Mexico is tame compared to Central America

Here is an excerpt from some travelers heading south in their vans. They went down Baja about a month ago, crossed on the ferry continuing south on the Mexican Pacific coast and now through Central America.

From Guatemala City a few days ago:

"The police here are known to be the worst in all of Central America....... It is quite common to have a policeman pull you over and then when you roll down your window they throw a small bag of cocaine into your vehicle...... If they get it into your car, you're screwed....... One of the side effects of having such a corrupt police force is that all the businesses, delivery trucks, and more affluent people hire "private security". These guys are everywhere and they're all toting shot guns and machine guns. There are armed 20 year old kids on every corner. It makes for a very wild wild west feel."

From Honduras yesterday:

"I had just said how mellow Honduras was turning out to be when we pulled into a gas station so Dave and Chad could fill up. I had plenty of gas so I pulled aside in the parking lot. The first thing I noticed was a 14 or 15 year old kid with a machine gun standing in the lot. Having seen nothing but private security guards toting guns for the last 3 countries I didn't think anything of it. I walked over to where Dave was pumping gas to point out how young the security guards were getting. Dave just looked at me and said " take a look around". There was a jacked up blue 4x4 truck surrounded by kids. All of them had 9mm glocks tucked into their belts, in plain view. They were staring at us. I barely had time to register what I was seeing when another man walked toward us wearing fancier cloths and gold chains. He had a nickel plated 9 tucked in the front of his belt. The kids were bodyguards and I was staring at a narco boss. He was holding a beer in one hand and his other hand extended toward me. He said in a slurred voice, "I am not a killa" and smiled, showing gold teeth. I looked down at his gun. I looked at the kid with the machine gun standing next to him. I extended my hand and said "mucho gusto senor". He took my hand and did not let go. I took a breath. Dave stopped pumping gas and moved toward his vehicle. The man said some other things in broken english that I honestly can't remember. Again I said "mucho gusto senor"...... I felt the mans grip loosen and I slowly pulled my hand away and started back toward the van...... the men had surround Chad's windows. A moment later Chad was getting out of the van. The Boss was holding his arm and showing him photos. The others surrounded them. I waited. I knew the leader was drunk and the kid's were young and armed. Even though they weren't showing aggression, the situation felt very volatile...... Chad was still surrounded. The boss still had his arm. Nobody knew what to do. A few minutes went by and Chad managed to exit the situation and get into his van. We drove away and didn't stop for 2 hours. We later learned that the narco boss was showing Chad photos of helicopters, his sister, his wife, his time in the army. It must be lonely being a drug lord.... it was crazy how flagrant those guys were with their guns. They were obviously not concerned with the real gas station security guard who had a shot gun, nor were they worried about the police checkpoints. We were in an area that they clearly controlled".

"We all had quite an adrenaline rush going. I felt bad for Dave and Ann. After being robbed last week in El Salvador by 3 guys with machetes, this was the last thing they needed".