96% of Mexico is Safe for Tourists

With harsh headlines about Mexico still dominating the world's press, it might be expected that vacationers would keep away. However, reports are out that demonstrate that tourists, especially in America, are too savvy to be hoodwinked by scare stories. Now the government is fighting back with answers for the country's critics and data for those weary of being spoon-fed bad news.


Cabo San Lucas
23 million international visitors came to Mexico last year, on business or for pleasure; with their numbers boosted by a further 6 million docking for day-trips from the cruise ships. The majority were citizens of the USA. In 2010, 10% more Americans entered Mexico than in 2009. President Calderon informed a Las Vegas conference of travel executives that 'almost zero' of these even encountered drug violence.

The reason is clear. They were nowhere near the trouble. Mexico is a huge country, divided into 2,500 counties. Of these, only 80 counties are experiencing the problems that dominate coverage in the newspapers. That's only 4% of the total landmass. The remaining 96% of the country ranges from 'relatively safe' through to 'completely safe' from drug cartel violence.


Chichén Itzá
Tourism Secretary Gloria Guevara was asked, in a recent interview, where is it safe to travel to? She replied, "I would say they can go to all the tourist destinations because all the tourist destinations are fine. It depends on whatever you like, but there are a lot of places you should visit and have a great time. Stay away from a couple of cities within the border." ('Popular destinations safe, says Mexico tourism minister'.)

This is a message that is supported by the USA's federal travel warning. This was last updated on April 22nd, 2011, and reads,

Millions of U.S. citizens safely visit Mexico each year, including more than 150,000 who cross the border every day for study, tourism or business and at least one million U.S. citizens who live in Mexico.

The Mexican government makes a considerable effort to protect U.S. citizens and other visitors to major tourist destinations. Resort areas and tourist destinations in Mexico generally do not see the levels of drug-related violence and crime reported in the border region and in areas along major trafficking routes...

...you are urged to defer non-essential travel to the states of Tamaulipas and Michoacán, and to parts of the states of Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sinaloa, Durango, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosi and Jalisco.
Mexico

In short, Mexico's northern border with the USA.


Guadalajara City
This was not the message conveyed by the Texas Department of Public Safety, which issued its own, more extensive warning earlier this year. Spring breakers were told to stay out of Mexico full stop. The penalty for traveling south, the declaration darkly cautioned, would almost certainly be dire. DPS Director Steven C. McCraw was reported widely stating, "Our safety message is simple: avoid traveling to Mexico during Spring Break and stay alive."

He was almost universally ignored. Not only did his predicted bloodbath utterly fail to occur, but the numbers of Spring Breakers reached record proportions in 2010.


Spring Breakers in Cancun
In addition, there has been a steady stream of celebrities crossing the border, for work, pleasure and, in some cases, matrimony, throughout the year. By their very nature, these are the pampered and protected products of film and TV studios or record labels, who would soon be forbidding any destination which might threaten their star.

Yet just today, American journalists were writing, 'Now that Mexico's tourist industry is pulling out of a long, well-publicized slump... we can't help noticing that the uptick parallels an accelerating stream of celebrities visiting the country.' ('Stars head to Mexico for work and pleasure.')


American actors Soleil Moon Frye, Eric Dane, Rebecca Gayheart and their children, on a Memorial Day vacation, in the Four Seasons Resort, Punta de Mita, Mexico
Terry Denton, president of the Travel Leaders/Main Street Place Travel in Fort Worth, explained that, "In the past, people in Texas have rolled things like this off their back because they were savvy with Mexico travel." Though he did report a substantial increase in concerned people visiting his office with their questions, after the DPS warning was issued. "In many cases, we could alleviate any fears and concerns they had by sharing our knowledge of statistics and geography."

However, American travel agencies remained unimpressed with the scaremongering, which could well have hit them right in the pocket. Adventure Travel Trade Association president, Shannon Stowell, was blunt in her response to the issue. "If you look at federal travel warnings, they are very editorial free, just reportage on the facts. But the one that came out of Texas had what I would call an inflammatory message. It was an unfair blanket statement. It's a damage to our membership." ('Tourism groups ask Texas DPS to refine its warnings about Mexico'.)

No-one in government, nor the American tourist agencies, are denying that there are severe troubles in certain parts of the country. Javier Sicilia's peace caravan, which has weaved its route throughout Mexico and is currently at the US border, is just one testimony to that.


Javier Sicilia at the head of the Peace Caravan
President Calderon is the first to admit it. "Yes we have problems... We are dealing with that, we are facing it." He stated, at the Las Vegas conference, but he also commented, "Mexico is a safe place to visit." Because once the hotspot 4% of the country is avoided, then it is.

Tourism Secretary Gloria Guevara also recognized past marketing errors. "We left a gap of lack of information. That gap was filled up with bad news and that happened for a couple years. We realized that was a mistake and we’re fixing it. Yes, we have some challenges but, I haven’t met a country that doesn’t have challenges."

In the meantime, 2011 has been declared the Year of Tourism by Mexico's government; and that tourism is going from strength to strength.

Bono's Birthday Bash in Mexico City

Irish supergroup, U2, were in Mexico last month, as part of their 360° Tour. If the notion of seeing them in concert was enough to excite fans, then what happened next drove them into a frenzy.

Lead singer, Bono, was celebrating his 51st birthday, with crowds gathered at his restaurant to catch a glimpse of the band. That was all the excuse he needed to step out onto the streets. The champagne cork was popped right in the middle of his over-joyed fans.



Bono had already been establishing his Mexican credentials. On stage, he donned a sombrero offered by a fan; wearing it for a chorus of 'The Real Thing' before handing it back. Later, he declared, 'we are Irish Latinos'. The crowd appreciated it. They apparently had adopted Mexican pseudonyms for the event.

Adam was introduced as Rafa Marquez, while 'behind me, he never changes, he still looks 24, the chicharito of the band, Larry Mullen' and Edge was christened Hugo Sanchez.
'Where's Frank?' www.u2.com

Mexico City's Aztec Stadium was packed out for the three nights that they played. Each concert had sold out to its capacity of 105,000 tickets, but a good view was assured by the staging. The 360° Tour refers to the circular platform upon which U2 were playing. Huge screens relayed images of the band above their heads.


The 300k plus crowds in Mexico were just a drop in the ocean for this tour. It has already become the high-grossing tour, by any artist, in history. An estimated $558 million has been made from it.

Since forming, in 1976, U2's activism and promotion of social issues have been as famous as their music. Their trip to Mexico was no exception. From the Aztec Stadium's stage, on the final night, Bono highlighted the plight of victims of drug violence in northern Mexico; and castigated the unchecked flow of arms from the USA. His speech led to a rendering of 'Pride (In the Name of Love)', with slightly altered lyrics to create a Mexican context. (Footage of the event can be found here.)


Mexican president, Felipe Calderon, was in the audience that night. Bono, who seems to have had a private audience with just about every world leader, prominent peace activist and religious representative of the past two decades, was invited to meet with President Calderon.

Their discussions took place behind closed doors, in the presidential offices at Los Pinos, in Bosque de Chapultepec. It is believed that they covered the issues caused by arms and drugs trade, poverty, global warming and Mexico's role as host of the G-20 meeting in 2012.

Real de Catorce: A Magical 'Ghost Town' Part Three

While some people see a ghost town, steeped in history, spirituality and freely growing peyote, others see a movie set. The empty streets of Real de Catorce have been used as the backdrop for so many documentaries and films, that many outside Mexico subconsciously picture the town as Mexico.


'The Mexican', starring Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts, is one of the more famous movies shot in Real de Catorce. Here are two scenes from it, both showing the town.





Brad Pitt was later interviewed after the shoot and he said that Real de Catorce was 'a trip'. There are places in the town, where photographs of the filming are displayed. Local people were able to get very close to the stars, so some of the photos are very candid.

The movie also had a huge effect on the town in terms of amenities. Just one 'phone line and the electricity switching off at 8pm might have been considered fine for the residents, but a Hollywood film crew wasn't about to put up with that. By the time they left, the town had much more wiring and communications infrastructure.



Some of the local residents don't stop at allowing their town to be used as the backdrop to movies. They feature in them too. The chef of Ruinas del Real Hotel was in 'Pirates of the Caribbean'.


Ruinas del Real Hotel is just one of the handful of hotels and B&Bs set up to cater to the boom in tourism here. It is also the place favored by the incoming film crews. Guests here can stay in 'The Julia Roberts Suite', where the bathroom was especially built to the actress's specifications. (I guess that she wasn't prepared to 'slum' it, though the bathrooms throughout the hotel are quite satisfactory!)

Another big name movie shot in Real de Catorce was 'Bandidas', starring Penélope Cruz and Salma Hayek.



It's not just modern film crews that have descended upon the town. Back in 1948, John Huston arrived, with an ensemble cast, which included Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, and Tim Holt, in order to shoot 'Treasure of the Sierra Madre'. (You'll know it by the classic line, "We don't need no stinking badges!", which has been parodied in so many places since, despite being a misquotation.)


This was the first American movie to be shot on location entirely outside the USA. Some scenes were filmed in Durango and Tampico. It was also amongst the first 100 films to be selected for perservation, in the United States National Film Registry, as being 'culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant'.

Real de Catorce: A Magical 'Ghost Town' Part Two

Real de Catorce sits 2,750 meters (9,022ft) above sea level, high up in the Sierra Catorce mountains. This is one of the highest plateaus in Mexico. In 1779, there was no access road, no buildings, no sanitation and no water, but there was silver. With silver came the mines; and with the mines came the people. Almost overnight, it seemed, a large town sprang up from this barren, desert landscape. It was hedonistic and practically lawless. Life savings could be lost, and fortunes made, on a single cockfight. Yet still the people poured in.

It wasn't only the Mexican people here. As news of Real's silver wealth spread, people came from all over the globe to try their luck in this anarchistic town. Many were Spanish, but there was a British mining company too; and it was a Guatemalan, Silvestre Lopez Portillo, who first set about forging a proper town from the chaos. He brought the amenities, law, local government and planning that served a population, which had now boomed to 15,000 people.


In its heyday, Real had 190 mines, extracting some of the highest price silver in the world. It had its own mint, a bullring and shops selling luxury items from Europe. It had a theater, which the celebrities of the day would visit. In 1895, the town even welcomed the president, Porfirio Díaz, when he came to the inaugaration of new machinery in one of the mines.

Yet the greatest achievement had to be the tunnel which allowed access into Real itself. 2,300 meters (7,546ft) long, this subterranean road is still used to reach the town. Walking or driving through it can be an utterly surreal experience. Thousands of people have passed along it, filled with their hopes and dreams, or the desolution of their losses.


In 1900, the international price of silver plummeted. It wasn't worth keeping the mines open, so one by one they shut. The trickle of people leaving became a flood, until only a few were left. Buildings lay empty. The mine-shafts were boarded up. The great and grand mansions sank into ruin. Thus the town is now and, for many tourists, is its charm. They wander through streets that, just a century ago, were teeming with crowds; and peer into windows, where people lived and worked and raised their families.

Only a thousand people still live permanently in Real de Catorce. A couple of the mines remain open, but the digs are small scale. Many of the residents find work in serving the tourists: those who come for the indian shamans, the peyote, the history or the ghost town spectacle. A couple of the mines have been opened as tourist attractions too. But there is also another class of regular visitors - the Catholic pilgrims.


Templo de la Purisima Concepcion (Church of the Immaculate Conception) was lavishly built in the 1790s, but was added to throughout the 19th century. Master builders and silversmiths were brought in from Mexico City, to create some of the beautiful details throughout the interior. It's a truly glorious church to visit. However, the pilgrims aren't here for the spectacle. They are here for the miracles.

The church is home to an image of St Francis de Assisi. The statuette has the affectionate nick-names of 'Panchito' or 'El Charrito'. Reports of miracles occurring, after leaving votive offers in front of St Francis, started early in the town's history. As Real died, this belief never did. Today, the area around the image is shrewn with candles and metal plaques, engraved with details of successful blessings.


On his feast day, October 4th, the town is busy again, as the streets fill with thousands of Catholics come to pay homage to this image. The festivities begin around September 20th and last into late October, though the 4th has the largest events.

Many people, who trace their ancestry to those who used to live in the town during the silver days, return with their families. They come to ask for favors, or give thanks for miracles enacted in their own lives. There are so many pilgrims that they couldn't possibly fit into the church, thus St Francis is taken out and paraded through the streets.

It is a time for piety, but this being Mexico, food, drink, song and dance also make up a large part of the tradition. Yet all of this is done in simplicity. It's a time for self-reflection and the emotions, not lavish hedonism. Just part of the inherent spirituality of the place, as was discussed in yesterday's blog.


By the end of October, the Catholic pilgrims all go away and Real de Catorce takes on its ghost town aspect again.

Real de Catorce: A Magical 'Ghost Town' Part One

In its heyday, Real de Catorce, in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, was a bustling mining town with a population of 15,000. These days, it's a parched village, surrounded by ruins. It's often labelled a 'ghost town', despite the remaining 1,000 residents; and despite the steady stream of Catholic pilgrims and Pagan mystics. The industry may be mostly over, but the spirituality goes on; and, of course, this is the land of peyote.


Since ancient times, the Huichol Indians have returned annually to the Catorce Valley. They come from miles around, often walking for weeks, from their lands in far-flung states. Even today, they will come from Nayarit, Durango, Jalisco and Zacatecas, in order to pay their respects in this holy place.

Here is Cerro del Quemado, perched up in the mountaineous Sierra Catorce, a sacred center for these people. It is the birthplace of the God, Tatewari, also known as Grandfather Fire. Three concentric rings of stone, within which offerings have been left since time immemorial. To the side of the ceremonial shrine, there is a relatively recent addition. It's a limestone shack, within with a candle burns. The sacred flame. Traditionalists, amongst the Huichol Indians, will come here three times a year. Once to ask; once to say; and once to give thanks.


The Huichol Indians will then venture down into the Catorce Valley (or Wirikuta in the Huichol tongue) to gather their holy plant. It will be used in rituals back home. It is a catcus called peyote, those properties cause hallucinogenic visions. For the hippies and drug tourists, steeped in chemically produced LSD, this is the real thing. Thus they too come in their droves, to soak up the spiritual ambiance and to harvest their own wild peyote.

It's a situation which is threatening the survival of the catcus itself. So much of it has been removed that Wirikuta peyote is in danger of disappearing from the landscape.

The government recently launched a campaign to protect it. It's now illegal for anyone but the Huichol Indians to pick it. The whole valley has been made part of an ecologically protected zone. The wardens are all Huichol Indians, who patrol the valley. They not only stop people picking peyote, but also educate them on why this should be necessary.


This isn't the first time that the native people have endeavoured to protect this holy place. The Spanish-Mexican name for the valley and the mountain is Catorce, aka Fourteen. The town that was built, when silver was discovered in the Sierra Catorce, is Real de Catorce, or The Royal Fourteen. This refers to fourteen Spanish soldiers ambushed by Chichimec warriors.

The Chichimeca were semi-nomadic people, who lived in this area, at the time of the Spanish conquest. Conquistador Hernán Cortés considered them not nearly as civilized as the Atzec people. In 1526, Cortés wrote to Spain, saying that the Chichimeca would be good as slaves and that they could be put to work in the fledging silver mines.

The tribe fought a long and bloody war against enslavement, from 1550-1590, with the Catorce name around here being a legacy of one of those meetings. The Spanish didn't get a foothold in these mountains until 1721. Even then, the Chichimeca were never conquered.

On the Trail of Timothy Leary

For many hippies, wandering in the footsteps of Timothy Leary, the psychedelic trail begins and ends in San Francisco, USA. However, for the man himself, the journey began in Cuernavaca, Mexico.

For a writer in modern-day Mexico, it seems a bit perverse to talk about those halycon days of the 1960s, when a great tidal wave of love and peace rose up on a sea of LSD. It is recalled as a more innocent time or, as Hunter S Thompson put it, in 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas',

There was madness in any direction, at any hour... You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning ....

And that, I think, was the handle—that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn’t need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting—on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave ....

The same novel name-checks Timothy Leary several times. He is the psychologist and Harvard lecturer cited with causing the whole Summer of Love. So what actually happened to him in Mexico to inspire this entire movement?

Dr Timothy Leary was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. He spent some time in the army, stationed at West Point, before undertaking a degree in psychology at the University of Alabama. A Master's degree in the same was achieved, at Washington State University, before Leary moved on to gain his PhD at University of California, Berkeley. He stayed on at the latter, as a professor and director of psychiatric research; before transferring to Harvard University, as a lecturer in psychology.



It was while at Harvard that a colleague, Anthony Russo, invited Dr Leary to come on vacation to Cuernavaca, Mexico. Cuernavaca had long since been established as the 'Beverley Hills of Mexico'. It had been the vacation destination of choice for such Hollywood stars as Rita Haywood, as well as notorious American gangsters, like Al Capone. Then, as now, vacationers to the city could glimpse visiting royalty from all over the world. This was the location of Malcolm Lowry's seminal novel, 'Under the Volcano'. It was a Mecca for artists and writers everywhere.

On August 9th, 1960, Leary and Russo sat around a swimming pool, in their rented villa, Casa del Moros, downing shots of finest tequila. However, Russo had been here before and he had something else to share. He had first read of the religious rituals of the local Mazatec people, in a 1957 'Life' magazine article. The ceremony had included imbibing wild mushrooms, which caused visions. Russo's previous trip had involved seeking out these mushrooms and eating them himself. He wanted to do it again and asked Leary to accompany him.

They called upon Gerhardt Braun, from the University of Mexico, who had also encountered records of these mushrooms. As an historian, anthropologist and linguist, his findings had been academic. He had been translating ancient Aztec texts, when he'd read about their ceremonies. This also included the ritual use of the mushrooms, inducing mystic states, where the gods would speak directly to them. Braun knew from these texts where the mushrooms might be found, so set out to locate them in the modern day.

In the market town of San Pedro, he found an elderly lady, named Old Juana, who procured a bag of them for him. Braun raced back to the Cuernavaca villa, where Leary and Russo were staying. He gleefully invited the two academics to share his mushrooms with him. They both did so. Leary took the bowl and sniffed them, stating that they had the aroma of a New England basement, or a downed and rotting tree. He then ate seven of them, chasing away the bitter taste with some good Mexican beer. Leary recalled that he started "suddenly... to feel strange."

They hadn't quite realised how strong the mushroom trip would be. There six adults in all, sharing the villa, who had decided to participate in the quaint Mexican ritual. They all had children with them. Leary retained just enough wherewithal to call to a pregnant lady with them, who had declined the invitation to join them. He asked her to take the children out into Cuernavaca, to show them the sights or take them to the movies. She agreed to his request. A second sober adult stayed on to take notes. For those tripping, four hours passed in an instant.



Dr Leary was later to write that "it was the classic visionary voyage and I came back a changed man. You are never the same after you've had that one flash glimpse down the cellular time tunnel. You are never the same after you've had the veil drawn." He also declared that he'd learned more about psychology, during the 5 hours of the trip, than he had in 15 years of studying the subject as an academic. Leary took the mushrooms back with him to Harvard University and opened up a whole research department.

The studies included giving the mushrooms to 300 professors, graduate students, writers and philosophers, as well as 200 religious clerics. Leary wanted investigate the properties of the mushrooms, with a view to aiding alcoholics and reforming hardened criminals. It was initially a great success. 75% of those taking the mushrooms reported mystical visions and life-changing revelations. There were no ill effects on record. However, Leary then started giving the mushrooms to undergraduates and that brought him into conflict with the Harvard University administration.

What ensued was a rollercoaster ride through culture and counter-culture. As LSD, and the mushrooms, became illegal in America, in 1966, Dr Leary continued to preach the mystic properties of imbibing them. He lost his job at Harvard and spent time in trouble with the law. However, his status amongst the global hippy continguent elevated him into a hero, a legend and a prophet.

Throughout this time, Cuernavaca remained high in his esteem, as a place of pilgrimage. The start of it all. He returned several times, including immediately after being fired from Harvard University, and he set up a center of psychedelia there. The Summer of Love may have faded into legendary memory, but Cuernavaca is still popular with tourists. They are generally unaware of the city's association with Leary. They may come more for the cathedral and picturesque streets, but they come in their droves. It's a place for the rich kids of Mexico City to take some time out in the countryside. And for the hippies on the Timothy Leary trail, it's a place to look out 'with the right kind of eyes' and smile.

Cancún Shopping: The Mercados

Cancún is a great place for shopping. There are several malls, a handful of markets and a plethora of smaller stores in between. Brand names items may sometimes be bought a lot more cheaply than back home; while handcrafted products might provide that perfect souvenir of Mexico.

In today's blog, we'll be having a little skim around the mercados (markets). There are two major mercados in downtown Cancún, and many smaller ones. Each have a different feel to them and many specialize in certain kinds of merchandise. The vendors will expect you to haggle to secure the right price.

Mercado 23

(Pron: mare-cah-doh vain-tee tres)

Open: 7.30am - 6pm



Mercado 23 is the place to go for local produce. It was the first market created in Cancún and it is where the residents go shopping. There are fewer tourists there and, accordingly, many of the vendors are monoglot Spanish speakers.

This local feel is also reflected in the merchandise on offer. This tends towards those items which are only useful if you live there, for example, fresh food, hardware, clothes and shoes. However, pressure from the many new malls and supermarkets means that Mercado 23 is slowly taking on more tourist trade. Those looking for souvenirs will be able to pick up some pottery, pinatas, hammocks, small pieces of jewelry or Mexican clothing, otherwise you would be better off at Mercado 28.

Where Mercado 23 really comes into its own is with the fresh fruit and vegetables. Those more used to buying such produce in supermarkets have possibly never smelt fruit and vegetables. (Supermarkets coat them in a very thin layer of wax, so they survive longer on the shelves.) The scent of the food, at Mercado 23, will therefore be guaranteed to start the mouth watering for some healthy food.

This isn't the only food there though. Gigantic pork scratchings; dried and cured herbs, grains and beans; meat; and confectionary are all on offer at local prices. For those with a sweet tooth, then the candy stores, supplying contents for the pinatas, are truly something to behold.

There are restaurants and small food vendors here too. The meals are cheaper than most in Cancún and are authenically Mexican. Their main customers are, after all, the local people.

Stall-holders will haggle for prices, but it's not as aggressively as at Mercado-28.


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Mercado 28

(Pron: mare-cah-doh vain-tee ocho)

Opening times: 9am - 8pm



Mercado 28 is the place to go for souvenirs of your Mexican vacation. It is the largest market in Cancún and, while the other markets specialise, this one has everything.

Its brightly colored streets are home to a variety of shops and stalls, ranging from bric-a-brac to quality items. This is the place for handmade Mexican crafts, art, books, calendars, hammocks, herbs, rugs, blankets, pottery, handbags, baskets, statues, hats; as well as silver jewellery.

Dotted here and there are the food vendors offering some of the most delicious fare in the city. The seafood is especially good; it's caught on the same day and prepared on site. More mainstream establishments include banks, ATMs, Internet cafes, pharmacies/drugstores and the post office. Mercado-28 is a vibrant place, where those with an eye for a bargain can be sure to get it. Some of the cheapest items, tickets/tours to local attractions and food in Cancun can be found in this market.

There are over 100 shops, packed around a large square, which make up the Mercado 28. The buildings wind through maze-like aisles, covered over for shade. It should be noted that this is a vast area, so, if travelling with a party of people, arrange a time and place to meet up again later on. You can and probably will get separated in the market, then never find each other again. There are quiet areas to sit back, chill out, watch a bit of street theatre or a band, soak up the local atmosphere and sip a cold drink.

Though primarily tourists are the main customers here, there will be many local people too. They are likely to be heading for the restaurants and cafes on the site. Originally, Mercado 28 was a market for local people, but they gave in to the demand from the tourists for more souvenir type goods, while the stores catering for local produce tended to congregate in Mercado 23. Nevertheless, the eateries are the same establishments that have always been there. The food and prices in them are authentically Mexican, rather than gearing towards other nationalities.

Please note that you may be approached here to buy recreational drugs. Just say 'no gracias' and walk on by (assuming that you don't want to take up their offer).

The easiest way to get there is via bus from the hotel zone. The market is then two blocks away. (Taxis will likely take you to their friend's stores.) The return bus can be caught from near to the Walmart. The maximum time it will take to get there on the bus is 45 mins and that's from the most southern tip of the hotel zone.


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Mercado Ki Huic

(Pron: mare-cah-doh key-wick)

Opening times: 9am - 10pm



Ki Huic is one of the historic markets of Cancún and is set out as a maze of aisles in the open air. It is billed as a crafts market and it deals primarily in souvenirs for tourist trade.

This is the place for tequila shot glasses, serapes, blouses, shirts, silver jewellery, handicrafts and curios, though there is also a bank, a money exchange and some restaurants.

Haggling is expected here, but as it's a smaller market than Mercado 28, the bargains might be harder to achieve. Still there are 100 stalls here, so there's plenty for visitors to see.


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Mercado Coral Negro

(Pron: mare-cah-doh co-ral nee-grow)

Opening: Every day, 8am - midnight.



Coral Negro is like a smaller version of Mercado 28. There are only 50 stalls there, compared to the hundreds in the larger markets. There are no price-tags and the vendors will quote whatever they think they can get away with. It is up to the buyer to then haggle their own price. (Tip: The stalls deeper in the market sometimes have better deals than those on the edges.)

Where Coral Negro does come into its own is with the jewellery. In the depths of its market is the jewelry quarter, enclosed within sliding glass doors and air-conditioning inside. Here every surface glitters and sparkles with Mexican silver and gems of all shapes and sizes. Note: When buying silver, look for the .925 hallmark. That ensures that it's genuine.

Mostly though the market is filled with souvenir items, like handicrafts, hammocks, sombreros, t-shirts, charro suits, Mexican candy, carvings, local art, tequila and hammocks. There are also people offering to braid your hair or to give you a temporary Henna tattoo. Inside, there may also be spray paint artists, offering planetary landscapes for you to take home.

As with Mercado 28, you may be approached by people selling illegal drugs. The same advice applies.


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Mexican Violence Isn't That Widespread

We have covered the drug violence before, in Drug Wars - Cancún is Safe for Tourists. It was heartening to read that, amongst all of the scare stories and misinformation, some of the international news sources are conveying the reality of the situation. Today's blog is a little round up of some of them.



"If you look at history, today we have fewer murders, both in raw numbers and rates," said Mario Arroyo, a researcher with the Citizens' Institute for Crime Studies, a Mexico City think tank.

The statistics show that the most deadly violence is happening in northern Mexico close to the U.S. border where smuggling occurs, and in the states where marijuana and heroin are produced. Also:

• The state with the lowest murder rate is Yucatán, the Gulf of Mexico state known for its beaches and Mayan ruins. Its murder rate of 2 per 100,000 was comparable to Wyoming and Montana.

• Washington, D.C.'s murder rate is nearly quadruple that of the Mexican capital, Mexico City. Washington's murder rate was 31.4 per 100,000 people in 2008; Mexico City's rate in 2009 was 8."
Mexico's violence not as widespread as seems, USA Today, August 2010

"The news media prefer to report horrible events rather than address the reality; Mexico is, in general, a very safe country -- with the notable and news-making exception of Juarez and other border towns -- and has far less violent crime than any large U.S. city," says Barbara Erickson, one of more than a million Americans who lives safely in Mexico.

According to Erickson, a San Miguel de Allende resident, "one would have a greater chance of being hit by lightning than being shot or kidnapped by a drug load's gang."
How Safe is Mexico?, AOL Travel News, March 2010



The Miami Herald went further still. It cited that, while Mexico, as a whole, had a murder rate of 11.5 per 100,000 people, Washington DC has a rate of 31 per 100,000 people, while New Orleans has a rate of 74/100,000! Despite the news headlines, the homocide rate in Mexico has dropped significantly during the past ten years; while modern day murders tend to be 'concentrated in a few cities, mainly in Sinaloa, Chihuahua and Baja California'.

The commentary added, "To say that it's unsafe to travel to Mexico City, Puerto Vallarta or Cancún -- or that you wouldn't allow your children to spend spring break in that country, as Fox News' right-wing airhead Bill O'Reilly said last year -- is as irresponsible as saying that it's unsafe to travel to some of the biggest U.S. cities.

The State Department's travel alert, while correctly pointing out that the violence is concentrated in some Mexican states, should have put Mexico's national figures in perspective. It wouldn't be a bad idea if, from now on, it compared them with other countries' murder rates, and with that of its own home city -- Washington, D.C."
Mexico's drug-related violence isn't widespread across the country, The Miami Herald, March 2010

All of these stories were pretty much referring to the same source. That was the United Nations findings. I went to read the original for myself, but found another great story instead.

Human Trafficking is a global issue. It is effectively modern day slavery; snatching vulnerable people from around the world and selling them onto private individuals or into brothels, usually in another country. Organizations like Amnesty International have long since been campaigning for governments to take note and help those brought into their realm. The United Nations recently came on board and launched its Blue Heart Campaign. Guess which country was the first to sign up for it? Viva Mexico!



"Mexico became the first country today to launch a national version of the United Nations-led “Blue Heart” campaign against human trafficking, which is regarded as one of the most lucrative forms of illegal activity for criminal groups.

“I admire Mexico’s leadership in fighting this modern slavery demonstrated through its strong commitment to the ‘Blue Heart’ campaign,” said Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which spearheaded the global campaign."
Mexico leads countries in UN ‘Blue Heart’ human trafficking campaign, UN News Service, April 2010.

Much kudos too for the USA, which launched its campaign two months later; and Spain, who are gearing up to start their campaign.

Drug Wars - Cancún is Safe for Tourists.

It was Monday morning and the blogosphere was buzzing. Bodies had been found near Cancún! Everyone should run away! Stay at home! Batten down the hatches! Hide under the bed! From the unsettling details of the original news sources, each blogger seemed to build upon the last person's blog, until a wave of hysteria had piled on heaps of fiction as fact. A casual reader would be forgiven for thinking that Cancún tourists were being collected up en masse, taken out to deserted places, then tortured slowly to death.

Er. No.

Let's try and gain some perspective here. Yes, there are drug wars in Mexico. However, Mexico is a very big place and it is important to note where these drugs wars are occurring. They are on the main route between Colombia and the USA. Colombia, where 90% of the world's cocaine is produced; and the USA, which is the main market for the finished product. For this, Mexico is best described as a thoroughfare, a highway, the delivery route. Other types of drugs might be home-grown/produced, but they are mostly all heading in the same direction - up into America. It is in the American border states where trouble flares. The American Government's current travel warning names three of them: Chihuahua, Coahuila and Durango. Cancún is in Quintana Roo.



Because maps don't really give you the scale of distance, let me clarify. Cancún is 2145 kilometers (1333 miles) away from Chihuahua.

Cancún is miles away from the flashpoints of violence.

You might point to the port in Cancún, then move upwards to highlight its marine proximity to the American state of Florida. This is very true, but also extremely problematic. If you read the previous blogs on the pirates of the Caribbean, you will have noted that they died out because the Caribbean Sea became too well policed for piracy to continue. This is still the case. There is a naval base on Isla Mujeres for a start. Plus Cancún relies upon tourism for its economy. Tourists only come if they feel safe. Therefore Cancún is one of the most heavily patrolled cities in Mexico. No city is totally without crime, but the crime rate in Cancún is very low. If you were a drug baron, would you prefer to move unmolested through the jungles and outbacks of central Mexico or run the gauntlet of police, armed forces and customs officers in Cancún?

Cancún is extremely well policed; its economy relies upon keeping tourists safe.

Of course, the sceptics will still be pointing towards those bodies in a cave, which most definitely did occur in Cancún. Yes, it did. The bodies have not yet been identified, but they are unlikely to be tourists. The big clue is in the fact that no tourists have been reported missing. Without an official word on the subject, any attempt to identity them or their murderer(s) is pure speculation. However, it is known that the victims were all Mexicans, which makes it unlikely that they were tourists. Even the lurid details are mostly exaggerated rumour, based on early reports getting it slightly wrong. The victims did not have their hearts cut out. They were stabbed repeatedly in the heart, hence their demise.

Now let us enter the world of speculation: The precedent of previous similiar situations (generally hundreds of miles away) leads us to assume that the six victims were members of a drug cartel themselves. That is how it tends to work. Gang-warfare. Horrific and stomach-turning, but it's gang against gang. It's point scoring. It's a power struggle. It's one cartel saying to another cartel, this is my territory and my livelihood, so go away. Now why on Earth would that point be made by targeting random tourists, rather than, say, one cartel's best delivery men and women? If anything, that's like killing off potential customers!

Cancún is completely safe, unless you're a member of a drug cartel. In which case, you already know the risks.

So why is the American government warning people to stay away from Cancún? Why is the media full of dark portents and dire speculation for the future? And why is there a wave of shrieking bloggers flailing in panicked print and telling us to flee?

To address the first point, Americans aren't being officially warned against Cancún.

Please read the advice for yourselves: US Department of State Travel Warning: Mexico. Here are the relevant bits for the subject of this blog:

Some recent confrontations between Mexican authorities and drug cartel members have resembled small-unit combat, with cartels employing automatic weapons and grenades. Large firefights have taken place in towns and cities across Mexico, but occur mostly in northern Mexico, including Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana, Chihuahua City, Nogales, Matamoros, Reynosa and Monterrey. During some of these incidents, U.S. citizens have been trapped and temporarily prevented from leaving the area. The U.S. Mission in Mexico currently restricts its U.S. government employees’ travel within the state of Durango, the northwest quadrant of the state of Chihuahua and an area southeast of Ciudad Juarez, and all parts of the state of Coahuila south of Mexican Highways 25 and 22 and the Alamos River. This restriction was implemented in light of a recent increase in assaults, murders, and kidnappings in those three states....

... U.S. citizen visitors are encouraged to stay in the well-known tourist areas.

In other words, the warning isn't for the whole country. It's for the border areas, right up in the north of the country. You are far closer to it in California, Arizona, New Mexico or Texas, then you are in Cancún. But if you are travelling, then keep to tourist areas. The message here is clear: the tourist areas are safer.

The first thing that any government does, when trouble strikes, is to remove their personnel from the area. The US Consul is still fully staffed in Plaza Caracol, Cancún. (Surely that is the best posting in the world? Imagine the scene: you've just been made a US ambassador and you're waiting to find out there. Will be it a warzone? Will it be somewhere cold or dull? No, it's Cancún. Hurrah!)

The papers are full of nay-sayers, because that sells newspapers. Have a read of Greenslade's Blog, The Good News About Bad News - It Sells for more about that. Though the crux of it lies here:

... peoples' interest in news is much more intense when there is a perceived threat to their way of life... Fear and poverty stimulate greater interest in news... Note how fear in developed countries, created in recent times by terrorism, also sells many thousands more newspapers.

In short, a headline screaming, 'Lots of Fun, Partying and Alcohol Happened in Cancún', is hardly going to be read, let alone reproduced across the blogosphere; unlike 'People Tortured to Death and Dumped in Cancún'.

As for blogs, many are reactive. This blog is reactive. It's been written as a reaction to the list of other blogs out there telling me that Cancún is now a hotbed of dangerous gang-warfare, with people dragged off the streets and horrificially murdered. *looks out of the window* Really? Because right now it's looking as chilled out as ever. Beautiful people lounging on white sands in front of a turquoise sea. Flip-flops clop-clopping as people drift along the boulevard without a care in the world. Sun rising in a cloudless sky. But what do we know? We only live here.



Though you could have a look through the testimonials of other people who live and work here: Cancun is Safe! That's a website founded by a native Cancunese called Camilo, who became so tired of the smear stories about our amazing city, that he fought back with reality. Please avoid his website if you only like to read bad news.

Is It Legal?

Many people come to Mexico for a good time. They want the beaches, parties, free flowing alcohol and sun. It might never occur to them that entering another country means being subject to different laws, which may not be anything like their counterparts back home. If you commit a crime in Mexico, then you will be subject to Mexican law.

It's worth knowing what that law is then! We've compiled the most commonly queried legalities.

Alcohol

The age to legally drink alcohol in Mexico is eighteen.

Driving

You need to be 18 in order to drive in Mexico, however most rental agencies require the driver to be 21 years old.

Drugs

If you are carrying, or intend to buy, prescription drugs, then it is worth checking that they are also legal in Mexico. The Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risk (COFEPRIS) can help there. Their website, in English, is here. Each country differs on what is or isn't allowed, so even if your doctor back home gave them to you, they might be illegal over the border. It is also illegal to procure drugs with a prescription written by a doctor outside Mexico. You will need go see a doctor in Mexico first, then get him/her to prescribe your medication.

Some drugs, which may be illegal in your own country, are legal in small amounts in Mexico. These are quantities judged to be for personal use. They include: 5g marijuana, half a gram of cocaine, 50mg of heroin, 40mg of methamphetamine or 0.015mg of LSD. Anything over that is not legal.

Possession or use of any drugs deemed illegal in Mexico can carry a prison sentence of up to 25 years.

Firearms

Anyone wishing to take firearms, or ammunition, into Mexico can do so. However, they need a permit, secured prior to entry. It's not enough to declare the firearm at the border. These are strictly controlled and the penalties high.

Sex

The age of consent in Mexico is a little more complex than in neighbouring countries. The Federal Law, which exists as the minimum throughout the country, states that the age of consent is 12 years old (with restrictions). However, there is also state law, which changes depending upon which Mexican state you are in at the time. This places the minimum age at 12 (or puberty) through to 15. For example, in Quintana Roo, where millions of vacationers visit Cancun, the age of consent is 12.

However, before everyone goes cradle-snatching, please look again at that 'with restrictions' part. All of this very much relies upon the youngster being able to consent, with no complaints from him/her nor from his/her family. This includes consent given through seduction or deceit. In short, if the act has taken place, then either the child or their family complains, then the other party may find themselves with a lengthy prison term.

Moreover, some countries, like the USA, have laws on their own statute books governing sexual relations with minors in another country. In other words, it is legally possible for an American to travel to Mexico, engage with acts with a twelve year old; leave with no complaints nor arrest under Mexican law; then return home to find themselves on trial in their own country for 'sexual tourism' paedophilia.

It's probably much safer to move onto the age of consent (without restrictions). Again this varies from state to state, ranging from 16 to 18. In Quintana Roo, it is 18. The 'without restrictions' means that the family have no say in the matter and, unless someone has actually been raped, then there are no legal penalties.

Please note that the above applies equally to heterosexual and homosexual intercourse. It's all equal.