A quick search of deadliest cities in the world and you’ll see Mexican destinations littered all over the list. Or wait for your 6’o clock news to mention Mexico and they’ll almost certainly scare you into never going there.
To dismiss those things wouldn’t be completely accurate though, either. Shit happens in Mexico. The drug demand of the USA leaves Mexico in a place where billions of dollars of drugs flow through it every year on its way up from South America.
Mexico is one of the most lucrative middlemen in the world. Competition to control the flow of supply is intense with stakes that high. Groups kill each other for it.
It’s bad. And it affects a lot of aspects of Mexico from the politics to the media, and trickles down to daily life.
But this is just one plane of existence in Mexico. Regular life goes on whilst the madness happens in the background. If you are not involved in that life – the life of drug trafficking, cartels, and violence – then bad things aren’t going to happen to you in Mexico more than they would anywhere else in the world.
Gang on gang violence in Mexico cranks up the statistics. Regular Mexicans though, shit, they are some of the funnest people to be around. They love to bust balls and their language is hilariously vulgar.
The food is world class, the alcohol is notorious, the landscape is sometimes breathtaking, sometimes hot and dry. There are so many different regions in Mexico that it honestly feels like it could be broken up into different countries. Mexico is f***in awesome.
To be honest with you, backpacking Mexico is probably safer than going to one of Mexico’s premier holiday destinations. A lot of money is brought to places like Cancun, Playa del Carmen, and Tulum. Where there’s money you’ll find opportunistic people.
To skip this country solely based out of fear of violence or crime would be a mistake in my eyes. I spent 8 months travelling around this country with public transportation and had 0 incidents or threats of violence. I didn’t even see a fist fight.
I can’t wait to return to Mexico. It’s somewhere I know I’ll be again and only one of a few countries that I am really itching to get back to. Normally when I travel somewhere I like to get comfortable, settle in, see what I can, and then move on. But there are two that are really pulling me to return: Mexico and Indonesia.
Avoiding Mexico because of safety concerns is like avoiding the ocean because of sharks or airplanes because of crashes. Yeah, shit can happen, but it’s so unlikely and so long as you’re respectful and keep your nose out of where it doesn’t belong, you’re gonna be fine. Use common sense and follow the basic travel safety guidelines.
Don’t bring red, bloody meat when you’re swimming in the ocean, don’t start a fire to keep warm on a plane, and don’t go looking for narcos in Mexico to tell them that they really should know better.
Go to Mexico, open your heart to the culture there and I guarantee you’ll fall in love with it.
No te preocupes güey. Todo será bien
If you have any questions or want to get more travel ideas, you can find me on Instagram.
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