<p>The last time I went to Mexico was last summer. Stayed in gated penthouse condo in a small very upscale town north of Puerto Vallarta. Condo was broken into on two separate occasions, one of which likely occurred when we were inside sleeping.
Everyone has said that Mexico is unsafe but that Cancun and resort areas have been okay.
Today’s news:
[FOXNews.com</a> - At Least 8 Killed in Cancun Bar Attack](<a href=“http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/08/31/killed-cancun-bar-attack/]FOXNews.com”>At Least 8 Killed in Cancun Bar Attack | Fox News)
I think I’m going to cross Mexico off my list…</p>
<p>Sorry to hear that, ebeeeee. It’s really too bad. We were just in Puerto Vallarta during Easter break for the first time. We loved the area, but noticed we were one of a handful of American families visiting. We did not encounter any crime, but plenty of incidents have been reported on tripadvisor.com, so I know people are avoiding the entire country. Between January and May, one person reported a group robbery, while horseback riding at a ranch (second time this year that a group of tourists at that ranch have been robbed). A few people reported having things stolen out of their luggage at the airport. One guy was shaken down by a police officer after leaving a bar late at night. Two women reported suspecting they were given date-rape drugs. One woman reported her camera stolen by a taxi driver, while she ran a quick errand. The American and Canadian expats claim it’s no worse than our cities, but I just don’t know if I can believe them.</p>
<p>I don’t believe them. Our insurance company wanted a police report of the theft last year and I can’t even relate the story of going to the police station in the very small town we were in…needless to say we were unable to obtain a police report.</p>
<p>Cozumel was a port of call on our cruise earlier this month. It made a better impression on me than Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan did in 2005. Maybe it helps that Cozumel is an island. Or maybe I had my blinders on. Cabo San Lucas seemed like the “best” (relatively speaking) of the 4. We were also there in 2005. </p>
<p>Having said all that, I agree with ebeeee. We won’t vacation there in the near future, if ever. Our cruise stops were all we need. </p>
<p>There are plenty of other tropical vacation options.</p>
<p>The bar in Cancun was in the Mexican resident area, not the tourist area.</p>
<p>You just need to be careful - there is no middle class to speak of in Mexico so they are poor getting poorer. Lots more pickpockets, etc. The only place I would avoid are the borders and probably the Monterrey area.</p>
<p>The U.S. government has to be candid now and admit that Mexico looks like “a failed state,” as G.W. Bush used to say. No point in worrying about bruised feelings now, not after 28,000 deaths.</p>
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<p>Yup - even right here in the good old United States of America!</p>
<p>I live in SoCal about 25 miles from the Mexico border. We have not gone to any of the border towns for many years because of the violence. We have visited Puerto Vallerta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas, but it has been many years. H and I decided awhile ago that Mexico was not a family travel destination for us.</p>
<p>My heart just breaks for Mexico. It’s such a beautiful, interesting country, and completely at war with itself. Of course, having US for a neighbor doesn’t help – most of the drugs are made to be sold in the US – almost all of the guns used in this civil war come from the US. But hey, who needs realistic drug and gun policies, and I don’t mean them…</p>
<p>I’m helping a client sell a house in a US border town. The realtor tells us they can often sell houses within a couple of days because Mexicans fleeing violence are crossing the border and paying cash for houses.</p>
<p>We took a cruise with a stopover in Cozumel several years ago. When we disembarked from the ship, we were surprised to see policemen carrying large machine guns on the docks. Although we never felt unsafe in Cozumel, I could never rid myself of the uneasy feeling generated by those machine-gun wielding policemen. They had to be there for a reason.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, for my former border town, the violence has often followed these expats across the border to American soil. I love Mexico and I am sad, too, that it is not a safe place to visit right now.</p>
<p>[FOXNews.com</a> - ‘Cross-border gunfire’ in El Paso prompts pleas for tighter security](<a href=“http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/30/cross-border-gunfire-el-paso-prompts-pleas-tighter-security/]FOXNews.com”>'Cross-border gunfire' in El Paso prompts pleas for tighter security | Fox News)</p>
<p>A different perspective on the border town. Huge conference this coming October involving international business leaders and more, encouraging investment to counteract the problems: </p>
<p>[Tijuana</a> Innovadora 2010](<a href=“http://tijuanainnovadora.info/index_eng.php]Tijuana”>http://tijuanainnovadora.info/index_eng.php)</p>
<p>I’ve always been baffled by the fact that the US will go to countries far, far away and invest billions of dollars in building thier economies and infrastructures and not our neighbor to the south…I’m probably getting into political forum territory, so I will stop at that.</p>
<p>Suffice it to say that I wouldn’t take a family vacation in the middle of the civil war they have going on right now anymore than I would have taken a vacation in Columbia in the 1980’s…But, I’m a little cautious, anyway, by nature.</p>
<p>We haven’t felt unsafe in Cozumel, did see police with guns on our way to Chichen Itza, but did not feel unsafe there either. I don’t think the whole country is affected by the drug violence/crime.</p>
<p>We saw soldiers with large guns in several places in Paris also this summer. That alone does not indicate that it is unsafe there.</p>
<p>My daughter and several of her fellow classmates in her PhD program were on a cruise just last week which stopped in Cozumel. It’s all so awful!</p>
<p>Last year when we were in Punta De Mita, just outside of PV, I told everyone that of course it was safe and that only the border towns were unsafe. Since our experience there I have changed my mind. It was obvious that employees of the condo where we stayed were in on the robberies and I don’t want to vacation anywhere that I have to sleep with my passport and cel phone literally under my pillow.
I am generally not a nervous traveler and have been all over the world. I went to London right after the bombings there when others felt it was unsafe.<br>
I have changed my position on Mexico and that was the point of my initial post…</p>
<p>Wow, this is all sad to hear. We were on the Mexican Riviera in June, and none of this seemed apparent at all. Of course, we were very lazy and didn’t venture off property.</p>
<p>ebeeee, understood. I would feel the same way, and I do love Mexico, and have traveled throughout it. </p>
<p>This discussion made me wonder: if the violence/chaos doesn’t end, and if it keeps spilling throughout Mexico and over the border to the US… what are the odds of the US government not having a choice but to somehow get involved – just to protect the US? I don’t mean to sound alarmist or extreme… but it does appear our neighbor is in the midst of a bloody civil war that’s possibly heading northward. The US government has a history of starting wars with a lot less provocation than this…</p>