Thousands of Canadians remain stranded in Mexico as widespread violence continued Monday in the popular tourist destination of Puerto Vallarta.

Explosions, gunshots and road blockades broke out following a Mexican military mission Sunday. Jalisco New Generation Cartel members were responding to the capture and death of leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho.”

“We could see kind of black smoke all over the place,” Saskatoon resident Norbet Virlics said.

Puerto Vallarta looked more like a war zone than a vacation destination to many of those under the shelter-in-place order in the hours the fighting spread throughout Jalisco state.

“The world changed yesterday,” said a resident of Prince Albert, Sask., Jon Foster. “You always knew it wasn’t necessarily fine, but now there is definite evidence.”

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Foster has been visiting the area for 40 years, but what has been unfolding around him has changed his sense of safety.

One of his Canadian friends staying in the same condo complex was on their way to meet him when their car was stopped by masked men.

“It happened just absolutely in a split second, that these people were on the vehicle immediately, had guns, had weapons, ordered them out,” Foster said.

“There were six motorcyclists. They ordered them out of the vehicle, immediately said, ‘Go stand over here,’ and within an incredibly short period of time had poured gasoline and torched it.”

The Canadian government says there are more than 26,000 Canadians stuck in Mexico.

Although airlines and hotels are attempting to accommodate the situation, with streets and stores closed, supplies will have to be monitored.

“It’s depressing because we’ve been coming here for 27 years and we used to spend a lot of time down in the Puerto Vallarta area,” said a Regina resident in Nuevo Nayarit, Darren Stoppler.

Some say the hardest part is getting reliable information when the situation is changing quickly.

“The toughest part is that most of our information comes from the internet, social media, and sometimes it’s really tough to believe what you see on there,” Virlics said.

Most major airlines have posted to their websites that they plan to resume flights over the next few days after consultation with the Canadian government and Mexican authorities.

“We’re cautiously optimistic that tomorrow will be better than today, and we know that today is better than yesterday,” Foster said.

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