we just drove across the bridge....immediately accosted by some scammer who would "show" us all the good spots to go...well we followed him a little bit, and he wanted to be paid like $20...we gave him $8....
we got out alive....
and at another time, with another couple, we took the shuttle over from El Paso, and ate and drank at a little spot just outside some kind of market. Little kids with drugged out eyes would go table to table selling chicklets. on the way back, we got off the shuttle to go inside a grocery store to see if we could get a good price on liquor.
nothing at all happened to us but when I see the violence in Mexico especially Juarez, I'm glad I'm alive to remember.
I remember when my Dad was pulled over by a local cop between Mexico City and Cuernavaca. My Dad had put some pesos in his wallet where his license was and the cop took the money gave him back his wallet and we were on our way!
Another time, going through customs from the States through Laredo, he had some industrial diamonds in his suitcase for the company he was working for. So, he put a small AM/FM radio (this is during the sixties) in the suitcase, inspections took the radio and we were on our way!
That’s how life was back then.
When my father was working in the city of Campinas, Brazil near São Paulo, we were told not to wear any visible jewelry upon getting off the airplane as little kids would look for items they could rob. This was during the seventies, things are much worse.
In 1983, we spent 15 minutes in Juarez. (We’d seen enough).
Yeah, in the 80’s used to go to Tijuana, Rosarito Beach, Ensenada, Puerto Nuevo and Califia without a care. Loved Baja. Looking back, well, it was a lot of fun and I am glad I was able to experience it. I would never step into Mexico now.