Once Upon a Time in Mexico

(FK) After New Orleans we began to work our way West through Louisiana stopping at Oak Alley plantation and spending a night at the Sam Houston-Jones State Park. It was quite an eerie swampy place but after a walk around it grew on us. Even more so when the day-trippers and joggers left at sunset top leave us with the Gators and raccoons as the only campers in the park. Surprisingly we slept really well and set of for Houston the next day.

Oak Alley Plantation

Sam Houston-Jones state park

Call me Al

We stayed for a couple of nights with Sarah Robbo’s cousin Daniel (well he was away) but his lovely wife Bridgitte and family took care of us. We also made a new best friend, who nearly came on our travels with us… Chester, the five month old King Charles Spaniel! He was so cute and a bundle of fun and excitement that had us entertained non stop.

The Garstangs

(NK)From there we set off south and stopped off at The Alamo for a bit of Mexican/American history. 

Our true destination that day, however, was Laredo, for our crossing into Mexico through the infamous Nuevo Laredo. 

Laredo Campsite

Sunset over Laredo

End of pictures. Every American we’d spoken with had tried to put us off crossing into Mexico on the North East border. Many labeled us crazy. Even worse, some seemed to fear for our lives and gave us a sorrowful look as if they were already mourning our death. The media is rife with grotesque images of these border towns - beheaded bodies, men being hung from bridges; it’s basically hell on earth. Uncle Paul had warned against crossing in Laredo. I didn’t want to cross in Laredo. Every internet forum, advice page etc had warned against it.

So why the hell were we in Laredo? Three reasons.

1.     Whilst researching border crossings in Houston, Bridgitte, in true Aussie fashion, pretty much said, “Nah, no worries, it’s just the Americans being a bunch of pissy pants cry babies.” Not her exact words but the jist of it.

2.     I was planning on driving a little further to Pedras Negras, which was considered semi safe. A quick search for recent news revealed the town was now under Martial Law and in a constant state of war. One local woman was quoted saying “the devil has come to Pedras Negras.”

3.     Fi had said “Let’s just cross at Laredo.” I said to her “If we are kidnapped, robbed, tortured and/or killed then it will be your fault.” She was happy with that so with all the pressure off me, I acquiesced and there we were in Laredo.

We drove into town and the mood was Mexican. All the people were Mexican and everyone was speaking Spanish though we were still in the US. There was also a quiet apprehension. A sense that something might happen at any time though this could’ve been in my head, everyone was still very friendly.

That night we pitched our tent at the Casa Blanca State Park to the melodious sound of automatic gunfire from across the border. Hmmm we thought, perhaps the Americans were right. Our nerves frayed slightly. “It’ll just be at night that happens, we’re crossing at first light.”

The next morning at around 8am over our scrambled eggs, the same symphony of death dealing came ringing across the Rio Grande. Ah, not just at night then.

We had stuff to do, so off we went to get our Mexican insurance from Sanborns. The lady that served us was really helpful and she drew us a map of where to go once we’d crossed the bridge. We needed to go into the town, take a left and come back on ourselves towards the bridge to find the immigracione offices to get tourist cards for us and temporarily import Trisha. We’d never have found it, as it’s not really sign posted over the border. We also looked to her for some morale support. She was very balanced about the whole thing. We’d be fine as long as we went straight to the office, got our paper work done and got straight out of there.

Next we took Trisha for a transmission flush and an oil change and even decided, let’s relax this afternoon. Lets treat ourselves to a movie.

So off we went and we picked a real nice film called End of Watch, which I thought was a cop film. It was a cop film, but it also featured Mexican drug cartels, Mexican gangs, human trafficking, drive-bys, car jackings, beheadings and torture scenes. I’ve never needed Disney so much in my life.

We went back to the campsite in tatters and still the gunfire could be heard. We were still doing this. I felt like I do the night before a fight, senses heightened, mind somewhere else.

At 6am we were up under cover of darkness and broke camp in 10 minutes flat (new record). Beef jerky was for breakfast as we made our way to the border.  The sun was rising as we crossed the bridge and zigzagged through a slightly chaotic crossing and onto the streets of Nuevo Laredo. It was a ghost town and we worked our way around to the bypass that would bring us back to immigracione.

Even though the lady in Sanborns warned us to stay right we some how ended up left going back over the bridge. Argh. Someone flagged us down as we slowed. I wasn’t happy, as every man in Nuevo Laredo was out to kill us in my mind.

Wrong. This guy just wanted to help us get back on track. After being directed through some barriers we were on our way to immigracione.

The whole process was pretty painless if a little lengthy. We were the only white people (gringos). The rest were US of Mexican dissent coming back to the motherland. Looks like everyone else has been scared off. We chatted to a few people in the queues and to the really nice immigration officials. Then we did as Sanborns lady said and got the hell out of Nuevo Laredo, dropping some dollars with a couple of homeless people on the way to keep our karma intact.

We did encounter a lengthy traffic jam due to military road blocks that involved big hummers with mounted machine guns and helicopters but apart from that, it was plain sailing all the way to the Hacienda in Saltillo. Sorry for the big build up and all the drama. When we arrived at the Hacienda, Rancho El Morillo, our amazing hostess Norma simply said, “Now you are here, I will look after you.” And look after us she did, it was the perfect place to stop after a day of tension. We were her only guests, no doubt due to a lack of tourist traffic from Laredo. 

See, after all that I wouldn’t say I was angry but my suspicions had been correct.  Americans in real life and online had done their best to scare us, even make us feel stupid for crossing the border. I’m not denying there aren’t inherent risks with what we did, however, we weren’t the prey profile. There’s always wrong place wrong time, but this wasn’t our fight. The drug cartels, the military and the Policia are all fighting and life is cheap, but tourists are not targets. The day we crossed I remembered a great piece of advice from my boxing coach Phil O’Hare – Be quick, but don’t rush. Simple, but when people are scared they rush and do silly things.

If I said we weren’t scared a little I’d be lying, but it was hard not to be after all the fear mongering and sympathetic looks, much from people who’d never even been to Mexico. And that’s the annoying thing really. We were grateful for some balanced words of caution but felt some of the fear mongering was a bit over the top. Regurgitating the hype spoon fed to us by government and media is wrong. Think more independently, question more often, get perspective.

Just remember America.

Where does the demand for the drugs come from?

Where do the weapons come from?

Drugs and guns, the world’s biggest moneymakers.

The build up to our crossing was very dramatic. The reality was very ordinary (apart from all the military presence). Some might say we were just lucky. I say we just used common sense. We’ve only been in Mexico for a day but already it’s starting to work its charms.