Cancun, Part 8, Safety

Cancun, Mexico, January 2015

Safety

So you've heard all the stories about Mexico, drugs, cartels and violence, haven't you? So had we. But Cancun is usually not included in the list of places that people warn about. And that is for a very good reason: Cancun is safe. And I'm not talking about "stay in the Hotel zone" -type of safety. I'm talking "walking home from bar through small alleys" -safe.

Our hotel, as mentioned before, was located on Lopez Portillo. In many places online this area is already listed as don't-go-neighbourhood for some reason. Maybe it was the molotov cocktail attack on a local bar some 1,5 kilometres from our hotel that happened like five or six years ago? Maybe. In the same time frame there have been some nightclub murders including firearms and what-not in my current hometown of Helsinki in Finland, and nobody would describe it as a no-go zone. It's all about the mental images.

That said... (Well, you always knew that there was going to be a "that-said", surely) The areas north from Lopez Portillo can be intimidating. It's true. Lopez Portillo is basically the line between the downtown (tourists, restaurants, bars, shopping malls) and the uptown (locals and poverty). In fact the local lifestyle can easily be spotted even a bit south from Lopez Portillo. Our shortcut took us through these rougher areas. And still we never ever felt unsafe for a second, even after dark. We did not wander off too much north of Lopez Portillo simply because there seemed to be nothing interesting there. Small alleys and shabby houses; seeing the de facto poverty yourself; if you're into that kind of thing, knock yourself out. It's unlikely you'd end up being dumped on a roadside somewhere outside Cancun with a "Colombian necktie".

Don't drink the tap water. That's just common sense. Lucky for you, the Mexican bottled water is actually delicious. No, seriously, it tastes awesome!

To be continued...