Spring comes to the Rio Grand Valley. In addition to blooming Yucca Plants, Cactus and what has become something of a tradition with the springtime drought now going on into the third year in a row. We have arrived as well at a long time Valley Tradition that dates back to the construction of the Queen Isabella causeway in 1954; Spring Break. The traffic grew heavier after 1974 when the bridge was elevated and widened to four lanes.
A large part of that tradition was drinking and sunbathing on the beach, doing what comes naturally to horny college students, and attending beach concerts that at one time could reach near to a hundred thousand rowdy, drunken, vacationing matriculators. It also included at least one afternoon or evening of debauchery in Matamoros. Then in March 1989 a young student by the name of Mark Kilroy was sacrificed in a satanic ritual by a Matamoros drug running gang. The horror of that murder has been remembered ever since and traffic to Matamoros slowed. Spring Break on South Padre Island had peaked and never again would be the same. The one thing that South Padre Island had going for it, that other destinations in the United States did not, was it’s close proximity to Mexico and with it it’s 18 year old drinking age. And even that was not well enforced. There was big money in Spring Break.
Now, after all these years the issue has not gone away. In many ways it has gotten worse. The Drug War and the upsurge of criminal activity in Mexico has become an issue once again. The question is this: Where are the safe spring break destinations in Mexico, and are there even such places now?
Here is a link to a post from the Texas Department of Safety from 2011. It remains to be seen what the DPS will say this year for 2012. This was the first time the State of Texas had ever posted a travel warning.
Check out this map from Stratfor
