Douglas, myself and a group of friends followed almost your exact route in 1994. I know a lot has changed in the meantime, but we had no problems at all of the kind you mention. Just the opposite in fact.

There was major trouble in Chiapas at the time, - 80 people shot dead, so we ran into a lot of military and police road blocks. Lots of arms swinging around and at us, but no bad vibes. For some strange reason we did not feel at all threatened. How worried can you be when the kid pointing a rifle point-blank at your midriff is sporting a big smile? Our bags were searched several times, but in a gentle manner. My home customs could take a lesson.

Not only that, but several times locals volunteered to lead us to Hotels, eat with us. In general we had a ball. Whether it would have been so, solo, I'm not sure.

We had a fluent (Argentinian) Spanish speaker with us, which certainly opened doors for us.

On our return to the US we arrived in Matamoros in a rainstorm at dusk. Cars were carrying the mud from the road virges onto the road, which became like grease. One of our number fell over. The Mexicans came like ants to their rescue. One rushed ahead to tell me what had happened. It was a humbling experience.

There were some funny experiences. At one road block our spanish speaker decided to keep mum for a few minutes. About eight officers were talking among themselves, then one told me that he wanted to search my bags. He had just started when Alberto spoke up, indicating that he had understood every word said. The officers were a little embarrassed, started laughing. We left them in high spirits after they exchanged badges with the District Attorney and policewoman in our party.

Its more fun to tour places like that with friends, but I would not have missed it for anything. I rarely feel threatened anywhere, and I've been in some pretty 'dangerous' places. I suspect a lot has to do with attitude, and body language.

cheers
Peter