Travellers arriving in Calgary recount ‘surreal’ experience in Mexico

Calgarians, now back at home, say it was a tense 48 hours in Mexico as fighting raged between government soldiers and drug cartel forces in Puerto Vallarta.

The first group of travellers returning from Mexico touched down in Calgary Tuesday evening after widespread violence caused airlines to temporarily halt service from the area.

Passengers were relieved to be home and in relatively good spirits after a tense 48 hours for locals and tourists who were told to shelter-in-place due to drug cartel violence.

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“It was probably one of the most scariest times I’ve been through. We were sitting and having breakfast when the bombs went off,” Vincent LaPointe told reporters at the airport.

“It was surreal, because you’re sitting in there in your resort having beautiful food and talking to people, and you realize outside there are people dying.”

“When we left, there was the army all over the place,” LaPointe said, adding he saw several burnt out cars and buses.

Montana Dunn, who was in central Mexico when the violence kicked off, said she is returning to Canada as scheduled, but other travellers weren’t as lucky.

“When you were at the airport there were people sleeping on cardboard,” Dunn said.

“You could tell they probably didn’t have another place to go.”

The violence left hundreds of Canadians stranded with flights home grounded.

Three WestJet flights, bound for Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara, also departed from Calgary Tuesday.

There are still more Canadians in Mexico, with some 55,000 people registered with Global Affairs Canada.

Those still in the country are advised to exercise a high degree of caution.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand hasn’t said whether Canadians should cancel their Mexico trips.