https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/ut-grad-student-wife-missing-mexico/

Driving to Chile. Went missing near Verecruz Mexico. Rule number 1. Don't drive thru Mexico. Our neighbors live in Mexico City but have a house here. They fly every time they come to their house. Said they would not be caught dead driving thru Mexico because of the criminals.

Cannot tell you how many times I've told family and friends - Don't go to Mexico!!

July 22 was last contact. Sadly they're probably not still alive.

Used to drive into Mexico in the mid 80s.

A lot of fun and never felt unsafe. Those days are long past.

Most of Mexixo is as safe as any major city in the US. We live here. With that said, the drive from the Border to anywhere in or through northern Mxico isn't a good idea if you don't look hispanic and speak Spanish. Also make sure you don't drive the wrong make or model of car oh yeah and NEVER outside the border states w US plates EVER. With that said, no idea why they stopped in Coatzacoalcos. Not trying to victim shame but thats just DUMB. It's one of the most dangerous cities in the whole country and one of the most xenophobic parts of Mxico. They don't even like people from different states of Mxico there. Not sure why they decided to stop there vs drive another 2.15 to Villahermosa in Tabasaco. Villahermosa is very safe while the prior is legit top 5-10 most unsafe. Coatz is essentially home rule w little to no support from the federal goverment outside of facade level cartel round ups as politically needed to keep locals happy. I think they didn't have any idea what they were doing. Stopping in Coatz w Texas plates in a 2016 Toyota with the car probably packed full of stuff = no mames.

When we moved here we considered making the drive from Houston to Quintana Roo because weve driven from GDX to QR several times and never felt unsafe. Literally the same round these folks were taking. It took our friends and familys .000001 seconds to veto that idea and then every person we spoke w inside the mexican consltate and banjercito reiterated not to try it. So instad we drive across to avoid alot of the crazy import fees on our stuff and then flew to QR and had a transport company ship our car and trailer. It was an extra $1500 but we didn't have to worry about this exact situacin.

Bayou City said:

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Most of Mexixo is as safe as any major city in the US.

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LOLOLOL

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In 2022, nine of the top 10 most violent cities in the world were in Mexico, and a Mexican city has led the list for the past six years

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The tourist areas are relatively safe (especially if you're just flying in and out). Being outside of them though, you have to really really know which areas are zones of federal control and which are not because if you stray into the nots and don't speak Spanish or look Hispanic it can get very unsafe very fast as these people unfortunately found out

Everybody needs to click and read the 2 paragraph article. Third World countries are not safe. Mexicans in Mexico are not safe.

This guy knows whats up.

Crap. We knew this in the 70s. You didn't go to interior in your car.

Looks like several people go to the Playa Bagdad area because it's the closest place you can go to watch SpaceX launches near Boca Chica. Even that seems risky.

TRADUCTOR said:

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Everybody needs to click and read the 2 paragraph article. Third World countries are not safe. Mexicans in Mexico are not safe.

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The missing guy is named Guzman.

Is it safe to rent a car in Cancun and drive to Vallodolid?

panhandlefarmer said:

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Is it safe to rent a car in Cancun and drive to Vallodolid?

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No

My nephew met a Mexican girl when he was stationed at Pendleton. She was working as a nanny for a local family. They started dating and got engaged (married with kid now), and after he got out of the Corps he went home to Dallas, and she went back home to her little town south of Mexico City after her contract ended with the family.

He wanted to go visit her and her family, so he started planning the trip. The fianc and her entire family told him in no uncertain terms that he was not to drive down there. Some bald cracker in a truck with Texas plates would never make it to them. He took the Greyhound instead.

Owlagdad said:

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Crap. We knew this in the 70s. You didn't go to interior in your car.

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This should be common knowledge by now. The larger (tourist) cities are safe as long as you stay in the areas where businesses can get your tourist money. No other place would be safe like that.

As for this couple, they're a great looking couple, and I'm wondering if they thought they'd be safe to drive because the guy was Hispanic and darker skinned.

Thoughts and prayers for the couple and their families.

we always got a driver

Give him 100 bux a day and pay for all the food and fuel. It's just easier. Also keep his info incase you go back. Loyalty is always a good thing for good help.

Any time we visit tropical locations like Mexico, Dominican, etc... the gameplan is always the same. Fly into a major airport and pay for a private car to take you to and from your resort. Once you are at the resort, stay at the resort... all the "sight seeing" and other local activities just aren't worth it (even though many are usually safe).

If you want to go exploring or be adventurous in that part of the world, find someplace that is known for its safety such as Aruba (which is Dutch owned).

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Rule number 1. Don't drive thru Mexico.

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No sir. That is NOT rule #1.

You are a really stupid idiot if you drive anywhere in Mexico. You are just a regular idiot if you fly into Mexico. Many say the tourist areas are safe, or kinda sorta maybe safe, but why take the chance? Plenty of other countries to travel to that aren't run by cartels.

Yes! Did it this weekend. Just beware that 180 between Vallodolid & Chemax has pot holes that will eat your car. That drive is 100% safe. We went from Tulum to FUM to Coba to Vallodolid and back this weekend to pickup probs for a production this week.

Thats in INSANE rate to pay someone in Mxico. Thats how you make yourself a target.

Was in Cozumel two weeks ago and went to a beach location (against my objections) about 20 minutes from port. Traveling partner chatted up locals asking questions that did not need to be asked. I told him to shut up and was convinced the 4 of us were going to end up in shallow graves in that impenetrable jungle down there. Won't be going back...at least with him and a 20 minute cab ride.

How bad is it to drive from San Diego to Valle de Guadalupe?

Ive heard its pretty safe, but want to confirm.

ts5641 said:

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Cannot tell you how many times I've told family and friends - Don't go to Mexico!!

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This is stupid.

There are plenty of ways to go to Mexico that aren't inherently overly risky. (All travel is risky to some extent).

The Fall Guy said:

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Driving to Chile.

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There are no roads connecting North and South America, so how was this going to work?

Bayou City said:

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Thats in INSANE rate to pay someone in Mxico. Thats how you make yourself a target.

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lol

My grandfather would really just negotiate a weekly rate and then tip at the end

He did the same thing when he visited Thailand

Assuming he didn't want to pay the transport fees and import fees for the car from the US because alot of latn american countries have outrageous import fees from the US and the transport fees are by distance. We witnessed this first hand. It's much cheaper to drive the car and belongings just inside the border of specific countries and ship from there. My guess is they were going to ship from Panama. They have some of the best import rates into SA and the transport rate was probably less than 1/2 that of the US.

TRADUCTOR said:

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Everybody needs to click and read the 2 paragraph article. Third World countries are not safe. Mexicans in Mexico are not safe.

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BTKAG97 said:

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The Fall Guy said:

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Driving to Chile.

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There are no roads connecting North and South America, so how was this going to work?

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Meh. A little offroading in a 4x4 through the Darien never hurt anyone.

That's not true. Mexican driving a US plated car was likely the problem. I wouldn't drive a US plate here either. Heck I don't like having a yucatan plate in QR but yeah I've seen maybe 1 US plate here and we all joked the car would be in the chop shop by the morning. Mexicans driving a us plated car arent considered mexicans. You need to read the whole article. My guess is they drove a US plate there and a rival gang thought it was an encroachment on their turf and killed them. The only people that have US plates outside the border zone are cartel cars that want an easier pass through the border that are getting refitted.

I only drive in Cabo area
Flown to Cabo and drove to La Paz many times in a rental Escalade

The top 5% of mexicans make $28,000 pesos or more a month. Thats $1421 a month US. Thats for the top 5%. So to the guy throwing out $2000 pesos a day for q car rental, that's a crazy amount. Thats the cost of a Mxico City Attorney. Average people make $200-400 pesos a day or less in some areas away from the border and tourists spots it 1/2 to 1/3 of that.

My $6000/month USD Job is $18,000 pesos a month ($925 US) for the equivalent position here.

Bayou City said:

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Most of Mexixo is as safe as any major city in the US. We live here. With that said, the drive from the Border to anywhere in or through northern Mxico isn't a good idea if you don't look hispanic and speak Spanish. Also make sure you don't drive the wrong make or model of car oh yeah and NEVER outside the border states w US plates EVER. With that said, no idea why they stopped in Coatzacoalcos. Not trying to victim shame but thats just DUMB. It's one of the most dangerous cities in the whole country and one of the most xenophobic parts of Mxico. They don't even like people from different states of Mxico there. Not sure why they decided to stop there vs drive another 2.15 to Villahermosa in Tabasaco. Villahermosa is very safe while the prior is legit top 5-10 most unsafe. Coatz is essentially home rule w little to no support from the federal goverment outside of facade level cartel round ups as politically needed to keep locals happy. I think they didn't have any idea what they were doing. Stopping in Coatz w Texas plates in a 2016 Toyota with the car probably packed full of stuff = no mames.

When we moved here we considered making the drive from Houston to Quintana Roo because weve driven from GDX to QR several times and never felt unsafe. Literally the same round these folks were taking. It took our friends and familys .000001 seconds to veto that idea and then every person we spoke w inside the mexican consltate and banjercito reiterated not to try it. So instad we drive across to avoid alot of the crazy import fees on our stuff and then flew to QR and had a transport company ship our car and trailer. It was an extra $1500 but we didn't have to worry about this exact situacin.

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I recently spoke with one of my factory contacts in Mexico after they had a line go down. They found the replacement parts a few hours away in a different Mexican city. Instead of driving same day to pick up the parts they sent two guys on a flight the next day, because it was too dangerous to drive the route they needed to go.

Just a data point.

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Frank Guzman, an University of Texas at Austin graduate student, and his wife Caroline Katba had planned to drive from Austin to Chile. Frank is working towards his Ph.D. in cultural anthropology and was headed to do fieldwork in Chile, his sister Liz Guzman said.

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Got more than he bargained for / should have known better

Some parts are okay. Puerto Vallarta has about 30,000 Americans living there and I know a Canadian business dude who drives a local rental car from PV down to Manzanillo where a lot of Canadian/US folks live. Couldn't see living in the interior northern areas though, or Chiapas. Worst of all is the maddening state/cartel monopoly on firearms and the corruption of the police. You cannot depend on the government for law and order.