Quick caveat about my toutings. I am a card carrying Mexican, I grew up there until I was 14 years old and then moved to the bastion of American culture and population, the RGV. So Mex is basically home to me. But, I am not Hispanic so basically I am a reverse coconut.

I think a lotta gringos feel uncomfortable being the, or one of the few, only slice(s)of white bread in the loaf at times. I never knew any better or different so it has never affected me. Equally there are a lotta European looking folks, both natives and visitors, in LatAm so my advice is to always act as if you belong and don't be nervous.

I too always carry a pocket knife even when in Mex, and in my younger stupider days was sometimes armed which is a major no do (not outta thinking I was in danger, but due to trying to appear to be a bad ass) in Mex.

But be careful with a pocket knife, I wanna say that carrying one with a blade over 2" or so is technically illegal in Mex, I had one issue with my pocket knife with a customs guy about 15 years ago and BSed my way outta it.

But right now in Mex there is more policing and lots more police, national guard, and state cops than in the past. And many of them are doltish, ill educated, incompetent pendejos. And some are just crooked.

Carry yourself with confidence, don't act the fool, or do dumb stuff and be respectful and 99.999999% of the time you will have no issues. They don't wanna mess with somebody decent if they can be kept from it. And the run of the mill criminals will not be where you are most of the time.

Pepper spray or one of those small, burning tazers are good ideas as well.

If you get to Veracruz, drive up north a way along the coast and right near the Nuclear Power Plant (I think is named Laguna Verde) there are some ruins of a small city about a click off the main highway that are extremely cool. It is wild to sit there and ponder the MesoAmerican culture that existed with a nuclear plant in the back ground, all of this overlooks a real pretty part of the gulf.

Veracruz is a cool place, it ain't Cancun or PV, it is real Mexico.

RGV AG said:

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Quick caveat about my toutings. I am a card carrying Mexican, I grew up there until I was 14 years old and then moved to the bastion of American culture and population, the RGV. So Mex is basically home to me. But, I am not Hispanic so basically I am a reverse coconut.

I think a lotta gringos feel uncomfortable being the, or one of the few, only slice(s)of white bread in the loaf at times. I never knew any better or different so it has never affected me. Equally there are a lotta European looking folks, both natives and visitors, in LatAm so my advice is to always act as if you belong and don't be nervous.

I too always carry a pocket knife even when in Mex, and in my younger stupider days was sometimes armed which is a major no do (not outta thinking I was in danger, but due to trying to appear to be a bad ass) in Mex.

But be careful with a pocket knife, I wanna say that carrying one with a blade over 2" or so is technically illegal in Mex, I had one issue with my pocket knife with a customs guy about 15 years ago and BSed my way outta it.

But right now in Mex there is more policing and lots more police, national guard, and state cops than in the past. And many of them are doltish, ill educated, incompetent pendejos. And some are just crooked.

Carry yourself with confidence, don't act the fool, or do dumb stuff and be respectful and 99.999999% of the time you will have no issues. They don't wanna mess with somebody decent if they can be kept from it. And the run of the mill criminals will not be where you are most of the time.

Pepper spray or one of those small, burning tazers are good ideas as well.

If you get to Veracruz, drive up north a way along the coast and right near the Nuclear Power Plant (I think is named Laguna Verde) there are some ruins of a small city about a click off the main highway that are extremely cool. It is wild to sit there and ponder the MesoAmerican culture that existed with a nuclear plant in the back ground, all of this overlooks a real pretty part of the gulf.

Veracruz is a cool place, it ain't Cancun or PV, it is real Mexico.

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Good advice. Thank you.
I'm currently on a project in South Texas and some of my co workers have gone down on day trips but I havent gone with them.

If things go really badly just remember, you don't need YOUR gun, you just need A gun & with all of that incompetent LEO standing around, you'll be able to get one pretty quickly.

RGV AG said:

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Quick caveat about my toutings. I am a card carrying Mexican, I grew up there until I was 14 years old and then moved to the bastion of American culture and population, the RGV. So Mex is basically home to me. But, I am not Hispanic so basically I am a reverse coconut.

I think a lotta gringos feel uncomfortable being the, or one of the few, only slice(s)of white bread in the loaf at times. I never knew any better or different so it has never affected me. Equally there are a lotta European looking folks, both natives and visitors, in LatAm so my advice is to always act as if you belong and don't be nervous.

I too always carry a pocket knife even when in Mex, and in my younger stupider days was sometimes armed which is a major no do (not outta thinking I was in danger, but due to trying to appear to be a bad ass) in Mex.

But be careful with a pocket knife, I wanna say that carrying one with a blade over 2" or so is technically illegal in Mex, I had one issue with my pocket knife with a customs guy about 15 years ago and BSed my way outta it.

But right now in Mex there is more policing and lots more police, national guard, and state cops than in the past. And many of them are doltish, ill educated, incompetent pendejos. And some are just crooked.

Carry yourself with confidence, don't act the fool, or do dumb stuff and be respectful and 99.999999% of the time you will have no issues. They don't wanna mess with somebody decent if they can be kept from it. And the run of the mill criminals will not be where you are most of the time.

Pepper spray or one of those small, burning tazers are good ideas as well.

If you get to Veracruz, drive up north a way along the coast and right near the Nuclear Power Plant (I think is named Laguna Verde) there are some ruins of a small city about a click off the main highway that are extremely cool. It is wild to sit there and ponder the MesoAmerican culture that existed with a nuclear plant in the back ground, all of this overlooks a real pretty part of the gulf.

Veracruz is a cool place, it ain't Cancun or PV, it is real Mexico.

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Nombre chale guey

RGV AG said:

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Quick caveat about my toutings. I am a card carrying Mexican, I grew up there until I was 14 years old and then moved to the bastion of American culture and population, the RGV. So Mex is basically home to me. But, I am not Hispanic so basically I am a reverse coconut.

I think a lotta gringos feel uncomfortable being the, or one of the few, only slice(s)of white bread in the loaf at times. I never knew any better or different so it has never affected me. Equally there are a lotta European looking folks, both natives and visitors, in LatAm so my advice is to always act as if you belong and don't be nervous.

Veracruz is a cool place, it ain't Cancun or PV, it is real Mexico.

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Yea that's my kind of destination. Although I still love Isla Mujeres it's becoming too crowded with Gringos. I like the road less traveled for the most part. The ruins are one of my favorite visits, although I also enjoy what the Catholic Church did with the slave labor.

Que paso Mi Reyna. I bet you were an Alaskan girl back in the day? Or am I wrong? Fun times!!!!

Quote:

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Yea that's my kind of destination. Although I still love Isla Mujeres it's becoming too crowded with Gringos. I like the road less traveled for the most part. The ruins are one of my favorite visits, although I also enjoy what the Catholic Church did with the slave labor.

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Man, you are so right about Isla Mujeres, I haven't been in about 25 years and I am sure it is unrecognizable to back then.

My parents spent their honeymoon, well most of it, on Isla Mujeres in December of 1963. I remember my mom telling me that there were either 5 or 6 concrete structures on the Island back then. To get to the Yucatan back then you had 3 choices; airplane into Merida, via boat to Progreso or Chetumal, or you drove to either Southern Veracruz or Northern Tabasco and put your vehicle on a flat rail car and rode the train into Merida or somewhere near it. That is what my parents did in 1963.

My mom said the Mexican Caribbean was astounding, but she relayed that the creature comforts were few and far between. She was a Mexicophile, and was the reason our family stayed in Mexico as long as it did. But for a Texas raised girl fighting the sand fleas, bathing in brackish water or a cenote, was not her idea of luxury. After her honey moon she went to a spa in Ixtapan de la Sal to recuperate, to hear her tell the stories was funny as hell.

As much as I love the Mexican beaches, all bodies of water, I truly love the fact that you can get up and off the coasts into magnificent mountains PDQ from the sweltering coasts. You can drive to the Pico de Orizaba from Veracruz city in a little over an hour, well to the base. Just incredible topography and history in the lower gulf coast region. I can lost down there months at a time, but life has a way of impeding that.

RGV AG said:

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Que paso Mi Reyna. I bet you were an Alaskan girl back in the day? Or am I wrong? Fun times!!!!

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Claro.