Job Discussion Forums

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

My 3 hour layover just became 8 hours. Is that enough to get out of the airport and do something around the town?

How safe is it to leave your stuff in left luggage?

Thanks

wildchild · Joined: 14 Nov 2005 Posts: 519 Location: Puebla 2009 - 2010

thats more than enough time...! yes, go and explore! you can take the metro, bus, or taxi to the center...

as far as luggage, i guess it all depends on what you're carrying with you, and how bad you will feel if something happened...

as long as you're not carrying around the Crown Diamond, i wouldnt worry about it...

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

Any good places that you recommend?

notamiss · Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 10:14 pm Post subject:

Go to the centro, the Z�calo. Tour the Cathedral (north side of the square), and the Government Palace (east side of the square)�don�t miss the Benito Ju�rez museum, it�s down a corridor off to one side and easy to overlook. If you have time, enter the Museo Templo Mayor (north-east corner of the square�worth a whirlwind tour if you have 45 minutes or more. It�s like a mini-best-of the famous Museo de Antropolog�a). And if you have time left, have lunch at the restaurant M�xico Viejo (near northwest corner of the square).

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

notamiss · Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 4:33 am Post subject:

I think a taxi downtown from the airport is about $170 pesos. As a rough estimate you could probably expect to pay a few hundred pesos for a tour. But I'm just guessing, does anyone have a better idea? You would have to arrange a private tour beforehand, I think; I doubt there would be a group tour available at such an early hour.

Prof.Gringo · Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 5:06 am Post subject:

I know an American who left the airport with his pregnant Mexican wife in one of the authorized airport taxis and he promptly had a semi-auto handgun (which the perp cocked just to make sure his point got across) and was quickly relieved of his wallet, phone, camera, wedding ring etc as was his wife. It was most likely an inside job (meaning the cab driver was in on it).

Even those $%^& rip-off airport cabs aren't really safe.

And people wonder why tourism is down in Mexico?

Tretyakovskii · Joined: 14 Aug 2009 Posts: 462 Location: Cancun, Mexico

Naturegirl's been around (check her posts), and is not likely to be deterred by stories like this.

Unfortunate things happen to people around the world, perhaps more so in big cities, but none of us stays in because of it. We just apply an appropriate amount of caution.

You'll be fine, Naturegirl, enjoy yourself!

Prof.Gringo · Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 6:07 pm Post subject:

Tretyakovskii · Joined: 14 Aug 2009 Posts: 462 Location: Cancun, Mexico

As I understand what you've said, Prof Gringo, security in Mexico City is getting worse, airport taxis are not completely safe, and it is not entirely safe in the airport, either.

Naturegirl has a long stopover in Mexico City, and has asked the forum for advice: what would you suggest for her to do with that time, with those concerns in mind?

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

Prof.Gringo · Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 1:15 am Post subject:

Prof.Gringo · Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 1:16 am Post subject: Re: HAZARDS OF MEXICO CITY

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

Found someone to act as a tour guide, DF, here I come!

Tretyakovskii · Joined: 14 Aug 2009 Posts: 462 Location: Cancun, Mexico

I'm not going to address Naturegirl's situation further: it's up to her to decide what she wants to do, and how to react to what she's read here, or heard, elsewhere.

People vary greatly in what it takes for them to feel fearful. But, regarding an event in which someone took a cab and was robbed I'd ask, "How many people take a cab to and from the Mexico City airport, per year, and how many of them were robbed at gunpoint?

As for those who may have been robbed, having exchanged a large sum of money in the airport, or having accessed the ATM machines there, I'd ask a similar question, "How many times per year does this take place, with how many robbed under those circumstances?"

Focusing on the unfortunate events ignores the thousands of cases in which nothing untoward occurred.

I've been in and out of the airports of several Mexican cities, including Mexico City; I've made scores of ATM withdrawals, rode taxis and walked the streets at night a few hundred times, so far. I'm always a little alert, as I think anyone should be who wishes to be prudent. But, on no occasion have I had a single instance of anything happening which I considered threatening, nor had anyone approach me at any time in what I considered a threatening way. On the contrary, people have been going about their lives around me, as they do, on a daily basis, largely ignoring everybody else, including me.

Could something bad happen to them, or to me? Of course. Those who want to obsess about it are free to do so. Those who want to let it interfere with their lives, equally as free to do so.

I've lived abroad in six countries, and visited a few score more. None of my family back home has failed to say, on every occasion that has presented itself, that they didn't think it was safe for me to do so.

There will always be such voices in the environment who, the more you repeat that you're not worried, the louder they shout you should be.