Feck..Juarez, Mexico! What can I.

[Scruff Vette]

expect? Drug cartel vcitim?? Found out I may be heading to Juarez, MX for a week to tour a manufacturing facility owned by parent company. Will be staying in El Paso. Who's been there?

[Z06David]

I'm from there, hope this helps

My dad does lots of business in Juarez, just make sure you have someone that knows where they're going with you. Don't go over there any new vehicles, hopefully the plant your touring will have a ride for you.

[VatorMan]

Was nice knowing you.

[MEC5LADY]

Alright calm the hell down nothing to lose your head over.

[Bucwheat]

Bring a throw away with you.

[longhorn341]

Originally Posted by Bucwheat

Bring a throw away with you.

and a hardened vehicle and kevlar suit won't hurt

[Sea Six]

Tell them you have several rich relatives and the highway bandits will leave you alone.

[Will]

Hey bro, Can I have your stuff after you get decapitated by the cartel ???

[syf350]

I live here and you couldn't pay me enough to go over there

[Skia]

Don't use FaceBook while you're there.

[bearstrail]

Originally Posted by Z06David

... just make sure you have someone that knows where they're going with you. Don't go over there any new vehicles, hopefully the plant your touring will have a ride for you.

This.

Are you actually staying overnight in Juarez? I'd be telling my employer to pound sand if they suggested that. Stay on the U.S. side at night and commute to the facility each day.

Seriously, don't be out before dawn and be some place safe by dusk. I just got back from a week in Matamoros and the border towns are getting ****in' crazy. Mexico horror: Gunmen dump 35 bodies on avenue

[Z06David]

While you're over there, can you bring a shipment back for me?

[Mark C5]

Does your company offer combat or hazardous duty pay?

[Cybercowboy]

Maybe you can track some of the guns that Eric Holder sent over there.

[themonk]

Just think of it as a paid X-treme vacation, it's all the rage nowadays.

[Stangkiller]

I hear there's ample supply of US assault weapons down there see if you can buy one down there for your visit.

[MattW]

Your company should provide a car and driver which takes you from El Paso to the plant, and from the plant back to El Paso, every day. Staying in JZ is a no-no. Do not go, if anyone waffles on this even the slightest, or hesitates, or says "I think so..."

Before you travel, someone you know and trust, must provide to you good photographs of the major players you are intended to meet with - including the person assigned to be your driver.

Don't travel before dawn or after dark.

Don't get into a car, taxi, donkey cart, with anyone for which you have not received a photograph, not for any reason, even "Oh, it's just a quick trip, Fernando will take you"

Dress down. No visible jewelry or watch - not even a wedding ring. No visible cell phone if you can manage that. If at all possible, have at least TWO forms of communication with you - cell phones from two service providers, because you never know when your "Oh, it'll work fine down there" cell phone - doesn't work.

Carry the absolute minimum identifying paperwork, and carry NOTHING with a home address or telephone number. Carry nothing identifying what hotel you're staying in, if you can manage that. Not even a room keycard, or a hotel pen or notepad.

You don't want any of the criminal element to be able to track you back to your hotel, even if you're on the El Paso side. You don't want to give potential kidnappers free information like your home address and phone number.

If you have to travel with a laptop, do not take your "normal" laptop; get your company to provide a "clean", bare laptop with only the absolute basics required for the work. Email client, web browser, productivity suite. Again, do NOT take a computer you've loaded up over the years with lots of company info, email archive, etc.

Never leave anything in a car.

[themonk]

While you're there ask Pedro WTF my money z'at.

[8Up]

Yes went there a few years ago because we sent a line of product to production down at a plant there, I was one of the engineers sent to supervise the start up. Be prepared for some culture shock, the trash cans in the shetter stall is for toilet paper because flushing it clogs the sewers, bad thing. The roads will be terrible, the line to get back to the US side will be 2 miles long (no exageration) every evening, and people will try to sell you stuff while you wait to get back accross. keep the windows up and if they come up to you use the finger wag to tell them no, it is the local sign language (not the middle finger, the index 'naughty naughty' finger wag). If you buy somthing from one of them they will all swarm your car like ants on a carcass. Do not eat at the cafeteria in the plant if you can help it...it is facking gross. All the girls on teh assembly lines will be wearing spagetti strap tops...dont touch them! I know there are several BIG plants in one area, Phillips, AVX, GE and others, cant remember, so you wont be the only gringo but try not to travel by foot unless you are of Mexican heritage. The roads are actually easy to navigate and there dont seem to be any laws so if you get lost just do a U-turn and remember the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

[mike100]

I live in San Diego and haven't been to TJ since 1991, but I had to go to Ciudad Acuna/ Del Rio Texas a few times to a customer's large welding and fabrication plant there.

It's no big deal during daylight hours if you know where you are going, but for the first time, you might want to be picked up. Acuna is a little smaller, but they got all the BS there too. I went there at night once, but just to the touristy main street right near the border crossing. It's no big deal if you have traveled to foreign places a lot-like anywhere- don't be alone at night until you learn the area. Of course I stayed in Texas at night...just like the city council from the Mexican side