Snowbirding in Mexico

Tequila wrote:

rekoj71 wrote:
X4 or whatever we are on. I know the power thing is less of an issue if the temperature is right and furnaces and A/C's aren't as needed. Water safety concerns me but I know bottled water even bought sealed there is usually safe. Drug Cartels concern my wife. RV is gas but is fairly new with one of those kinda flashy all over body paint schemes that might make it more of a target.
Unfortunately the Wife is so nervouse about these things that even though I've been camping to PV and Ensenada multiple times, I can barely convince her to take a day trip with me and the kids down there, even without the RV.
I love the food and other than keeping an eye out, I don't feel less safe than I do in a lot of places in this country.

You have to realize RV's are not a target of cartels. People who run into problems are generally involved with drugs. Cartels do not need the problems that targeting tourists would bring. According to a study by the CBC a Canadian has more chance of being murdered based on per night stay in Australia than in Mexico, and an American has far more chance of being murdered in his own country. To be fair on that last one that also includes murders by peoepl who know you, which is not so likely on vacation. most murders in Mexico are targeted, not many random nut jobs shooting up schools, movie theatres ,etc. Before my granddaughter was attending regular school, we would take her with us and we put her in preschool down there.

I do not think RV's are a target, nobody wants one, they stand out too much. A nice shiny new truck may be, or a towed SUV or jeep. I do have a GPS tracker & anti-hijack device in mine. That is more paranoia about having it happen at home where it's becoming more common, and it reduces my insurance. I originally installed it as I was doing scouting trips on my own with just my truck in unknown territory.

As far as power is concerned, i would not venture into Mexico without a surge guard or the similar product by Progressive. Voltages can vary widely. No one drinks the water in Mexico, you can get those 5 gallon jugs anywhere and they cost a buck to refill. The delivery trucks often come through the RV parks. I fill my tank through one of those blue filters you can get at Canada Tire or Camping world and only use it for showers & dish washing. i put a good dose of chlorine in there on return to the US and drive around for a day to slosh it around then drain and refill. Good to go.

Just a comment about surge guards. The first year we were down there our surge guard had fits in some of the parks. I measured the voltage, in some parks it peaked just above 132 volts kicking off the guard, when there was more draw the voltage went down and the guard reset (after the 2 minute 15 second delay). After a few of these iterations I gave up on it.

The second year I took down a 20 amp computer power conditioner, it stepped down the voltage to 120V and also protected against surges. Serious campers may want to explore this option.

Regarding water, we used the park water directly for drinking and washing after running it through a 12V pump to boost the low park pressure and then a UV treatmemt filter assembly. In some parks the water pressure/flow was low enough that the pump sucked the incoming hose flat! In the 4 years we had no ill effects from our treated water.

Bottom line is you need to be prepared, camping there is not the same as NOB.