muck Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 No link; from a newsletter I receive: "It has been attacked as a "training camp" for Mexicans seeking to cross illegally into the US. Others see it as an exploitative device designed to separate Mexicans from their cash. The developers of "Carminata Nocturna" or the "Night Hike" see it as both a tribute and a warning. The experience is three to four hours long and takes place in the dead of night in a village about 700 miles from the US border. Participants pay about twenty dollars for hte experience of trying to cross the US border illegally. Guards are on patrol, immigratoin officers shout warnings and if they are caught they are handcuffed and taken into detention. They scramble across desert and along streams in pitch darkness with no maps or guides. The majority of those who come are seeking the adrenaline rush and about 60% are repeaters. Many families take their children along as a lesson. As odd as this sounds the intent is to make the attempt to cross into the US much less appealing. Those who have experienced it have reported that htey had no idea it would be so hard and so frightening and many claim that this convinced them to stay home. This was the intent of the community near Hidalgo that deloped it. They had lost hundreds of people to the lure of the US and dozens have been injured or killed in the process. The concept of a theme park devoted to a miserable experience is not unique to Mexico. One of the fastest growing themes in adventure travel has been based on experiencing a little of what others have gone through. Thousands of visitors to the slave forts in Africa are put through the experience of being shackled and led on to slave boats, people spend the night in former KGB prisons in Moscow and there are even trips arranged to Vietnam which allow people to experience a little of what the fabled "Hanoi Hilton" had to offer American POWs. It is hard to determine just what all this means but I don't think I will be contacting my travel agent just yet." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spain Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 Oh god! Wait until the liberals find out about this and start protesting the racism invovled... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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