Since we started this adventure in October, Cindy and I have received a number of texts and emails regarding our personal safety in Mexico. I appreciate the concern, and I thought in light of a recent event I would address this topic, which always seems to come up. It will surely come up again in the future, since we will be here until at least the end of April and plan to return again next winter.
The U.S. State Department recently issued a “Do Not Travel” warning for five Mexican states: Tamaulipas, Guerrero, Michoacán, Colima, and Sinaloa. Travel warnings frequently change with global events, but what makes this warning so significant is its categorization. A “Do Not Travel” warning represents the highest and most dire warning the State Department could issue. It is level 4 (out of 4 levels,) the same rating as Syria. While I wouldn’t travel to Syria right now, I did just spend six weeks in Sinaloa renting property, meeting people, going out every day, and never once did I feel in danger.
Cindy and I are currently living in Playa Del Carmen, on the Caribbean coast (see some of our pictures on this site.) Playa Del Carmen is located in the state of Quintana Roo, which lies on the other side of the country from 4 of the states mentioned in the travel alert and separated from Tamaulipas by two other states and the Gulf of Mexico. Whatever may be going on to prompt the warnings is not taking place anywhere near us. For a thoughtful breakdown of the travel alert and some helpful visuals, see this excellent post from “Two Expats Living In Mexico,” http://qroo.us/2018/01/18/maintaining-perspective-after-the-u-s-issues-a-do-not-travel-warning-for-5-mexican-states/
So, since bad news sells (a serious part of the problem,) here are a few specifics, some of which I hope you will enjoy. The heightened alert for all five states is due mainly to drug-related violence. If you’re paying attention to the North American media, I’m sure you’ve seen a great deal about mass shootings, murders, decapitations, people’s hands being delivered to a family in an ice chest along with a couple of beers, things like that, authentic old-school Gangster material. You may have formed a negative image of the entire country as a result, or if you haven’t, these stories are certainly designed to pique your concern. All five states mentioned in the travel warning are hotbeds of drug trafficking and drug-related activity. They also happen to be gorgeous and fertile regions with a great deal of agricultural production, some of it obviously illicit. Years ago I lived and worked in Michoacán, and amid the avocado plantations, blackberry patches, and fields of sugarcane grew other cash crops, namely coca, marijuana, and opium poppies. How did I know about this? Everyone knew about this. How did I avoid getting caught up in the drama? Quite simple: I lived, worked, and interacted with people as normal, I never took anybody up on an offer to hold a package for them for a couple of days, and I didn’t buy drugs. I find and have always found it easy to avoid trouble–don’t look for it.
It is true that trouble sometimes finds you. After all, none of us wishes to get in a car accident. We don’t wish to get hacked online. We don’t wish to fall ill with the flu, lose our jobs one day, or attend a concert at the Mandalay Bay and end up running for cover as bodies fall around us. Look, bad shit can happen anywhere, but if you’re not looking for trouble, chances are you’re not going to find it. This is as true in Mexico as it is anywhere.
Yes, I do get offered certain “delights” here in Mexico. Just the other day, I was offered weed twice on Quinta Avenida as Cindy and I took a stroll. “Hey man, wanna get high? Weed?” said one guy. “Hey amigo, I got some good marijuana,” said another. I just said no and kept walking. Then there was that time on the beach in Cancún where I was offered heroin, coke, weed, or a woman in one single breath. I said no and kept walking. Also, there was that time in Cabo where I had been walking in some intense heat with a tour group from work, no less, and a man in a white panel van pulled up and asked me in Spanish if he could trade tee-shirts with me. I was wearing a grey Adidas shirt wth a soccer ball on it, and the shirt was soaked with sweat. He offered me coke, heroin, some pills, a joint, or even his sister in exchange for one sweaty tee-shirt. I kept the shirt and wore it until its dying days, and said no to the guy’s sister. I was working–come on man!
We are safe here, as safe as anywhere in the United States. If I were still living in the U.S., I would pay less attention to the media. I would read a book, go for a stroll, pour myself a double añejo tequila, make love. Maybe I would stare at cool pictures of the Caribbean Sea online and plan my next trip to Mexico. I would turn off the television. Yeah, for sure, I would definitely do that. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be walking to the beach this afternoon, safely.
