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It's dismaying how people talk about how they "felt safe" when they were somewhere, and nothing happened. We're talking about probabilities, not certainties. It's like some guy walked across a busy freeway blindfolded and nothing happened, so it's "safe." Same logic. No way in Living Hell I would go to Mexico these days.

knotquiteawake wrote: ↑Tue Feb 05, 2013 3:26 pm My wife keeps wanting to vacation in Mexico... No matter how many of these stories she still insists that we should take a vacation there. She is nostalgic for a 6 month internship she did there in college. Things have changed since then though, she doesn't get that.

I've also met several people who are in this state of denial. They plan trips down to central America going through Mexico in a motor home or some such idea, and say things like, "oh, don't be paranoid, I've been there many times and never felt like I was in any danger...."

I share other perceptions here, however. There's absolutely no point whatsoever in going to Mexico. Even a quick visit to a border town for souvenirs gets dull after about 30 minutes.

The poverty down there is striking if you're not used to it. We went to McAllen about 10 years ago and took a quick side trip into Reynosa (now a cartel hotbed). Rows and rows of teenage girls sat on the sidewalks, holding up cups, pretending to be crying and saying "penny, penny..." Some had plastic dolls rolled up in blankets to look like babies.

On our way out, a guy stepped out in front of our car holding up a quart mayonnaise jar that had some paint slopped on it. He tried to sell it to us for 10 cents. We almost ran over him.

A couple blocks later, two absolutely filthy little girls about 4 years old stood RIGHT in front of the car, vigorously gesturing for us to pull over and park, where a group of really scrubby looking guys were watching us. We yelled and angrily gestured to the kids to move the eff out of the way, and we were finally were able to get out of there.

Mexico is not a nice place.