My favorite Economics Professor always said that "what's around the corner" is a two way street.

You do know that economics is referred to as "the Dismal Science"?

You have brought this up before in archives.
Usually the knockout drug is associated with robbery or sexual
assault. Did this happen to you?

Luckily I narrowly escaped robbery.
But that was their intention

36 years coming down to ZIH, thankfully no issues. I can tell you criminals can read fear & ignorance as to walking around oblivious of your surroundings this is what (in part) they are targeting. They wont target folks that are low key, confident in there presence and have a sense of awareness. None of this attitude takes away from being kind and considerate (key). I consider ZIH safe overall but folks do stupid things to attract attention from the wrong type, having some knowledge of Self Defense is very helpful. PS I always ask God, The Holy Spirit and Jesus for a safe trip and I can tell they are always with me. Looking forward to Jan. 24' cheers

I'm not fearful and I'm not ignorant.
I let my guard down for an instant and got drugged on April 16, 2022 at Mercadito Zanka by a couple of women I was out with.
Don't ever kid yourself that you actually know what's around the corner...

I would think it more likely that a woman walking through town without some kind of bag would make the thieves think that her money was hidden elsewhere. Carrying a mostly empty bag might make more sense.

You'd make a terrible thief. They look for easy pickings. Bulky bags and gaudy baubles.

Not trying to be funny, just a friendly genuine reminder to not broadcast.

Wow, I didn't know things have gotten so bad. I guess if our group comes down there we need to put together phony wallets (I.D., credit cards, and several hundred peso) to hand out if we are unlucky since we do go between La Medera and La Ropa between 7 am to 7 pm during our stay.

Rob mentioned earlier in this thread that the new bunch of escoria may be from Acapulco where thieving opportunities have lessened due to the hurricane devastation. Regardless of who they are or where they came from, the incidents are a shock because that kind of stuff so rarely happens to tourists on Escenica La Ropa.

I'm a small person and am on Escenica La Ropa nearly every day, either walking or waiting for the bus, usually by myself. I carry money and cc's in a money belt hidden around my waist. No purse, no backpack, no visible signs that I'm worth the trouble of robbing.

"But one data point complicates the picture: the ever-growing number of disappeared people in the capital. Each year hundreds, sometimes more than a thousand, go missing.

This has spurred investigators to take a closer look at the city’s success story.

“I think it’s quite probable that lots of the people who disappeared have in reality been murdered,” said Elena Azaola, an academic and member of the citizen council for the Search Commission in Mexico City. “And these homicides are not being counted.”

Azaola’s research underlines that the official data on homicides and disappearances is so fragmented and inconsistent that it is hard to draw any conclusions with confidence."

Meanwhile in Mexico City the homicide rate is plummeting.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/21/mexico-city-murder-rate-dropped-disappeared-number-rises
Go figure.

Mexico City has made continuous investments in professionalizing their police forces for several years now, especially thanks to their former Secretario de Seguridad Ciudadana, now candidate for mayor, Omar García Harfuch, who survived an assassination attempt that only pissed him off and made him get more serious than he already was. They also have an excellent task force that operates their public security cameras.

I agree. Any truth that there is a full blown turf war in Petatlan resulting in the nearby killings?

This isn't a good subject to discuss such details publicly. A community that has what we call policía comunitaria recently claimed it came under attack by a group of organized criminals, so they marched to the ayuntamiento of Petatlán WITH THEIR FIREARMS to "speak" with the mayor of Petatlán, who a few days afterwards announced his withdrawal from the PRI and his adherence to Morena. There were a few shootings during that incident, and there have been some rather gruesome events that may be related.

The fact that we still have communities all up and down this coast including Zihuatanejo with NO FUNCTIONING POLICE FORCE should be more shocking than it appears to be for all these folks coming from the States and Canada talking about retiring here. I knew what I was getting into moving here 34 years ago, but obviously most retirees who've moved here hadn't a clue when they decided to move here, and they keep coming, cutting down our trees, and building more homes and condos...

Yes, GRO has a history of danger. There is a lot of unreported activity in the local area. Everyone says "es entre ellos". But still concerning. If I read correctly, a lab was discovered not to far away.

There wouldn't be labs here if there weren't so much demand and prohibition al otro lado. It's almost as if the U.S. government intentionally wants to perpetuate organized crime that provides what millions of U.S. citizens want while buying hundreds of thousands of U.S. firearms a year and providing billions in additional income for corrupt public servants on both sides of the border. All this violence and all this power held by organized criminals could be greatly reduced by the simple act of legalizing popular recreational drugs. Most of those heroin, opioid and fentanyl overdoses could end by simply having those substances packaged and sold in known quantities and doses instead of leaving it to criminals who couldn't care less about public health. But nooo, the USA can't even get pot legalized nationally! And Mexico is intentionally dragging its heels on an order to legalize it mandated by its own Suprema Corte de Justicia. The epitome of stupidity or by design?

There are some juicy homemade concoctions of pepper spray, with cayenne, if
you google around. Make the bad guys run off crying (but yeah, pistols are a game-changer).
Is it allowed to have 2 guys on a motorcycle? They outlawed that in Colombia...

11/19/2023

@Yandosan

Another concoction with 3 ingredients, (besides water) :
1. Jugo de limón
2. Vinagre
3. cayenne, or other pepper "picante".
4. Mix with agua.

I also take an "atomizador", but only with water in it, when I walk, which may be in colonias, where people who are jerks,
leave viscious dogs that may attack pedestrians, loose out on the street.
The water works fine & repels the dogs,
though the concoction may be what the deserve.

@ZihuaRob

I don't mean that I like what You eloquently described about GRO.

What I for one, (and probably not many others) do "like" & appreciate,
is that you do "tell it like it is".

The what I term as the "fresas y crema" or "Paradise People", never seem to realize or mention any of the points you discussed,
and appear to ignore all of that.
That said, I don't that there's much any of us "Extranjeros" can do about it.

Un Saludo ☺