An Essay by By Linda Ellerbee: Safe Mexico

I received this via e-mail from a friend. Substitute "Baja" where she writes about Puerto Vallarta. Ref.: http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=ellerbeelin

Sometimes I’ve been called a maverick because I don’t always agree with my colleagues, but then, only dead fish swim with the stream all the time. The stream here is Mexico .

You would have to be living on another planet to avoid hearing how dangerous Mexico has become, and, yes, it’s true drug wars have escalated violence in Mexico, causing collateral damage, a phrase I hate. Collateral damage is a cheap way of saying that innocent people, some of them tourists, have been robbed, hurt or killed.

But that’s not the whole story. Neither is this. This is my story..

I’m a journalist who lives in New York City , but has spent considerable time in Mexico, specifically Puerto Vallarta, for the last four years. I’m in Vallarta now. And despite what I’m getting from the U.S. media, the 24-hour news networks in particular, I feel as safe here as I do at home in New York , possibly safer. I walk the streets of my Vallarta neighborhood alone day or night. And I don’t live in a gated community, or any other All-Gringo neighborhood. I live in Mexico . Among Mexicans. I go where I want (which does not happen to include bars where prostitution and drugs are the basic products), and take no more precautions than I would at home in New York; which is to say I don’t wave money around, I don’t act the Ugly American, I do keep my eyes open, I’m aware of my surroundings, and I try not to behave like a fool.

I’ve not always been successful at that last one. One evening a friend left the house I was renting in Vallarta at that time, and, unbeknownst to me, did not slam the automatically-locking door on her way out. Sure enough, less than an hour later a stranger did come into my house. A burglar? Robber? Kidnapper? Killer? Drug lord?

No, it was a local police officer, the “beat cop” for our neighborhood, who, on seeing my unlatched door, entered to make sure everything (including me) was okay. He insisted on walking with me around the house, opening closets, looking behind doors and, yes, even under beds, to be certain no one else had wandered in, and that nothing was missing. He was polite, smart and kind, but before he left, he lectured me on having not checked to see that my friend had locked the door behind her. In other words, he told me to use my common sense.

Do bad things happen here? Of course they do. Bad things happen everywhere, but the murder rate here is much lower than, say, New Orleans, and if there are bars on many of the ground floor windows of houses here, well, the same is true where I live, in Greenwich Village, which is considered a swell neighborhood — house prices start at about $4 million (including the bars on the ground floor windows).

There are good reasons thousands of people from the United States are moving to Mexico every month, and it’s not just the lower cost of living, a hefty tax break and less snow to shovel. Mexico is a beautiful country, a special place. The climate varies, but is plentifully mild, the culture is ancient and revered, the young are loved unconditionally, the old are respected, and I have yet to hear anyone mention Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, or Madonna’s attempt to adopt a second African child, even though, with such a late start, she cannot possibly begin to keep up with Anglelina Jolie.

And then there are the people. Generalization is risky, but— in general — Mexicans are warm, friendly, generous and welcoming. If you smile at them, they smile back. If you greet a passing stranger on the street, they greet you back. If you try to speak even a little Spanish, they tend to treat you as though you were fluent. Or at least not an idiot. I have had taxi drivers track me down after leaving my wallet or cell phone in their cab. I have had someone run out of a store to catch me because I have overpaid by twenty cents. I have been introduced to and come to love a people who celebrate a day dedicated to the dead as a recognition of the cycles of birth and death and birth — and the 15th birthday of a girl, an important rite in becoming a woman — with the same joy.

Too much of the noise you’re hearing about how dangerous it is to come to Mexico is just that — noise. But the media love noise, and too many journalists currently making it don’t live here. Some have never even been here. They just like to be photographed at night, standing near a spotlighted border crossing, pointing across the line to some imaginary country from hell. It looks good on TV.

Another thing. The U.S. media tend to lump all of Mexico into one big bad bowl. Talking about drug violence in Mexico without naming a state or city where this is taking place is rather like looking at the horror of Katrina and saying, “Damn. Did you know the U.S. is under water?” or reporting on the shootings at Columbine or the bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma City by saying that kids all over the U.S. are shooting their classmates and all the grownups are blowing up buildings. The recent rise in violence in Mexico has mostly occurred in a few states, and especially along the border. It is real, but it does not describe an entire country.

It would be nice if we could put what’s going on in Mexico in perspective, geographically and emotionally. It would be nice if we could remember that, as has been noted more than once, these drug wars wouldn’t be going on if people in the United States didn’t want the drugs, or if other people in the United States weren’t selling Mexican drug lords the guns. Most of all, it would be nice if more people in the United States actually came to this part of America ( Mexico is also America , you will recall) to see for themselves what a fine place Mexico really is, and how good a vacation (or a life) here can be.

So come on down and get to know your southern neighbors. I think you’ll like it here. Especially the people.




[Edited on 2011-7-20 by bryanmckenzie]

Linda Ellerbee is a Very Wise Person and a Great Writer

Check 6_CHK SIX

Being in the "business of Baja" I have found that the majority of people that are vehemently opposed to traveling south of the border are those that do not actually travel there. They base their opinions on the bad things they read/hear/see in the media and do not have any other reference point. Most people look at me like I have lobsters crawling out my ears when I tell them I travel to Baja on a regular basis. I guess if I only heard or saw one side of the story over and over and over again I would probably feel the same way, so I cannot fault them for that.

Thankfully, there are plenty of people that continue to visit and enjoy Baja and mainland Mexico and know that it is not a war zone. Are there some places to avoid? Sure.....but a few problem areas due to cartel violence don't make an entire country unsafe. I love Mexico and will continue to travel there and enjoy the beauty of it's terrain, the warmth of it's people and the flavors of it's food.

¡Viva Baja! ¡Viva México!

From my trip last week....the coastline near Colonet:

For sure the general sentiment survives...

Hey Fez, does ya needs a remeidial ritin cors?

woulda hadda written?
I wouldsa writ?
would have written?

Swords comes with two edges.....

Quote:

Originally posted by bryanmckenzie Hey Fez, does ya needs a remeidial ritin cors? woulda hadda written? I wouldsa writ? would have written? Quote: Originally posted by mcfez Sounds like a report I would had written about Baja.

Hey bryanmckenzie, does ya needs a repeature denialure ?

an equal an equal?
an equal an equal?
an equal an equal?
Ya all sur do needs ah repeature denialure tooly!

"I felt the essay was still valid, even two years later, and so that's why I posted it.

Cruise lines cancel ports of call & routes because they don't make money. Same happened in Los Cabos when I lived there last year and it made headlines.

However, someone felt it was actually beneficial to write and publish a balanced story. The flip side to the cancellations was that an equal an equal number of new cruise operators had signed up to begins calling on Los Cabos, effectively canceling each other out.

So be careful of which side of what story you choose to propagate as "fact."

Good Gods man....shoot yer sef in da footy?
Now please...go away and tuck that tail of yours between you legs.










[Edited on 8-9-2011 by mcfez]

The MacFez always wins. He thinks!

Quote:

Originally posted by baja1943 The MacFez always wins. He thinks!