Dealing With Unrest (tips)

Oh boy....who let the dog out?

Here we go again with what crime happened to whom....where?.....who cares? it happens everywhere, but when it happens here in Mexico....for some reason it is more valuable information for would be travelers.....from MY point of view it is super silly. THE CRIME AGAINST HUMANS EVERYWHERE IS REALLY BAD. To say it's worse here against your fellow countryman is ridiculous at best and ignorant at worst. Tell me a bad story about Mexico, I will tell you ten good ones...wanna play? Let's go vato!

RVer in Mazatlan a 3 or 4 years ago shot in leg while being robbed at his RV comes to mind.

MW: There are plenty of stories. How about the old guy from AZ who was near Santa Anna with his fancy Dodge Diesel. The cartel had set up a road block . He drove around it. They chased him , killed him and stole the truck. Then there was a crew chief from the Baja race and his wife. They stopped them, raped the wife and stole the truck and trailer. There was an innocent bystander in Maz who was hit by a bullet in some sort of drive by. Your statement is almost outrageous. Maybe others can relate some more stories. If you had said harm to RV'rs that would be different but many tourists have been harmed and killed. No more than in any other country but it does happen.

Moisheh

My objection to a few things on this thread can be compared to putting restraints on 12-year old girls on a sleepover trying to scare each other to death with ghost stories.

There is a forum that I do not participate on that HEADLINED

"80-YEAR OLD MAN ASSAULTED IN (well known) MEXICO R.V. PARK"

Well, be honest for your own sake. What came to mind? Your first thought?

"IN HOSPITAL"

This sounds horrible and no eighty-year old should be assaulted unless they initiate violence or a horrible crime like against children, right?

Outraged forum participants started yelling. But then a park resident spoke up. He chronicled the account from beginning to end.

A young American man was playing loud music at 0200. The octogenarian apparently went to the man's RV and an argument ensued. Nobody went to the hospital. The elderly man decided for one reason or another to go to the doctor the following morning. An accounting of what physical activity took place is not known.

It does not take MUCH to scare the pants off of a prospective visitor to Mexico.

And I have NEWS for a certain respondent: I do not have a business in Mexico. I do not make a dime's difference either way if one or one million tourist's visit.

But I DO have a fetish. And that is to share this wonderful country with others. They do not have to recognize me - pick me out of a crowd. They do not have to know my name. That would be feeding an ego. My reward is this and this ONLY: To read accounts of first time visitors and those who respond to (anyone's) tips and suggestions and give feedback expressing joy and satisfaction with their trip. I risk the ire of doomsayers, alarmists, story tellers, and whopper-slingers. Catch me in a falsehood, or just plain mistake, do not attempt warp reality. It hurts the people down here who utterly rely on tourist dollars. If Mexico was dangerous, me, a disabled senior COULD NOT live here. You know, Michoacan. Half way between infamous Playa Azul and superinfamous Lazaro Cardenas. I would not travel the badlands of the Michoacan coast on Mex 200.

Caution and common sense are one thing. Propagating unfounded horror stories (of course with a little amplification each step of the way) is quite another.

Cartels - Strikers - Rioters - Protests

Find ONE VERIFIED STORY occurring within the last SEVERAL YEARS of not just an RV'er but ANY LEGITIMATE TOURIST be harmed by organized crime. Strike that, by any criminal. Harmed does not mean being relieved of a wallet, it means psychical damage to one's body. There must be something out there that is legitimate.

To go or not to go to Mexico is a personal decision. The decision should be based on reality. That is all I ask.

Some of the incidents that we have referred to are very recent, last year and this year in most major cities of the U.S., protesting against the police.

Yes you can travel from the U.S. border to Quintana Roo with out any fear, as long as you travel in day time and stay in reasonable places at night, the bad element comes out after dark in any place of the world.

I loved going with the Police specially on Fridays and weekends, the idiots seem to peel of the wood work, as for taking a gun or rifle to Mexico, your stay may be longer than what you expect, behind bars and they do not serve beer in them and the food is really bad.

Plan ahead and ask the locals if they would go where you want to go, the tourist in Mexico is shielded from a lot of unrest, the local bad element is in relatively small areas, the same as in the U.S.A.

navegator

Talleyho69 wrote:
If you mean Sig as in a handgun, absolutely a stupid thing to do here.

So my questions is this, can I drive through Mexico and go all the way to the south or Belize with the same relative safety?

Absolutely! We do it every year. Just like in ANY country, don't be stupid! This includes having a gun in Mexico.

Oh I know it's not legal in Mexico. OK so it's the beginning of our plan.....Mex or you in front of the convoy and the other in the rear. :)

Yes, there are disturbances everywhere in the world. The incidents you list, though, are decades apart from one another. The OP, from Mexico, posted how to deal with current unrest. It's more prevalent in Mexico, no matter how youook at it. When I was in Mexico, I did not feel threatened, but I was in a resort type of area. We took excursions, where we drove through road blocks with armed officers. Mexico is a beautiful country, but I don't think I'd take my rv there and travel on my own. You have to use common sense.

I think this is exactly how I feel. I am going to fly to Oaxaca instead and keep the RV at home safe and sound. Maybe next year or the next.

If you mean Sig as in a handgun, absolutely a stupid thing to do here.

So my questions is this, can I drive through Mexico and go all the way to the south or Belize with the same relative safety?

Absolutely! We do it every year. Just like in ANY country, don't be stupid! This includes having a gun in Mexico.

I know I can go from Maine to Yuma and stay in remote campgrounds or RV parks with out really worrying about anything. Of course I wouldn't go to down town areas or known bad areas of any towns along the way. So my questions is this, can I drive through Mexico and go all the way to the south or Belize with the same relative safety?

I have looked into traveling in Mexico but just come to a dead end when reading about the car jacking and beach bandits, etc. I know it's not in all areas and I know how the media works.

It is truly a shame as the Mexican economy would get so many tourist dollars. Quartzite would empty out if people could travel as they now travel from Yuma or Tuscon to Key west Fl. I notice that Google street view stops at the southern border. I would love to go to Belize but......

Forgot to mention, I still want my friend Sig to go with me.

I have no way of measuring the prevalence of violence in Mexico as compared to the US, so I won't comment. I do know that there are "no-go" areas in Los Angeles, where you do not drive at night in a nice vehicle. But once when I visited New Orleans (where I was unfamiliar with the neighborhoods), we took a bike ride, took a wrong turn, and ended up in a very bad area. We turned around and left.

The problem whenever one is traveling (anywhere in the world) is that one does not know the territory and can just stumble into trouble. I am not sure how I would minimize that risk in Mexico. I speak Spanish fluently and used to travel freely. There are regions that I used to visit (such as much of Guerrero) that are now off-limits, according to the State Department.

Would traveling in an escorted caravan minimize the risks? I assume the guides would be street-smart, right?