By tomorrow night, college students will be swarming the bars in Mexico, ready for the wild spring break parties.
But by 6 a.m. Saturday, students could be in a lot of trouble if they're not careful, veteran UA partygoers warn.
"You have to be smart about it," said Lucas Doub, a communication junior.
Doub said he learned how important it is to be careful in Mexico after he found his friend dazed and bruised from an encounter with two police officers in Rocky Point.
Doub said the officers, who had difficulty speaking English, demanded money from Doub's friend, who said he had only $15. After they beat his head and stomach, they took his money and left him lying on the ground.
Doub and his friends never reported the incident to the police because they did not want to contact any more officers.
"It's dangerous," Doub said. "As Americans, they're targeting you. They want American money, and they make their own laws."
More than 75,000 people are expected to hit the bars in Mexico next week, the U.S. Consulate's office said.
"Incidents related to the police should be reported in order for the Mexican government to take action against them," said Sgt. Eugene Mejia, UAPD spokesman. "There should be no monetary transactions between officers and violators on the street, and if that happens, they should report it immediately to the attorney general."
But veteran partygoers said sometimes it is easier to pay off the police officers who make up excuses to put tourists in jail so they can pocket a few extra bucks.
Journalism senior Eric Impraim said while he was walking drunkenly toward another bar, he accidentally trespassed into an RV lot when he was in Mexico for spring break last year. Out of nowhere, he said, three police officers appeared and told him he would be taken to jail.
"They told me I just made a big mistake," Impraim said.
Impriam paid his way out of jail with 10 $1 bills.
"I was pissed off; I could have used that money on good beer," he said.
Benjamin Ousley, the consular section chief in Nogales, Mexico, said students should not pay bribes to the police.
"If a police officer is going to give you a fine, you should accompany them to the city hall to pay the fine," Ousley said.
Students should have fun while going to Rocky Point, or Puerto Pe–asco, but they should try to familiarize themselves with the law there, Mejia said.
"(The officers) want people to come down and enjoy the tourist attractions, but students need to respect the laws of Mexico," Mejia said.
Also, students need to be aware of more than just the law and the police. Girls, who are the No. 1 target for sexual assaults, need to be careful in the bars, Mejia said.
Stacy Schroeder, a pre-nursing sophomore, said students should be careful and pay attention to their surroundings, otherwise they might find themselves exposing their breasts to a crowd of drunken men, like she almost did.
Schroeder was drinking and mingling with her friends at Baja bar, near the beach, when she decided to order a body shot.
She got up on the bar and lifted her halter top halfway past her belly button so the bartender could pour the alcohol. Just before she was about to do the shot, the bartender tried to lift her shirt up to show everyone her breasts.
"I freaked out and pulled my shirt down before it can get any further up," Schroeder said.
The bartender started laughing, thinking it was just a joke.
"Alcohol alone is the number-one type of drug used in sexual assault," said Jennifer Diez, mental health counselor at the Oasis Center for Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence.
Diez said students should be careful while drinking in Mexico because they are at a greater risk of overindulging and becoming victims of sexual assault.
Still, Schroeder said the whole time she was in Rocky Point, she never felt sexually threatened by anyone.
"For the most part, if you keep under control, the guys will keep under control. But if you get wasted, they can pick up on it, and it makes you · a target," Schroeder said.
Schroeder stuck with her friends, but it wasn't always successful because, she said, bars like Baja, with broken glass strewn all over the floor, were very crowded.
Rachel Chavez, a junior majoring in Spanish and Portuguese, who has traveled to Mexico for spring break three years in a row, said she has stayed safe by always traveling with friends. She said she has seen locals yelling, whistling and grabbing female tourists' butts.
She said her knowledge of Spanish has helped her friends and her minimize the verbal harassment.
Chavez said her Spanish skills have also helped her get out of sticky situations with the police. She saved her friends from being taken to jail when she told the officers in Spanish that her friends weren't doing anything.
"You have more of a chance of the police letting you go if you spoke Spanish," she said.
In case of an emergency in Mexico, students can contact the American Consulate in Mexico at 01-631-318-0723.