The weather is lovely, my yard is full of colibris, and I had a great Editorial full of good news sent off to the printer and…then…kaboom! My dogs started fighting, I locked myself out of my house, took a tumble on the concrete, and spent the next few hours in my nighty – tearing apart my front door because 1990s Mexican glass just will not break, no matter what tool from my garage you use. Oh yeah, and then violence and mass hysteria broke out down south.
So, here I am, having ditched my last Editorial trying to figure out how to address our current situation here in Puerto Peñasco, but the problem is, we don’t have a “situation”. Everything here is exactly the same as it was before the weekend. We are still going to the beach, shopping, dining out, going to work, and driving to and from the border. We have not been affected by an incident over 1,700km away from us. Well, not entirely true – we have been affected since we’ve had quite a few cancellations. I will only speak for us here at The Rocky Point Times Newspaper and say that not one of us would ever tell you to come down for a visit if we did not feel you would not be safe. Why would we do that? Who does that benefit? We live here year-round. We’ve all lived in Puerto Peñasco for a long time. We feel safe here. We have friends and family here. We invite friends and family to come visit. And, when it comes right down to it – forget about everyone else – why would we risk our own safety? For a few bucks? Nope! And we wouldn’t make them anyway, since our business relies on other businesses to prosper. If Peñasco is unsafe and we tell you to come down and you spend 1 night, buy 1 margarita, and 1 meal, and never return because you became a victim of an unsafe environment – who wins? Can bad things happen anywhere? Yes. Do they? Yes. Were the events of this past weekend terrifying to some? Absolutely! Was it a flex…a calculated and targeted retaliation to something a group didn’t like? Seems like it. Were any tourists targeted or harmed? Not that I know of. Will there be more violence in different parts of Mexico in the future? Definitely. Is there a ton of violence in parts of your own country? Yep. Will it continue? Yep. Traveling is always a risk/reward balance, as every country has its own set of problems and its own way of dealing with said problems.
I do understand that what happened down south was very serious, but it is very frustrating to always have our city lumped in with every bad thing that happens in Mexico. That’s like saying you should never go to the United States because of the violence in Minnesota or Portland or Los Angeles – heck, pick any major city and look at the stats. Don’t go to Argentina because of the violence in Buenos Aires. Don’t go to Thailand because shady stuff goes down in Bangkok, and people disappear. And definitely don’t go to England because Andrew is there (sorry, bad joke…too soon? couldn’t help myself). I know, everyone uses some form of those analogies, but are they not spot on? And, yes, I have been to all of those countries and was even followed by a weirdo in Pattaya Beach, Thailand. I actually thought I might be kidnapped off the Malecon in broad daylight so I turned around and screamed at him, and he skittered away…only a couple people knew that story before now lol. Risk/reward. Definitely woulda sucked had I been kidnapped. I was young and cute then and probably worth a few Baht 😉
I don’t know what else to tell you except if you want to travel to another country, you should seek reliable information from boots on the ground sources, and do a little research of your own, and certainly determine your own risk/reward. I would venture a guess and say that not one business owner in Rocky Point wants you to come down if you’re terrified something is going to happen to you. You will give off bad juju, which will then lead to a flat tire, running a stop sign, and getting a ticket or a bad meal, which will then lead to bashing the town on social media, and we’re pretty much maxed out right now. There won’t be enough Palo Santo to fix your bad vibes. All kidding aside…we definitely do not want you to feel unsafe when you visit Puerto Peñasco. Tourism is our main source of income (there I can speak for many), and the city has never recovered from the border closure a couple of years ago – and some of us are still recovering from Covid times. We want and need people to feel welcome, feel safe, and be safe, and to develop lasting relationships so they will want to return over and over again – that’s how we survive. It doesn’t do any of us any good to lure you to an unsafe environment. Not to mention it’s just not moral.
All righty, onto some brief good news, though I had more! CBP extended our border hours on Fridays starting this month and running through September 4th. Normal operating hours are still 6AM to 8PM, but on Fridays ONLY, they will stay open until 10PM – this goes for both sides – Sonoyta and Lukeville. Please do not hesitate to contact us with your questions or concerns. We do hope to see all of you soon and wish you a lovely spring.
