# Oh, no!



## thailen (Nov 2, 2012)

I just found out on the news that an American couple, driving on the streets of Ciudad Juarez in their car with New York plates were gunned down, ostensibly by a drug gang. Since I plan to fly to Juarez on Jun 29th from Atlanta to Mexico City and from Mexico City to Juarez for a series of dental implants at a clinic I checked out which is legitimate and very cheap compared to the U.S., am I nuts?
If I only take taxis(and the clinic car) to and from the airport to the clinic, how dangerous would it be? 
Is there a way for me to disappear inside a vehicle(trunk, on the floor in the back seats) to minimize the danger?


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

thailen said:


> I just found out on the news that an American couple, driving on the streets of Ciudad Juarez in their car with New York plates were gunned down, ostensibly by a drug gang. Since I plan to fly to Juarez on Jun 29th from Atlanta to Mexico City and from Mexico City to Juarez for a series of dental implants at a clinic I checked out which is legitimate and very cheap compared to the U.S., am I nuts?
> If I only take taxis(and the clinic car) to and from the airport to the clinic, how dangerous would it be?
> Is there a way for me to disappear inside a vehicle(trunk, on the floor in the back seats) to minimize the danger?


"A 25-year-old man shot dead near his Brooklyn home in what police described as a gang hit was a devoted father adored by everyone he knew, his heartbroken mother said Wednesday." From a news site today. Would you change plans to go to New York city based on that news report?


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## rckrckr (Jan 12, 2010)

"..am I nuts?"

Yes.


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## Meritorious-MasoMenos (Apr 17, 2014)

thailen said:


> I just found out on the news that an American couple, driving on the streets of Ciudad Juarez in their car with New York plates were gunned down, ostensibly by a drug gang. Since I plan to fly to Juarez on Jun 29th from Atlanta to Mexico City and from Mexico City to Juarez for a series of dental implants at a clinic I checked out which is legitimate and very cheap compared to the U.S., am I nuts?
> If I only take taxis(and the clinic car) to and from the airport to the clinic, how dangerous would it be?
> Is there a way for me to disappear inside a vehicle(trunk, on the floor in the back seats) to minimize the danger?


Not my business, but I assume you have chores, immigration stuff, to do in Mexico City before heading to Juarez? Because Juarez is 1,100 miles north of Mexico City but just across the border from El Paso. Isn't Atlanta (or wasn't Atlanta) busiest airport in US? Gotta be a flight, perhaps with a stop, to El Paso. Cheaper, too. But of course if you have business in Mexico City first, never mind.


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## thailen (Nov 2, 2012)

*After Some Thought...*



TundraGreen said:


> "A 25-year-old man shot dead near his Brooklyn home in what police described as a gang hit was a devoted father adored by everyone he knew, his heartbroken mother said Wednesday." From a news site today. Would you change plans to go to New York city based on that news report?


Of course not. But that's because as an American, I know the crime situation in most cities and if I don't I know how to find out.
I lived in Prague for half a year, every year rom 1990 until 2007 and knew every inch of every city in the Czech Republic, even though I'm an American. The same is true of my 12 years in Thailand, where I lived 10 months out of every year until 2019. 
Now about Mexico. I have never lived i n, visited or entered Mexico.Ever. And you expect me to know the crime situation THERE? Check out the American Embassy on its Mexico's website and you will see a list of every state within the country and next to the state's name, the word CRIME in capitals! 
I guess I'm being overly cautious and a wimp when it comes to exposing myself to danger. Hey, it's only my life...


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

thailen said:


> Of course not. But that's because as an American, I know the crime situation in most cities and if I don't I know how to find out.
> I lived in Prague for half a year, every year rom 1990 until 2007 and knew every inch of every city in the Czech Republic, even though I'm an American. The same is true of my 12 years in Thailand, where I lived 10 months out of every year until 2019.
> Now about Mexico. I have never lived i n, visited or entered Mexico.Ever. And you expect me to know the crime situation THERE? Check out the American Embassy on its Mexico's website and you will see a list of every state within the country and next to the state's name, the word CRIME in capitals!
> I guess I'm being overly cautious and a wimp when it comes to exposing myself to danger. Hey, it's only my life...


Actually, I felt kind of badly about my reply. As you say, if one hasn't spent time in Mexico, the news reports make it sound pretty dangerous. And the US Embassy just adds on with their worst case slant on things. Obviously, bad things do happen, so we all have to make up our own minds about acceptable risk. 

I have been through Ciudad Juarez a few times. I used to take an intercity bus there. The intercity bus terminal is on the south side of town. From there I took a local bus to the border, walked across to El Paso, then took a US bus to Denver. The US bus was by far the worst part of the trip. Once, in some town in Arizona, we spent a couple of hours in the middle of the night waiting for the police to come and take a couple of drunks off the bus.

The strangest thing to happen to me in Ciudad Juarez happened coming back to Mexico one time, on one of the local buses. I got on the bus in downtown Juarez wanting to go to the Central de Autobuses, the intercity bus terminal. The driver told me she was going the other direction but near the turnaround point, so I stayed on the bus. At the turnaround, she took a break for about 10 minutes and we got to talking. At one point she was telling me about a tattoo and she stood up, turned her back to me and dropped her pants so I could check out her tattoo. Being mooned by a 50+ year old, somewhat overweight bus driver was my most dangerous experience in Ciudad Juarez.


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## Chelloveck (Sep 21, 2013)

thailen said:


> I just found out on the news that an American couple, driving on the streets of Ciudad Juarez in their car with New York plates were gunned down, ostensibly by a drug gang . . .


The man was from New York, but his girlfriend was a Mexican citizen and was a physical education teacher at a school in Juarez. So, it's hard to say who she knew, what her connections were there, etc. Almost all of the bullets struck the passenger seat where she was sitting, so she may have been the target all along.

It might not be the random tourist killing it sounds like at first blush.


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## thailen (Nov 2, 2012)

*Well, that's a relief*

I would much rather rely on people like you who have their ear close to the ground in places like Juarez. I hope the crime situation there hasn't changed since your experience. 
In response to another expat on this forum, no airline I know of flies to Ciudad Juarez from Atlanta. They all fly to Mexico City, where I can fly direct to Juarez. And indirect flights from Atlanta to Juarez are much cheaper than from Mobile or New Orleans, where I live. I have other reasons why I prefer Atlanta, which are of no value to this discussion.


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## thailen (Nov 2, 2012)

Thanks for that! At least it brings to question whether that was a random shooting.


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## Meritorious-MasoMenos (Apr 17, 2014)

thailen said:


> I would much rather rely on people like you who have their ear close to the ground in places like Juarez. I hope the crime situation there hasn't changed since your experience.
> In response to another expat on this forum, no airline I know of flies to Ciudad Juarez from Atlanta. They all fly to Mexico City, where I can fly direct to Juarez. And indirect flights from Atlanta to Juarez are much cheaper than from Mobile or New Orleans, where I live. I have other reasons why I prefer Atlanta, which are of no value to this discussion.


Wish you had read entire suggestion, and it was only a suggestion. I suggested if you have no business in Mexico City, that you could fly directly to EL PASO, TEXAS from Atlanta, with a one way flight costing $153 and a non-stop one-way flight from Atlanta to El Paso going for $199. 

I assumed you knew that from El Paso, you can walk across the border to Ciudad Juarez.





But hey, it was a suggestion. If you want to fly that extra 1,000 miles to Mexico City and then get on another flight 1,100 miles back to Ciudad Juarez, go for it.


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## thailen (Nov 2, 2012)

*Glad we think alike*

Your suggestion is exactly what I did. RT from New Orleans to El Paso. The only fly in that ointment is Texas Governor Abbott, who declared in March that NO ONE entering Texas, including airports, would be allowed to enter from Louisiana and various other states PERIOD. Then he said that even if you could enter from other states, you'd be immediately quarantined for 14 days, which forced me to turn to flights landing in Mexico. Since I haven't booked my Atlanta to Mexico flight yet - hoping the governor will relent in June - especially since Texas hasn't tested widely or plateaued yet - I'm not optimistic. 










Meritorious-MasoMenos said:


> Wish you had read entire suggestion, and it was only a suggestion. I suggested if you have no business in Mexico City, that you could fly directly to EL PASO, TEXAS from Atlanta, with a one way flight costing $153 and a non-stop one-way flight from Atlanta to El Paso going for $199.
> 
> I assumed you knew that from El Paso, you can walk across the border to Ciudad Juarez.
> Crossing The Border Into Juarez, Mexico Via The Pedestrian Bridge in El Paso, Texas - YouTube
> ...


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## AnneLM (Aug 16, 2016)

However you get there, do you really want someone hovering over, and sticking their hands into, your open mouth for an hour or more, either in Mexico or the US these days?


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## thailen (Nov 2, 2012)

*A Friend of a friend*

who lives here but is originally from Mexico, gave me the advice I needed. He told me to only get taxis from airports or hotel people and NEVER hail them on the street for obvious reasons. THAT is precious(maybe life-saving) advice!


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

thailen said:


> who lives here but is originally from Mexico, gave me the advice I needed. He told me to only get taxis from airports or hotel people and NEVER hail them on the street for obvious reasons. THAT is precious(maybe life-saving) advice!


I don't know about Mexico City, I only took a taxi there once and that is a different story. I live in Guadalajara and don't take taxis very often. But when I do I only take taxis that I flag down on the street. I never get them at taxis stands, well almost never. If I want a taxi to the airport in the middle of the night for an early morning flight, I go to a taxi stand, because the ones on the street rarely stop for anyone at that time of night.

But otherwise, I just flag down a passing taxi on the street. I can almost always negotiate a better price than the non-negotiable offer you get from a taxi stand.


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## lat19n (Aug 19, 2017)

Yes - we almost never take a taxi from the front door of a hotel. It really depends on where we are. If in Mexico City I would not hesitate to flag down a taxi on Reforma.

At home - we use a 'radio taxi' - which I suspect are available in most areas of Mexico. They are probably very similar to an uber without all the app stuff. We call and they show up 15 minutes later... 

At most airports/bus stations we prefer to use the resident taxi station. We pay at a booth and hand the driver the receipt of payment. They have published fares which are, pretty much, cheaper in the end than the return trip. I can then sit back and relax and not watch the meter as the driver takes the most circuitous route to get to our destination. 

There are places in Mexico City where the meter will read as much as 200 pesos the moment moment you close the door.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

At the airport in Guadalajara, the official taxis are pricey because that don't allow regular taxis to pick up there, just drop off. You can get into town for about half their price by walking a couple of blocks to a service station where lots of uber cars hang out looking for passengers. But if you have a lot of luggage, it is easier to just pay at the taxi desk and take the first taxi in line.
If you are traveling light and really want to save money, you can take the local bus that the airport staff take getting to work and back. The bus costs $10 pesos rather than the $350 or so that the airport taxis charge. Once in town, you can take a taxi for $50 pesos or so to get from the bus terminal to where ever.


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## thailen (Nov 2, 2012)

*Thanks for the tip...*

but I'm not going to Guadalajara, just to Ciudad Juarez




TundraGreen said:


> At the airport in Guadalajara, the official taxis are pricey because that don't allow regular taxis to pick up there, just drop off. You can get into town for about half their price by walking a couple of blocks to a service station where lots of uber cars hang out looking for passengers. But if you have a lot of luggage, it is easier to just pay at the taxi desk and take the first taxi in line.
> If you are traveling light and really want to save money, you can take the local bus that the airport staff take getting to work and back. The bus costs $10 pesos rather than the $350 or so that the airport taxis charge. Once in town, you can take a taxi for $50 pesos or so to get from the bus terminal to where ever.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

thailen said:


> but I'm not going to Guadalajara, just to Ciudad Juarez


I know. It was just a comment on street taxis. I would not hesitate to flag down a taxi on the street in Ciudad Juarez.


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## AnneLM (Aug 16, 2016)

But I certainly wouldn't climb in the trunk! Or lie down in the back seat! Sure ways to call attention to yourself and make your driver extremely nervous.


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## elsonador (Feb 16, 2011)

CJ has problems, don't most large cities? If you planned to fly through a city in Europe and read someone was raped/murdered/robbed would you instantly call it off?

Bad people typically are not just targeting Americans. There is more to that story, many people locally speculated based off her activity on social media. I wont speculate beyond thinking theres more to the story than 'American couple shot down'.

Juárez is full of tons of humble nice people!

Share a discada and una cerveza bien fria with some and you'll find great conversation, of course first you'd need their trust and acceptance, friendship.


Anyhow safe travels, you'll be fine. Don't do anything you wouldn't do in Chicago, NOLA, NYC.


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