Job Discussion Forums

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[The Menace]

must be happy hour in Beijing

Ben Round,
Thanks for your comments.
Let me see if I understand. In Merida, where you live, common sense would dictate that walking around town during the day or going to and from school carrying your laptop, or something that looks like a laptop, would be a dumb idea. Is that right? I�m not sure I like the sounds of that.

Second, when you say you don�t leave your house unattended on a regular schedule, in what you would consider a safe part of town (as you say you can walk around alone at night), does that mean that if you went away for the weekend you would need a house sitter or someone watching your house at night? Not sure I like the sounds of that either.

I suppose it�s all relative, where I live I don�t lock my car in my driveway, usually forget to lock my doors at night; and when I go away for a month my only concern is, who will water my plant. (yes, plant, I can only manage to keep one alive) Of course I almost ran right into a grizzly bear on my mountain bike this week who scarred the be-jesus out of me. Two years ago a guy was almost killed by one at that very same spot. It doesn�t stop me from going there though.

It�s nice to know what to expect and not expect everything to be ok just because you want it to.
cheers

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[delacosta]

Ok this should be fun:
I live and work in a very small town. People get murdered here quite often.
Not too long ago: two 'best buddies' on a borrachera, one of them says the wrong thing to the other- the offended party stumbles home and returns with his machete-cutting his friend to pieces.
Uncommon? Unfortunately not. I've heard this story a few times, once between brother and brother.
Foreigners have also ended up dead. The people who sell hard drugs in Mexico are not a nice bunch...
A fellow teacher where I work was once walking home from the bar late at night when a car pulled over, someone pointed a gun at him and took him for a ride-after having covered his head with a pillowcase. They took him to his place and robbed him of all his worldly possessions-those being his ghetto blaster and a few cd's.
And the funny thing is, I feel perfectly safe. Never lock my door at night and often step out leaving my door unlocked. I've never been robbed or broken into.
There's lots of scorpions where I live as well, and other nastier deadlier critters. Do I worry that I'm going to get stung? NO! If it's in the cards you're gonna get dealt anyway, whether you worry or not.
Come on down man, Mexico's a cool place.
Really.

[scott wilhelm]

I'm quoting here from the 2000 edition of Lonely Planet's guide to Mexico.
In the Mexico City section, under the heading Dangers & Annoyances :

"Foreigners have been the victims of far too many violent incidents (including assaults by the police) for anyone to deny the risks. But there's no need to walk in fear whenever you step outside your hotel: a few precautions greatly reduce any dangers."

I think that the precautions one can take to avoid crime in Mexico can be compared to the precautions any smart paddler would take before running a Class IV or V rapid- scout it and avoid the holes and undercuts. If taking a short cut down a dark and scary looking street gives you a bad feeling ( and it should) run the sneak route (stay on the more well-lit and well-travelled streets that will get you where you're going). And if an area looks like it is pushing Class V+, do what I did at Bull Sluice on the Chattooga at flood stage-portage.
In any event, Mexico is a river that The Menace should run. Just set a few safety ropes.
Believe me, Menace, Class IV or better whitewater is a whole lot scarier than anything you're likely to run into in Mexico.

[The Menace]

The only problem is; while you were scouting that class V drop someone�s pinched your boat and down at the takeout someone has stripped your vehicle down to the chassis, and your stuck up the creek with only a paddle and a stinky wet suit.

Sorry, can't help myself. Good boating analogies though.

Lot's of scary stuff happening but everyone seems to feel safe.
I think you're all nuts.
I may have to come check it out.

[moonraven]

Menace,

Maybe you should look at this from a different angle: Who wants to be SAFE anyway? Doesn't that sound a little boring, a little too much like something you've already experienced?

[hooshootoo]

Re: I'm Canadian, so I get nervous going to the US let alone Mexico.

I am an American who lived in Progreso, Yucatan, for a while. I love Merida and feel perfectly safe there day and night. ...and I cannot remember anyone ever having a safety problem in Progreso. That having been said, we must remember that everyone in both Merida and Progreso is safety concious - close the gate, lock the door... just normal safety precautions.

In the States, on the other hand, we have serial killers, child molesters, and gangs who shoot into school busses - and I live in the "Bible Belt"!!! I have even been robbed at gunpoint in a Wal-Mart parking lot!

On the drive down to Yucatan, I was terrified of crossing Texas. I had checked a crime web site and discovered the number of serial killers I would be driving through. Scared me half to death! When I got to Progreso, my neighbor learned that I had driven down alone (with 3 dogs and a cat). He laughed and said, "You mean you weren't afraid of bandits?" We both had a good laugh over that. I was FAR safer on Mexican highways than I was trying to cross Texas!

I came back to the States because I didn't particularly care for living at the beach. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I didn't realize I would be waking up with pulvo in my eyelashes every morning. I also wanted to come home for an impending avalanche of new grandbabies. However, ever since I have been here, the nightly news is scaring me half to death (giving "instructions" on how elderly folks can safely bring in their own mail at their own homes!!!) - so I will head back for Merida - because it is a SAFE place to live - as SOON as these next 2 grandbabies get here and settled in.

[The Menace]

I wasn�t going to post this but since you�ve revived this topic I guess I will.
In our local paper this morning I read that one of our citizens was murdered in Mexico. He was driving his car near a town called Culiacan north of Mazatlan heading back to Canada when he was robbed and murdered; they took his Chevy Tracker and left him on the side of the road stripped of any identification. They were able to figure out who his was because his dog was with him, badly injured but still alive and he had dog tags.
Not just a statistic, but someone I know. Eerie since all week I�ve been thinking about and asking a lot questions about safety in Mexico.

[MELEE]

[delacosta]

I think you're all nuts.
I may have to come check it out.

Now that's the attitude!

[moonraven]

Menace,

Ever see a film called "Treasure of the Sierra Madre"--based on one of the many novels by B. Traven, a very talented and very eccentric German guy who spent most of his adult life in Mexico?

One scene toward the end of the picture: a group of Mexican guys on horseback ride up to a tenderfoot prospector called Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) and strongarm him (and his burro.) When they tell him that they are police, and he asks to see their badges, a particularly nasty looking guy spits out one of the most famous lines in film history: "WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' BADGES, GRINGO!"

A word to the wise....

[johnslat]

Dear moonraven,
Great movie, great line - but the quote actually went like this:

"Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinkin' badges!"

Regards,
John

[moonraven]

Slap my face! Could be that some of us film critics/addicts always remember the best version--and that was the form in which the quote was recycled in "Blazing Saddles"....All sleight of hand and scandalous distortion of quotes in the media aside, I hope that my message was clear....

[MELEE]

FUN FACTS heard on the local radio station this morning:

In the State of Oaxaca:

80% of the homocides are commited by people who were rip roaringly drunk at the time of the crime. (translation my own )

The weapon in the majority of homocides commited in the state of Oaxaca: (sorry, they didn't give a percentage) the machete

The alcohol of choice of Oaxacan murders: Mezcal

Moral of the story??? Don't drink with someone with a machete on their belt.