Kathy, I dont know much about expat RV'ers in Mexico and I sympathise with any incidents (that I haven't looked into the full details of) but to me it's all about the level of risk you expose yourself to. I mean if you're driving around in a $100,000 vehicle loaded with all your wordly possessions in dodgy areas of Mexico and parking up in remote places you're kind of exposing yourself to more risk than you need to. Highway bandits are nothing new to Mexico.... maybe the number of US Expat RV'ers are? Also in years gone by maybe this kind of crime still happened but didnt make the Internet in the way it does now. It's like I've said before, if you put yourself at risk whether that be by being in bad areas, flaunting wealth, being involved directly or indirectly with bad people or those at risk from being the targets of bad people (such as state officials, police, rich business owners etc) then as sure as eggs are eggs you're going to hear about or encounter bad things sooner or later. Personally, I tap away at my computer all day in my little corner making websites (today I made one about the entralling subject of cordless drills), in a nice part of town, in a house that is over alarmed and fully secure. I drive about 20 miles a week. I go out rarely and have a very small circle of friends none of whom are at risk themselves, none of whom are big business owners or people involved with corruption or drugs. No one I know, or who knows me, cares about what I do, where I go, who I talk to or what I say. I don't put myself at any risk and that's why I'm adamant the risk to me and my family of random crime is negligible and the risk from organised crime is zero.
Tori: Looks like CBS is the one blaming Mexico, not the family (so far). Notice there's also a comment there from the original website posted on this thread. Awesome. I left a comment myself
My Cousin and his wife both work at that station, (Cameraman and Health Producer). Shocked they haven't alarmed the rest of my family.
Two of the scariest episodes I've experienced in Mexico happened while I was walking on the beach. I never for one second thought I was putting myself at risk, I never expected being on the beach here to be risky behavior, but I do now. Now I know it's not safe to wander far from the crowd, which is unfortunate since I generally can't stand crowds on the beach or elsewhere. Since I've moved here my world has gotten smaller and smaller, I stay home, work, visit a few friends, hit some movies, and don't wander far. I feel safe, but I trace a pretty small path here. If I felt safer here I would be out in the jungle, I'd ride my bike and hike all over. But this is not a place for that. This is a place to pay a guard and to have high walls and to keep the front gate locked. I feel nice and safe here so long as I'm always looking over my shoulder and know the guard is watching my house...
I'd guess it was a deserted beach way down Isla Blanca where you had your scary moments rather than busy beaches such as Playa Tortugas or Playa Delfines, or in front of a hotel zone hotel. Of course, in a perfect World we should be able to go wherever we like, whenever we like without fear. Cancun isnt a perfect World. It never was and never will be. But nor is anywhere else. It sucks that that might inhibit us from doing things we want to do or going places we want to go, but I feel it's something that if you live here you have to acknowledge. Just as I know at home it's not a good idea to walk through certain areas after dark.
One of the beaches was Isla Blanca, just north of the little restaurant at the end of the road. The other was much closer to home.
I was assaulted and robbed at Playa Tortugas public beach in broad daylight. Of course that was at a time 22 years ago when the daily police report in Novedades was half a page at the most and there were about 200,000 people in Cancun and when I used to walk late at night alone through the colonias with no worries and nothing happened and before pandillas even existed in Cancun--oh, and I was falling-down drunk! Like the Armageddon theories--are there more "signs of the imminent end of the world" now than 2,000 years ago or just more careful people closer together talking, reporting, tweeting and blogging about them on an instantaneous basis? The Discovery and History channels are constantly amazing me with stories about tsunamis (what we used to call tidal waves), super volcanoes and earthquakes that destroyed millions thousands of years ago. The other day it was on one battle of the Romans with the German tribes when 80,000 Romans died in a single battle in one day. Is Cancun Paradise or the new Sodom about to destroy itself or be destroyed? As always, beauty--and ugliness--are in the eye of the beholder. Our own individual perception is our own individual reality. We are probably no worse and no better than people thousands of years ago and there probably is "nothing new under the sun." Although it may seem new to us--at least it now takes us a little longer than 1 day and one battle to kill 80,000 people. That's gotta count for something--or not.
