'Acapulco is both heaven and hell'

A campaign launched by Acapulco night club owners encourages people to speak well of Acapulco. It comes as the granddaddy of Mexican tourist destinations suffers through a wave of organized crime bloodshed that has involved beheadings and mass abductions. Tourist officials say the violence takes place far away from tourist areas and doesn't impact visitors. They complain, too, that violence in other parts of Guerrero often is erroneously reported as somehow involving or being near Acapulco. I went to Acapulco recently to report on the situation for USA TODAY; read my dispatch by clicking on the headline for this blog post.

A Canadian finally talks straight on Mexico

The bad news on Canadians meeting misfortune while travelling in Mexico seemingly won't abate, but at least one person - the inadvertent victim in a shootout - is finally voicing a lot of what the "don't travel to Mexico" crowd completely overlooks: that this country has many redeeming qualities and that once experienced, are difficult to overlook.

Rita Callara, a woman from the Niagra Falls area, and another Canadian, suffered injuries at an Acapulco hotel after a gunman opened fire. Despite being in the wrong place at the wrong time, here's what she told Toronto radio station AM 640, “I'm not scared ... That's some of the things that happen. What about Toronto – every night they kill people?”

Finally someone with the courage to point out that Toronto hasn't been the most tranquil spot. A buddy in Ajijic reacted to the Adam de Prisco shooting by saying, "People here can turn on City TV (Toronto), which they get via Star Choice, and see shootings all the time."

I've been accused of being insensitive to the bad things happening to Canadians - some are just dreadful, like the British Columbia resident rotting in a Huatulco jail - but I've had my own brush with tragedy. A classmate from Calgary, who I never met, was shot dead after leaving a Zapopan nightclub in April 2004. Ironically, I was at the same nightclub on the same night and lived 200 meters from the crime scene. The alleged perpetrator is none other than the son of a notorious narcotics trafficker. Despite all this, I returned to the Guadalajara area in 2005 - and so has every other Mount Royal College exchange student studying in Mexico at the same time as the victim. The victim's family, obviously distraught due to a lack of justice, urged my alma mater to discontinue exchanges with Mexico.

Two things:

1. The world doesn't work like Canada - and there's value in witnessing that. Canada is quiet, supposedly safe and very safety conscious. While visiting another Canadian friend here in Guadalajara, we took the dog for a walk and carried our adult beverages out the door with us. We both commented on how nice it was to not have some busybody scolding us.

2. A feeling runs rampant in the forums about the Canadian deaths that the government should be protecting Canadians abroad. How? Contrary to popular belief, maple leafs sewed onto backpacks are not protection. Bad things happen to Canadians - and foreigners of all nationalities while travelling abroad. Why is Mexico being singled out?

Some people say the stupidest things about Mexico

A young Canadian traveler sadly died outside of an Acapulco nightclub last week and news of his death is generating no shortage of headlines and emotionally charged comments on message boards. The facts are still sketchy, but similar to the case of the two Canadians killed in their Playa del Carmen hotel room last winter, the grieving family is alleging police and judicial ineptness. Many Canadians are also urging the federal government to issue a travel advisory for the entire country - instead of just certain zones like Oaxaca.

That would be overkill. Guadalajara is as tranquil as ever, as is Chapala and Ajijic - where record numbers of Canadians keep arriving each winter - and San Miguel de Allende. I spent the days leading up to New Year's in Mexico City with a Canadian friend and found it an ideal time to visit.

Canadians - even the ones that take winter junkets down to Puerto Vallarta and Cancun - really know very little about Mexico and thus a number of stupid and downright prejudiced comments have been appearing on message boards. These comments on the Globe and Mail's site by someone called Lyn Alg tops them all for sheer ignorance:

"One would be safer and wiser to take a vacation in the centre of Baghdad or in Afghanistan than in Mexico."

Please. It's small town cheap comments like this that make me not miss Canada, which for all of its supposed tolerance and worldliness, is distressing parochial and small minded - not to mention ignorant of Latin America.

To its credit, CTV posted a large collection of comments, which often struck a more reasonable note and included the feelings of Canadians presently residing in Mexico. One interesting theme was how many people had negative expriences in Acapulco. Those going to Puerto Vallarta grouse frequently about pushy time-share vendors, but those in the CTV forum raved about their experiences. Acapulco is badly over-built and ringed by slums. It's also in Guerrero, perhaps Mexico's most corrupt and backwards state. Acapulco is now a playground for rich chilangos (Mexico City residents) and not a prime destination for foreigners.

Update: Mexican authorities attributed Adam DePrisco's death to a hit-and-run accident. The DePrisco family disagreed. Now an autopsy in Ontario confirms DePrisco was struck by a vehicle, but Adam's family said the results "don't add up."

The DePrisco family is also now charging Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay and the Canadian government with not doing more to help. Justice is unfortunately bad for Mexicans - not just foreign tourists. The government, in reality, can do little - and Canadians don't have a reputation of pushing for answers like their American counterparts.