Is it Safe to Vacation in Mexico?--Try Baghdad Instead

Written by CA Political News on March 22, 2009, 11:01 AM

is it safe to visit Mexico these days?

BY STEVE E. SWENSON, Bakersfield Californian, 3/21/09

If youre going to Mexico, think south of the border. Way south of the border.

Thats the best way to avoid being a victim of collateral damage in a drug war.

The news lately has been rife with shootings, abductions, beheadings and other violent conflicts between Mexican drug cartels and Mexican security forces along the U.S. Mexico border.

The areas around Tijuana near San Diego and Ciudad Juarez near El Paso have been the hardest hit.

The State Department in February warned about Mexican border travel.

The warning hit home with one Bakersfield church. The threat of violence was too much for St. Johns Lutheran Church to stick with plans for a medical-youth-missionary trip to Juarez in June.

Reservations for about 30 people had been planned, Pastor Dennis Hilken said.

We went around Thanksgiving with no problems whatsoever, Hilken said. But knowing there is this much trouble now, and the potential liability to the church, we decided last week to cancel.

Last August, Dorie Bailey and her husband, David, set up a trip to Cancun in May, but in the last couple months she started thinking, Maybe I dont want to go there.

Even though she had paid for some of the trip, I picked an alternative place to go, Jamaica, she said.

Bakersfield travel agents said Mexico is one of the most popular tourist destinations from Bakersfield, but some travel plans have been switched to Hawaii or Alaska.

I had two couples say they would rather go to Hawaii this year instead, said Gary Jaussaud of Kern Travel.

Both he and Larry Schallock of Lambourne Travel said many trips are being booked to cities further south in Mexico such as Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarto, Acapulco and Cancun.

Those areas are fairly protected from all harm, said Jaussaud, a 35-year veteran of the travel business.

Schallock said people should use the same common sense they would use in any city dont go to the dark alleys and bars alone in the middle of the night.

Though Ensenada is about 80 miles south of Tijuana, no major problems have been reported there, Jaussaud said.

Thats a popular cruise destination.

Spring break in Mexico may be off a little this year, but the so-called Mexican Riveria (Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarto) as well as Cancun on the Caribbean Sea are expected to see good crowds, the agents said.

Some colleges and universities have publicly encouraged students to avoid Mexico this year.

So far it appears no local people have been caught up in any Mexican violence. Bakersfield police, Kern County sheriff and Congressman Kevin McCarthys office had no reports of such problems.

Bailey said the way to keep it safe in the resort towns is you just dont go off the reservation.