Mexico

[Scarey]

I was to Mexico about 10 years ago.It may very well be the media distorting the violence but from what i've read over the last few years i'd be hard pressed to go back at this point.What a violent brutal way to die

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/ubc-student-found-dead-mexico-professors-friends-mourn-050239163.html

 

[Questor]

Mexico is not high on my list of travel destinations either. However, much of the drug related violence is concentrated in the US border area as well as the capital city and certain areas along the Pacific Coast and in Veracruz. Mayan Riviera is not so bad. Stay away from Acapulco.

 

[Mr. Lucky]

Mexico today is worse then any other country in Latin America.

 

[avxl1003]

I don't think the violence in Mexico is over hyped.

I have a friend who is from Mexico City. Her father is a top doctor there. She said that when she was a kid she never went anywhere in Mexico City without an armed guard. The reason being that Kidnapping for ransom is pretty common there.

She also said that through her entire life in Mexico City (her and her family left when she was 13) neither she, nor anybody else she knew, ever used the subway.

On another note, I read somewhere that 85% of the guns used by Mexico's drug cartels are bought in the United States and smuggled into Mexico.

 

[mojak]

I don't think the violence in Mexico is over hyped.

I have a friend who is from Mexico City. Her father is a top doctor there. She said that when she was a kid she never went anywhere in Mexico City without an armed guard. The reason being that Kidnapping for ransom is pretty common there.

She also said that through her entire life in Mexico City (her and her family left when she was 13) neither she, nor anybody else she knew, ever used the subway.

On another note, I read somewhere that 85% of the guns used by Mexico's drug cartels are bought in the United States and smuggled into Mexico.

I got some family members who just went down for 11 days! I don't know if they got rocks in their heads, have been living under a rock, or what?!
They said there's Internet at the resort and I told them to email but has net heard anything. I'm sure everything is ok but....

 

[healer677]

Would I go anywhere near Acapulco -no. Juarez -no.
But I have been to Cancun and the Mayan Riviera over 30 times in the last 20 years and have never had a problem. Mexico is a big place and the cartels are active in a lot of places - border and port towns. I am not Spanish but I speak it. I don't wander around shit faced groping the local women. I don't go looking for or do drugs. So generally I'd like to think I'm not a heat score. I agree sometimes bad things happen to good people but for the most part, a lot of the "misadventures" I've seen over the years by tourists in the Cancun area ( and I can only speak of that area-not Acapulco -which is on the OPPOSITE coast) were self inflicted. I know Cancun better than Toronto and if I wished to get myself into a misadventure I can easily do that. But I've also befriended a few locals within the city -they all work for the resorts and they are decent, hard working, honest people. I also know a couple of ex-pats from Toronto running their own small businesses there - no problems at their end.
I go there for the sun to relax and just enjoy some of the local restaurants. I'll be honest and say that I am not there to experience the "local vibe". I spend a lot of time on the resort and just chill.
The violence involving the cartels is real -but to say that I'd never go there or go back is unrealistic. I've been there, I'm going back in two weeks, and I've bought the t shirts. I've been to a few places -Runaway Bay,Ochie, MoBay, Nassau -but I always go back to Cancun.
And for the record -most Mexicans don't even drink Corona -Dos XX is the beer of choice -stay thirsty my friends.

 

[Rockslinger]

I got some family members who just went down for 11 days! I don't know if they got rocks in their heads, have been living under a rock, or what?!

Relax, safe enough for Peter MacKay and his wife but definitely avoid Bahamas (even Peter wouldn't go to Bahamas). Just kidding!

 

[Rockslinger]

I don't wander around shit faced groping the local women.

Smart. Do that in Grenada (maybe Mexico too) and they'll kill you.

 

[healer677]

It's happened in Acapluco rockslinger. A local Toronto boy (19 or 20 years old) was sniffing up a local and the chicks boyfriend didn't appreciate it. He was told to back off but I guess the liquid courage was a bit too much. To make a long story short he found himself beaten, stabbed and thrown in front of a bus.
Moral of the story - in a lot of places I've been to -if you square up with a guy, be informed that the possibility of getting shanked is real. Unlike Toronto bar fights where it's a lot of chest bumping, in a lot these places, if you vibe off that you're ready to go -you'd better be ready to go. My question was -where were his friends? This dude went down with a bunch of male friends and they were nowhere to be seen after the incident.

 

[Jennifer_]

While you may enjoy good luck in a warm resort, the fact is that it is a lawless territory. If you ever find yourself in a situation that is not of your doing, you have no protection of the law or police nor government.

There are a million other warm resorts without the same level of risk and consequences to visit before Mexico comes up on the list.

That and I have a problem with contributing to the economy of a country that will not be there for me or my neighbor if something happens while vacationing...

 

[AlannaJohnson]

I've wanted to go to Mexi for a long time and see Teotihuacan (sp?) and other ruins, but with all I've been hearing I am plenty freaked out. I think even Colombia may be safer to travel to than Mexico these days (though I'm not in a hurry to sign up for that either!) I've travelled to Peru a few times and felt safe there though. Another place I would stay away from is El Salvador, due to the indiscriminate gang violence there :/

 

[elwoodinontario]

I've been to Mexico twice, and will be returning next month. I have never been afraid, nor have had reason to be, in either of my previous trips. But, I've never engaded in the drug trade, or been away from the resort drunk off my ass at 2am.

As canadians, we have a better chance of contraction the Flesh-eating virus than being kiiled in Mexico.

 

[Tangwhich]

As canadians, we have a better chance of contraction the Flesh-eating virus than being kiiled in Mexico.

Really? Since 2006 around 150 Canadians have been killed in mexico as per this link:
http://johndeereb.net/canadians-killed-in-mexico/

It mirrors in statistic I read recently in a news article.

How many Canadians have contracted flesh eating virus during that time? I don't know the answer but I'd be willing to bet it's not even 10% of that.

I've been to mexico many times for work. I don't do stupid stuff but I've never felt safe there. I don't enjoy staying on resorts as I like to get in with the locals. I refuse to go to mexico now, not so much because I'm scared but because I don't want to support the economy there until the government actually shows that they give a shit.

 

[Maquiavelo]

Would I go anywhere near Acapulco -no. Juarez -no.
But I have been to Cancun and the Mayan Riviera over 30 times in the last 20 years and have never had a problem. Mexico is a big place and the cartels are active in a lot of places - border and port towns. I am not Spanish but I speak it. I don't wander around shit faced groping the local women. I don't go looking for or do drugs. So generally I'd like to think I'm not a heat score. I agree sometimes bad things happen to good people but for the most part, a lot of the "misadventures" I've seen over the years by tourists in the Cancun area ( and I can only speak of that area-not Acapulco -which is on the OPPOSITE coast) were self inflicted. I know Cancun better than Toronto and if I wished to get myself into a misadventure I can easily do that. But I've also befriended a few locals within the city -they all work for the resorts and they are decent, hard working, honest people. I also know a couple of ex-pats from Toronto running their own small businesses there - no problems at their end.
I go there for the sun to relax and just enjoy some of the local restaurants. I'll be honest and say that I am not there to experience the "local vibe". I spend a lot of time on the resort and just chill.
The violence involving the cartels is real -but to say that I'd never go there or go back is unrealistic. I've been there, I'm going back in two weeks, and I've bought the t shirts. I've been to a few places -Runaway Bay,Ochie, MoBay, Nassau -but I always go back to Cancun.
And for the record -most Mexicans don't even drink Corona -Dos XX is the beer of choice -stay thirsty my friends.

I really disagree with you my dear friend, I was raised and born in there . .. . .

 

[LadyTY2Uall]

I have been to Puerto Vallarta and loved it, if you use common sense you will be fine. It is the ones that go down there throwing wads of cash around, wearing gold all over their bodies, hanging out in seedy bars and wandering around drunk at all hours of the night that run into trouble. Yes there are exceptions but the same can be said about any other country.

 

[Rockslinger]

It is the ones that go down there throwing wads of cash around, wearing gold all over their bodies, hanging out in seedy bars and wandering around drunk at all hours of the night that run into trouble.

I don't think Robin Wood and that PhD student fits the above description. Also, that Italian couple from Woodbridge don't seem to match that description either. BTW: There have been at least 3 incidents of Canadians who died falling from a balcony or getting hit by a car (were they really accidents?).

 

[healer677]

The one incident in Cancun of the guy falling out of his balcony at Gran Caribe Real -involved drugs and alcohol -and a fight with his girlfriend. I wouldn't call it an accident -I call it ineveitable.

 

[EntertainmentMan2000]

viva la mexico. It is fine there for the most part as I've travelled there on numerous occasions to Playa Del Carmen, Cancun, Acapulco, Mexico City and Puerto Vallarta. It has been very safe as I have been there even during the "dangerous periods" and a lot of it is blown out of proportion. No matter where you go things can happen...even here in Toronto. A person was shot so does that mean that we should not go onto Finch Avenue?

 

[John Henry]

viva la mexico. It is fine there for the most part as I've travelled there on numerous occasions to Playa Del Carmen, Cancun, Acapulco, Mexico City and Puerto Vallarta. It has been very safe as I have been there even during the "dangerous periods" and a lot of it is blown out of proportion. No matter where you go things can happen...even here in Toronto. A person was shot so does that mean that we should not go onto Finch Avenue?

Whattt ... Someone was shot in Toronto ... Hope that shooters gun was registered . If not , he's in a lot of trouble .

 

[Jennifer_]

My friend knew Adam DePrisco who authorities claim was hit by a car.
Her friends witnessed him being beaten outside of a club with batons because he danced with a local girl. Apparently he was acting cocky but still...
Another had a machine gun pointed at his head. He was with a friend who decided to urinate on a beach. $50 probably saved his life.