Families with children BEWARE! Travel ban in Mexico!!!

15MAR2018

I felt the need to write this today after a vlog post I released last weekend. Mexico has gotten some really bad press recently and as someone who comes here 4-5 months a year and sends my children to school here I am hoping to help shed some light for those folks that have not been here in recent times (Because if you have you’re clearly aware off the dangers…LOL)

Walking to school with friends on Quinta in the “Level 4” travel warning area

We wake up to the sunrise at 7 am every day, My children roam the halls off our condo in Playa Del Carmen. Neighbors invite them in for snacks and the security guard plays with them. At 8:45 we begin our 25 minute walk to school. We walk in the tourist area, through the hotel district and Quinta Avenida to the more local parts of Playa Del Carmen. We stop for coffee & delicious chocolate croissants in the panderia. I push my double stroller through the streets with ease and when a high curb arises people offer to help. My older son Simon runs through the streets freely greeting dogs and people on our walk.

At Kool beach club for some fun & lunch

After drop off I head to the gym… LIKE I DO IN NY. After I may meet a friend at a local cafe for breakfast or a coffee and some work. At around 12:30 pm I pick the boys up and we walk home as they nap. After nap they wake up and we head to our activity. The beach, pool, playground, waterpark, play space, walk or meet friends for a playdate. All in town, all on foot, all in the level four travel ban zone where we live. My children are Caucasian and despite us speaking Spanish we clearly are not Mexican. But this doesn’t make us unsafe in any way. We continue our day.

Cenote Natori in Cancun with friends

At night we head to Quinta Avenida for dinner or to walk and shop. SO FAR in my whole day, every day not once have I felt threatened. I am from NYC and in recent times I am afraid to walk in to get a coffee for fear of a mass shooting. I do not live with this fear here. I do not feel when my kids are at school they are unsafe. I sleep with ease at night.

Dinner at Zenzi Beach (10th and the ocean) One of our favorite dinner spots

Weekends we rent a car occasionally and travel around the Yucatan visiting archeological sites, Tulum, Puerto Morales, Holbox, Rio Lagartos, Cancun, Cenotes. We drive through the country felling no less safe than in the USA. In New York if I go to dinner on the street I would never place my purse on the outside of my chair… Why would here be any different? Friends and family visit us weekly and fall in love with our lives here. My children are happy here and experiencing another language and culture and if not for the aggressive travel bans this would be paradise (Though maybe they are great to keep the morons away). I will say this, If you are a resort all inclusive person than you are not a traveler and don’t judge a country you have never truly experienced, You my friend are a vacationer; and good on you. Mexico is not unsafe. People go about their every day lives. Children are free in school and not ins fear of shootings on a daily basis.

Taking a visit into the past to lear a bit about Mayan history in Tulum

Playing at Punta Esmarelda, A very local cenote with shallow water and great playground for the kids to wade & play

So families with children BEWARE, beware of exposing your children to a beautiful country with amazing culture and brilliant people; and friends please don’t forget to beware of the wolves that live in your homeland as well.