Job Discussion Forums

Mr. Kalgukshi · Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 10:31 pm Post subject:

This is a board where members are expected to address the message and not the messenger. If this doesn't start happening quickly on this thread, it will be locked and sanctions will be issued to members choosing not to comply with this warning.

dixie · Joined: 23 Apr 2006 Posts: 644 Location: D.F

I stand by what I said earlier and (obviously) living where I do, I base my opinion on D.F.

I use to live in Torreon and besides the fact that it is an ugly, dull city, the shoot-out that occurred just around the corner from where I once lived would certainly have me thinking twice before going there. But again, my personal experience, and not the American media, have me stating these opinions.

Personal experience is what all of us are basing our responses on and it is why we can have different opinions about the same city. If you have had a bad experience (anywhere) you are likely going to have a different point-of-view than someone who has not.

Bottom line for me is that as long as Ciudad Juarez (or the north in general) is not where you intend to stay then you should face risks similar to other cities of its size internationally.

jaimem-g · Joined: 21 May 2010 Posts: 85 Location: The Desert, CA

I'm a new poster on this thread and have been following it for a few days. I just want to say thanks to the group that has been commenting on this topic which is very timely for me and a group of my fellow ESL teachers here in California and elsewhere I hope you will keep it up, notwithstanding some disagreements about specifics in different regions.

One of these ESL friends I refer to has been following this thread from the beginning, but has been unable to post any comments and brought it to my attention. We've worked together in the past and used to help another colleague take groups of his middle school Spanish students on field trips to Guaymas, Sinaloa. The last time we did this was about 1981, and we would not attempt this today!

However, my ESL buddy and I are very interested in teaching EFL somewhere further south and in fact he is going on a short term volunteer job (probably to Oaxaca) this summer. Please post more comments about conditions anywhere, but especially south of the DF: Puebla, Veracruz and Oaxaca, in particular. Thanks again to all of you for some great information! Very Happy

I'm really interested in the threads about teaching methodology and will be posting some comments and asking some questions there.

Samantha · Joined: 25 Oct 2003 Posts: 2038 Location: Mexican Riviera

Not that it matters for this discussion, but Guaymas is located in the State of Sonora, not Sinaloa. Anyway, good luck in your travels, wherever you may land.

jaimem-g · Joined: 21 May 2010 Posts: 85 Location: The Desert, CA

We used to ride on the train with lots of people going to and from Sinaloa, however. Some of them used to tell us to be careful in Sinaloa even back then, + and - 1980

Samantha · Joined: 25 Oct 2003 Posts: 2038 Location: Mexican Riviera

Yup, times have changed. There are no more passenger trains, and now Sonora has more US Govt warnings than Sinaloa!

jaimem-g · Joined: 21 May 2010 Posts: 85 Location: The Desert, CA

I hope another comment on this thread is not flogging a dead horse because the number of views recorded has exceeded those of any other thread of late. Even though it's basically the same group of commentators - they represent a pretty far flung group of of experienced teachers in Mexico and I used them to calm the fears of a group of friends who have been telling me not to go back to Mexico even on a visit. On the University in Oaxaca thread, Doomedtalks about trudging up the hill after dark on his way home. How many places in the world are that safe? - especially in some of the greatest cities?

How about other places in Oaxaca - Oaxaca city in particular?

MexpatDF · Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 10 Location: Mexico City

I've been in DF for 5 months now... always felt safe. The newspaper El Grafico, with a picture of some guy who's been shot int he head with his face down in the ground always sends a shiver over me... Don't buy that rubbish!

99% I feel safe (more so than at night in Newcastle!). I was pickpocketed last week which was annoying. But I also walk home at 2 or 3 pm through a pretty rough neighbourhood to get home from my girfriend's house. Always feel secure...

Oreen Scott · Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Posts: 179 Location: Oaxaca, Mexico

About Oaxaca City, as I previously posted, the driver's are all crazy/agressive/don't know how to drive. Therefore, crossing the street requires a lot of street smarts.

Lots of political unrest and protests, but this shouldn't effect foreigners, as we are forbidden by law to participate.

Lots of poverty - drunks who fall asleep under trees, sometimes not aware they are filthy and half naked. But, they aren't aware of their surroundings, and are harmless.

I lived in Chihuahua, and felt safe. In Oaxaca I feel equally safe, except for the above mentioned traffic dilema.

Isla Guapa · Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 5:38 pm Post subject:

MexpatDF · Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 10 Location: Mexico City

haha! Yup, 2 or 3 am! Embarassed

JacobTM · Joined: 02 Jun 2009 Posts: 73 Location: New York

I studied in Cuernavaca from August-December 2009. Almost immediately after I left "el jefe de jefes" was shot down in his home right near a number of popular bars by a huge team of police, and reprisal killings befell some of their families. 2 people were hung from a bridge near the big mall in the city (galerias) and a couple of people have been killed here and there near the z�calo, supposedly related to gang crime.

So the violence seems to be directed at members of the police/gangs.

I was personally mugged, and I knew a number of foreigners who were mugged too. Everyone mugged was done so late at night when they were alone or in a small group. A bus with a bunch of my friends was stopped in the middle of the night and robbed by a guy with a handgun.

Many Mexicans I also met had ridiculous stories of being robbed, one guy for instance had his laptop stolen in the middle of the day as he was on a local ruta.

Bassically it seems that thefts and muggings are common but largely non-violent, at least in the center of the country where Cuernavaca is (about an hour south of el DF).

jaimem-g · Joined: 21 May 2010 Posts: 85 Location: The Desert, CA

Some of the things that have been mentioned - avoiding political demontrations and traffic (thanks, Oreen), magazines (the one I remember was Alarma!), muggings and thefts(my glasses were stolen while I was sleeping on a stalled train in Oaxaca), and avoiding drunks (a peg-legged one waved a knife and yelled "gringo comunista" at me in Puebla) all seem to have not worsened TOO much in forty years.

But I am concerned about stumbling into a shootout like the one in Cuernavaca or the ones posted earlier in Juarez and Torreon. I suppose a place like Cuernavaca that attracts the rich and famous has to attract the rich and infamous, too.

Do you avoid conversing about these topics with your students? Do they ever want to talk to you about such things? Question