Headed to Mexico and Beyond-What Can You Tell Me

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ktmrider

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Well, I am headed to Mexico City on Saturday 17 Dec with my daughter for a week. We are staying downtown and close to the action. I worked at the US embassy on and off for a year in 2003 so I know the tourist spots fairly well but would enjoy hearing of anything you think relevant.

From Mexico City, we meet the wife for a week in Cabo San Lucas. I have never been there but have horseback riding and whale watching trips already booked. A friend from Portland is building a house so she and her family will be there for Xmas so any information would again be welcome.

I will be taking an M5 with 21/50/135 lenses. The 135 may allow me to get some photos of whales but would prefer something longer. I will be shooting primarily b&w. Have a new 50f1.5 Nokton ASPH which arrived today. It looks great on the black M5. Also, I will be packing a Fuji X70 for a 28mm and color and to carry when I am really lazy.

And, in some ways this is a scouting trip as I am headed to Panama from the US aboard a motorcycle at the end of January. Have been to Costa Rica, Belize, Panama and Guatemala but any info on Central America would be useful as well.
 
Actually, if the trip to Panama turns out ok, a couple of us are talking about shipping the bikes around the Darien Gap and continuing to Tierra del Fuego in the fall. I may just store the bike in Panama and fly down in the fall to continue.

It is 9000 miles from the US border to the tip of South America (one way) compared to 3800 miles from El Paso to Anchorage, Ak which I have done 3 times. Oh, and only 3100 miles from the US to the Canal.
 
If you are going to Baja, San Jose' del Cabo in much more interesting (photographically). Cabo San Lucas downtown is junk. The resorts are beautiful if you like those, photographically CSL is nothing downtown unless you are into cheesy photos.
 
ktmrider said:
Actually, if the trip to Panama turns out ok, a couple of us are talking about shipping the bikes around the Darien Gap and continuing to Tierra del Fuego in the fall. I may just store the bike in Panama and fly down in the fall to continue.

It is 9000 miles from the US border to the tip of South America (one way) compared to 3800 miles from El Paso to Anchorage, Ak which I have done 3 times. Oh, and only 3100 miles from the US to the Canal.
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Sounds like the ultimate in iron butt riding.
 
I admire your bravery, Mexico and Guatemala ? , I am from Guatemala, been to Mexico too, a trip by motorcycle on the Carretera Panamericana to El Salvador and Nicaragua very dangerous ,have you heard about the Mara Salvatrucha or M 18 gangs, or the other gangs who extort payments and rob the traffic, people traveling there now are making caravans so they don't have to pass through it alone , and carrying a Leica camera , when I travel to my country I take the cheapest and less obvious camera that I have, and still they look at me and the camera. an American with expensive gear and dollars ? I will advice you to think it over. And good luck if you decide to make this trips.
 
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Jorge: have you looked at crime rates in some US cities like Chicago, Baltimore and perhaps even Philly. Funny, I live in El Paso, Tx., which according to FBI crime stats is the SAFEST city in the US and we are only 200 yards from Mexico.

I spent a 6 weeks in Xela, Guatemala, about 20 months ago studying Spanish. I met two gringa women (Great Britain and Australian) who were in the mid-20's and had just spent 6 months hitch hiking solo around Central and South America. They both commented that they felt more concerned about their safety in the US then in any country south of the border. It was a revelatory moment for me as I had 22 years of federal law enforcement experience.

Perhaps you should not carry that expensive Leica around the streets of Philly?
 
Nothing to offer but my encouragement, and a request that you keep us updated with cell phone pics daily! :)

Maybe through a blog like I did on jimdo.com.
 
I'm off to Mexico next Friday for a month with my wife. Really looking forward to it. We'll meet our son there in DF, stay a few days in the city then drive south together towards Oaxaca, Chiapas and Yucatan.

Incidently my son has been on a bicycle trip in South America, for 10 months and 12000 k, and will continue after we fly back to France.

I'm just taking my Fuji X100 and my wife's Canon S90 for this trip. The D700 stays home.

I wish you a great trip ktmrider.
 
ktmrider said:
I met two gringa women (Great Britain and Australian) who were in the mid-20's and had just spent 6 months hitch hiking solo around Central and South America. They both commented that they felt more concerned about their safety in the US then in any country south of the border. It was a revelatory moment for me as I had 22 years of federal law enforcement experience.
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Having 50 years of experience of living in South America, I would strongly suggest suicide counseling for such gringas :D
 
ktmrider said:
Jorge: have you looked at crime rates in some US cities like Chicago, Baltimore and perhaps even Philly. Funny, I live in El Paso, Tx., which according to FBI crime stats is the SAFEST city in the US and we are only 200 yards from Mexico.
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There are areas of any large city in the US I would not go into, especially after dark. I would not recommend vacationing in South Chicago, however downtown is quite safe. These cities are not representative of the rest of the country.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate

Guatemala 31.2 per 100,000
Mexico 15.7 per 100,000
US 3.9 per 100,00

I would assume other crimes - assault, robbery, rape, etc - would be proportional.
 
Update

Update

Been in Mexico City for a week. Great city, terrible traffic and everything is so cheap. Well, my cell was stolen two days ago and today on the subway my daughter was assaulted which served as a distraction for stealing my wallet.

I have defended traveling in Mexico to many friends and actually had a motorcycle:trip planned at the end of January to the Panama Canal. Now, I am rethinking that trip. We are leaving tomorrow for La Paz in Baja. Screw this place!
 
I was surprised you were so cavalier about Mexico. My girlfriend travels there, but speaks fluent native Spanish.

Petty crime happens everywhere, my subway station is full of dopers, the scourge of most inner cities.
 
When I was living in Santa Fe, New Mexico 10 yrs ago, I wanted to drive down to Mexico. My girlfriend at the time was from one of the original Spanish families that founded Santa Fe in 1610.

They all spoke fluent Spanish, and she told me that when she was a child, they used to visit Mexico all the time. She and her mother both told me flat out that it was not safe and that they themselves will not go to Mexico for any reason now.

Her mother was especially saddened by how things have gone in Mexico. She was in her 60s and she and her husband spent several weeks in Mexico for their honeymoon 45 yrs ago. She said it was a wonderful country to visit back then but the violence caused by the drug cartels and the Mexican government's weakness has destroyed the country.
 
Chriscrawfordphoto said:
They all spoke fluent Spanish, and she told me that when she was a child, they used to visit Mexico all the time. She and her mother both told me flat out that it was not safe and that they themselves will not go to Mexico for any reason now.
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That is a bit of an exaggeration, places like Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende are as safe as any world destination. Mexico City compared to US cities? I would put it at about the Philadelphia or Chicago level, reality probably closer in crime vibe to Washington DC.

Mexican border towns, not so much these days. The drug gangs in Mexico are surely crazy.
 
nikonhswebmaster said:
That is a bit of an exaggeration, places like Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende are as safe as any world destination. Mexico City compared to US cities? I would put it at about the Philadelphia or Chicago level, reality probably closer in crime vibe to Washington DC.

Mexican border towns, not so much these days. The drug gangs in Mexico are surely crazy.
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For us to drive to Mexico from Santa Fe would have meant passing through Juarez, at the time the most dangerous city on Earth.
 
nikonhswebmaster said:
That is a bit of an exaggeration, places like Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende are as safe as any world destination. Mexico City compared to US cities? I would put it at about the Philadelphia or Chicago level, reality probably closer in crime vibe to Washington DC.

Mexican border towns, not so much these days. The drug gangs in Mexico are surely crazy.
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I realize I'm reviving a very old thread, but I've been to Mexico City twice in the last chronological year, and honestly, I feel it is at least as safe as home (Washington DC) if not safer. Yeah, don't wander off into the dodgy parts of town looking around like a lost tourist, openly carrying your camera. But on my last trip, I hauled around my Rolleiflex and a Lomo Belair, and usually one of them was out of the bag when I wasn't on public transit. I never had a problem with negative attention anywhere I went, and I got around quite a bit by subway and bus.

I would exercise caution if I were a young single female traveling alone (Mexico is still very much a macho country, and they have sex-segregated cars for women and children only on the subway). But put aside any mental image you might have of Mexico as a lawless, violence-drenched country. Is it Peoria, Illinois? No, but it's a far cry from Somalia (or Nicaragua or El Salvador for that matter).
 
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