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jerry
Guest
Understood here....but it is a bit different than our battles on Iraq. This time a political decision made in Arizona by a political party may effect our vacation spot in old mexico.When i warned about this 2 months ago i got zero comments....
Roberto
Guest
No, no one forgot to mention those events. They have been public knowledge, word of mouth and local news. So has the bit about the abogado. No secrets here. I guess the AZ media just missed out on a couple of jucie stories, a little late now to call them News.
Oh, this ought to be good................
C
colemanscottage
Guest
just our 2 cents
**Long Post Alert**
Hola Amigos! It's been interesting reading. Just heard about all of the media reports from a friend who knew we were headed to RP in the relatively near future who wanted to give us a heads up, so I came here to see what I could see, given the fact that y'all have been a great (and balanced) source of info in the past when these types of stories have surfaced. (Thank you for that, BTW.)
Also, we (like most of you) are fairly busy peeps and don't watch alot of TV, so we missed the initial news reports and the laughable AD for Sonora that was supposedly designed to entice visitors (talk about missing the mark, but that is a whole other thread for which I do not have time).
So, now that you've got a little background, I wanted to share our experience:
I used to go to RP in the late '80's & early '90's. I went to the U of A and it was a quick and cheap get-a-way. I'd only been a few times (never over Spring break!) and camped on the beach (this was RP pre-condo) and never had any issues.
Fast forward to a few years ago, when I convinced my husband to **finally** go for the weekend. He had never been and was always leery of Mexico, citing safety concerns.
We'll, we went down in January 2008 with a friend who has a small shack in Cholla (or is it Choya?) Bay and my husband loved it!
We had great time, he felt safe, regretted all those years we'd stayed away and we've been back several times since (May and June in 2008, January/February, June and ??? in 2009 and January and another trip planned in the near term for 2010).
Each time we travelled over a weekend and during the day (although for our trip in January 2010, we drove the last several miles in the dark as we left PHX late in the afternoon).
As for check points and/or road blocks, unlike most of you, we've encountered two (we're just lucky, I guess!) just outside of Sonoyta (once we'd past thru the town) on the way to RP.
We've also seen the people with the cans collecting for a charity, but the two check points/road blocks we encountered were hosted by armed men (both young and middle aged) who looked to be official (although we did not ask any questions for obvious reasons).
Each time, they were stopping cars in both directions (if I remember correctly) and were polite. Each time, there were other cars that were also stopped and in the process of being searched. One time (the first time, I think) we were asked to step out of our car. The other time, they just looked thru the windows and waved us through.
Both times I was a bit unnerved (such young men so heavily armed) but nothing they did was of concern or caused us to think that we were stopped at anything other than an "official" ck point.
The last several times we traveled to RP, we did not encounter any check points.
Since there is not much of a WOW factor to this post, some of you may be wondering why I even posted our story at all. The reason is that a few people earlier in this thread mentioned that they travel to RP all the time and had never been stopped or encountered a ck point and a lot of the info that has been shared/posted was from "someone who knew someone who heard that someone else had seen or been stopped at a ck point in the road to RP", so I figured I'd share our first-hand account of our experience during our travel. Hope it helps a bit.
As for us, we're looking forward to Russ' report re: the meeting and will make a decision about our upcoming trip based on our assessment of the info we gather.
Really looking forward to our upcoming trip and do not anticipate having to cxl, but also keeping an open mind and not taking any unnecessary risks. Mexico and RP will always be there, so if we end up postponing this trip based on what we learn here and from other sources, we *will* be back!
**Long Post Alert**
Hola Amigos! It's been interesting reading. Just heard about all of the media reports from a friend who knew we were headed to RP in the relatively near future who wanted to give us a heads up, so I came here to see what I could see, given the fact that y'all have been a great (and balanced) source of info in the past when these types of stories have surfaced. (Thank you for that, BTW.)
Also, we (like most of you) are fairly busy peeps and don't watch alot of TV, so we missed the initial news reports and the laughable AD for Sonora that was supposedly designed to entice visitors (talk about missing the mark, but that is a whole other thread for which I do not have time).
So, now that you've got a little background, I wanted to share our experience:
I used to go to RP in the late '80's & early '90's. I went to the U of A and it was a quick and cheap get-a-way. I'd only been a few times (never over Spring break!) and camped on the beach (this was RP pre-condo) and never had any issues.
Fast forward to a few years ago, when I convinced my husband to **finally** go for the weekend. He had never been and was always leery of Mexico, citing safety concerns.
We'll, we went down in January 2008 with a friend who has a small shack in Cholla (or is it Choya?) Bay and my husband loved it!
We had great time, he felt safe, regretted all those years we'd stayed away and we've been back several times since (May and June in 2008, January/February, June and ??? in 2009 and January and another trip planned in the near term for 2010).
Each time we travelled over a weekend and during the day (although for our trip in January 2010, we drove the last several miles in the dark as we left PHX late in the afternoon).
As for check points and/or road blocks, unlike most of you, we've encountered two (we're just lucky, I guess!) just outside of Sonoyta (once we'd past thru the town) on the way to RP.
We've also seen the people with the cans collecting for a charity, but the two check points/road blocks we encountered were hosted by armed men (both young and middle aged) who looked to be official (although we did not ask any questions for obvious reasons).
Each time, they were stopping cars in both directions (if I remember correctly) and were polite. Each time, there were other cars that were also stopped and in the process of being searched. One time (the first time, I think) we were asked to step out of our car. The other time, they just looked thru the windows and waved us through.
Both times I was a bit unnerved (such young men so heavily armed) but nothing they did was of concern or caused us to think that we were stopped at anything other than an "official" ck point.
The last several times we traveled to RP, we did not encounter any check points.
Since there is not much of a WOW factor to this post, some of you may be wondering why I even posted our story at all. The reason is that a few people earlier in this thread mentioned that they travel to RP all the time and had never been stopped or encountered a ck point and a lot of the info that has been shared/posted was from "someone who knew someone who heard that someone else had seen or been stopped at a ck point in the road to RP", so I figured I'd share our first-hand account of our experience during our travel. Hope it helps a bit.
As for us, we're looking forward to Russ' report re: the meeting and will make a decision about our upcoming trip based on our assessment of the info we gather.
Really looking forward to our upcoming trip and do not anticipate having to cxl, but also keeping an open mind and not taking any unnecessary risks. Mexico and RP will always be there, so if we end up postponing this trip based on what we learn here and from other sources, we *will* be back!
S
Submarine
Guest
Where have you been? I used to run into (what I assumed) was a military checkpoint almost every time I went down in the late 80's and 90's. It always scared the hell out of my wife. They always had a deuce and a half or a Humvee, M-60's and M-16's at the ready. These soldiers never spoke english but would make motions with their hands like they either were looking for pot or wanted pot I don't know. I noticed they would do a full search on Mexican vehicles.
These were either right outside of town or sometimes close to Sonoyta.
S
Submarine
Guest
That's just ridiculous Kenny. Do you think trying to suppress this publicly posted information worked very well? I may or may not of just posted the link or copy of the message. I had no idea what a "consulate warden" was so I would have gone through the .gov site myself and not trusted a random link.
Since when did my posts become 'journalism' yellow or otherwise? When I drive by a burned out car, either in the U.S. or Mexico, I assume just like any reasonable person that it's an accident. This seriously worded travel message caused me to wonder whether my assumptions were wrong, or do I have to spell this out for everyone? Don't we all have at least a high school education here?
Kenny
Guest
I've seen some right as you entered town in the last few years, but I was always just waved around them. Never stopped, never a car search etc.
One night a few years ago I was sitting with Chuck, and after dark on the wall at his old place that was right on the beach when Angel, his dog, started barking toward the water. We couldn't see what she was barking at, at first, but suddenly these guy's dressed in camo with mask's and AK's were coming right straight up the beach from the water at us until they saw where Angel was at. At that time they split up and went around us, and up the road next to the trailer court.
Those guy's were more afraid of Angel, than we were of them. If I remember right, we found the whole thing amusing, not threatening.
One night a few years ago I was sitting with Chuck, and after dark on the wall at his old place that was right on the beach when Angel, his dog, started barking toward the water. We couldn't see what she was barking at, at first, but suddenly these guy's dressed in camo with mask's and AK's were coming right straight up the beach from the water at us until they saw where Angel was at. At that time they split up and went around us, and up the road next to the trailer court.
Those guy's were more afraid of Angel, than we were of them. If I remember right, we found the whole thing amusing, not threatening.
S
Submarine
Guest
I guess Russ' friend wasn't listening to the local news that day. Our loss.
Kenny
Guest
Give me a break Sub, I didn't suppress anything. I just did what I thought was prudent, and passed it on to a few friends who I knew would go about finding out if it was even a official document in a methodical way.
This statement, among other reasons, is exactly why I wouldn't have sent it to you
Sub,
I have never been stopped on the road to PP. Only El Golfo and Kino Bay. I don't know.......
I have never been stopped on the road to PP. Only El Golfo and Kino Bay. I don't know.......
S
Submarine
Guest
Thank you for that post and that pretty much mirrors my experience with the checkpoints (though I've been through more of them). I just chalked it up to "that's Mexico" and went along my oblivious way.
I seem to recall more checkpoints in the late 80's and early to mid 90's; then they seemed to disappear when the Policia in RP became militarized (when they went from normal dark blue uniforms to the grey urban camo and trucks with the jump seats in back that you see today. Mexico in general seems to have an obsssion with militaristic uniforms IMO and going to the grey urban camo was a poor choice.) I guess seeing these SWAT like guys driving around town in some strange way isn't quite as unnerving as the military out on the open highway.
------
But like I've been saying all along it's up to each individual to make their own informed choice about the risks they take. Trying to suppress negative information only makes it worse when it comes out. THis latest debacle is a perfect example; I don't think any ad campaign is going to be fixing this one. Diehard Rocky Point veterans will most likely stlll go, but I think getting new people is going to be a really hard sell now.
S
Submarine
Guest
Well I'm very suprised and disappointed in you Kenny.
S
Submarine
Guest
Exactly! I can understand not wanting your mother calling and trying to get you to cancel a trip but who cares if the general public won't come down? This whole thing is comical at best (but I can just see Russ and Bob firing off angry letters to the editor!) Oh boo hoo hoo the investors don't make any money, the mexicans don't get to charge us U.S. prices for beer. They'll move on to more fertile grounds like Cancun or Cabo. There will still be beachhouses to rent, fish in the sea, and La Curva for an Especial #2.
Tahiti is my paradise, but I don't want everybody going there. Next thing you know it will be Hawaii. Thank god Tahiti is too damn expensive and far for most people.
Kenny
Guest
Disappointed in me Sub!... Will sleep ever come to me tonight?
The bottom line is that we were right in thinking that the information was bogus, it is, even though it turns out to have come from a official source.
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