Cancun Article in Houston Chronicle

Hello all,

I have been reading messages on and off for about 2 yrs now and I wanted to say I really enjoy everyone's input on all the posts. I've pmed Rivergirl a while back asking about schools and some other questions and thank you again for answering those.

We are finally going to make it to Cancun this summer and plan on exploring the possibility of moving to Cancun. I'm lucky to be able to work from my house and can work anywhere as long as I have an internet connection. My wife is a Mexican national with many family members in Cancun along with her mother thinking about moving to Cancun so that helps. I haven't mentioned any of this to my side of the family yet because I'm sure the reactions would be interesting to say the least. I'm at the point to where I would like a slower life style away from the Hustle and bustle of the USA. We have a 4 yr old and 10 yr old so we think that would be are only draw back if any.

Well that was a little background on me but the real reason i was posting is because I was hinting to my Dad yesterday about visiting Cancun this summer and I might not come back and bam if he didn't come back to me saying on the front page of the Houston Chronicle was an article about Cancun and crime that I thought I would share with you. It doesn't really bother me due to just in Houston alone the homicide rate last year was almost 4 times higher.

Anyways, I thought you would like to see what some papers are writing about Cancun.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/world/6264321.html

 

Hey Bart - Good to see you posting here. Thanks for posting that article link. It's a much more fair assessment of Cancun's crime troubles than some others I've seen recently.

Your family may freak a bit when you make the move here, but once you are established and they can come visit and see what your life is actually like they will relax.

 

This is definitely the Cancun that I know. But it's been the Cancun that I've always known...nothing new here. Except that it's a balanced, more honest article that has made the US press.

The comments are just disgusting though. But that's also not new when reading any article about Mexicans or Mexico in the US papers.

 

Steve - Americans are stupid an narrow minded. We started our War on Education long before our War on Terror. But you don't move to Cancun to be around educated people, ahem...I wish.

 

Thanks for the replies, it is funny that i think the only reason we haven't gone to Cancun earlier is because my wife knows that I won't want to come back. She(and her family) was so worried when we first went to Mexico that I wouldn't like it because of her view of how many American's feel about Mexicans and people think Mexico is so dirty. Of course they were all pleasantly surprised how much I loved the visit and couldn't stop talking about going back. Yes I expect there to be bumps in the road and many challenges but that is part of the process. The hurricane issue does worry me from time to time but I know houses down there are made much differently than the ones here in the USA so it will just be another storm to weather out. Her family has been there for over 20 years and they have not had any major issues.

I look forward to the visit and possibly meeting up with some of you at one time or another.

I could probably learn even more from you Steve since we seem to be leading the same path.

Thanks again all

 

Steve, I imagine that you don't make it a habit of reading articles from American papers on topics such as these, but those types of comments are VERY typical. Lovely, no? It makes my stomach turn.

I've never been to Vegas, but I have the general idea that the seedy side of the city is just below the surface and not something that is readily apparent to tourists. True? If so, I feel that Cancun is that same, but as Steve said, not something that would make Cancun notorious to tourists.

The regiones of Cancun aren't the boonies anymore, and where the majority of Cancunenses live, though I do agree that most expats live and work close to the center of the city. And this side of the city is absolutely not readily accessible to tourists.

Unfortunately for me, because of the socio-economic class of my in-laws and acquaintances, the street thugs, prostitutes, and drunks were all too much a part of my daily life.

 

Not quite. I suppose if you *never* left your hotel/casino, you might think it was a fine place, but even walking the strip you can feel the presence of crime, IMHO. Go 2 blocks in any direction away from the strip and you'll likely find yourself in a part of town you shouldn't be.

I haven't been to Cancun in a couple of years, so maybe it is worse, but I felt much, much safer in Cancun than in Vegas. But I'm not the type that can stay 'locked up' in my hotel, either.

 

Cancun's geography saves it. The hotel zone has no "bad areas" where tourists shouldn't go (well maybe that alley where the drug dealers always are). I don't think the people writing these articles about Cancun actually look at a map of the area. The Cancun that tourists visit is literally miles away from where any of this ugly crap happens.