A Great Hike - Project Completed

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

We finally had a free day on Sunday.  The worker comes late but always shows up and works his butt off.  Saturday, he said he would arrive on Monday to finish up and be here by 8:30.   Well, he showed up after 10:30.  In the north, guys like to make money, and when they say 8:30, they are there.  They may have tacos firs,t but they always show up on time.  Anyway, some odds and ends tomorr,ow and we can say mission completed.

Here are a few pics of before and after.  We still need a perg,ola and we have some solar guys coming for an estimate for the solar roof.  BTW, I went to the CFE (electric company) and filed a claim for the refrigerator.  I still need some docum,entslet's lets see how that goes.  

I was checking on a site cAllTrailsTrails.  It has maps and "directions".  I've used it before but end up complefrustratedrated.  It's good for getting an idea about what is ,around but that's about it.  In other words, it's a starting point.  I found a hike in Alcocer, a small town about 10 km from our house.  It's behind the telesecundaria.  What is a telesecundaria?  It is a small school in a rural area where classes are transmittsatellite,atelite and instead of a teacher, a local person or a student teacher acts as a tutor.

We found it via Google Maps and parked on the side of the school.  It's rated as a moderate hike, but we found it to be a bit more difficul,t at least in the initial climb.  Wcompareded the first part with Cerro de la Silla in Monterre,y which we have climbed three times.  

This is a stock photo of Cerro de la Silla.

We started off and up.  A steep climb considering we are already at 6200 feet.  It takes some good lungs to do it.  It was early morni,ng and the air was crisp and the skies clear and clean.

Cardo Azul or Sea Holly

Níspero or Loquat

San Miguel off in the distance

Project complete, and no,w when we return for Christmas we can enjoy morning coffee and great sunrises over San Miguel de Allende and a view of the famous Parroquia.  We're ready to head back home to Monterrey to prepare for our Gulf Coast RV trip.  Can't wait!!!

Festivities Prep - October Trip Planning

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

Dinner with friends Carol and Michael at Señor Godzilla's

It took a week to get things back in order.  We've been living out of an ice chest. We finally agreed to have Samsung repair the fridge.  They were supposed to be here on Monday after ordering parts.  We had to pay up front for the parts, which is pretty standard here.

Monday went by, and they couldn't make it.  Tuesday, the tech had a minor fender bender.  Wednesday, rescheduled for Thursday.  Thursday, the tech took a course.  Today is Friday, and they should be here as we speak.  UPDATE:  The technician just left, and the fridge is humming away.  So much we take for granted.

There are three websites for Samsung in Querétaro.  I was afraid we might have been scammed.  We paid for the parts and then faced constant delays.  I decided to dig deeper.  The bank account number was on the work order sheet but a guy's name on the bank account when I went to Banamex.  I deposited the money at an ATM, very common here.  I did a search for the guy's name on the bank account, and he has a YouTube video promoting Samsung service.  Whew!  Legit.  Of the three Samsung locations in Querétaro, there is a Samsung factory, Samsung offices, and then this independent factory authorized Samsung repair facility.  

We took a break on Sunday and had breakfast with our neighbor and friend Cheryl.  We went to the Fábrica Aurora art gallery.  We spent a few hours there looking at all the art we'd love to have but can't afford!  I did see a new carpet for the living room here, but it was still a bit overpriced.

The tile man is finishing the roof terrace, and he is a real whiz at laying tile.  He'll be doing some other things here when he's done.  Nice to find a guy who wants to work and shows up everyday and wants to work into the night.

San Miguel de Allende is growing more and more.  There is a new Autozone being built not far from the house.  That will be number two unless it is a relocation.  Home Depot will be starting their location here as well.  New restaurants are coming, and others are going.  That's a constant here.  The more expensive, the less likely they are to survive.  Expats here jump on the bandwagon every time something new comes along.  With new stores opening, especially franchises, there will be the group that says, "we're not doing that, we support local business".   Well, good for them.  Don Pedro is a small hardware chain here that gringos run to.  What they don't take into account is that Home Depot will hire more Mexicans, pay better benefits, and provide a much broader selection of goods.

We're still undecided which way we're going on our rv maiden voyage.  I've been doing a lot of research, and there is very little boondocking in east and southeast Texas.  The Gulf Coast has the beaches for free, but we don't have 4X4, to risky.  

Texas state parks, America the Beautiful, have passes.  The America The Beautiful pass seems to be a better one but has a lot of caveats.  

Since I paused in writing this, we have decided on the Gulf Coast using Texas State Parks.  We won't have solar, I don't think so we will have hookups, and there are two parks with primitive sites we can try out and see what the lead-acid batteries can do in the meantime.

More to come this week as we celebrate Mexican Independence Day and watch the fireworks from our soon-to-be-finished rooftop.

If you are wondering why fuel prices were high in Mexico before the gas crunch in the U.S., this is the reason.  Paying off PEMEX debt to keep the company afloat.  In U.S. dollars, the amounts below total 88 billion dollars.  Regular gas in Mexico is $5.40 USD, and Premium is $6.75.  I remember the days when people would cross into Mexico with 55-gallon drums to buy gas because it was so cheap.

The PISA exam results are out.  PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) show that Mexico continues in decline over the last eight years, or since Morena took power.  There is a good reason for that.  The primary and secondary textbooks were revised to reflect the aim is to foster social consciousness through the explicit inclusion of topics such as violence, oppression, classism, racism, and social movements in Mexico. Events such as the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre, the Dirty War, and the disappearance of the 43 Ayotzinapa students form an active part of its historical narrative.

De-commodification and Anti-neoliberalismo: Arriaga advocates for a public education system that rejects neliberalism model, firmly opposing the commercial logic of private publishers and the pedagogical dictates of international bodies such as UNESCO, UNICEF, and OECD.

The textbooks were revised by Max Arriaga, a known communist. The same party that the president and her mother fought for and did activism in the 80s. In mathematics, the number of pages have been reduced from 201 to only 20 pages. This is the result of those changes in the last eight years:

 

We Stayed Away Too Long - Back In San Miguel de Allende

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

Mes de la Patria 2026

Preparing for the September national celebrations.

It's been months since we were in San Miguel de Allende.  We take a lot of precautions to make sure the house is secure.  We clean before leaving, change the linens, take any food from the fridge home with us in a cooler, and set timers around the house.

We had a great trip coming down; in fact, it was record time.  Great weather, no major construction glitches, and we weren't stopped or interrogated at any checkpoints.  There are many false checkpoints now, or they are official but have organized crime members working with the officials.  

Getting to the house all looked well.  We opened the door to the first of a series of issues.  Although we had taken precautions to prevent water damage, water made its way under the corner of the front door.  San Miguel de Allende has had many torrential rains since our last visit.  Our 45-year-old Chinese wool carpet had been soaked, and carpet moths made their way in and literally ate it up.  

Our Samsung refrigerator was DOA.  Fortunately, we had little to nothing in terms of perishables, and cleanup was easy.  We attempted the 24-hour reset, and no go.  There have been excessive power failures and power surges in the last year.  I have mentioned the state-owned power grid and the lack of foreign investment since the last administration.  We are seeing the results now. 

Okay, we're limping along now, two down, what else?  We decided to wait until the next day to do the cleanup, and I laid down for a nap after the long drive.  I couldn't sleep and jumped up and got to work.  We cleaned out the fridge, took the carpet out, and cleaned up the mess.  The next morning, we turned on the water heater, and it was kaput.  That was an easy fix, and our plumber came right away and fixed it.

As of today, a week later, we are still living out of an ice chest.  No biggie, we like camping and boondocking, so we're not that affected.  Less opportunity for me to rummage around during the day, or what we call in Spanish, "gusgeando". 

Warning to anyone living in Mexico.  Do not buy appliances with inverters.  Why?  Technicians are not prepared or trained to fix them.  This is not a warning just based on my personal experience.  I've asked around, and we have found no one who will even touch the inverter products.  We had three repairmen come out, and no go.  My nephew is an HVAC installer and repairman, and he said the same.  Once they are affected, they are difficult to repair.  We are now waiting for Samsung to send a qualified repairman to diagnose (hahaha) and recommend a solution.  

The purpose of this trip is to tile our rooftop and prepare it for a palapa.  We've ordered and have all the materials and the tile.  We're looking to check this off our list of things to do.  It's been a few years coming.  The installers promise a one-week job, so we'll plan on two.  

In the meantime, at least for the next week, we will be tied to the house while the trapse up and down the staircase.  It can't be avoided, and all the material, such as the sand, is in costales or heavy flour-type bags, and those same bags will be used to bring down any residual materials and scrap tile pieces.   We thought about scaffolding, and it is relatively inexpensive.  But we are waiting to see what the workers say today.  I'm now just thinking about a winch to use as a hoist.  All the homes in this neighborhood are townhouse style, so there are no side aisles.

Nothing like taking your duck for a walk in the main square!  Since the Mundial and the appearance of Merlin the Duck, everyone wants one now!

Not sure what happened to Spider-Man, and I hope he is okay.  It must have been one hell of a fight.  Do superheroes regenerate limbs?  I found his leg, and maybe this was a memorial to Spider!

We've done the usual SMA kind of things: Sunday market, daily exercise walks taking us to about 12,000 steps a day, and seeing all the changes that are taking place.  Quite interesting how a city that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Conde Nast's number one destination is allowing so much construction in the "protected" part of the city.  

Now on to my favorite topic, Mexican politics.  As of today, these are the number of politicians by party who have had their U.S. visas revoked:

Morena 51  (ruling party)

PRI         3

PAN        0

I think that sums it up!

The cellphone registration debacle continues.  Each month now more lines are being canceled.  We're at 50%, and as the months tick by, so will the number of cancellations.  They have Mexicans by the balls because most Mexicans now use their cellphones for mobile banking and other work apps.  Lose your line, and you are disconnected from everything.  As we all knew from the get-go, the extortion has not been reduced but has actually increased.  With the cancellations, many of those lines are being intercepted and renewed using fake identification but still tied to the original owner's name.  If an extortion attempt is identified, the original owner will be the one to go to the bote (jail).  What a shit show.

The state of Sinaloa and the cartel war in Culiacan go on, taking more than 3000 lives, 2000 in the city of Culiacan, and 3600 missing persons presumed dead but not added to the homicide rate.   This turf war has made its way to Mazatlan, and yesterday 6000 troops were sent to provide assistance.  We keep hearing about the lower homicide rates and all of the other statistics, but reality is definitely something else.

Wow! What A Week

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

As I said in the last post, we arrived home safely with no issues.  After that, there was some downtime to recover from a lot of stress.  Since then, my mind has been going in circles figuring out how to add solar to the small travel trailer.  

When we did this the last time, it was installed on the Funfinder.  We had a gathering at Hacienda Contreras in Valle de Juarez, Jalisco.  Those were the best times of our RVing in Mexico.  

Here, Croft, Jerry, Pete, and I were mounting the solar panel.  We ran the cables, attached the charge controller, and the inverter.  It was fun and seemed so much easier.

That was a good group.  We had good times and made some excellent memories.  A lot of RVing in Mexico going on then.  

Now, the new travel trailer has built-in cabling for solar, and that makes it a bit easier and yet more complicated.   There is a sticker on the inside wall with a perforated line around it.  You cut that out, and you find the wiring from the roof that is looped to the battery.  Sounds pretty simple,e but it appears more complicated than what we did years ago.  I need to find a place for the inverter.  A 200amp lithium will fit in the current battery space.   

The issue with the charge controller is that the cutout is meant for a PWM controller, which is flush-mount and easily fits inside the wall.  The MTTP requires wiring that will put the controller on the wall, and it will stick out about an inc,h and the wires will be seen.  I could put a box cover similar to this:

I've also considered portable panels with a built-in charge controller.  You then rely on the SUV to maintain charge of the battery while driving.  Also, the panels would need to be set up at each stop, and the risk of theft.  Hmm.  I'm open to suggestions.  We're also considering an electric generator such as a Jackery or Bluetti.  Throw a couple of portable panels in the sun and hook up the 30 amp.  It comes with everything, including the inverter.  Several boondockers we watch regularly on YouTube swear by them.

I am a lucky guy. Juan got me a new HP laptop for my birthday! This marks the last year of my sixth decade of life—it sure goes fast. This new machine is much faster and more powerful, which will give me the capability to upload more videos to YouTube. I'm still bummed that Microsoft eliminated their video app; it was incredibly easy to use, and I was just getting the hang of it.

I’ve also become completely hooked on AI. I haven’t named her yet, but Norma would probably say she's my imaginary friend. While I always double-check the facts, it makes starting a new project incredibly easy. AI was actually instrumental in gathering all the data for our recent travel trailer purchase!

On a heavier note, Mexican politics has turned into a massive clusterf---. It is hard to keep up with the scandals breaking out right now.  The governor of Sinaloa suddenly returned to his office on Friday after disappearing for two months. He didn't say a word to anyone.  On Saturday, his own party (Morena) asked him to step down. The fallout is so severe that the president canceled her morning mañanera, which has only happened two times before. Word is the U.S. will request his extradition any day now. This follows his two cronies turning themselves in two months ago, walking across the border under Mexican military escort.

The huachicol fiscal (fuel-tax fraud) debacle continues to explode. A Mexican Navy contraalmirante—the nephew of the retired Naval Admiral—was successfully extradited from Argentina. His brother, also a contraalmirante, turned himself in right when the governor's cronies crossed the border.

The international pressure is clear. As of last week, AMLO's son had his U.S. tourist visa canceled without explanation. He joins a list of 50 Morena party members who have had their U.S. visas stripped.

There is definitely fire behind all this smoke. It's not just gossip or lies!

We Have A New Travel Friend

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

It took us a while to get things going.  We got it all straightened out, and we are sitting in Casa Blanca State Park.  We did the PDI with the RV dealer on Wednesday but had some decisions to make.  We ended up with the model with the roof air conditioner and worked out a good deal.  We received an additional $1000 off the price.  I know MSRP is a lot of bunk.  Jayco listed it at $24,990, the dealer at $19,999, and we purchased it for $14,500 including tax, title, and license.  We told them under no circumstance would we pay more and didn't want any surprises, and no extended warranties, insurance, or add-ons.  Although they agreed, they turned a bit sour on us.  Our ally was the worker who did the cleaning and PDI, and became a good friend.  

We finally drove off yesterday and headed for Lake Calaveras, about an hour away to give it a good workout of systems.  The CURT Bluetooth brake controller works great and no installation required.  Everything has checked out.   Today we drove 175 miles without a hitch (we actually had the hitch attached to the back of the SUV, hahaha).  I drove 60 mph all the way.  No sway issues (I did purchase a sway bar, but no WDH, and I may return it).  The VW has some sway control built in, but honestly, it was a bit windy, and many semis were passing us, and we felt nothing.  No bouncing, no ball rattling, nothing.  So far, knock on wood, we are very impressed and happy considering it is an entry-level trailer.

The dealer overall was very nice.  The salesperson was all gung-ho over the email exchanges, but when we arrived she was very nonchalant.  After the papers were signed, she moved on to bigger and better things.  A lot of sales talk.  I'm not going to send any emails to corporate or rant and rave, but it's the typical "come on strong," and then when it's over, it's over.

Our stay in San Antonio was uneventful, going to the dealer every day and picking up a few things that we don't have at home for the trailer.  We had to laugh after shopping at various stores for sheets and blankets.  We ended up at Goodwill and found the following with a senior-day discount:

Two very good quality white towels

Two twin bed sheets, both with the double elastic corners

A new Mr. Coffee coffeemaker

Silverware 

Two cocktail glasses

Two coffee mugs

Total was $30, including the laundermat and soap to wash the towels and sheets.  

It's been a long week, so I will end this here.  Mission completed, and tomorrow we will put the trailer in storage until October for our first big trip, destination unknown at this time.  We head home in the afternoon.

This Might Just Happen!

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

I'm not sure how the situation could change; I've done all our homework.  The only thing that could change is if we changed our minds and walked away.  That's still a possibility.  

We're leaving next week to see our new travel trailer.  We found another that is identical to the one we put the deposit on, except that it has a corrugated aluminum skin, a window-unit A/C, and a smaller fridge.  We really only need the freezer section for ice.  😁

The nice thing is that it is the exact same floorplan, weighs 225 lbs less, with a few pounds more on the hitch weight.  We can't wait to take off.  We'll be driving to the Colombia Bridge via the new La Gloria roadway built for the World Cup to create a safe route for road travel.  With La Gloria, it bypasses the state of Tamaulipas and takes you directly to the Colombia Bridge.  We'll see how well that works and if we don't get held up.

I believe we've done our due diligence with only one thing pending.  I put a small deposit on the travel trailer, transferred funds to San Antonio, ordered the Curt Bluetooth brake controller, and the sway control arm for the hitch.  

It has been very, very difficult to find a storage space in Laredo.  I called each one, and only two had a parking spot, both outdoors with no cover but secured inside the storage facility for $160 a month.  What?  I was about ready to say the whole deal was off when I came across a site called Neighbors.com. Individuals who are not a storage facility can list a spot they may have to rent, such as a garage at their home or a large enclosed and fenced area.  I found a company that will rent us a spot with cameras, gates, and fencing for less than half of the others.  We will verify it on Monday.  Whew, that was a hard one.

Much smaller but lighter and uses less electricity naturally.

The window unit style A/C is more adequate for the size of the trailer.  They usually plop a 13.5 BTU on the roof of any A/C.  Too big, too noisy, and too much vibration.  The window unit we had before in an 18ft travel trailer proved to be the best. It would run for 12 hours on 1.1 gallons of gas in our Honda 2000.  

So it will be one step at a time on this trip, getting to the border, picking up our parts, and purchasing a U.S. cellphone.  We'll check out the parking space and then head north to San Antonio, where we'll spend the night.  Tuesday, it will be a visit to the dealer, although we have the appointment until Wednesday.  I haven't told the rep yet that we may change our mind on the model.  We need to see it in person, although I said it is the same in terms of the floor plan.  Also, to let them know that the inspection has to be done with some water in the tanks, a fresh battery I can check, and the refrigerator running to check the temperature.  LP needs to have some in it to check the furnace, water heater, and the stove top.

A little Mexico news and politics: 

The breakdown of the 230+ political assassinations (which include candidates, ex-mayors, and municipal councilors/regidores) during the AMLO sexenio (2018–2024) reveals that political violence heavily targets local opposition parties, though members of the ruling coalition are also severely affected.

Local-Level Focus: Over 80% of all political executions during the six-year term targeted individuals running for or holding municipal-level office (mayors, ex-mayors, and town councilors) rather than federal or state-level positions.

The cell phone registration via biometrics is currently at 91 million not registered.

Still waiting for the extradition of the Sinaloan governor and his nine cronies.  El Mayo was sentenced to life in prison and a $15 billion fine.  

43C (110F) An Exhumation And A Party

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

This is officially the worst time of year to be in northern Mexico.

I just got back from a quick run to the VW dealer and a stop at Costco, and the car's digital thermometer read a staggering 43°C (109.7°F). It is pretty dang hot out there.

You might be wondering why on earth we are sticking around in this baking heat when we could be relaxing in San Miguel de Allende. Today's high in SMA was a beautiful 28°C (82.4°F), dropping to a crisp 13°C (55°F) tonight. Trust me, we want to be there! But we have a mountain of projects and life events that absolutely must get done before our departure date on August 4th.

We currently have two albañiles (construction workers) at the house doing repair work. Honestly, I can’t believe they pushed through the heat today. They arrived at 9:00 AM, stopped for a couple of morning tacos at 10:00, and just kept hammering away.

Later, I ran out to Santiago for supplies. When I returned, they were taking a break, so I asked if they could shift their schedule—maybe work from 7:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Most areas of our yard are beautifully shaded and cool in the early morning.

Their response? Nope. They just don’t roll like that!

Right now, they are patching cracks on the interior side of the front street wall and on the back wall that abuts our rear neighbor. They also tore down the old remaining chainlink fence from our side neighbor's border. It was completely hidden behind a row of ficus trees and had become a massive trap for dead leaves over the years. Our gardener should be thrilled; he can finally clear that area out. Next up on their list: caulking around the base of the house, painting the front well, and tackling a few other lingering details.

We had a wonderful visit last weekend with guests who were our neighbors over 40 years ago. They were the ones who warmly embraced us when we first moved into the neighborhood. We were all so young then—none of us even had kids yet!

Fast forward to today: their oldest is now 40, and she actually came along with her parents. We enjoyed a fantastic breakfast in Santiago and spent the afternoon catching up at the house. They live about 65 km away now, so we don't see each other often enough, but it was a beautiful day, and we hope to do it again soon.

Next weekend will look entirely different. We will be serving as official witnesses for an exhumation.

Juan’s brother-in-law passed away seven years ago (his wife, Juan's sister, had passed away several years before him). We are going to cremate his remains to make room in the family plot and put the cremated remains in the church niche where his mother and one of his nieces rest. The niece was tragically hit by a car in Dallas several years ago—a truly heartbreaking event.

In Mexico, embalming is typically only for three days and there are no concrete crypts, so the law permits exhumation after seven years. Even so, you never quite know what you will find. It depends heavily on water intrusion, humidity, and changing weather conditions over the years. It will be a very small, quiet group of us witnessing the process.

On August 1st, we are hosting a reunion party for the ex-members of our folkloric dance group. This gathering used to be a lively pool party for the kids. Well, those kids are all grown up now and have kids of their own! We aren't entirely sure how many people will show up, but it's nice to get the house in order for it.

Right after that, we are officially escaping to San Miguel de Allende. We will be spending several weeks there until our roof terrace is fully tiled. Absolutely NO exceptions this time!

In the middle of all this coordination, we are waiting for a response from RVShare (the private RV rental site). The rig I chose is very close in length and weight to the trailer we eventually want to buy. I really hope the rental goes through so we can test the waters before making a massive purchase.

For the towing setup, I’ve decided on a Curt Bluetooth brake controller. It plugs directly into the vehicle's 7-pin connector, the trailer plugs into the unit, and you use your phone app to calibrate it. The VW Atlas seems to really like the Curt brand.

I've read quite a bit about it; while some users report minor glitches, the unit securely holds your last programmed setting if you lose the Bluetooth signal. A lot of people shy away from the Bluetooth version because they hate dealing with app tech, opting instead for the old-fashioned, dash-mounted controllers that plug straight into the VW connector under the dash. But for this trip, I'm leaning toward the wireless route. 

One good thing this week is the sentencing of El Mayo.  Life in prison and he has accepted that.  Now they've got to extradite the governors that are accused of acting alongside of them.  The president insists that the U.S. has no proof.  

The president also has denied help to the madres buscadores who are looking for bodies buried throughout the country.  At one point, the secretary of the interior said that the opposition parties were secretly aiding the madres buscadores in forming marches and demonstrations by paying for transportation, meals, and housing.  

She should know all about that.  The Morena party is well-known for acarreados (moving masses of people via private transport for demonstrations).  However, for the massive groups in Mexico City, they provide the free transport, tortas, a Frutsy, and 500 pesos, although they publicly admit it.  People will sell their soul for so little.

That's it for now but if the forecast above is real, we will have a nice rain on Friday.  Keep cool wherever you are.

---

What Is The Approach To Find The 130,000 Missing Or Dead

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

I have been following the many groups of madres buscadoras (groups of women looking for their missing and dead children and spouses).  There are currently 230 groups working in Mexico.  That should give you an idea of how big this problem is. 

How many of you have children or grandchildren who are graduating in the last weeks of June or the beginning of July?  I ask because from Thursday to today (Saturday)  there have been six unrelated kidnappings of graduates on vacation or in their cities.  The situation has become desperate.  Organized crime is looking for younger, healthier, and educated recruits to do their dirty work, sex trafficking, and organ harvesting.

There are 40 people in this photograph holding a picture of their missing family member.  Multiply this picture times 3250, and that gives the magnitude of this tragedy.

Imagine if this were to happen in your family?  I put AI to work regarding the madres buscadoras, and this is what I found.  It is concurrent with my own research, albeit more in-depth.  My issue is that the government's methods for searching and returning bodies or remains, in most cases, have had little to no results.  In fact, the madres buscadoras were invited to work around the area that encompasses the investigation into the kidnapping and death of Nancy Guthrie because they have become very good at finding bodies.

The government conducts field searches, but they operate differently than the collectives of "searching mothers." While families often head into the field motivated by anonymous tips and using their own resources, authorities follow a legal and inter-institutional protocol. The work of the National Search Commission (CNB) and local commissions in the field is structured around the following dynamics: coordinated field searches and use of specialists, unlike families who use improvised tools like "T-rods". Official brigades include archaeologists, forensic anthropologists, forensic experts, and geologists who utilize technology such as drones or ground-penetrating radar. 

Official searches are carried out with the deployment of security forces—such as the National Guard, the Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA), and local police—to secure the perimeter in high-risk areas.  Often, the CNB and local prosecutor's offices organize field search operations alongside the mothers' collectives, focusing on locations previously mapped out by the families.

Despite the existence of these government brigades, organizations like Amnesty International and media outlets report that institutional capacity is often overwhelmed by the country's forensic crisis. There are currently 72,000 cadavers or parts thereof, sitting in morgues around the country awaiting identification.  Frequently, it is civil collectives that first locate clandestine graves and subsequently notify the government so that the relevant prosecutor's office can arrive to officially recover and secure the human remains. 

The Guardia Nacional and the Mexican Army (SEDENA) act primarily as a militarized security shield for local forensic experts and state prosecutors during exhumations. For example, in massive recent joint sweeps by State Prosecutors and the Guardia Nacional in northern regions like Chihuahua, security forces successfully protected forensic teams extracting 73 bodies from clandestine graves in a single month. The government has prioritized creating structural forensic hubs. They have completed specialized regional centers for human identification and temporary body storage units in heavily impacted states like Tamaulipas, Jalisco, Sinaloa, and Coahuila to process the high volume of human remains recovered during Guardia-escorted operations.  Independent monitoring platforms like the Plataforma Ciudadana de Fosas(mass graves) and human rights entities like Amnesty International highlight serious discrepancies in the government's claimed results. 

While state-level prosecutors report thousands of graves, federal tracking often undercounts them. Civil tracking platforms frequently note that the government's official numbers are much lower than the actual totals published daily by independent media and civilian searchers. Most of the graves officially "recovered" under the protection of the Guardia Nacional were actually first discovered and physically excavated by the mothers' collectives. Family organizations heavily criticize the state for taking statistical credit for discoveries that civilians achieved through their own dangerous fieldwork.

As of today, over 30 madres buscadoras and other participants have been murdered by organized crime upon discovery of mass graves.  This issue is not being taken seriously.  Comments include the comparative aspect of the issue.  For example, someone will quote the high number of missing persons in the U.S., not knowing that 85 to 91% of those missing are actually found.  Most of those cases are family-related, where one spouse takes off with the child or a runaway case.

How does this affect you?  Probably not much at all.  Why is it so important to all of us?  Because as RVers, tourists, and expats, we are supporting a country and a regime that has done little to nothing to end the tragedy.  I find it interesting that some tourists who regularly visit Mexico have decided to make the trip by air to avoid travel through the U.S. during the North American political conflict.  I guess that doesn't compare or measure up to the war that is being waged in Mexico, including the disappearance of our children.  I'm not pointing fingers but solely making a point of how desperate the situation has become and how little attention it is receiving from Canada, the U.S., and the United Nations.

Send letters or emails to your embassy and to Mexican consulates, letting them know how you may feel about this.