Putting Bad News from Mexico in Perspective

Perhaps you were as horrified as we were when we read that on Tuesday 15 Jalisco state police officers were killed in an ambush by suspected narcos "near the popular beach resort of Puerto Vallarta." We know that there have been 100,000 people killed in clashes between Mexican authorities and narcos since 2007, but almost all of the killings have taken place in the mountains away from tourists. So this "near the popular beach resort" really shook us. Did this incident happen at one of the areas popular with cruisers such as Nuevo Vallarta, La Cruz or Sayulita? So we decided to look into it a little further.

Would you describe Santa Cruz as being "near" San Francisco? Would you describe Santa Barbara as being "near" Los Angeles? Neither would we, which is why we can’t figure out how the media could describe San Sebastian del Oeste, which is where the horrible incident took place, as being "near" Puerto Vallarta. Not only is beautiful and historic San Sebastian, population 1,000, a two-hour ride on our motorcycle from Puerto Vallarta, it’s nearly 5,000 feet up a winding two-lane road from the coast!

We’ve lived in the Vallarta area about three months each year for the last six or so years, and have driven up the coast to San Blas and down the coast to Barra. And we’ve ridden our motorcycle to San Sebastian a number of times. We’ve not only never had a problem, we’ve never even gotten a bad vibe. This is not to say there haven’t been any incidents at all. There have. And it’s not to say that you can’t find trouble if you’re looking for it. But in our experience, it’s extremely unlikely that trouble will come looking for you. In our view, visitors are 10 times more likely to be victims in a car accident than in narco violence.

For what it’s worth, the U.S. State Department doesn’t have any travel warnings for Puerto Vallarta. If you read all the travel sites, Puerto Vallarta and the ‘Vallarta Coast’ are considered extremely safe for tourists.