I was in Cancun a couple weeks ago. The day I got there, 6 Americans were found decapitated in a well. That sounds pretty safe
We want to do the same as well...to open a business in PDC. We have to take in the education and quality healthcare in account for us and our future kids...plus, the quality of veterinarian medicine.
I've been to some of the most so-called "dangerous" cities on earth: Lahore, Pakistan; Moscow, Russia; Chicago, USA; Ramallah, Palestine; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. If you're not acting stupid and attracting attention to yourself, you'll be fine wherever you go in the world (except for militarized war zones, of course).
Well thank God for that! I almost thought it was a tragedy or something when I heard 6 AMERICANS were decapitated.
I use to travel to Mexico City a lot in the mid to late 90's and absolutely loved the food, people, culture, everything...I must admit I've been wanting to go back but have been afraid due to the media portraying the violence all over Mexico, including Mexico City... I would love to go back...
I've been to some too: Mexico City, Bogota, Newark, and the El Chorillo section of Panama City, and La Boca of Buenos Aires. Never had a problem anywhere. The media is shameful in its fear mongering.
The media is not fear mongering by reporting facts. you can probably walk around the streets of southside chicago safely, but that doesn't mean that there isn't a lot of violence.
What's so stupid about this thread is that you got all sensative about a report on drug gangs throwing each other down a 600 foot abandoned mine shaft, as if that was not newsworthy. are you upset the media reported that story?
and before you call me insensative, my ex's mother is from nuevo laredo. her mother goes there all the time. my ex took my kid down there a couple of years ago after the violence started to see her dying grandmother. I have never been overly reactive to the reports. that being said, there is a war going on in mexico, and to ignore for the mexican tourism industry would be completely ridiculous
exactly. ive been traveling around mexico for about 10 years now, going about once a year, and ive never felt like i was in danger either. sure, you can put yourself in unsafe situations, but if you exercise common sense you wont have any problems. i just got back from a trip to chiapas and guatemala a couple weeks ago and it was amazing. no problems at all. and people there were telling us that hardly any americans come down there anymore. we met far more euros than americans. i first went to mexico in 2000 and was too intimidated to check out mexico city until 2007, but it ended up being great. no problems at all. i wouldnt go venture out into any of the surrounding barrios, but if you stay in the city center its totally cool. and crazy as it sounds, i found it to be the cleanest, safest and easiest to navigate of all the larger cities ive visited in mexico. and i can honestly say it was cleaner than nyc and the subway was much, much easier to navigate. i understand it used to be pretty rough, but in the early 2000's mexico city government made a conscious effort to make the city safer, cleaner and more tourist-friendly. there are cops everywhere, especially down in the subways. do it. its so easy and cheap to fly in. so much to see and do and you dont need a car. the subway is awesome, safe and takes you all over the city for about 35 cents.
i think this is correct (not that it makes it any less f-ed up). i will say again that ive traveled all over mexico and ive never felt in danger anywhere. if anything, people know not to mess w/ tourists b/c they might actually get in trouble for it. the authorities will come down harder on crimes against americans due to all the bad publicity and the potential hit to the tourism industry.
OP, are you visiting Mexico on vacations or do you have family down there? --- I dont think the violence in Mexico is just in one town or area...it's really spread out and has the potential to really be anwyhere. The town where my mom's family is from was pretty peaceful and quiet, yet there's been some recent violence there as well. I think if you're a local you pretty much should know who and what situations to avoid to stay out of trouble. However, all it takes is one person to bring violence to any city or town. Just one person who decided to get involved with the wrong people. As for visitors...more than likely you stick out pretty easily to the locals. Now of course a random robbery is always possible, just like it is in anoy other country, but i think visitors are fairly safe from drug-related violence. Those guys usually have specific targets and don't just randomly kill people, unless they're bystanders. If you're going to a popular spot then it's even less likely, since these place have more security and more people (witness out and about all night). Personally, i had an uncle drive down there. On his way back he was pulled over by gunmen who thought he was someone else. They placed a call, received confirmation that indeed they were confusing him with a similar target and let him go without a scratch....so just dont piss off the wrong people, mind your business and enjoy your vacation and you shouldnt be in anymore danger than if you visited another country.
Mexico is not bad as the media say, yes you dont go some zones or streets because is dangerous, especially at night, but you can travel safely through Mexico, if you look around, like any other city in the world. Referring to the World Cup, FIFA made an International Fan Fest here in Mexico City, and its been great, very safe, in the Mexico games they were like 60,000 people, and you didnt hear about bad things, even people from outside the city and country went to this fan fest. The Fan fest is an open space, and they put two ro three huge screens, ad you can watch any game of the world cup there. The drug cartels, they only kill people in other drug cartels. Mexico City is beautiful to visit, has many wonderful places to visit.
I googled it and I didn't see anything about them being Americans. If that was the case, it would have been all over the media...don't you think?
