<p>I think I’d sooner take a trip to Afghanistan.</p>
<p>xiggi - I have to disagree with you about Juarez not being that dangerous for tourists. My sister-in-law lives in El Paso, and Juarez was a frequent destination for her family (the restaurants were wonderful). They haven’t been in several years - just too dangerous to risk it. And these are people who live there, speak the language, etc.</p>
<p>My husband and I boycott Mexico, so we wouldn’t allow any of our kids to visit that country while they live in our home.</p>
<p>I disagree that traveling in Jamaica is the same as Florida or New Orleans. The second we stepped out of our resort outside of Montego Bay, we were accosted. DH was offered a woman while I was standing right there! People also tried to sell us drugs. That hasn’t happened to us in NYC or New Orleans.</p>
<p>I think Xiggi is very familiar with El Paso and Juarez, too.</p>
<p>MaineLonghorn-It would if you went into the wrong neighborhoods in those cities–or any city for that matter, which was the point.</p>
<p>Yes mn that was my point, thanks. Also I didn’t say they were the same, I said safety issues arise when kids go off on their own drunk or to get drugs, and I’d say doing so in Nola or Fl puts kids in similarly risky situations. </p>
<p>Being offered a woman or drugs outside a resort is not a safety issue, IMO. It’s an issue to raise with your kids so they know the risks of going off to take advantage of the offers.</p>
<p>D went to an all inclusive resort in Cancun over winter break and said she felt very safe. They used caution and only went off the resort with a hotel sanctioned tour group to snorkle.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Let me be blunt. Did you not just say … “They haven’t been in several years.” With all due respect, living in El Paso does not make people more qualified to KNOW what happens in Juarez than someone in Chicago or Dallas. You only get the same filtered and biased information. Fwiw, there is nothing more detrimental than a bit of knowledge fueled by speculation. I am not talking as an occasional tourist. Nor am I speaking through the distorted lens of "el otro lado.‘’ People who live in San Diego are not necessarily experts on the dangers present in Tijuana, or the vast differences between Tijuana and say, Rosarito or Ensanada. People who live in El Paso do not necessarily know much about what happens 100 yards south of the border. That just the way it is! </p>
<p>Juarez IS a very dangerous place, but that does not mean it is more dangerous for TOURISTS than hundreds of localities in the world. It is very dangerous for a specific sub-group of citizens of Mexico. The US citizens are not targets as they do not fit the profile for the petty crimes and extorsion. Homicides are not accidental but the work of specific battles which, again, are not of a great concern of tourists and citizens who are not engaged in criminal activities. The statistics of crime against US citizens in Juarez is meaningless. There is a tremendous number of criminals who operate on a daily basis in Mexico who are … US citizens who just happen to be born on the US side of the metroplex and ended up populating the prisons from which gangs such as the Azteca have recruited heavily. </p>
<p>And speaking of statistics, there are thousands of people who cross from El Paso to Juarez every day to work in the twin plants as executives and managers. It would be a mistake to believe that Juarez is living in isolation and that foreigners walk around with a target mark painted on their forehead. The crime that has plagued the city (and most of Mexico) is really of a different nature.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Most of the cities in Mexico are currently dangerous. However, if the question is about the potential dangers for the typical US or Canadian Spring Breaker the biggest problems and dangers are clearly the result of stupidity and lack of common sense. Something the students when traveling abroad seem to wear as a badge of honor.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You must be a GREAT mom for a son! I can see —son, if you decide to take someone up on this offer you could get laid–out dead!</p>
<p>:) My own counsel to my son would be to say no thanks and walk on, but in addition to my hope that my son wouldn’t hire a prostitute or buy drugs for perhaps obvious reasons, would be the added instruction that doing so could very well put him in a dangerous situation.</p>
<p>And I would give him that advice if he were on spring break in the US too.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No, I am perfectly serious. If I never traveled to places without risks I wouldn’t see very much of the world, now would I? Hell, I live in a medium-sized city where there are plenty of ‘risks’, better move to a gated community now! </p>
<p>I’ve been abroad before to India and the Bahamas. I know the risks and I know the precautions. Stay in groups, don’t go into the city at night, etc. etc. Besides, I’ll be in Montego Bay, which is an affluent tourist community, not wandering the streets of downtown Kingston at 3 AM. </p>
<p>While there are risks in Jamaica, there is no current DOS warning and it’s hardly comparable to outright anarchy in some cities in Mexico, just look up “Ciudad Juarez” on any news agencies website. </p>
<p>EDIT: I notice now that there are some posts relating to Juarez. A friend of mine did volunteer work in Mexico. I can tell you from her experience that there is no safe part of the city. Yes, there is fighting in Mexico City, but there are upscale neighborhoods where it is relatively safe. Juarez is not like this, the entire city is practically a warzone at night. Avoid it.</p>
<p>My kids are not going anywhere for spring break. The budget is just too tight for that. But if they were planning a spring break trip I would tell them to stay in the U. S. The money would stay in our economy and help American businesses and citizens. I might recommend the Gulf to help out after the oil spill caused a severe decline in their business.</p>
<p>Since 2011, my S has been solo back packing in Malayasia and Cambodia for 4 weeks and Laos and Thailand for 4 weeks. He’s been in Singapore and Hong Kong. Not an iota of trouble/problem.</p>
<p>He was mugged and robbed in Colorado Springs in 2010 coming home near campus on foot in the early morning hours by himself. (no serious injury and they only took his phone.)</p>
<p>I agree with Xiggi on this. A tourist/visitor’s risky conduct seems to determine a lot of what happens.</p>
<p>ohiobassmom- I don’t think you understand what these encounters are like in Jamaica. Your teen might be surrounded by 4 or 5 locals and “encouraged strongly” to pay up for a prostitute or drugs. It is not like an offer to sell you some silver jewelry. It is very frightening. I have a relative who worked as a musician on cruise ships for a number of years and he said the cruise line was always glad to get all the passengers back on board without incident.</p>
<p>Mom, I do indeed know. I have traveled to JA more than 20 times, with my family, by myself and with friends. I avoid the main tourist areas precisely because the aggressive hustling that goes on there, particularly around cruise ship ports and AI gates, is annoying to me. But I have certainly experienced it.</p>
<p>The situation can be intimidating but it is not dangerous assuming it happens to kids in a group or in the daytime in a populated area. As I said, spring breakers in JA tend to stay in groups, and that is what they should do.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Why do people insist on passing hearsay for an impugnable truth? </p>
<p>Fwiw, what is the definition of “being safe” … is it a place where crime can never occur? Is being safe a place where crime occurs relatively infrequently? Everything is a matter of context. For instance I can guarantee you that executives who work in Juarez take a number of precautions on a daily basis. However, they actually use a greater number of precautions when visiting Mexico City. They leave personal information at home, print fake business cards, and travel with debit cards with very small limits. They do not plan to go party in the Zona Rosa or run around the Zocalo in the middle of the night. They are concerned by being “greeted” in Polanco, by being “driven” around by fake taxis between the airport and the Sheraton or the Nikko, by being asked by the local police to make a quick stop at the ATM machine to enter a small contribution to their “family fund.” THAT is the type of crime tourists and executives are concerned about … not being gunned down by fighting narcos. Don’t you think that the petty criminals know that it pays to focus on the wealthier in the nicest areas? </p>
<p>Few cities in the world have experienced the level of violence that has plagued Juarez in the past years, but you have to understand the context. People who happen to live in that city are learning to cope. They also learn that burying themselves in fear is hardly a solution. People are resilient. Take a closer look at Lebanon or Israel. There is a whole world of bustling activity that is within a few inches of possible destruction. And then take a closer look at the United States. How does driving around Detroit, New Orleans, or Stockton has been over the years?</p>
<p>TatinG - there’s no place in the U.S., aside from Hawaii, where you can be guaranteed warm enough weather in March/April at a beach, which is why Mexico is such an attractive option. The couple of times we’ve taken spring breaks with our kids in Florida, on the Gulf of Mexico side, there were a couple of days that we didn’t dare go near the water because it was too chilly. If I’m going to spend money for a warm-weather vacation, you’d better be sure I want a guarantee of warm weather.</p>
<p>For the same reason, I will never book a vacation in the Gulf of Mexico from late-June, on through November. Too much risk with tropical systems.</p>
<p>H and I went to the Riviera Maya three years in March, stayed at an all-inclusive and couldn’t have felt more safer in our own neighborhood. We flew into Cancun, and the resort had an airport shuttle waiting for us to take us directly to the resort. The resort was huge and had enough lounging opportunities as well as entertainment that there was no reason to leave it.</p>
<p>xiggi-All I was saying, was that from my family’s experience, it wasn’t worth the risk to go into Juarez anymore, at least for now.</p>
<p>teriwtt–the first time we went to Cancun, it was 65 degrees the entire time we were there…</p>