My name is Mora and I’ve spent the last 6 months traveling in Mexico in my car, with my two dogs. I’ve stayed in remote places out in the middle of nowhere and apartments in the middle of cities, and everything in between.

Though I have no experience in the security profession, I am a 57 year old single woman who has traveled a bit to many different places in the world.  I’m not an expert but I’ll give you my point of view on security while traveling alone. 

Mexico has its own unique security concerns, so I’ll give a little report on what’s happening here in the vicinity recently and how it relates to safety.

But first, some basic tips for traveling in Mexico!

1. Staying out of trouble can come down to where you are. Where in Mexico do you want to go? In order to drive down to the part of Mexico that I wanted to be in, I had to drive through areas I didn’t want to be in. If you’ve heard any news about Mexico recently you’ll know that currently in the state of Sinaloa there is a cartel war going on with many murders and many abductions. It’s important to keep up with the latest reliable news and not unwittingly find yourself in a situation like that. There are many people there, just trying to live their lives in a bad situation. But you don’t need to chance it, you don’t live there. Don’t go somewhere with active violence going on!

I say this while in the state of Michoacan, a state that the US State Dept. recommends NOT going because of crime problems. When I decided to come here I did research on when and where the problems were happening and talked to many locals in this area. In the end I decided the risk was low for me if I stayed out of the problem areas, and I’ve been here near Patzcuaro for almost 2 months now, with no problems. However things got a little different yesterday. I’ll tell you about that in a minute.

2. If driving, don’t drive at night. More bad things happen after dark and you should plan your travel only during daylight. The consensus is that taking the toll roads, the cuota, is safer than some backwoods highway, and usually the roads are better. So take the toll roads! Know where you’re going to get gas and keep at least a half a tank. My car fob has a panic button I’ve never had to use, and I keep a self defense spray of some kind at hand. I keep my car maintained because I can think of nothing worse than being stranded out on some highway with a breakdown. I keep this battery, capable of jumping my car battery, or being used as a backup for my phone battery. I keep a can of fix-a-flat. I have an air pump in the car, And I’m about to buy new tires sometime soon.

The truth is you could make a whole video on driving in Mexico, but there are just some basic things to keep in mind.

3. Lifestyle matters. I kind of have an old lady’s lifestyle now. I don’t go out drinking, or if I did it would probably be with a group like on a food tour. I rarely am out driving at night even just here locally. I do walk in the neighborhood with the dogs every day and I try to change up the time so no one could count on a routine.  Now that I’m stationary I have more concern about possible bad guys noticing me. When I was moving every week or two there was no time for anyone to really notice me, let alone make a plan for dirty deeds. Now that I’m stationary for a few months I’m more conscious about who knows exactly where I am, and security at home in general.  

I try to blend in, or at least not stand out wherever I am.  I’m very friendly with the neighbors on the street, making eye contact and saying hello every time I see someone. I’m not invisible, they noticed some new foreign woman in their neighborhood walking dogs on leashes (NOone does that here), and I want them to feel comfortable with me and have a friendly feeling. Honestly, this took about a month. The first week there was no eye contact at all, not a single buenas dias unless I said it first. But after a month they seem to see me as a regular and now the moms walking their kids to school, or the shopkeeper sweeping his front step, and even the local drunk guy, smile and say hello.  I want them to feel friendly towards me so that if something bad is going down they are more likely to tell me or warn me.

Having my own car makes me feel more secure, just because if everytime you take a taxi or uber you have to assess the danger of getting into a car with a stranger. So I’m grateful to have my own car, though driving long distances can be the most dangerous situation you put yourself in here. Depending on where you go, problems on the road are much more likely than staying home.

The bottom line about lifestyle is that if you’re someone who goes drinking out at night, or someone who flashes fancy jewelry or cash, or someone who is unaware of your surroundings, looking at your phone all the time, you are more vulnerable to scams or crimes.

More tips for solo travelers:

There are three places I think of when I think of vulnerabilities and options for security: At home, on walks, and in the car. I’ve spoken about driving above, here are some thoughts on the other places you should think about.

On walks I always carry a fully charged phone, I carry a big stick, and I have two big dogs with me. This may deter some bad guys. I used to walk way out past my neighborhood on a forested road that had nothing but an occasional vehicle passing by. I decided this was a bit of a risk in this area, that I didn’t need to take, and now I stay in the neighborhood.  Like I said before, I change up my routine so no one can count on me being in a certain place at a certain time, and I think the dogs help people keep their distance.  Olive in particular (despite her fear of thunder) is a good and very alert protection dog, both in the house and out in the world. I don’t even think she’d take a steak thrown at her by a stranger before she’d relax her natural protection mode.

When I’m out in the world I try to know where I’m going so I don’t have to look at my phone all the time. This enables me to be aware of my surroundings and it keeps my phone safe from thieves who have been known to grab it out of your hands. 

Though I haven’t done this much in Mexico, I’m not above claiming that my husband is waiting for me and I have to go. It’s a strong impulse in many women, including me, to not be rude. If you’re getting an uneasy feeling about someone approaching you, you have the right to be rude. Claiming a husband sometimes takes the edge off the rudeness and also lets people know you’re not alone.

If you’re a woman you most likely already have a sense of caution around people who start asking you about where you live, who you’re with, where you’re going. Don’t give out this information, and ask yourself why they would want such information. 

I think it’s super important to trust your gut and any sense of unease you develop in any situation. Don’t be afraid to change plans, cancel something you’ve already paid for, or leave a group or a conversation abruptly if you feel like something’s up.

You should also know the difference between general anxiety you may have, and a real response of fear or unease caused by some change in your environment.

Fear and Insecurity

A lot of women ask me if I’m not afraid to travel alone in Mexico? Where have I felt safe and unsafe? That kind of thing.  The fact is that I do feel fear sometimes.

Let me give you an example of how my mind works sometimes.  A couple of weeks ago I took the dogs out for a walk on the street. Ours is a street circling the lake and it doesn’t have a lot of other streets branching out. I usually see maybe 8-12 other people walking along the road: mothers walking their kids to school, people walking down the road to the little tienda, whatever. 

On that walk though I soon became aware that there was NO ONE on the street. No one. No traffic either. I thought maybe something bad is going down and everyone in the neighborhood knows about it except me. Maybe they are all staying away because something bad is going to happen. A shoot out, a kidnapping (ME?) a robbery?  I was suddenly afraid.

I asked myself, is this just general anxiety? Or a reaction to a change in the environment? It was a change in the environment. All the people were gone.

Could it be just a natural coincidence that no one was out while I was out? Of course it could be.

I was thinking I better cut the walk short when I noticed music coming from behind a gate. And then voices and laughter behind another. I couldn’t see these people, but surely if they were hiding in their houses they wouldn’t be playing loud music and laughing.  Then, way down the hill, I saw a couple of people walking as normal, and then I decided we were ok.

This is an example of anxiety, being aware of your surroundings, and calming fear when you’ve assessed the situation and decided your anxiety may be overreacting. 

So, I do feel fear sometimes, but the fact is that I try to stay out of trouble and I’ve had no incidence of crime since I got here.

The other day while driving to Morelia to go to Costco, at the interchange where the toll road started there were several national guard trucks with men in uniform with their long guns and helmets standing around. I didn’t know what was going on but I just wanted to drive through. Driving slowly past two of the guardsmen, one of them waved me over and I had to stop.  

The fear is that someone will try to steal from you, or harass you, or search your car and make you freak out. Or threaten you unless you offer a bribe (none of these things have happened to me, but I’ve heard bad stories from others).

I rolled down the passenger side window and smiled. The man was so young! He smiled and wanted to know if I was a tourist and then practiced some of his English on me. Very friendly. We spoke for a moment, all smiles, and I went on my way.

So yes, I do feel fear sometimes. But ”feeling unsafe” is not the same as being unsafe!

Be aware that there are some foreigners and others in Mexico who insist that all warnings about crime in Mexico are vastly exaggerated. They treat every warning as if it’s malicious propaganda. I’m not saying that there is no propaganda, but if you’re insisting that everything is hunky dorey in Mexico and are hostile to people who disagree, you have to ask yourself why you are denying the facts, calling people with real experiences liars, and discounting the murders and missing people that are real in Mexico. I’m sure I’ll get a couple of these people in the comments.  And remember just because someone drove the highway 6 months ago and says “it’s totally safe” because they didn’t have a problem, doesn’t mean you won’t have a problem. Consider your options carefully.

Let me show you a few gadgets I have that help me be more secure. I can’t tell you about all the tools in my belt because some things need to stay private, but here are just some of the things I can recommend.

Home

Just like when out in the world, when at home it’s important to be aware of any changes in your environment.  At home the dogs are alert to any new noises or the sight or smell of a stranger and I count on them for that, but I also use some security tools I’ll talk about in a minute. 

It’s very common to have locked gates and high walls in between your house and the street in Mexico. I appreciate this even though it’s a pain everytime I leave the property. Obviously someone could scale the fence if they really wanted to, but these things make it harder.

Some simple things I use at home and would recommend:

For instance, at night I put something on each door that will make it evident if someone is trying to open the door. I have a string of bells for instance, and sometimes I lean my walking stick in such a way that it would fall if anyone moved the door. Things like that.

I got this driveway alarm when I was out traveling in my trailer a couple of years ago. It works very well. You hang it about 4 feet up wherever you want to know if someone is coming. It works with a puck that you can have close to you in your house and if someone walks by the sensor, your puck will alarm for you. You can see I have a zip tie on mine to hang it from a hook or a tree branch or whatever, but you could bolt it in somewhere too. It works on solar but you are also able to plug in a usb to charge it. The puck is made for as many as 4 sensors you want around your house each with a unique chimb alarm to let you know which sensor is sensing someone. You can adjust the sensitivity to avoid false alarms and it works at a maximum range of ½ mile!

Right now it’s on Amazon for $45 for one puck, one sensor.

I mentioned the bells on doors to make it evident if someone is opening the door and Amazon has a lot more gadgets to prevent the door from being opened. Things as simple as a rubber door stop can be useful.

I’ve been a fan of these solar powered motion sensor lights around the outside of my house. They have the potential to deter mice as well as people! If I want to go out to look at the moon at night, a simple glance to see if any motion sensor lights have gone off will let me know if I’m alone out there. I gave two away and my last one just broke after 3 years of daily use.

Mexico has different laws about things like tasers and pepper spray, and I would never break the law in Mexico or anywhere else.  But keep in mind that if an intruder is in your house and you don’t have mace, you may very well have other things that you can spray in someone’s face to give you enough time to run away. Back in Oregon many people used bear spray, but there is also wasp and hornet spray, made to shoot over many feet. There is insect repellent. There’s carburetor or brake cleaning spray. Use your imagination.

If you don’t have exterior surveillance cameras did you know you can use an old phone or ipad as a security camera?  It really works and here is a link to explain how to do it.

I have to be proactive here about the latest news. It’s not like I’m going to hear from my friends around the water cooler what’s going on. Or on the radio. At least I don’t.  So I’ve got myself on every Michoacan Noticias site and board I can find. There are news websites and lots of facebook sites that seem to keep up with the latest.

But it was on a message board for English speakers in the Patzcuaro area that was my first sign yesterday that something was amiss in our area. (thanks to a channel viewer for the tip on this message board!)

The message said “Eronga shooting!” quickly followed by another “Security alert in Eronga”. There was word of rapid fire shooting between two groups in the small town about 30 minutes away from here. I got on all the noticias sites I knew about and found the afternoon had been full of warfare in Eronga apparently between a group of armed citizens (usually means cartel) and the National Guard. Some residents were posting hearing the shots and the sight of burning vehicles in the roadway.

This was the closest scene of crime or unrest I’ve had in my time in Mexico. I asked my landlady if she was worried and she said no. That’s over there, and this area has never had a problem. She said she has lived in the area for 23 years and never had a problem.

This comforted me but I didn’t really want to be even near anyone having a problem like this.

I kept my eye on the news and eventually it was reported that various security forces including the National Guard, the Army and local police had been dispatched to 5 localities where there had been some kind of trouble. The authorities were advising everyone to stay home and businesses in Eronga were closed. In the end one criminal was reported dead, 5 arrested, and multiple firearms and vehicles were confiscated.

According to reports, people were pleased with the response of all the security forces.

So we are in no immediate danger. There are many thousands of people getting on with their lives today. It did cause me to think about moving, or what I would take if I had to leave quickly. But I have no reason to think I’m in danger at this point. I did delay getting on to the highway to Morelia like I had planned, but we will stay where we are for now.

So, that’s troubling. Should I be in Michoacan? Probably not, but I am here and I don’t think we are in any danger at the moment.

It did make me think about moving, or what I would take if we had to leave in a hurry. But for now we will stay put.

It’s been two days since the incident in Erongo, and all has been quiet. I keep my eye on the news. By the way, if you’re in Mexico and you want to find news sites, just search for the name of your area and “noticias” or news. Look for sites that have current articles, not ones with their last post in 2016.  I’ve found many good sites this way. 

Also, on facebook there are many groups and sites to get the latest. Go on FB and search the name of the town you’re interested in.

To me, there are three things that make a big difference when it comes to security in Mexico, that you can have control over:

1. Where and when you go to a potentially dangerous region.
2. Your lifestyle and how much it puts you at risk
3. Your constant surveillance of your surrounding and environment (including noticias) to be aware of any changes.

I’m really glad to have the dogs as well!!

The truth is I don’t like making videos like this. I call them ‘SchoolMarm’ videos because I’m telling you what to do. But then I think of some newcomers to Mexico and how they might really need these tips. So here we are.

Ultimately you have responsibility for your own safety, Just like I do. It’s up to you to make the decisions that will keep you safe.  Why would anyone want to put themselves in a potentially dangerous country when they don’t have to? Well, if you’re asking that, you haven’t experienced the Mexico that I love!

Stay out of trouble everyone!

How to Use Your iPad as a Security Camera (And iPhone)