I'm looking at an expat assignment in Guadalajara. Anyone ever live there or have any experience with the area? Thanks, John
https://www.osac.gov/pages/ContentReportPDF.aspx?cid=10436 Hope you don't get caught up in the crossfire.
Why? Because that place is fucking fucked up. The chances of your American ass getting kidnapped for money or getting killed for your watch is very high. This place is like a lot of Mexico states, dangerous for Americans or even their own citizens. If I were you, I would stay away. Believe me, your family will thank god if you stay away!
Just trying to understand your POV, are you speaking from direct experience or is this based on what you are seeing on the news? Before I travelled to Israel I had one opinion but after I got there I formed a completely different POV.
I lived 30 minutes North of Juarez for 25 years and steadily saw Mexico degrade. Not sure if that counts as direct experience or not. For example, in college we used to cross the border for cheap eats. Our favorite surf and turf place was shot up with automatic weapons. An anecdote I realize, but they don't discover bulldozer dug trench-graves filled with 100+ bodies in Israel as far as I know. If the statistics surrounding Mexico's level of violence don't speak to you, you are made from different stuff than I.
Don't get me wrong the crime statistics definitely get my attention which is why I'm trying to get some more data points.
Me and all of the guys I grew up with spent heaps of time in Mex on surf trips. Mainland and Baja. No one I know will go down there. These aren't easily scared people. These are guys who speak and use direct mexican and spanish slang and are beyond fluent. None of them will go down there. This isn't a report on CNN or FOX designed to get ratings. None of the people I know will go down there. They all say the same thing. It's not like it was 10, 20, or 30 years ago. It's out of control. None of them will go down there. I hope that helps.
I had a 'soft - through a friend' offer to be a civilian contractor in Iraq for triple my yearly salary last month. I did not take it, though had I been pressed to make a choice I would have taken that before the the same assignment anywhere in Mexico not Cancun or Cabo, and even that would have been debatable. It aint worth it man. Mexico is like 1850's Arizona right now, but with automatic weapons.
its nuts hearing about all the shit happening down there. There was some cartel that executed some dudes near us a few weeks ago. Like "no country for old men" style. Abandoned vehicles in the middle of the dessert. scary shit.
They dispose of their executed victims by dissolving their carcasses in drums of acid. Stay the fuck away. :tut: