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Do We or Don't We? Mexico? Too Dangerous???

#201
pmchenry said:
As someone who spent 2 tours in Iraq with the 101st Airborne, I think I'm qualified to make the statement I did. The world is full of scary things, sure. But if you let them limit your experiences then what's the point of living in the first place?
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I'm happy to go to Iraq.....just so long as I can go with a few thousand friends armed with M-4s. ;)

Caution and fear are two different things. Saving the trip to Mexico for another time when they aren't in the middle of a all-out war on drugs doesn't mean one isn't "living life."
 
#202
I was in mexico 6 years ago, it was very beautiful, maya riviera region. But given the state of things there right now I would not go. It's sad really as I speak Spanish and enjoyed meeting the people down there they were very nice but my common sense would say no.
 
#203
guy n. cognito said:
I'm happy to go to Iraq.....just so long as I can go with a few thousand friends armed with M-4s. ;)
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Valid point... :P

guy n. cognito said:
Caution and fear are two different things. Saving the trip to Mexico for another time when they aren't in the middle of a all-out war on drugs doesn't mean one isn't "living life."
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I think the violence in Mexico, and especially the threat it poses to bystanders is a bit overblown. And I'm all for someone being cautious. I just think in many cases you can take that caution with you to where you're going and make yourself safer that way.
 
#204
pmchenry said:
Valid point... :P



I think the violence in Mexico, and especially the threat it poses to bystanders is a bit overblown. And I'm all for someone being cautious. I just think in many cases you can take that caution with you to where you're going and make yourself safer that way.
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Well, I know a few people who travel down there frequently for business, and they report that the violence is actually worse than reported.
 
#205
The world is full of scary things, sure. But if you let them limit your experiences then what's the point of living in the first place?
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I live 30 miles from Mexico. I don't go there. One of the engineers from my company has lived in Tijuana his whole life, but he's moving his family to the U.S. because of all the collateral deaths from the drug wars. With 40 to 50 drug-related murders occurring per day, I'm going to have to "limit my experiences" and not go there. I really don't think my life is diminished by that.
 
#206
From that "50 most dangerous cities" list I have played in five cities supposedly more dangerous than Monterrey, which are:

Caracas #6
Cali #11
Medellín #14
Cúcuta #23
Pereira #35

In Cali I have actually played a lot, anything from small clubs and theaters to TV shows. So according to that list, there's no reason for me to not play Monterrey (#38).

Usually we get picked up at the airport, are brought to the hotel, later sound check, finally the show. Hotel again. Next day airport. At what point exactly would I be murdered by a drug cartel??? Chances are bigger I got killed in a car accident or plane crash.

And then again, I'm from Germany (rate 0.81) and studied at LAMA for a year in 1997/98. I shouldn't have done that since the US have a murder rate nearly six times higher than my home country. Oh my God! I could have been killed in the States! Thank God I'm still alive!
 
#207
AndreBas said:
And then again, I'm from Germany (rate 0.81) and studied at LAMA for a year in 1997/98. I shouldn't have done that since the US have a murder rate nearly six times higher than my home country. Oh my God! I could have been killed in the States! Thank God I'm still alive!
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+1 This made me laugh :). You're lucky you made it out alive. Especially being a foreigner in an increasingly xenophobic society!
 
#209
AndreBas said:
And then again, I'm from Germany (rate 0.81) and studied at LAMA for a year in 1997/98. I shouldn't have done that since the US have a murder rate nearly six times higher than my home country. Oh my God! I could have been killed in the States! Thank God I'm still alive!
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Ahhhh ... Deutschland! Welcher Stadt bist du? Ich habe sowohl München und Köln besucht und liebte sie beide.
 
#213
Well.. I went to Monterrey in Nuevo Leon, october 2010. At that moment i was more or less unaware of the situation (i live in Europe). -Was picked up at the airport (we came from Mexico City) by an armed bodyguard with bulletproof car - went to the hotel with strict order not to go ANYWHERE without the guard. Anything went just fine with us - the local people were nice, but we shure heard a lot of horrible stories - and just one week after our return, a slaughterhouse with beheaded corpses took place just where we stayed...
What i want to say is that i met some wonderful people there and i really spent a great time, but i don't know if i'll go again -even with a bodyguard. At least not this year..
 
#214
I don't think you can make any blanket assumptions about a country so large and diverse. And from one gig to another.

We did a gig last year in Hermosillo. It was AWESOME. First class treatment all the way. 10,000 people for us. Great hotel. We felt no threat whatsoever.

Biggest pain for us? They stopped us at the border for 2 1/2 to inspect all the equipment and the van. Big pain in the ass.

Does that mean that your festival and Monterey is ok? I have no idea
 
#216
Memotone said:
Well.. I went to Monterrey in Nuevo Leon, october 2010. At that moment i was more or less unaware of the situation (i live in Europe). -Was picked up at the airport (we came from Mexico City) by an armed bodyguard with bulletproof car - went to the hotel with strict order not to go ANYWHERE without the guard. Anything went just fine with us - the local people were nice, but we shure heard a lot of horrible stories - and just one week after our return, a slaughterhouse with beheaded corpses took place just where we stayed...
What i want to say is that i met some wonderful people there and i really spent a great time, but i don't know if i'll go again -even with a bodyguard. At least not this year..
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This is a very important point...

Many tourists and other non-Mexicans may be conditioned to feel perfectly safe - once they've reached their hotels. But even the hotel may offer only a false sense of security from the mayhem taking place in the surrounding areas... :hmm:

I seem to recall having read an article about one such hotel invasion - it might have been the same incident to which Memotone refers. The point is, there are relative precautions you can take, that can keep you relatively more safe than you would have been without them. But even those measures swiftly reach a point of diminishing returns, as the violence continues to escalate. If/when it gets bad enough, there's not much of anything that will a difference - except being somewhere else entirely... :eyebrow:

MM
 
#217
MysticMichael said:
This is a very important point...

Many tourists and other non-Mexicans may be conditioned to feel perfectly safe - once they've reached their hotels. But even the hotel may offer only a false sense of security from the mayhem taking place in the surrounding areas... :hmm:

I seem to recall having read an article about one such hotel invasion - it might have been the same incident to which Memotone refers. The point is, there are relative precautions you can take, that can keep you relatively more safe than you would have been without them. But even those measure swiftly reach a point of diminishing returns, as the violence continues to escalate. If/when it gets bad enough, there's not much of anything that will a difference - except being somewhere else entirely... :eyebrow:

MM
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Once again, this sounds like America. Same stuff applies, same stuff happens in cities here. Not as heavily as on the Mexican side and borders, but we're the ones buying the drugs, so the spillover on both sides is happening.
Time to put the flag waving in perspective, it's tough all over the world.
I think south America is a vast, untapped place for music, like europe was in the 80's.
In the last decade everything changed for touring professionals. I don't feel that safe anywhere, be in London, uk , Washington dc, or Mexico.
Michael, just curious, have you ever been to any of these places?
 
#218
I'm not particularly waving any flag here, D.A.R.K. Not quite sure where you're getting that. :confused:

Merely observing the situation through the imperfect lens of news reports, official government communiques, personal anecdotes, and so on. I have never heard of hotels being breached, with guests subject to murder & kidnapping, anywhere other than in certain parts of Latin America, the MidEast, and sub-Saharan Africa. All in all, the preponderance of evidence would seem to indicate that for travel to Mexico, extreme caution, if not downright avoidance, is called for... :hmm:

D.A.R.K. said:
In the last decade everything changed for touring professionals. I don't feel that safe anywhere, be in London, uk , Washington dc, or Mexico.
Michael, just curious, have you ever been to any of these places?
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I've traveled to London numerous times; lived in Washington DC some years ago. Have not been to Mexico.

Why? Has my judgment thereby become badly compromised? :eyebrow:

MM
 

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