Group says it's trying to spread awareness; others call journey insulting.

By Jeremy Schwartz
MEXICO CITY BUREAU

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

IXMIQUILPAN, Hidalgo — On a misty, moonless night, the group scurried down the canyon wall, their feet slipping in the ankle-high mud. The sirens grew louder as their guide, clad in a ski mask and known only as Poncho, urged them to run faster. "Hurry up! The Border Patrol is coming!"

A couple in matching designer tennis outfits loped awkwardly along, the boyfriend clutching a digital video camera and struggling to keep the pop-out screen steady.

The 20 or so people fleeing the fictional Border Patrol weren't undocumented immigrants; they were tourists about 700 miles from the border. Most are well-heeled professionals more likely to travel to the United States in an airplane than on foot.

They've each paid 150 pesos — about $15 — for what is perhaps Mexico's strangest tourist attraction: a night as an illegal immigrant crossing the Rio Grande.

Advertising for the mock journey, which takes place at a nature park in the central state of Hidalgo, tells the pretend [illegal -ed.] immigrants to "Make fun of the Border Patrol!" and to "Cross the Border as an Extreme Sport!"

As craven as the advertising sounds, the organizers say they are trying to build empathy for [illegal -ed.] migrants(sic) by putting people in their shoes.

And the organizers, members of a Hnahnu (pronounced nyah-nyoo) indigenous community, speak from experience. Leaders estimate that as many as 90 percent of the 2,500-person community have made the journey to the United States, most ending up in Las Vegas. [Illegally? -ed.]

"We do this to show the people what it's like, to make them more conscious," said Hnahnu elder Luis Santiago Hernandez, who has crossed the genuine border more than five times.

Hernandez said that although they try to make the experience authentic, "It's not even 10 percent of the real thing."

The trip also seeks to educate participants on Hnahnu culture and represents a source of income for the community, leaders said. The Mexican government helped finance the creation of the Eco Alberto nature park, which is communally owned.

Participants in the mock [illegal -ed.] border crossing said they were lured by the realistic experience promised by the nearly six-hour nocturnal walk.

"It was like being in their flesh and bones," said Oswaldo Martinez, a 31-year-old computer security technician from Cuernavaca.

"It was cool; it was very fun," said his friend Mauricio Palacios, 30. "I never imagined it would be like that."

Until almost 2 a.m., the group scaled walls, hid in tunnels, jumped into pickups and followed a path through a cornfield. The trip ended with a blindfolded ride to a Hnahnu holy place where Poncho, whose real name is Alfonso Martinez Flores, asked the group to be more honest and sincere in their lives.

Word of the tourist attraction has provoked much head-scratching among real [illegal -ed.] immigrants and advocates in the United States.

Some called the risk-free adrenaline rush insulting. Others said it could improve the often-conflicted attitudes of Mexicans toward their compatriots who [illegally -ed.] migrate.

The Austin American-Statesman 

Simply Astounding.  What's next?  A mock drug gang war?