Mexico: tourist drinks spiked at resorts. Many die but stories covered up

[RHenriksen]

http://m.chron.com/life/travel/article/ ... item-39786

[LDB415]

I wouldn't go to Mexico if it was a free trip. There is nothing there worth the risk.

[rotor]

Best 10 cents I ever spent was returning from Matamoros to U.S.

[nightmare69]

Going back to Cozumel in January, one of the three stops on our cruise and I'm not worried. I hope they take if this soon as tourists are the only lifeline to these resorts. If people don't feel safe then say bye to your revenue.

[JustSomeOldGuy]

Best 10 cents I ever spent was returning from Matamoros to U.S.

1960's?

[Paultaters]

They had a documentary up on Netflix about one guy's experience going through something similar.. basically a tourist (I believe he was ex-LE) goes to a restaurant with his wife, he steps out to get some air for a second and as he steps outside he is struck in the head with a bat repeatedly. The restaurant calls for a specific taxi cab and refuses to call police, and that taxi takes them to a private mexican clinic where they charge outrageous amounts AND require the money before operating to keep him alive. Everyone on the Mexican side was involved in the scam, and the "cab driver" worked for the clinic.

Apparently these things are fairly common over there. If you absolutely HAVE to travel there, be atleast twice as paranoid as you normally are.

[anygunanywhere]

Back in 2007-2008 I was working in the Mexican state of Tabasco which is on the Yucatan peninsula. One evening myself and four co-workers had traveled by taxi into downtown Villahermosa to one of those Argentinian style meat restaurants. Great food, good wine, and good company. After dinner we called for taxis. Three co-workers including the line manager got into the first cab. Myself and a mechanical engineer got in the second cab, I was in front seat. There were two routes back to the Hilton at the airport, a back way, and the freeway through the city. The lead cab exited the parking lot and went right - the back way. Our cab made a left towards the turn that led to the freeway. He passed the turn. I had been there many times so I knew the route. I questioned the driver in my best Spanish where he was going and he just smiled. I told him again to go to the airport Hilton and he ignored me. I turned around and looked at the engineer and he saw the look in my eyes and asked me what was wrong. I told him I thought we were in deep doo and to follow my lead. By this time we were in the dark on a road I had never been on and did not know where we were going.

I reached in my pocket and pulled out my Gerber folder reached over and grabbed the back of the driver's head and shoved my knife in his groin. I asked him politely if he hablas Ingles. He said Si. I told him either he turn around and head to the airport Hilton or else I was going to gut him from his groin to his neck. For emphasis I ran the knife from his groin to his chin.

The cab made an immediate 180 turn. I kept the knife to his throat all the way back until about 1/2 mile to the hotel. He grabbed the microphone on the radio and began a long string of expletives and other speech into the airwaves. When we pulled up in front of the hotel the line manager asked me what was wrong. Her cab was still there and she was listening to the radio, She was fluent in Spanish.

We told her what was happening. She told us to go to our rooms and pack while she made a phone call. Later I learned she called the majority owner of the joint venture, a Senor Franco, who was the brother of the deceased dictator of Spain, Francisco Franco. After the phone call we were driven to the airport and put on the next flight out of Mexico. Evidently Senor Franco had made a few calls.

I did go back after a bit and finish my work there but I never again ventured into town. We had escorted transportation to the site and back.

That was my last time ever in Mexico. I will never go back.

[rotor]

Best 10 cents I ever spent was returning from Matamoros to U.S.

1960's?

I believe it was in the 90's. What does it cost now?

[JustSomeOldGuy]

+-$2.50 per car, and I think 60 cents a person for pedestrians. If it was only a dime in the '90's, you must have been on foot......I think I paid about a dollar driving back from Nuevo Progreso about a decade ago.

[WTR]

Interesting, going over to Juarez here cost money.... Coming back is free.

[LDB415]

Can't imagine why anyone would cross that border. There's enough in this country to keep a person busy more than a lifetime. There's a friendlier, safer nation to visit across the border to the north. There are better places to visit scattered around the world, although Angela Merkel and other dumber than dirt leftist morons are working to destroy and eliminate that option as quickly as possible. Still, going south anywhere makes no sense.

[RPBrown]

I was always told don't drink the water, now we can't drink the drinks either, Okay, just won't go to Mexico. Will be looking for other places for winter vacation.

[The Annoyed Man]

I wouldn't go to Mexico if it was a free trip. There is nothing there worth the risk.

That's pretty much how I feel. The last time I went into Mexico was on a mission trip maybe 20 years ago, to the Cumbres Del Rubi district of Tijuana....just a dirt poor place. After arriving at our hotel room, my son and I switched on the TV (he was about 7 or 8 at the time), and it was already tuned to a porn channel. Because I was expecting anything BUT that, the incongruity was so powerful that we both actually stared at it for a few seconds before I actually figured out what it was that I was looking at! THAT is how my precious son was first exposed to pornography.....and it kills me that I had an unwitting hand in it. . There was no channel guide to let the viewer know what channels were what. The next day, I fell ill with the first UTI I ever had, which was accompanied by a skyrocketing fever and actually passing out for about 3 hours in the front seat of my truck at the work site our missions group was volunteering at. The sickness cut the trip short, and we drove home that night.

What I don't recall was ever having to pay anyone for permission to cross the border in either direction.

[JustSomeOldGuy]

Bridge tolls are a big moneymaker for municipalities on this end of the river.

[ArmedAndPolite]

Hopefully the problem is found and fixed. Traveling to any 3rd world country has it's risks.

I came back last week from a wonderful time traveling throughout the Yucatan, Quintana Roo and Campeche.

First day there we stopped at a large wholesaler and bought a few high end bottles of whiskey, didn't drink (or eat) anything at the resort. Had no problems. Then again, I know my limit and don't drink too much, esp in strange places.

Had plenty of drinks at small town restaurants/bars, no problems there.

Mexico is a beautiful country and as long as you aren't driving over the border/live in border towns it's essentially as dangerous as certain areas within any major city.