If your life is guided by fear, then do not travel. Travel is not the combat infantry.
We turn 75 next month and just got back from 12 weeks in Ecuador and Peru. Traveled a lot by bus and had no worries. That said, I do not plan to vacation in Libya, Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan in the near future. We have only been down to Yucatan 3 times, overnight at all-night Pemex stations and have had no worries. We do pay attention to the blogs and State Department and travel accordingly: do not drive at night.Yucatan is safer than anyplace in US with a homicide rate of 2 per 150,000.
Reed and Elaine