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A pre-Thanksgiving list of popular international Thanksgiving destinations pulled together by Allianz Global Assistance showed that of the top 10 Thanksgiving Destinations, Mexico held their own, with Cancun, San Jose Del Cabo, Puerto Vallarta, and Mexico City all making the top ten. The director of marketing and communications at Allianz noted, “Despite a tough year for Mexico, Americans are still visiting the destination in droves.”
The advice previously provided to us by noted international journalist, Verónica Calderón, who resides in Mexico City, remains valid.
- If you don’t speak the language — rely on your hotel concierge or hosts for directions and reservations.
- Do not be afraid to ask the question: “Where should I not go!”
- Don’t do drugs — Those who use and purchase drugs are putting themselves in danger. You are coming in direct contact with the most violent of side of the Mexico criminal world and as a foreigner you are making yourself a target.
- Keep your mind open, learn from your hosts and above all, enjoy all that Mexico has to offer.
Mexico City
In our prior piece on managing your visit to Mexico and not getting shot we highlighted Mexico City as being a huge metropolis which required the traveler to keep their wits about them. and clearly that was necessary over the Thanksgiving holiday in the Colonia Condesa, which is an area frequented by tourists, and replete with high-end hotels and in close proximity to a number of tourist attractions, when gunfire broke out as an attempt to assassinate the leader of the Firefighter’s union, Ismael Figueroa, occurred in Parque Mexico. Clearly not directed at visitors, the incident serves to emphasize the need to be ever vigilant and prepared for the unexpected. The large, walking park is in proximity to a number of restaurants, hotels, and retail establishments. Ironically, also a few blocks from the Mexico City department of tourism (Secretaría de Turismo de la Ciudad de México (del Distrito Federal).
By way of reference, Mexico City, a metro area of more than 21.2 million has had 990 murders in the first ten months of 2018. Whereas, Chicago, a metro area of 9.5 million has had 330 murders, and Los Angeles a metro area of 13.1 million has had 227 in the first ten months of 2018.
Cancun/Playa del Carmen
Cancun and the neighboring Playa del Carmen area have been in the news over the past year as a number of violent crimes have occured, albeit outside the Cancun tourism zone, which prompted us to ask the question, “Is traveling to Cancun too risky?” We continue to believe the answer is, travel to Cancun is relatively safe, with the normal caveats of not wandering outside of the tourist areas and adhering to the buddy system when going out and about.
A few incidents have occurred during the month of November 2018, including the murder of an foreigner in Lázaro Cárdenas park in Colonia Colosio in Playa del Carmen. The preliminary police report indicates that the man was partying in the park with three others when a fight broke out. Police noted that several small bags of cocaine were found on the individual’s person and the arrested individual known to be a member of a local drug gang/cartel. Conflicting information identifies the victim as a visiting tourist from Los Angeles. Lázaro Cárdenas park is small park located several blocks away from a public beach and not in a neighborhood which would be associated with tourism, rather a neighborhood of retail and trade stores. The park is known locally to be a park where Chiapanecos (those from Chiapas) who work in the Cancun-Tulum tourist gather to socialize and has been the subject of violence in the past, including in August 2018, when a spontaneous riot broke out over a local tacero (one who makes and sells tacos) struct a patron for not paying. A large group accosted the vendor, whose life was saved when police arrived. Furthermore, the park has long been associated with organized criminal activity known for drug and prostitution.
Meanwhile in Cancun, a Peruvian tourist died as a result of a traffic accident which occurred in the tourist hotel zone. According to local media, the van carrying the tourist ran into the back of a large truck while swerving to avoid another vehicle. The police noted that the passenger van’s speed was “excessive.” In a separate incident, a woman who had just gotten off a bus along Boulevard Kukulcan, near the hotels Fiesta Americana & Grand Oasis, was killed by an oncoming vehicle. The woman was a worker within the Cancun Hotel Zone. Traffic along this thoroughfare is omnipresent, and often times at high speed.
Puerto Vallarta
While in Puerto Vallarta remains relatively safe with no tourist incidents of note during the holiday weekend.
That said, there remains criminal activity and what appears to be vigilante type retribution being meted out to the criminals. In late-September 2018, six men were found stripped naked and tied to lamp posts throughout the residential districts of Puerto Vallarta. The six were apparently accused of stealing from homes and assaulting bystanders within the Valentin Gomez Faria neighborhood, not within the hotel, marina, or old Puerto Vallarta zones.
San Jose del Cabo / Cabo San Lucas
San Jose del Cabo and its much more popular sister city along the tip of the Baja California peninsula, Cabo San Lucas had no tourist incidents of not during the holiday weekend.
Earlier in the month, a Canadian retiree and his spouse were killed in a head-on auto accident in the the Cabo San Lucas area. Both cities have multi-lingual tourist police deployed in the downtown areas frequented by tourists. And police regularly patrol the highway between the two cities.
