We waiver: Yes, we’re going. then the next day it’s No we’re not. We don’t need to decide now, bu the way the days are rolling by, it will have to be soon.
We last talked about Borderland Beat. For the other side of the story you can check out The Truth About Mexicobut for a real look at what life in Mexico is really like these days check out some of the local blogs on Countdown To Mexico .
Are you getting a completley different picture or what?
We continue to ponder. Ponder & discuss. Who knows, the final decision may be made by Buster. I wonder what he thinks
I knew that Buster was one smart dog, but I’ve never seen him on the lap top. Now I know what he does all day. That explains all those shapely Perra (is that a word? as in female Perro?) pictures come from. The picture is on of my faves of Mexico, It’s Bahai Coyote (Coyote Bay) on the Baja. The water you see is the Sea of Cortez. There are probably 20 RV’s parked along that beach, all dry camping. Some had been there for months.
I think you could call us semi-experienced Mexico travelers. We have been down to the tip of the Baja 5 or 6 times, we have driven down the east coast to the Mexico/Belize border and have done the west coast as far as Mazatlan. Mexico is a huge country so we certainly haven’t done it all but you have to agree we’ve seen a bit of it. We know that we passionately love the country and it’s people.
The dilemma is do we go again this year or do we heed the warnings and give it a rest. We could travel areas in the US and enjoy our bikes, and that’s something you certainly can’t do down there.
We are certainly used to people who mean well, scolding us for traveling in Mexico. They watch CNN, they know these things and we should know better then to even think about Mexican travel. Some of our fellow Mexican travelers attitudes are that “We’ve traveled for 10 years all over Mexico and have never had a problem, therefore we will continue to safely travel in Mexico and never have a problem.” I’m not comfortable with either of those positions. I don’t agree that we can wish something to be true, therefore it’s true. I also know that our 24 hour a day media some times gets off the true happenings to hype the story.
I know I can get the blood and gore side of the Mexico news on Border Land Beat and pop in and pop out of numerous Mexico blogs to get the local story. I’ll post a link to Borderland Beat but first I need to warn you, the pictures are graphic.
It is a very frustrating situation! We have covered almost all of Mexico in the last three years and faced the same decision. We have tentatively decided to take a year off.
The violence has always been there but mostly at the border so all we had to do was enter MX early in the morning with a full tank of gas and drive south for several hours before the bad guys got out of bed. This tactic will no longer work. Police and army convoys are being attacked on the road with massive firepower and if you are nearby there is a chance of getting hit.
There are areas of the South USA that we want to see so that is the plan for this year. But then again, we have only had goo experiences in Mexico, know the signs of trouble and could likely have another safe winter there…. It is a conundrum.
We enjoyed 3 months in Mexico last year with no probelms at all. Nothing but great weather, fantastic people and a new culture. We would love to go again this year but are undecided and will probably not decide until the last minute when we are in southern Arizona this fall.
We are on the border at Mission, TX, and I’ve been motorcycling and driving into Mexico for the last 10 years or so. It was probably wise to wait out things for the last few months but the fighting has wound down around the border, with the exception of some specific areas (stay away from Mexican Rt. 2 between Reynosa and Nuevo Laredo, and that sadly includes the Mexican side of Falcon Lake). I’ve seen quite a few motorcyclists running down south of Monterrey and over to Mexico City and Acapulco and no one has encountered any trouble. Be aware, however, that Monterrey and points north of there have had significant flooding during the last several weeks, so your problems aren’t just the possibility of cartel violence but also bridges out. 99% of the troubles in Mexico involve drugs and weapons, and the odds of getting caught in the middle of something if you are a tourist really isn’t very high.
Thanks PyrateJohn. We want to go, we love Mexico.
Love the positive comments. By the way, how did you become a pyrate? That’s not a regular occupation these days.
We are still going to Mazatlan. Most especially after my near death experience this week (see my blog). We have spent several winters in California & Arizona, it just isn’t warm enough, which is why we chose Mexico.
We’ll be back on the Isla early November. We departed Maz. the 1st week of June and all folks we met along the way north seemed to be going out of their way to treat us kindly. Even the young soldier at the check point who seems to like the ladies dainties.
Here’s another thoughtful comment posted when this item ran on Facebook from Rosemary Biegler;We traveled up from PaaMul using the new Arco Norte around Mex City and up through Ciudad Victoria into Los Indios in July. We had no problems at all. We were around Ciudad Vic on Election Day and expected to see some problems and were a …little worried. No problems. There was a heavier than usual contingent of military and police visible but not much different than usual. Our neighbors just came over the border at Reynosa two days ago and again, no problems or violence. We are heading back down Thursday so we’ll keep you informed. We keep our eyes open and it appears that violence is aimed between cartels and police and not aimed toward others. Not to say you can’t get caught in the middle; but not so sure it’s not the same in the States or Canada. Of course, our publications don’t carry the grotesque pics that the media in Mexico publish. We just trust our gut; you do the same. Will keep you apprised.
Marilyn says that her favorite, most beautiful city is Vancouver, BC and her number two is Guadalajara. I think she is close but Vancouver would be my number 2.
Guadalajara, Mexico’s second largest city, with a population of over 4,000,000 people is vibrant, very modern and obviously very wealthy. In 2 days we obviously didn’t see it all, but the little we did see certainly impressed us.
The approaches to the city feel very “North American” with wide freeways and streets, big shopping centers and large successful car dealerships. But when you reach the “Centro” it suddenly becomes very “European”.
I have no idea who this fellow in the video is but I do know he saw most of what we saw in the Central district.
As we leave downtown Guadalajara we pass through the arches, through the suburbs to our coaches in nearby Villa Corona.
This city represents a side of Mexico that we have never before seen and leaves us promising ourselves we will return and learn more about Mexico’s “Colonial Cities”
August 5th, 2010 at 11:46 am
Buster emailed me to reply…tell my Dad we want to go to the beach!
By the way where was this photo taken?
August 5th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
I knew that Buster was one smart dog, but I’ve never seen him on the lap top. Now I know what he does all day. That explains all those shapely Perra (is that a word? as in female Perro?) pictures come from. The picture is on of my faves of Mexico, It’s Bahai Coyote (Coyote Bay) on the Baja. The water you see is the Sea of Cortez. There are probably 20 RV’s parked along that beach, all dry camping. Some had been there for months.
August 8th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
Have a look at this Larry. http://playazone.wordpress.com/2010/08/07/the-truth-about-safety-and-crime-in-mexico-2010/