When I said that Mexico is overall safe, I did not mean that tourists and adventurers should go to places where there might be conflict. I do not recommend going to thoroughly unsafe and unstable areas anymore than I would recommend to anyone going into a truly bad area of Chicago. There are reasons why the U.S. State Department puts out bulletins for a number of areas in parts of a country where Americans should not travel to or be extremely cautious about. I am hence concerned for the safety of one American named Harry Devert.

                                     Wanting to create a kind of diary similar to Ernesto Che Guevara’s “The Motorcycle Diaries,” Devert decided to travel throughout the Americas on motorcycle. He started going through Mexico, and part of this trip went through Michoacan state. However, as of January 25th, his family had received no phone calls and no texts from him. Hopefully his iphone is the only thing broken. Devert spoke of military guarding towns he had passed through, and that he was supposed to meet with a military convoy in another town. This was the last transmission received from him. There is a good reason why such a military presence exists—there are the drug cartels in the area and vigilantee groups fighting them.

                                      Given this, one can be assured that this is a pretty disturbed area, and no doubt the U.S. government has warned Americans to be careful or stay clear of it. The U.S. government, along with the Mexican and French governments, are now working together to try and find Devert (since Devert is also a French citizen as well as an American, the French embassy has gotten involved). I hope they find him alive and well. I hope he will complete his transcontinental trip and write a book about his adventures. For now we can only wait and hope for the best. For all my readers, I cannot recommend enough exercising caution when traveling to certain parts of the world. Overall, many parts of the world are safe and stable, but as with all areas where there is instability please exercise caution and logic.