Mexico: Too dangerous?

by Brenda Yun on

Just as my Budget Travel piece on Mexico was released, news from Mexico came pouring in that shed unfavorable light on the travel situation south of the border. Within this week alone, Mexico’s been getting some important attention for being one of the most dangerous and travel-unfriendly places in the world to visit right now. Therefore, it seems necessary for us here at Gadling to catalog the recent headlines and stories as an extra precaution for those of you considering travel to Mexico in the coming months.

According to AZFamily.com, a local news station in Phoenix, university kids anticipating spring break in Mexico have been warned of the potential dangers of excessive partying in such hot spots as Puerto Vallarta: “The State Department says violence, especially on the U.S. Mexico border, has reached alarming levels with shoot-outs and kidnappings taking place in broad daylight.”

Some students who had been eagerly awaiting their spring break festivities on a Mexican beach have already cancelled their trips and have decided to wait until the situation gets better, which may be a long time coming. According to the Associate Press, the drug crisis in Mexico continues to escalate, and The Week reports that even Obama is trying to turn the tide by actively taking part in the clamp-down of drug-related crime at the border.

All of the major newspapers, including the Washington Post, which typically focuses on business and political news and tends not to report on travel-related topics, are suggesting heavy caution for travelers to Mexico. This leads me to believe that it might be best to avoid travel in Mexico at this time. This isn’t to say that you can’t or shouldn’t travel anywhere in Mexico. I imagine there are indeed places that are perfectly safe. However, getting to these destinations while avoiding the dangerous ones could prove difficult even for the most savvy of travelers.

Making light of Colombia’s crime problem

by Brenda Yun on


There was much debate in the comments on my article about “dangerous” travel destinations — most of which pertained to the current clean-up of Colombia’s city of Medellín. Having traveled to Colombia for three months during the spring of 2008, I believe Colombia as a country (particularly the dangers of traveling there) is largely misunderstood.

Take Mike Peters’s “Mother Goose & Grimm” comic strip that was published a week ago on January 2, 2009.

The Colombian Coffee Growers Federation, which includes over 500,000 coffee producers, were so offended by Peters’ suggestion that it is suing Peters “for damage and harm, detriment to intellectual property and defamation.” The federation is seeking no less than 20 million dollars, claiming that the cartoon links Colombian coffee to organized crime and “attacks the national dignity and the reputation of coffee from Colombia.”

As a cartoonist, Mike Peters seeks controversy, but this type is harmful to our already skewed perception of Colombia. Peters’s cartoon suggests that Colombia is a dangerous place. I’m not clear about how drinking Colombian coffee could be considered a dangerous activity, but there’s definitely a sense of fear in this comic strip with regard to crime in Colombia.

While I’m all for freedom of speech, I think in this particular instance Peters could have picked a topic that he knew more about or discussed a country that he really understood. Instead, this particular cartoon defames a nation and offers an unfair and inaccurate portrayal of Colombia and its coffee for all the world to see. I just hope readers will know the difference between sarcasm and reality.

[via the Associated Press]

What is a “dangerous” travel destination?

by Brenda Yun on

I’ve been thinking long and hard about what it means to travel to a “dangerous” destination lately because I’m in the process of planning a 2-month trip to Cuba. While Cuba is not considered “dangerous” to citizens of other countries, it does send a little shiver up an American’s spine when thinking about the potential consequences of traveling there without a visa, which I might end up doing. I guess sneaking into Cuba through Mexico or Canada may classify more as “risky” rather than “dangerous,” but I am always willing to take risks so long as I know I will not inevitably put myself in danger. A possible $10,000 fine is quite a price to pay for a visit to a country closed to Americans, however, so I know it’s important to tread lightly.

So I proceeded to do some research on how to estimate a “dangerous” place in the world, and I found the results quite startling. According to Fabiola Hernandez over at Associated Content, the 5 most dangerous countries in the world are Colombia, South Africa, Jamaica, Venezuela, and Russia. Hernandez goes so far to say that, “You wouldn’t want to be caught dead living there, literally.” But do I trust her opinion? Not at all.
This list was generated from a kind-of-handy statistical website called NationMaster.com that spits out national information ranging from Agriculture to Terrorism. Hernandez seemed quick to compile her list by searching for “Crime — Murder per capita.” The “most recent” results of my search are the same as the results Hernandez found nearly two years ago, which leads me to believe NationMaster.com is not at all up-to-date and, therefore, its information is misleading.

I could not disagree more with Hernandez’s list. First, it is completely void of volatile countries in the Middle East. Secondly, I traveled in Colombia, the country at the top of her list, for three months during the spring of 2008 and never felt safer there. Medellín, Colombia’s second largest city that Pablo Escobar made famous, is largely misunderstood. While it may have been the “Murder Capital of the World” five short years ago, this city is quite safe, quite lovely, and quite a tourist hotspot.

I have never been to the other four nations on the list. While I’ve heard that these countries do indeed have their dangerous regions and cities, I know for a fact that there are also some really wonderful, worthwhile places within their borders that it would be a pity if fear prevented a traveler from going there.

I find Hernandez’s estimation of “danger” quite askew, and I feel lists like this are harmful and largely misinterpreted. Sure, the percentage of murders in a country is one thing that could make a place dangerous, but what about terrorism, civil war, theft, and rape? More importantly, fear is the thing that prevents so many travelers from leaving the “safety” of their home. I believe, with proper precautions, even the most dangerous place is just as safe as sitting on your couch. Additionally, you are seeing the world and experiencing life for real, in its rawest, most natural form.

When is Travel Too Dangerous?

by Josh Lew on

Sometimes, common sense is all you need to decide if a trip is too risky. For example, a expedition to build sandcastles on Galveston Island wouldn’t have worked out well during Hurricane Ike.

But at other times the decision to stay or go is a lot less clear. Do you avoid places like Thailand, where current political strife has induced demonstrations and violence? What about Indonesia, where there is always a threat of terrorism bubbling under the surface? Lebanon? Israel…?

I guess in large part, the decision depends on the kind of traveler that you are. Some people just don the pith helmet and wade into the fray, while others avoid it completely, opting for ping pong and cable TV in the safety of their basement. For those of us who are neither overly courageous (or is it reckless?) nor overly fearful, the answer to the question “to go or not to go” is a little more complicated.

So how can you weigh the odds and decide if the positive aspects of a trip are worth putting up with the risk?At some point, you have to honestly ask yourself if you will be a target. I’m not talking about walking through Iran with a crew cut and one of those t-shirts showing an eagle holding the American flag in its beak. If you think that is OK, it’s probably better to stay at home…in your basement. By what if you can be singled out and targeted as a foreigner like the Japanese photographer who was killed last year in Myanmar? If foreigners in a certain country are targets and there seems to be no repercussion for harming them, it is probably best to stay away.

What about past situations in your destination? Thailand has frequent coups. Most do not turn violent; though there are some exceptions. As long as you avoid demonstrations and other confrontational situations, your greatest risk will be a traffic accident. That said, things can happen in the heat of the moment. Even if you don’t feel that you are a target, you might find yourself as one. Australian photographer Neil Davis survived covering the Vietnam War only to be killed by a trigger happy tank gunner during a minor, otherwise non-violent coup, in Thailand.

Aside from the general situation on the ground and a country’s past treatment of visitors, you have to remind yourself about the risks associated with normal travel. The biggest chance you’ll take in most places comes when you try to negotiate your way through unfamiliar traffic.

When is it stupid to step on a ferry or climb in a large wooden boat?

by Jamie Rhein on

The news of the recent ferry accident in the Philippines reminded me of the many ferries I’ve taken in my travels. The journey across the wide mouth of the Gambia River between Banjul, the capital, and Barra, on the side of The Gambia where I lived, comes to mind the most.

Sometimes I made the trip in a large open wooden boat called a pirogue that would have given my mother a heart attack if she had known what I was up to.

When traveling in countries where bridges are scarce, ferry crossings are necessary. If you want to get from here to there, you step on. Generally, thoughts of accidents and the lack of life preservers are fleeting. Instead, one enjoys the thrill of watching one shore grow further away as another comes closer.

In the Gambia, a ferry is filled with people, cars, trucks, animals, motorcycles–basically whatever can be crammed on. It’s a mish mash of no order in particular. I always headed to the top deck to escape the crush.

Of all the crossings I’ve made in my life–and I’m not sure I could count them all, there’s only one that I should have never tried. Once, in a hurry to get to Banjul and not willing to wait for calmer waters, I climbed into one of the large wooden boats as it rocked furiously on the churning river.

A storm might have been coming in, but the owner of the boat, probably looking to make some money, embarked on the trip with about 70 people perched on the wooden boards that served as benches. Every once in a while, the top edge of the boat dipped within a few inches of the surface. We all shrieked each time.

Halfway out, my friend said to me, “If the boat turns over, swim away from it as fast as you can and wait.”

The idea was that the people who couldn’t swim would drown and we could swim back to the boat to hold on until rescued. If we stayed around the boat, people would pull us under.

Sure, I nodded, imagining myself a very strong swimmer, and not thinking too deeply about what such an accident would actually look like.

The truth is, I’m not a strong swimmer but at age 22 that sounded like a plausible plan. As years have passed, I realize just how dumb we were to get on that boat. And, lucky that we made it to the other side.

The last time I took the big ferry across, a cow fell off of it into the water after the ferry pulled away from shore. As I watched the cow swim towards land, its head and horns visible, I wondered just how the owner would get it back. The great thing about The Gambia is that someone would have held onto that cow until the owner came back to get it, even if it took all day and more.

This is a picture I took of the ferry in The Gambia. I was heading to the top deck. The quality stinks, (it’s an old photo, but you get the idea.) For a better picture, click here.

The top picture is of one of the boats similar to the one I took whenever I didn’t take a ferry. The crossing was not quick.

For a detailed account of the ferry crossings in Banjul and a visual look at how wide that river is, click here.