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> I truly love the country of México [...] but this terror is too real and I found myself living in constant anxiety of my friends and colleagues being in dange

> I truly love the country of México [...] but this terror is too real and I found myself living in constant anxiety of my friends and colleagues being in danger To be fair with Mexico, those issues don't affect the whole country. Mexico City is pretty safe for example. If you want to travel to Mexico, here is a list of states and cities to avoid: https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/alertswarnings/mexico-travel-warning.html https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/alertswarnings...

telesilla 10y ago
My friends are thinkers and challengers of the system: it's for them I am more worried, that they can't speak freely. I could move to Condesa and live a protected life, but that's just colonialism (using my spending power to put a cocoon around me with Uber and private parties). That's not the México I'm interested in. I've also been mugged rather violently there anyway on Calle Amsterdam, (though no worse than Barcelona for example, being in the wrong place or time) and I've had Mexican friends sitting in traffic going to work, having a gun pulled on them for their wallet. I'm not really sure how safe Mexico City really is, once you get out of the ex-pat bubble.
- zeppelin101 10y ago
  Almost hard to believe that you could have gotten mugged in that part of DF. But maybe at night?
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- _delirium 10y ago
  My very limited experience with Mexico City is that I'd treat it like many U.S. cities: it's fine, if you know which areas to avoid after dark, and which areas to avoid entirely. It is not like a safe European city center where you can go almost anywhere alone on foot at any time of day. But most U.S. cities don't fit that description either. And it's not at the other extreme that some people imagine, some kind of Somalia-esque set of private compounds separated by lawless warzones.
  - homakov 10y ago
    Maybe I was lucky, but I never felt in danger in major US cities walking literally everywhere. While in D.F. I had some anxiety outside of central roads.
    - _delirium 10y ago
      It's hard to give some objective analysis, but I don't personally feel safe walking alone at night in large areas of NYC, Baltimore, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, St Louis, Miami, etc.
      - Trill-I-Am 10y ago
        What parts of NYC?
        _delirium 10y ago
        Most of the Bronx, about half of Queens, about 1/3 of Brooklyn. Manhattan is mostly gentrified these days, with only a handful of exceptions. Staten Island is odd b/c it is barely walkable to begin with, so it's neither safe nor dangerous to walk.
        magic_beans 10y ago
        To be fair, unless you live in the hood in the Bronx or Brooklyn, why would you be walking around alone at night anyway? Also... in which parts of Queens did you feel unsafe? Queens is actually quite safe.
        shados 10y ago
        Everything is relative to what you're used to I guess. I'm from a Canadian suburb, where a 16 years old girl who got attacked in a dark alley at 3:30 am while alone made the news for 3 months because that was the worse thing that had happened in decades. Now I'm in Boston, in a heavily gentrified area, and I'm scared shitless after 11 pm. People all tell me it's a super safe area, but I know a few people who got mugged a few blocks away in various occasions. Maybe it's just bad luck. Maybe compared to other areas, a few people getting their backpack stolen is nothing. But feelings are not always rationals. I don't feel safe here.
- pier25 10y ago
  I've been living in Mexico for 8 years. I'm from Europe and married to a Mexican woman. I've lived in a couple different states (DF, Edo. Mexico, Queretaro, Veracruz, Quintana Roo). I've never once felt not safe, or seen violence. I see the news and I really wonder if I'm living in a different country.
  - skellington 10y ago
    You should try living in Sinaloa, Sonora, Tamaulipas, etc.. The places you listed are all the safe states, which effectively is a different country. It's not super complex, the states near the Gulf/Yucatan are generally the safe ones.
    - qume 10y ago
      I have pretty much the same story (but 4 years) and lived in Sonora and Nayarit. I have close friends living in Sinaloa (expats of 20 years). I now live in Guanajuato, and the only crime I've heard of first or second hand in the years in mx was a worker taking some cash which was laying around, and some gringo's stealing from each other. On the other hand I lost three friends in hurricane Odile, so I guess don't forget nature can be a much bigger threat if not given enough respect.
      - pier25 10y ago
        I lived in Tequisquiapan for a few years which is pretty close! Didn't expect to find someone on HN living in El Bajío. :)
        Insanity 10y ago
        I realise this is a bit of a late comment and you might miss it. But is there any way to contact you? As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I am married to a Mexican woman and I was wondering what it is like to live in Mexico as a European (Specifically software engineers, which you might happen to be as well ;-) )
    - 10y ago

telesilla 10y ago

My friends are thinkers and challengers of the system: it's for them I am more worried, that they can't speak freely. I could move to Condesa and live a protected life, but that's just colonialism (using my spending power to put a cocoon around me with Uber and private parties). That's not the México I'm interested in. I've also been mugged rather violently there anyway on Calle Amsterdam, (though no worse than Barcelona for example, being in the wrong place or time) and I've had Mexican friends sitting in traffic going to work, having a gun pulled on them for their wallet. I'm not really sure how safe Mexico City really is, once you get out of the ex-pat bubble.

zeppelin101 10y ago
Almost hard to believe that you could have gotten mugged in that part of DF. But maybe at night?
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
_delirium 10y ago
My very limited experience with Mexico City is that I'd treat it like many U.S. cities: it's fine, if you know which areas to avoid after dark, and which areas to avoid entirely. It is not like a safe European city center where you can go almost anywhere alone on foot at any time of day. But most U.S. cities don't fit that description either. And it's not at the other extreme that some people imagine, some kind of Somalia-esque set of private compounds separated by lawless warzones.
- homakov 10y ago
  Maybe I was lucky, but I never felt in danger in major US cities walking literally everywhere. While in D.F. I had some anxiety outside of central roads.
  - _delirium 10y ago
    It's hard to give some objective analysis, but I don't personally feel safe walking alone at night in large areas of NYC, Baltimore, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, St Louis, Miami, etc.
    - Trill-I-Am 10y ago
      What parts of NYC?
      - _delirium 10y ago
        Most of the Bronx, about half of Queens, about 1/3 of Brooklyn. Manhattan is mostly gentrified these days, with only a handful of exceptions. Staten Island is odd b/c it is barely walkable to begin with, so it's neither safe nor dangerous to walk.
        magic_beans 10y ago
        To be fair, unless you live in the hood in the Bronx or Brooklyn, why would you be walking around alone at night anyway? Also... in which parts of Queens did you feel unsafe? Queens is actually quite safe.
        shados 10y ago
        Everything is relative to what you're used to I guess. I'm from a Canadian suburb, where a 16 years old girl who got attacked in a dark alley at 3:30 am while alone made the news for 3 months because that was the worse thing that had happened in decades. Now I'm in Boston, in a heavily gentrified area, and I'm scared shitless after 11 pm. People all tell me it's a super safe area, but I know a few people who got mugged a few blocks away in various occasions. Maybe it's just bad luck. Maybe compared to other areas, a few people getting their backpack stolen is nothing. But feelings are not always rationals. I don't feel safe here.
pier25 10y ago
I've been living in Mexico for 8 years. I'm from Europe and married to a Mexican woman. I've lived in a couple different states (DF, Edo. Mexico, Queretaro, Veracruz, Quintana Roo). I've never once felt not safe, or seen violence. I see the news and I really wonder if I'm living in a different country.
- skellington 10y ago
  You should try living in Sinaloa, Sonora, Tamaulipas, etc.. The places you listed are all the safe states, which effectively is a different country. It's not super complex, the states near the Gulf/Yucatan are generally the safe ones.
  - qume 10y ago
    I have pretty much the same story (but 4 years) and lived in Sonora and Nayarit. I have close friends living in Sinaloa (expats of 20 years). I now live in Guanajuato, and the only crime I've heard of first or second hand in the years in mx was a worker taking some cash which was laying around, and some gringo's stealing from each other. On the other hand I lost three friends in hurricane Odile, so I guess don't forget nature can be a much bigger threat if not given enough respect.
    - pier25 10y ago
      I lived in Tequisquiapan for a few years which is pretty close! Didn't expect to find someone on HN living in El Bajío. :)
      - Insanity 10y ago
        I realise this is a bit of a late comment and you might miss it. But is there any way to contact you? As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I am married to a Mexican woman and I was wondering what it is like to live in Mexico as a European (Specifically software engineers, which you might happen to be as well ;-) )
  - 10y ago