Despite drug violence, many travel to Mexico

As all of my roommates packed up and left for Puerto Vallerta, Mexico a few weeks ago, a very small part of me wondered if they’d all come back in one piece—it wasn’t the incessant partying I was worried about; it was the recent news of violent crime and drug wars that had infiltrated the media. So when the Times published this article describing the situations found on spring interest, it peaked my interest. (And I was glad we were all back at school when it was released). There were two points made in the article that I found particularly interesting: first, the description of “two Cancuns,” and the recent changes in Mexico advertising that had taken place.

The post by Comm 327- Brown and White already covered the general issues of travel warnings—with this article, I’m more interested in hypothesizing why my friends, along with thousands of other college students, still chose Mexico as their spring break destination of choice. The specific paragraph that struck me stated, “there are, of course, really two Cancúns: an artificial strip of gaudy hotels and a gritty city full of vice. Still, the country’s spreading violence is troubling Mexican government officials, one of whom acknowledged recently that his worst nightmare was that the cartels would single out tourists, as terrorists have done in places like Bali.” The visual of two distinct Caucuns reminded me of a place we’re all very familiar with: Bethlehem, PA. The distinction between the sprawling classic architecture and incredible landscaping of Lehigh’s campus (and the North Side) and the run-down, gritty street of South Bethlehem seems like quite a close parallel to the world that is Cancun.

Once I thought of this comparison, I wondered if perhaps Lehigh students are somewhat desensitized to crime and corruption that constantly surrounds them. After all, if they can live in the Lehigh bubble with little to no harm from the outside world, why wouldn’t they feel as if they could do the same in the plethora of dangerous Mexican party destinations? It is incredible how many people in the world can go through life completely sheltered from the dangers that exist in society.

I by no means intend to imply that Lehigh students are ignorant to the world, or that going to Mexico despite the dangers was a foolish choice. That would be extremely hypocritical of me, especially considering that I was going to go on the trip with my roommates until I broke my ankle, rendering me stranded in the States.

On a different note, I liked that the Times article pointed out that advertisers had recently chosen to omit the word “Mexico” from commercials for tourism in Mexican cities “so that people can think of Cancun or Play del Carmen as being pristine without being reminded they happen to be in that dangerous place called Mexico.” I have seen a lot of these advertisements recently, yet had never picked up on this omission until I read this article. It’s incredible how meticulous advertising is when making even the smallest word-choice decisions.

Article can be found at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/world/americas/11cancun.html?scp=1&sq=at%20spring%20break%20in%20mexico&st=cse