Camping in Mexico for Winter

[Chaos1]

We heard of people pulling there TT to Mexico has anyone done that and if so could use all the info we can get Thanks

[busterbrown]

I haven't but followed a Youtube family (URL below) that did so for an extended vacation. They caravanned down with a group of RVers and had a blast. That would be my suggestion if going into Mexico, partner up with those wanting to make a trip south of the border. Safety in numbers is what it's all about. Would love to make the trip with my family sometime...probably when the kids are older. Safe travels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8BFedI0NXA

[labman]

Wouldn't go near the place with my truck and 5'er.

[sourdough]

Some go to the interior, some go to Baja. I wouldn't go to any of them. I live in TX. Used to go to Mexico in the 60s-80s. It was corrupt then and is far, far worse now with the cartels and the government either complicit or incompetent. I've been a few hundred miles into the interior with a Mexican friend, which helped. I used to want to tour the country but have no desire whatsoever anymore.

It is a 3rd world country. Yes, there is some pretty country but we have the same, or better, in the U.S. or Canada - you don't have to put yourself or your family in jeopardy to go to those places. As we've seen recently with the gassing of a family in a luxury condo there, 3rd world living can get you in any number of ways.....and, don't drink the water.:D

As I said, some go, and if you do, as was stated previously, go in a group. Most of those that go don't have anything bad happen. I've had friends that did have stuff happen. It's like playing Russian roulette; you may get by with it but eventually it will get you. I like better odds.

[Canonman]

I think you're much better off staying on this side of border right now. I have a close friend who was with the Navy special ops. Asked him what he thought his most dangerous assignment was. "Mexico" Said he never more scarred for his life than when he had to bug out of Nuevo Laredo. www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2017/07/28/9-bloody-bodies-dumped-outside-nuevo-laredo-home-note-game.
BTW his operation was outed by a State Dept. unauthorized leak.

[Bostongone]

I think you're much better off staying on this side of border right now. I have a close friend who was with the Navy special ops. Asked him what he thought his most dangerous assignment was. "Mexico" Said he never more scarred for his life than when he had to bug out of Nuevo Laredo. www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2017/07/28/9-bloody-bodies-dumped-outside-nuevo-laredo-home-note-game.
BTW his operation was outed by a State Dept. unauthorized leak.

Totally agree with staying north of this border even before reading this article as well as some of the other links on the webpage related to violence and murders in Mexico!

[sourdough]

Anyone interested in going to Mexico might read this if you haven't seen it. Lots of folks in Mexico get killed because one cartel or another "think" you're someone you're not.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/04/24/mexican-film-students-killed-bodies-dissolved-in-acid-by-men-who-believed-were-in-rival-gang-cops-say.html

[Canonman]

Here's the best part: We Trained these guys!! That's right. Over the course of the past few years many of the cartel leaders hired Mexican special forces troops away from the army with better pay, positions of authority and other "perks". These highly trained troops soon found out their masters were just a bunch of undisciplined thugs who either got arrested, assassinated, or overthrown and guess who was there to replace them. That's right, the very troops we trained and the cartels hired. And, these guys are even more ruthless than their former bosses! Here's a little background from a couple of sources that those thinking of spending a little time south of the border might find interesting:

"According to Mexico’s defence ministry, about 1,383 elite soldiers deserted between 1994 and 2015.
Defectors included members of units that received training in counter-terrorism, counter-intelligence, interrogation and strategy from French, Israeli and US advisers, according to a 2005 FBI intelligence document. Over the past decade, Mexico’s drug violence has undergone a dizzying escalation, claiming more than 230,000 lives. Security analysts and cartel sources agree that a key factor in the transformation of underworld rivalries into a full-throttle war has been the cartels’ recruitment of elite soldiers.
The leakage of Mexican special forces into organized crime began in the 1990s when the powerful Gulf cartel recruited a group of ex-Gafe troops to create its own paramilitary enforcement unit, known as Los Zetas.
They eventually turned on their masters, establishing the Zetas as a cartel in their own right. But other narco bosses followed suit, turning to the military for skilled recruits. It’s an inconvenient issue for the government, so they deny freedom-of-information requests. But what we do know is that special forces helped turn Mexico’s narcos into the paramilitary armed groups we see today."

Bad part is we used to spend a lot of time in Mexico and miss going there a lot. Mostly in San Felipe and Puerto Vallarta. Not Now! The Mexican Government corruption has finally caught up with itself and the result is the bad guys are winning!

[K_N_L]

I check this website (borderlandbeat.com) regularly for news about the cartels. I'll never cross the border. Heck, I would a bit twitchy just near it in TX or AZ...

[JRTJH]

In 1973 we travelled to Mexico with the Wally Byam Caravan Club. We met at the border, everyone bought "Mexican insurance" from Foremost, we drove across the checkpoint and turned our tow vehicle keys over to a group of men who loaded our rigs on flatbed rail cars. We watched as they loaded and tied down our rigs, then they gave us back our keys when the loading was complete. We walked to the forward part of the train to the "club cars" where we were wined and dined as we watched the Mexican landscape "whiz by". Each night we stopped, walked to our rig to sleep in our Airstream, awakened each morning by senoritas with fresh coffee and a reminder that we should be in the club car by 10AM. Each day was filled with travel, scheduled stops for sight-seeing, shopping and "trinket buying". We were always accompanied by guards, never left alone and always felt secure, even though few of us realized the potential.

Back then, there was corruption, usually in the form of local authorities looking to supplement their meager income with "Gringo Green". Today, WBCCI doesn't even offer caravans to Mexico. In fact, back as far as 2014, caravans that travelled into south Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and southern California carry a note that any travel into Mexico requires a passport and is done strictly without any endorsement by WBCCI.

The home page for WBCCI has photographs of the train caravan into Mexico, similar to the one we were on (but the tow vehicles were updated). Our rig was a 1972 Dodge Power Wagon and a 26' International Sovereign .

http://wbccicaravan.wbcci.net/future-caravans-2019/

As much as we'd like to return to Mexico, with the current conditions, it's just not worth the potential risk to personal safety, even on a railcar with someone else doing the driving. YMMV

[Chaos1]

Thanks for all the input and info a little eye opening we think we will put that one on the back burner