Two people were killed in a shooting in Chihuahua yesterday. It was on the television news this morning along with the rest of yesterdays headlines, namely a shooting in Tijuana, a double shooting in Morelia, and of course, the obligatory multiple shootings that happen every day in Ciudade De Juarez.
I asked a guy at the bar in my hotel in downtown Chihuahua the other night if he thought things would change in Mexico in the future, and he shook his head and said not unless the politicians change their ways. He told me that the Mexican government needed to lead by example, but that the example they were currently setting was one of greet and corruption. Everybody I have have asked a similar question to during my travels in Mexico has given me a similar response. The girl I did a road-trip with in Chihuahua told me during our car journey that the biggest traitor in Mexico's history was probably the president that sold California, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico to the USA for a song in the 1800's for his personal gain. Last night on CNN Espanol was the news that the mayor of Cancun had been arrested on charges of money laundering and drug trafficking. Mexico's politicians definitely need to change.
As my bus passes through heavy traffic in Ciudade de Juarez on its way to the US border at El Paso, Texas, I count the number of four-wheel drive police trucks with armed soldiers standing in the back, and consider the irony that it is the US that buys the drugs that creates the drug market in Mexico, the US that sells Mexico the guns that arm the gangs fighting for market share, and that it is the US that thumbs its nose up at any suggestions from Latin America that its neighbours gang problems is anything other than Mexico's own internal problem to sort out.
I never felt particularly unstace whilst travelling in Mexico, although in Chihuahua it was definitely at the back of my mind that I could end up with a bullet in the back of my head if I was unlucky or stupid or both.
Ironically the police presence in North Mexico was actually a lot less than I saw elsewhere in the country, however like everywhere else, most of them covered their faces with black masks, presumably an attempt to avoid reprisal attacks if they had the audacity to arrest a gang member for doing something wrong. I myself started to suffer the consequences of the fear of reprisal attachs during my last few days in Chihuahua. The other nigh, it took me almost 15 minutes to be servered at an empty bar because none of the bar staff would look at me. Whilst growing thirsty, I reached the conclusion that the reason nobody ever makes eye contact with me in Mexico is so they can truthfully tell the police they have never seen me before if they are 'witnesses' to me being kidnapped or murdered.
Putting the miniscule risk of danger aside, I've had a fantastic time in Mexico, and thoroughly enjoyed myself here. Fron the natural beauty of the Yucatan peninsula and its reefs and cenotes that I dived in to its ancient man-made wonders at Tulum, Chichen Itza and Teohuacan, from its spectacular landscapes in Chihuahua that matched anything I have seen elsewhere around the world to the massive man-made wonder that is Mexico City, Mexico has a lot to offer.
More than anything, I've enjoyed meeting the many Mexican people I have met along the way. Friendly and welcoming, they all quickly helped dismantle any unfair stereotypes I previously had in my head about Mexico and its people, and ultimately left me wishing I had more time to spend in the country.
Unfortunately I don't have more time, as time is short and I have already been in Mecxico for a lot longer than I originally intended, and so now I head north to San Francisco for the next leg of my journey through the Americas.
