Safer to travel from Oaxaca to Zihua or Puerto Escondido

Mom, get over it. We finally got to the point, very early on that we didn't tell one of our families that we were on the road in Mexico because they freaked out. If you raised your kids well, relax and revel in the fact that they are exploring other countries, cultures and having adventures!!!

I have a relative who is a now-retired RCMP officer. He investigated major crimes, including murder. When his 20-something kids were traveling the world, I asked him whether he worried about them getting killed. Here’s how he responded to me.

“People like you and me and my kids don’t get killed by violence. The people who are getting killed by violence are people who are involved with violence. Low-lifes killing low-lifes.

“Ordinary people’ die from car accidents or going to work or disease or old age. Stay away from the bad guys and they won’t be interested in killing you.

“If politicians wanted to save money and save lives, they would take money away from major crimes and divert it to community policing and public safety, with an emphasis on traffic.”

When I started typing this message, I had forgotten the end of his comments 20+ years ago. When I read the words of that cop now, they sound a lot like “defund the police”.