SAN ANTONIO -- Among the students taking in "Safe Spring Break 2010" on the mall at Our Lady of the Lake University Wednesday were several from the border and from Mexico who are very aware of the recent travel advisories issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety and the U.S. State Department for spring breakers heading south of the border.

"The border is very dangerous," said a junior accounting major from Guanajuato. "If you go deeper into Mexico, it's not as dangerous. Of course, there's some people who will try to take advantage of you, so just be careful."

Gabriel Garza, a junior computer systems major from Alamo, Texas, located just minutes from the border, said the choices spring breakers make are their own, "but if they do go, be extra careful with any person they see."

Garza said relatives in Mexico have told him of drug gangs terrorizing the town where they live, killing others on a small ranch his family owns.

The situation is serious, he said.

"For anybody who might not think it is, I'm telling you firsthand because it's going through my family and I know a lot of other families that are going through that also," said Garza.

The violence in Mexico also has touched another OLLU student, Rebecca Martinez of El Paso.

"I have family members who are policemen in Juarez who have to deal with it every day," she said. With near daily drug-related killings, not only is Juarez considered the murder capital of Mexico, it is also where hundreds of women have disappeared without a trace.

"It's very easy for them over there," said Martinez. "It's very easy for them just to take you. They can kidnap you and there's a very small chance of being able to find you."

Although the OLLU spring break event did not have a booth specifically addressing the renewed drug violence in Mexico, Catherine Fragoso, the campus activities director, said its overall message still applies.

"We want our students to know they're the ones in charge of guarding their life," she said.

For more information, visit the U.S. State Department's official warning concerning travel to Mexico, located here.