swiss, I'm Swiss, I'm neutral and expect that someone would think "hmmm, he's Swiss I'd better not shoot him?... One big, big problem is you DON'T know where the next free fire zone is going to be and so cannot avoid it vary well.

Mexico is a defacto war zone right now between the drug cartels and the government and the cartels seem to be winning. Unless the government goes completely commando on the cartels they most likely are fighting a losing battle.
If they had not disarmed all their citizens I wonder where the cartels would be now?

[mike b 1]

I live on the border, there are innocent civilians that have gotten caught in the crossfire in resturants e.t.c. in Mexico. When a gunbattle is raging, bullets go everywhere..