By: Matt Brophy

In the last six months my family and I as well as friends have traveled to Mexico for both business and pleasure. Aside from the usual warnings from family or friends of “don’t drink the water” the more common warnings that one often hears these days are “It’s not safe” or “Have you heard what’s going on doing there in Mexico?” Misinformation has caused this general fear of travel to Mexico when in fact the tourist destinations are safer than many of our cities in the United States.

On any given hot summer weekend in Chicago regretfully there are a high percentage of homicides. The State Department does not issue any local travel warnings for Chicago or cities that have crime high crime rates like Washington D.C. or Philadelphia. In fact cities like Chicago, Washington D.C and Philadelphia are great places for tourists and tourism. Therefore what happens on the border or some isolated areas in Mexico has no impact on the safety of the tourist in cities such as Guadalajara, San Miguel de Allende or beaches resorts like Cancun and Puerto Vallarta.

In two recent trips throughout the State of Jalisco Mexico, our group traveled all around the state to put together the Franciscan Pilgrimage Program to Mexico for the spring of 2012. We will lead a group of 25 pilgrims throughout different cities in and around Guadalajara Jalisco and Mexico City to see and experience the rich religious and cultural contributions of the Franciscans over the last 500 years in Mexico. I would not lead a pilgrimage to these key cities in Jalisco or Mexico City, Puebla or Cholula if I were concerned about the safety of our pilgrims. Tourist destinations in Mexico are just as safe if not safer than most metropolitan cities in the United States. In fact, 22.6 million people visited Mexico in the last 12 months. None of them was hurt as a result of any criminal activity.

Due to many favorable elements of living in Mexico, there are now 21 main communities of North Americans that have now retired in Mexico in cities such as San Miguel de Allende, Chapala-Ajijic, and Puerto Vallarta etc. More and more retired Americans from the United States now call Mexico their home. They have chosen to live in communities that are safe and sound. It’s a wonderful life for them in Mexico.

Mexico indeed is a safe place to travel. Its colonial plazas, friendly towns filled with mariachi music, historic churches, museums and warm sunny beaches invite you and me to come to Mexico. My family and I will be back there very soon. Hasta luego! Until we meet again!