Thinking about going to Mexico?

[toes in the sand]

when reading accounts like these and hearing once again that it is safe if you are on a resort in Mexico I often wonder why is it safe on the resort. I know that there are armed guards around some of the resorts but the thugs have much greater firepower than the guards. Could it be that some of these resorts are laundering cartel money? Not an accusation or based in fact. Just a question.

[Terry]

CG,
Your point is well taken. We wouldn't go back to Mexico even if it was free. Resorts are not safe. My neighbors son was held at gunpoint in front of their "guarded" beach, in front of several other tourists. No one did anything to help him. He finally gave him all the cash he had on him and they left. Scared the crap out of them. Today he could have very well been shot, his head cut off and buried in the sand...with the "guards" watching.

The difference between here and there is that we have rights. In Mexico, you don't have rights...you are totally on your own.

Gives a whole new meaning to "Buyer Beware".

And has anyone noticed that with the US warning on travel to Mexico, etc. that prices for these all inclusives has not budged at all. You would think they'd be giving rooms away.

[PA Girl]

CG,
And has anyone noticed that with the US warning on travel to Mexico, etc. that prices for these all inclusives has not budged at all. You would think they'd be giving rooms away.

We were in Mexico (Xcaret) in November and Americans were definately the minority at the resort where we stayed. There were a lot of Eurpeans (younger crowd) and multi-generationaly Mexican families, grandparents, aunts/uncles and lots of children all vacationing together.

My mom has friends that work a large resort company. The husband said he need to learn French and German in order to move up within the company so they must get a lot of European travellers. (He is Dominican so already had the Spanish down)

Based on the tourist mix I saw and what people who work in the Playa area told me, I think the decline in American travellers isn't devastating to the tourist industry as we would think.

[California Girl]

Even back when those beheaded bodies were found, the hotel who gave me the free stay even said, "No worries, it's safe, c'monnn down!" Yeah, right! I don't think so!

I'll still go to Cabo (flying over the border towns!) because I feel relatively safe down there, but I'm very, very cautious and constantly aware of my surroundings.

[PA Girl]

I wrote in my trip report about my feelings about safety. We based our decision to go on my conversations with people living and working in Playa region of Mexico.

While there, we were repeatedly asked by Mexicans about safety and American's perception of Mexico.**** We were told that the region (I can't remember the state name, Quinton Rou?) doesn't have the same problems with wide-spread, innocent victim crimes as the US border towns because Belize and other border countries to the south are simple too poor to support a drug trade, there no market there like in the US.

We got out and about quite a bit and like you CG, we were aware of our surroundings. At no time did we see anything that made us uncomfortable. There is a huge military presence in the Playa area, which says something, I don't know what, about what is going on in that particular region.

That being said, I wouldn't have gone to border towns or Mexico City 10 years ago and certainly wouldn't go now. I lived in Texas as a child (not great memories of where I lived) and my cousin, until very recently, was a border patrol agent in AZ.

I am glad we took the trip but I wouldn't go back just because there are other places I want to see. The region didn't hook me like the VIs did. We will probably go to Cozumel next year for another family trip with my mom and her husband.

****One of the most pleasantly surprising things about our trip was how many Mexican families we met. Around the pool and at dinner in the evenings, they would strike up a conversation with us the way parents of kids playing together are prone to do. The young men working at the resort retaurants were also a wealth of information.

[Berlingirl]

I've also lived in border towns...San Diego and El Paso be to exact. I also used to travel between there and Mexico on a regular basis...though it was a few decades ago. Neither border town was super safe back then. Now they are nightmares. I wouldn't visit either one any time soon.

I cannot count the number of times I've been to Mexico in my life if I tried.

That said, I have been to Mexico three times in the last couple of years. All trips have been to Cancun and south of there to the Mayan Riveria...Playa Del Carmen and Tulum. I have never felt unsafe. I have never felt threatened. I love the area, the people and everything about it. I would go back tomorrow if I could.

However, I live in rural Maine. Two days ago, a guy who was high on "bath salts" went on a crazy car trip and was chased by the police and almost caused a collision. This state has the one of the highest rates of drug addictions in the US. In a town I live in of 30000, there are three methadone clinics alone. This "city/town" as a rule gets dozens of homeless, the mentally ill and recently released prisoners who are put on buses from down "south" and sent up here to wander aimlessly. I am a runner and sadly can no longer run in the local forest trails as so many of these end up there. Break-ins are everyday around here.

Truthfully, I feel safer in Mexico than I do here these days.

[Terry]

Can I just say, and I maybe way off base here, that the folks on the East Coast do not hear about the problems happening in Mexico as much as the West Coast does? We hear about it here in CO because we have a high Hispanic population. I'm assuming that CA hears about it 10 times fold what we do because they live it! Check out the tunnels that are discovered often between Mexico and CA.

CG...sorry to tell you this friend... that 13 year old neighbor's son that was robbed at gunpoint on the beach in front of their resort...well it was in Cabo. A well known resort. PM me if you want to know which one.

I would travel to Cozumel again. It's an island and small, with several international travelers, and with great snorkeling. We heard so many different languages when we were there. Pretty cool.
I've been to Cozumel (twice), Cancun (too many times to mention), Playa area, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta and Ensenada, plus two border towns.

BerlinGirl, I can relate to you. We have a huge homeless population here. Why? Because our community caters to them. We give them 2 great free meals a day, free underwear, clothes, a place to sleep and do laundry, plus give them $10/day to buy food, or whatever. And this town wonders why our homeless population has tripled. Dah! Got any homeless friends? Send them here, we'll take care of them. Santa Barbara, CA seems to have a similiar problem. Last time we were there, an entire park was a campground for the homeless.