Is Mexico Safe?

[tricepilot]

Originally Posted by Arte

two weeks ago my cousins just returned from a Moto Trip from Zacatecas to Vallarta, via Mascota, and three of them were very very close to go down on the grava, I guess is the same one that got you.

I hit grava suelta

Ah, I think their's was grava suave

[Sjoerd Bakker]

Did you ever HAVE any desire to visit Mexico basstodave? ,,... or is the sensationalist news coverage just providing a way to rationalize your statement ?

I just got back five days ago from my second trip to Mexico this year, this time did 11 111km inside Mexican territory alone (just the way the odometer arithmetic worked out) riding with another motorcyclist, his first ever trip there since he was 15 and on a car voyage with his parents.We experienced all kinds of stuff- frost on the bikes at Creel, a volcanic eruption of V .Colima, a thunderstorm near S Cristobal, a jungle boat ride to Yaxchilan ruins, an earthquake 6.7Richter at Cosoleacaque, TAB, a slippery pavement bit on Mex 70,heard about some bandidos on Mex 134 , and lots of pleasant and warm weather and great riding roads and scenery all over and we met many fiendly people . He is now rip rip roaring ready to go back to Mexico anytime with the newly-gained knowledge of how Mexican traffic ,electrical- and water -systems and culture works.
Other than the incident where down-mountain traffic allerted us to the presence of real highway robbers on Mex 134 there was never any concern about our security. We avoided the problem simply by turning around and choosing an alternate route.
To refer to Mexico as a "war zone" as and earlier poster did here is a gross distortion of reality, probably based on the already mentioned penchant for US news agencies to bring the sensational stories to the fore while ignoring the real picture beyond the drug cartel struggles.The worst,most war torn,bombed and burnt over street scene I came across on this entire trip was In Detroit,Michigan ,USA on the street approaching the south entry to the border bridge
Earlier this year I spent nights in several of the Mexican border towns, Matamoros and Nuevo Laredo and Soto la Marina, supposed hotbeds of drug violence, and never felt in danger nor saw anything happen. But as any sane traveller would do I stayed off the streets at night and did not go looking for trouble.
And ,yes, the problems are in very great measure due to the US which provides the greatest market ,hence the money, for all those drugs,; half witted people trying to commit slow suicide by chemical ingestion-I wish them luck and speedy achievement of their goal. . Now I hear about the business of the US government arm actually letting so many weapons move to Mexico, attrocious and stupid policy.What are they thinking? Were they under the influence of those very drugs??
But if anybody has any desire to visit Mexico I say do it ! NOW!

[MikeMike]

Originally Posted by Sjoerd Bakker

He is now rip rip roaring ready to go back to Mexico anytime with the newly-gained knowledge of how Mexican traffic ,electrical- and water -systems and culture works.

You could live a lifetime in Mexico and never really figure out how any of those things work.

[PirateJohn]

Originally Posted by MikeMike

You could live a lifetime in Mexico and never really figure out how any of those things work.

Mexican electrical. Eh.

This is the Schneider/Square D distributor in the Centro of Monterrey. The Gran Hotel Yamallel is across the street. I wish that I had some photos of the roof of the Schneider building from my room in the Yamallel because on top of the building was this great collection of modern and seemingly ancient transformers and electrical components, the likes of which you would never see in the States.

[bikefree]

Article on cnn.com with a nifty map to show danger zones.

Article



You get to define what "essential travel" means.

[tricepilot]

Originally Posted by bikefree

Article on cnn.com with a nifty map to show danger zones.

Article



You get to define what "essential travel" means.

Nifty map showing US violent crime:



Looks like our foreign visitors will be booking the Holiday Inn in Fargo

[MikeMike]

Fargo!
No! Didn't you see the movie? If you go there you will end up speaking with an odd accent and likely will be pushed through a wood chipper after having been kidnapped.
It's safer in Pembina!

[tricepilot]

Originally Posted by MikeMike

Fargo!
No! Didn't you see the movie? If you go there you will end up speaking with an odd accent and likely will be pushed through a wood chipper after having been kidnapped.
It's safer in Pembina!

Click the link!

[Frank Sosa]

Originally Posted by Bato

Frank ; cant wait to be in your neck of the woods ... is it cold up there in May?

Hey Bato. It's not that cold. In my neck of the woods, it's been in the high 30 and low to mid 40s at night but been in the hi 60s into the 70s during the day but it warmed up yesterday and probably reached the high 70s. I think our last frost was a couple of weeks ago. It's very pleasant riding weather up here. How long you going to be up here, the 2nd weekend of may there's going to be a rally/adv get together so so speak up in the woods of mendocino county there's a thread going on on here in the regional section. Have you planned your route up here from l.a.? Careful, I heard there's a road closure on hwy 1 south of monterey but you can call caltrans to confirm.

[gelandestrasse]

Originally Posted by tricepilot

Nifty map showing US violent crime:



Looks like our foreign visitors will be booking the Holiday Inn in Fargo

Mexico’s Violent Murder Rate Is More Than Twice That of USA

If you did the same map of Mexican states they'd pretty much all be dark red.

[tricepilot]

Originally Posted by MikeMike

Fargo!
Didn't you see the movie?

Where is pancakes house?

[PirateJohn]

Originally Posted by gelandestrasse

Mexico’s Violent Murder Rate Is More Than Twice That of USA

If you did the same map of Mexican states they'd pretty much all be dark red.

Yeah, but when you remove the violent crime that involves one cartel member whacking another cartel member, then Mexico is safer than the USA.

To put things another way, you are more likely to get caught up in a random robbery in many parts of the USA, particularly urban areas, than to get into the middle of a shootout in Mexico.

[mark883]

Originally Posted by tricepilot

Nifty map showing US violent crime:



Looks like our foreign visitors will be booking the Holiday Inn in Fargo

One thing I discovered about Texas is, they may not shoot you, but they sure aren't afraid of running you over, or bothering to secure the load on their trucks.

[tricepilot]

Originally Posted by PirateJohn

Yeah, but when you remove the violent crime that involves one cartel member whacking another cartel member, then Mexico is safer than the USA.

Buy that man a Carta Blanca

[SchizzMan]

Originally Posted by tricepilot

Where is pancakes house?

I gotta go to a place where I can get a


and a