Yep...back in the 70's a group of us would make a "run for the border"a couple of times a year...load up in 2 or 3 vehicles and head south on a Saturday afternoon to Nuevo Laredo from central Texas. We had learned from our predecessors not to drive our vehicles into Mexico, and that it was best to get a motel room in Laredo and then call a cab to pick us up and take us across the border to our destination. Paid the drivers well and promised a good tip if they came back and picked us up at a specified time and got us back across the border without any hassle. Never had a problem and the drivers would speak to the border guards and we would be waived through without any delay. I wouldn't dream of trying it nowdays.VMI77 wrote:Way back in the 70s when I was in high school police shakedowns were a "feature" of Matamoros. It's long been part of life in Mexico. Our family was friends with a Mexican family who had a home next door to ours and whenever they went back to their place in Mexico they made sure they had plenty of American dollars to pay the bribes they had to pay on the way back (due to the Texas license plates on their car). While it may be arguably more dangerous now, it's always been dangerous if you stepped outside the areas frequented by Americans.
