Cruelbreed
01-25-2009, 03:30 AM
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/01/24/mexico.cartel.arrest/index.html
Figured it was worth a read considering I was just in Mexico 2 weeks ago. I stayed in Cabo and was constantly told to avoid leaving to say Mexico City or Tijuana, as an American you are prone to kidnapping. Not only this there's a lot of violent crime and a good amount of drug trafficking by "mafiosos."
It's very simply to dismiss news such as this, especially when you're a nice place like Cabo, surrounded by beach and sun and you cannot imagine anything but good times. Mexico is a damn hell hole lately, you cannot visit once popular cities like Tijuana anymore. Well fuck, I just read the end of the article and this all happened in Tijuana!
My friends father told me about how 30 years ago he used to go to the likes of Mexico City and Tijuana constantly. Now he tells me he would not even dare take a footstep in either city. He sticks to his vacation house in San Lucas Cabo, that he built approximately 30 years ago. His closest neighbor 30 years ago was the tree planted beside his house as Cabo was relatively non-existent. Now all property around his condo are valued in the multi-million dollars. The neighbor next door is now sammy hagar from Van Halen, you'd see him outside his house everyday like a mere mortal :P The entire beach is covered with high end resorts.
Suddenly you realize some of the injustices in the world. Here's a city that's bustling with American and Canadian tourists, the bread and butter of its business. On every street corner you have someone asking you to enter their business, whether it be a souvenir shop or a restaurant. Without Americans, this town would simply wither away. On every corner exist the Federalis in their dodge chargers, as well as ample security to power a small army. In the harbor sailed a U.S. Coast Guard ship, its guns stowed by a paper thin black veil. A reminder that even in Cabo San Lucas, guns and steel keep the peace. All this chaos in other parts of Mexico, and the only highly protected areas are these tourist areas that bring in American riches. These Americans, Canadians, Australians, South Africans, with their 50-100+ft Yachts and their butchered spanish.
Sometimes I tend to wonder whether things should be different, perhaps more attention should be paid to Mexico's citizens then just us American tourists? To an American citizen this is just a vacation spot, another place to sojourn. I happened to be one of these citizens, and often the thought entered my mind whether it was truly right for me to be enjoying myself so much in the mist of so much world chaos.
I journeyed still, and made the best of my fortunate circumstances, acquiring experiences and memories that I could never forget. For me it was not really about the night life at Cabo Wabo, or Squid Roe, some of the popular local night clubs. It was more about my adventures in the sea of cortez. My time out in the ocean often conjured the thought of what it might have been like to have sailed these seas hundreds of years prior. What might have it been like to be one of the first to explore its majestic creatures? What will it be like one hundred years from now when perhaps it will all cease to exist?
It was a fun filled vacation out on the coast of Cabo. I chose to sleep outside on most nights, there's nothing like the sound of waves and the occasional slap of a jumping manta ray. There was tons of marine life activity, I think the whales and the dolphins were the most interesting for me. Seeing large whales dive feels like something out of a movie, they're so large that when the tail goes up and comes down it looks like it's slow motion.
I never thought animals such as these would be active around humans, two large ones even gave us a nice show, spinning around and flapping their huge fins up and down into the water. We even ran into a large group of dolphins playing with a baby whale, one of them choosing to actually dive under the boat and come up under my dumbass as I leaned over the bowe trying to touch him. The same dolphin later jumped up around 5ft in the air with a spinning display of acrobatics. It was an interesting moment where I really felt these animals must have some semblance of higher intelligence, the dolphin spun around and essentially took a look at me before swimming off. I still regret not being able to reach the last inch to actually touch the brave fellah. I must also say that while I like seals, the fuckers really have a tendency to piss a fisherman off by diving down for their bait and ripping the line off! Happened to us twice, the bastards!
It's funny how nature can sometimes help you forget about all the troubles of the world.
Figured it was worth a read considering I was just in Mexico 2 weeks ago. I stayed in Cabo and was constantly told to avoid leaving to say Mexico City or Tijuana, as an American you are prone to kidnapping. Not only this there's a lot of violent crime and a good amount of drug trafficking by "mafiosos."
It's very simply to dismiss news such as this, especially when you're a nice place like Cabo, surrounded by beach and sun and you cannot imagine anything but good times. Mexico is a damn hell hole lately, you cannot visit once popular cities like Tijuana anymore. Well fuck, I just read the end of the article and this all happened in Tijuana!
My friends father told me about how 30 years ago he used to go to the likes of Mexico City and Tijuana constantly. Now he tells me he would not even dare take a footstep in either city. He sticks to his vacation house in San Lucas Cabo, that he built approximately 30 years ago. His closest neighbor 30 years ago was the tree planted beside his house as Cabo was relatively non-existent. Now all property around his condo are valued in the multi-million dollars. The neighbor next door is now sammy hagar from Van Halen, you'd see him outside his house everyday like a mere mortal :P The entire beach is covered with high end resorts.
Suddenly you realize some of the injustices in the world. Here's a city that's bustling with American and Canadian tourists, the bread and butter of its business. On every street corner you have someone asking you to enter their business, whether it be a souvenir shop or a restaurant. Without Americans, this town would simply wither away. On every corner exist the Federalis in their dodge chargers, as well as ample security to power a small army. In the harbor sailed a U.S. Coast Guard ship, its guns stowed by a paper thin black veil. A reminder that even in Cabo San Lucas, guns and steel keep the peace. All this chaos in other parts of Mexico, and the only highly protected areas are these tourist areas that bring in American riches. These Americans, Canadians, Australians, South Africans, with their 50-100+ft Yachts and their butchered spanish.
Sometimes I tend to wonder whether things should be different, perhaps more attention should be paid to Mexico's citizens then just us American tourists? To an American citizen this is just a vacation spot, another place to sojourn. I happened to be one of these citizens, and often the thought entered my mind whether it was truly right for me to be enjoying myself so much in the mist of so much world chaos.
I journeyed still, and made the best of my fortunate circumstances, acquiring experiences and memories that I could never forget. For me it was not really about the night life at Cabo Wabo, or Squid Roe, some of the popular local night clubs. It was more about my adventures in the sea of cortez. My time out in the ocean often conjured the thought of what it might have been like to have sailed these seas hundreds of years prior. What might have it been like to be one of the first to explore its majestic creatures? What will it be like one hundred years from now when perhaps it will all cease to exist?
It was a fun filled vacation out on the coast of Cabo. I chose to sleep outside on most nights, there's nothing like the sound of waves and the occasional slap of a jumping manta ray. There was tons of marine life activity, I think the whales and the dolphins were the most interesting for me. Seeing large whales dive feels like something out of a movie, they're so large that when the tail goes up and comes down it looks like it's slow motion.
I never thought animals such as these would be active around humans, two large ones even gave us a nice show, spinning around and flapping their huge fins up and down into the water. We even ran into a large group of dolphins playing with a baby whale, one of them choosing to actually dive under the boat and come up under my dumbass as I leaned over the bowe trying to touch him. The same dolphin later jumped up around 5ft in the air with a spinning display of acrobatics. It was an interesting moment where I really felt these animals must have some semblance of higher intelligence, the dolphin spun around and essentially took a look at me before swimming off. I still regret not being able to reach the last inch to actually touch the brave fellah. I must also say that while I like seals, the fuckers really have a tendency to piss a fisherman off by diving down for their bait and ripping the line off! Happened to us twice, the bastards!
It's funny how nature can sometimes help you forget about all the troubles of the world.