I had trouble deciding on whether or not going here is worth it. My family (who still lives there) told me there’s been an upswing in violence across the river lately, so I’m going to put down “no” for now.

Still, the US/Mexico border is a really interesting place to visit if you can appreciate it for what it is. Culturally, it’s not truly of the US or of Mexico. Those two cultures the extreme points of a continuum, and where you fall on that continuum depends on your social class, where your parents are from, where you live and who your friends are.

Because of that hybridization and the huge percentage of natively bilingual people, it’s an excellent place for someone who’s interested in linguistics or sociology to live/study/visit.

The city of Laredo is actually a few hundred years old, but was rather small until the 90s, when NAFTA further opened trade between the US and Mexico. Since then, the city has been growing at a nearly-exponential rate.