..... Shoot an extraneous tourist, and **** rolls downhill.....

I think all extraneous tourists should be shot. After all, who needs them?

Also, a camp of armed men was discovered in a coconut grove of Coacoyul near where there had been another shooting incident last week. Arms and vehicles were confiscated but the men managed to escape through the bush. A neighbor of ours had his vehicle commandeered there one evening last week while returning from dining in Coacoyul, but it wasn't among the vehicles confiscated.

Police and Marinos have been seen making more patrols, which is a bit comforting. Apparently the outcry from hotel operators and other folks in the tourism biz has had a positive effect. Let's hope so. We're too small a community to be having crime problems like Acapulco.

Many Americans are all screwed-up. They fantasize about getting caught in a Pancho Villa grade shootout when they should be paying attention to what lies a few feet ahead or a speeding car that is not going to even slow down for someone in a crosswalk. Careless pedestrians slice open a forehead on a protruding awning, increase chances of melanoma by frying their skin to a 2nd degree sunburn, twist ankles and break bones then drink enough ethyl alcohol to scar their liver permanently.

Yet they fixate on night-time shootings and reports of wilderness army/cartel shootouts. Then men and women who crossed the American plains in wagons loaded with every possession they owned, without doctors, with hostile natives are looking down and sadly shaking their head. What has America (or Canada) become? Nations of people afraid of their own shadow and willing to give up last vestiges of civil rights and liberties in pursuit of "security".

They surrendered the two and have never had the latter (and never will).

Mexico is a real, living, breathing society, not a gun-nite encrusted hundred-dollar-a-day fantasy Disneyland. Just like your home town is genuine - with shootings, and armed robbery "somewhere else than where I live".

Harrumph

On a "positive" note, Zihuatanejo's municipal police have finally been allowed to carry their weapons again after about 2 years unarmed. They have allegedly passed all the vetting and testing. Let's hope this helps keep more citizens and visitors safe.

Somebody was telling me the other day that the police were without guns because they rent the guns from the Navy and they hadn't made any payments. Any truth to that story?

Somebody had a good laugh at your expense. Nice friends ya got there!

On a "positive" note, Zihuatanejo's municipal police have finally been allowed to carry their weapons again after about 2 years unarmed. They have allegedly passed all the vetting and testing. Let's hope this helps keep more citizens and visitors safe.

Somebody was telling me the other day that the police were without guns because they rent the guns from the Navy and they hadn't made any payments. Any truth to that story?

Sin Embargo, the important thing is the sicarios seldom mess with tourists. Shoot a Mexican and the police take it seriously. Shoot a rich Mexican and the cops take it even more seriously. Shoot an extraneous tourist, and **** rolls downhill. The crooks know this. The tourist would have to be involved in a dope deal gone bad or a drinking scene for there to be a genuine chance of getting shot. Rural areas, clubs, pool halls and discos frequented by only Mexicans are where the sicarios like to hang out.

There are no guarantees in life, anywhere. But knowing in out's and in's serves to minimize risk.

Rich hotel and resort owners have a lot of pull with Chilpancingo and Mexico. They go nuclear when bad publicity threatens their income. I'll bet the leaders of large major sindicatos have already put out the word to "Get rid of this problem"

There was a big accident last night about 9:00 on La Ropa Road near Spuma (sp). Poles down and a van with all air bags deployed had crashed. The road was closed for at least 1/2 hour or more. Hopefully no one was killed.

It wasn't an "accident". It was a shootout between armed civilians that apparently began around 7:00 p.m. in Dario Galeana and ended in La Ropa near La Casa Que Canta, or something like that. Authorities only caught one of the gunmen so far who was wounded in the leg. I doubt the rest are waiting around to get caught.

Since this kind of stuff almost never occurs here, I suspect the gunmen are from somewhere else, possibly Michoacán, where there have been incidents during recent days around Uruapan and Arteaga after the authorities made some important arrests a few days ago. We call it the "cucaracha effect" when they scatter into neighboring states.

On a "positive" note, Zihuatanejo's municipal police have finally been allowed to carry their weapons again after about 2 years unarmed. They have allegedly passed all the vetting and testing. Let's hope this helps keep more citizens and visitors safe.