<p>Ohiobassmom: I feel like I’ve hijacked this thread, but I’ll take the chance 
And maybe it’s not just for Jamaica, but could apply to Mexico too. Service trips are very rewarding, and yes there is time off to relax and see the sights as well. But somehow connecting with the local people while doing good and enjoying yourself with a bunch of like-minded friends is a formula for a memorable Spring Break.
I just feel that those who come to Jamaica or to Mexico for Spring Break for partying and drinking may have their guards down, which puts them in a more vulnerable position than those who are on an organized service trip (I’m just stating the obvious here I think).</p>
<p>I live here and although there is violence is not everywhere and you can take preventions.
Security in Cabo and Cancun is much better than in Puerto Vallarta or Acapulco. But you just have to take some measures before going.</p>
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<p>For sure. I’d add that in my limited experience, kids on a service trip are thought of by local residents as a different type of kid, a kid to be respected and particularly looked after.</p>
<p>The Mexican Ministry of Tourism revealed that 2011 was a record breaking year for tourism. 22.67 million international travelers visited Mexico in 2011; this represents an increase of 2 percent on 2010, a 5.7 percent increase on 2009, and a 0.2 percent increase on 2008 – historically Mexico’s best year for international tourism.
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**Mexico remains the most popular international destination for U.S. tourists. **</p>
<p>[Mexico</a> Sets New Tourism Record - PR Newswire - sacbee.com](<a href=“http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/14/4263260/mexico-sets-new-tourism-record.html]Mexico”>http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/14/4263260/mexico-sets-new-tourism-record.html)</p>
<p>What I found especially interesting was that a slight decline in visitors from the U.S. was more than offset by an increase in visitors from other countries.</p>
<p>As someone with many connections in the hospitality industry, I know quite a few people who work or have worked at major establishments in Mexico. </p>
<p>There are a couple of very important facts that many of you are missing.</p>
<p>First, the overwhelming majority of crime victims in Mexico choose to leave the country immediately to seek comfort and treatment at home. I’m not talking about 51% here. The percentage is more likely in the mid to high 90’s. Most tourists have zero confidence in the Mexican legal system to dispense justice… and they are exactly right.</p>
<p>Second, the local municipalities are corrupt and don’t want these numbers accurately reported. They are often insensitive and make it extremely uncomfortable for the few crime victims sticking around to pursue justice in the Mexican system. </p>
<p>I’ve heard stories from first hand witnesses of hotel guests asking for assistance in leaving the country after being brutally robbed, beaten, and/or raped. They overwhelmingly leave. Most of those needing immediate medical care leave as soon as they are able. All the major hotels down there actually have people specifically tasked to assist, expedite and manage your departure under such circumstances. </p>
<p>Don’t fool yourself into believing the reported crime statistics even remotely address the real crime rate. Few report at all and few of those reports find their way into the final numbers.</p>
<p>The risks can be managed. Predators typically target those alone/separated/isolated. Predators rarely strike in areas with limited or congested escape routes. </p>
<p>I have taken my family on vacations to Mexico and Central American many times, but I’ve actively managed the risks. It is not hard to stay out of trouble, but it is something you actually have to work at. People become victims because they don’t take an active role in ensuring their own safety. There are exceptions, of course, when someone does everything right, but still becomes a victim. Luckily, those situations are rare.</p>
<p>I can’t tell you if I’d let my son go with his friends on break. There would have to be a lot of discussion and planning. I’d need to be convinced they all understood the risks, take appropriate precautions, and look out for each other.</p>
<p>I would never… N-E-V-E-R… allow a teenage daughter to go.</p>
<p>I was in Mexico within the last 6 months and I WOULD NEVER PERMIT A DAUGHTER TO GO WITH FRIENDS. I would have a problem with my sons going and they are mature and level headed. The only safe place to be is on the resort grounds.</p>
<p>Y’all aren’t making me feel any better. </p>
<p>D (age 20) will be in Merida, a city on the Yucatan, but not in a resort area, next month. She will be with 10 other kids (I think 4 boys, 6 girls) on a mission/service trip. They’ll have a priest with them and will be working in an orphanage, with one day to go to Chichen Itza. I’ve been told they’re staying in a hostel near the city square. I still hope that because they will all be staying together and won’t be there to party, and they’re in an area that isn’t on the US gov’t warning list - or even near any cities that are on the warning list - that they’ll be ok. D traveled with this group to Jamaica last year and spent a week in a parish in the mountains working in a school, and had zero problems.</p>
<p>Lafalum, how about discussing your concerns with the priest and/or organizers of the mission trip? I have been to Merida, though it was about 6 years ago. My impression was that it is very much a local charming city, filled with regular people and little crime. But this was before the latest developments. Still, if it were my daughter, I would tend to think it’s safe. You are correct, it is far off the tourist itinerary, we were there with friends who live nearby.</p>
<p>We have emailed the priest, who replied with the housing information, and the plan for their activities for the week. He also sent a link to a NY Times article from 9/2011, which called Merida “one of the safest cities in Mexico.” To me that is damning with faint praise, though.</p>
<p>I think there is a tourist element there, in that Merida the nearest city to Chichen Itza. Your description of it as charming matches the NY Times, although the priest tells us there is a large divide between rich and poor (hence, the orphanage). I think what worries me the most is the van ride from the Cancun airport (I think that’s where he said they’re flying to) to Merida. Hopefully its during the daylight - I suspect it is.</p>
<p>Merida is very far away from the violence described by the state department. We were there last year, plan on returning fairly soon, love the area. Standard traveling-in-Mexico advice applies (no driving at night, for example) but I wouldn’t for a minute hesitate to send my child there. Mexico is a huge country. Worrying about going to Merida is a bit like hearing that there is violence in Texas and thinking that Maine is unsafe.</p>
<p>Maikai - you have a PM - don’t want to hijack this thread over a related issue.</p>
<p>When all fails, you can always read the local newspapers online. Chances are someone can translate the important parts for you:</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.yucatan.com.mx/20120219/seccion-9/merida.htm]M”>http://www.yucatan.com.mx/20120219/seccion-9/merida.htm]M</a></p>
<p>In 2010 I spent my spring break in Mexico. Less than 24 hours had elapsed before we were robbed in Mexico City. Nobody is surprised by this. But people’s eyes do get a little wide when I tell them that it was the police that robbed us. They literally took us into an alley, pushed us around, drew their pistols, and took all of our cash.</p>
<p>Cancun, for nervous parents, is doubly dangerous. The odds of being on the business end of a molotov cocktail are just as good in Cancun as in a border town. After all, resorts towns are endlessly disputed territories for gangs. On top of that, you have thousands of young, drunk kids who don’t think it’s rape if it happens on Spring Break; don’t think extasy is risky in an environment where everyone is doing it; and who don’t think consequences exist in paradise.</p>
<p>/sigh</p>
<p>Why go from one extreme to the other? </p>
<p>Is Mexico City safe? Just as much as any extremely large capital. Common sense dictates that the main areas will be reasonably safe for anyone who takes a modicum of precaution. Walking through Polanco with outlandish signs of wealth will attract attention. Jumping in a regular taxi might not be the wisest decision. But that does not mean that people with machetes are making the rounds. </p>
<p>Then there are the areas often frequented by the “cheaper” tourists. Is the Zona Rosa safe in the late hours or very early hours of the day? Not to much? Are tourists, especially the ones looking for a good time, easy marks for the corrupt police … or people masquerading as officials? You betcha! </p>
<p>As far as Cancun, one needs to make a clear distinction between the sanitized version of Cancun for tourists and the rest of the city. There is no comparison between the Zona Hotelera and the downtown area. The biggest danger an American tourist can experience is the one he or she will cause to himself. This could be from abusing substances, trying to purchase some, or venturing in areas where trouble might exist. Is there a difference between the scene at a luxury hotel during the day and what might happen at 5 AM outside one of the bars/anthros? Again, you betcha. </p>
<p>Is Disneyland safe? Is Hollywood safe? Is all of Los Angeles safe? At 10AM or at 2AM? The same rules apply around the world. </p>
<p>Are people running around the touristy Cancun to throw Molotov Cocktails? That must have been in a movie!</p>
<p>xiggi, thanks for the newspaper link!</p>
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<p>Could you please list links to reports of Cancun tourists being “at the end of a molotov cocktail” as well as statistics comparing those incidents with molotov cocktail attacks in border towns?</p>
<p>We went to Ixtapa several years ago to a very expensive resort area with a group of friends. (About my 3rd trip to MX). The doormen at the hotel had some really high fire power. Machine gun-type. That was a clue (and we were clueless) at a time when everything was supposedly hunky-dory (isn’t 20-20 hindsight great?) and nothing going on. Our taxi rides were very interesting as we moved from zone to zone (requiring different licenses from the cab drivers) with police checks etc. Everyone had a big gun.
Never going back. I will say I loved the people I met, loved the locale, loved the culture but not enough to go back until things are much better which will be a long time I fear. I would not send my kids there for sure.</p>
<p>xiggi–Mexico is not Disneyland, Hollywood, nor LA. It is still a foreign country with a lot of internal problems of which you don’t want to be a part. So how “smart” do you have to be to be safe? I thought we were safe at a top resort–and I thought later that was not a good conclusion.</p>
<p>My son and his GF returned last week from 6 days in Mexico City. They stayed in a hotel right near the Zocalo. They used an authorized taxi from inside the airport terminal to transport them to the hotel. The traveled the city using the Metro IN THE DAYTIME. They only left the city to visit the pyramids located about 40 km outside the city. They hired a private driver to take them there who was a friend of a friend. They didn’t travel late at night other than when they went to the Ballet Folklorico. No problems, no hassles. They didn’t do anything “stupid” or risky. I was very nervous before they took this trip.</p>
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<p>Very true. But (subbing “world” for “land”) one could say Orlando is pretty dicey outside the resort areas as well. A person could get in trouble out late doing the wrong thing there.</p>