Anybocy been to Mexico lately?

Mrs. Shoo and I going to Mexico next week, fishing at the lower end of Baja. What about money? Take a bunch of American money? Just use credit cards (do they take them down there?)? Change into Pesos before going? Whattya think?

I am not going there, bad place.

Always a good idea to take money of the country you are going to along. Would you take a euro? or a Peso? Be careful with credit cards, if I took one it would have a low line of available credit and I would cancel it when I got home.

I've never been there. All I know is horror stories of other folks that went. If it were me I would change to Pesos before going and then find a clever way to hide the bulk of it. One guy I knew said he was careful driving but still the police pulled him over for speeding and then took him to jail. There he said he had to give them all the money he had to get out of jail and barely had enough gas left in his truck to make it back across the border.

I'm sure most places there take plastic. You probably should notify the card company and give them the locations you will be going so they won't think the card is stolen. I did this on my last trip and I just went to California.

I haven't been recently, but used to spend a lot of time in Mexico. From Cancun, in QR, to Ensenada, Mexico DF, and down the west coast all the way to Cabo.

As for money, if you stay in tourist areas, you can use USD or credit cards exclusively(large hotels, restaurants, etc). If you venture out into the non-tourist areas you will need Pesos. I would plan to change a hundred into Pesos to start, and buy more at any bank if you run low.

Dress simply, or even shabbily. Take no jewelry, don't be a target. Cabo is pretty safe unless you go native out in the wild.

Enjoy the fishing, if you go for sail/sport fishing, ask the boat captain how long they will stay out. There have been cases where a charter would go out in the morning, as soon as everyone caught ONE fish, they turn around and come home. So, get a [u:6944bb4e8e]commitment[/u:6944bb4e8e] for a fixed return time, and don't be duped.

You couldn't pay me enough money to go to Mexico...

I have been to Mexico twice this year. People were pleasant, didn't feel threatened, used credit, cash and Mexican currency. If you're comfortable use the Mexican currency, you give them green backs and you get back Mexican. We were in Tijuana (spelling?) and it was very nice where we were.

It's not professional to use or mention exact names...however.....in the interest of human health and hard ship:

My wife and I were enjoying a 10:45 AM breakfast in a very safe Northern Pacific Coast TOURIST town in Mexico...Mazatlan:

We were 60>70+ years of age:

First shot rang out:

Both of us men grabbed our wives,forced them to the floor of the restaurant, on the way down I tipped the table over to DEAFLECT BULLETS!

After what seemed like 3>4 minutes I started to stand up.I was thinking "I MUST LOOK LIKE A BUSH APE"! Those were not really shots?

Suddenly someone kicked me on the lower spine and said "STAY down their KILLING people!

Across the street and down 1>2 blocks several were shot DEAD!

The tourist BUSES from the CRUSE SHIPS were halted in the middle of the wild west drama.

I'll end now by saying MEXICO is no place for MY WIFE, MY SELF or my friends who are Good law abiding hard working retired blue collard tourist!

MEXICO........Think very long and hard before you visit!

Haven't been in a couple years but went there frequently when I was still flying. We stayed at regular hotels and they were always meticulously clean. Everyone we ran into was nice.
Every night of the year we had at least 10 crews doing overnights and no one ever got robbed or bothered.(or they knew regional guys don't make that much)
I used credit cards and let them worry about the exchange rate.
The scary places are mainly on the border.

I had an I phone and I downloaded a translation app, and I could speak English and it would translate into Spanish or vice versa

I fly into Mexico fairly regularly and I use ATM's to get pesos or will use my debit card at the larger well known businesses such as a Hilton or Hyatt.
Never a problem.

I retired from flying about 3 years ago. I used to go to Mexico a lot as I enjoyed the weather, food, and luxury hotels we stayed at on our weekend layovers. However, we started to have crews get robbed especially at ATM's, with some harassment on occasion. We had incidents of gunfights outside the hotels, one bombing with a grenade, robbed at restaurant,etc. Most of the time the violence is not targeted towards Americans but between the drug cartels or revenge/macho retaliations over petty issues or women. I would not ever use a debit card and mostly exchanged dollars for pesos at the airport and used cash only. Numerous crewmembers had issues with identity theft but that happens everywhere now days. I would not ever take my family to Mexico anymore as you just don't know what is going on with the cartels and can get robbed, kidnapped, shot, etc but hey, I also avoid numerous cities in the US for the same reasons. Difference is the violence is not isolated in known neighborhoods or areas of town/country. Mexico really needs to get a handle on the violence and cartels or their tourism will dry up like Egypt and parts of Europe, like Paris. I'm glad I got to see the world when it was inexpensive, safe, and fun. For now I'll stay in the US and continue touring the states I haven't totally explored. We just got back from a 4000 mile trip out west and momma is ready to go again but I need to put up one more hay cutting before I roll up the haying business. JMHO

Check with the State Department. The last that I heard, Baja was on the list of places not to go in Mexico. We used to go to Algodones once a year until the State Department put it on the "Do Not Travel To list. There is nothing that I need from across the border, so we don't go there anymore. Most of the border towns are on the list. A lot of the young men that you see loitering along the sidewalks are actually bodyguards for the business owners - so don't get into any arguments down there.

If you take your vehicle across the border, make 100% sure that you do not have even one cartridge or a gun in your vehicle. You would not like a long stretch in a Mexican prison for that offense.

Can I take out a life insurance policy on you?

You should go some place safer - like Chicago.

doc, we went to an "all inclusive" resort a couple of years ago in QR. An hour
south of cancun airport in the Riviera Maya. All prepaid through "fun jet
vacations" no exchanges needed. All food, drinks, rooms for a week. Beautiful
beach. Could see Cozumel offshore at night. Gates were guarded 24/7. However,
the van trip back and forth to the airport made me a little nervous. Heard the
driver mention "bandidos" were spotted somewhere along the A1A, but I didn't
ask where!

My friend went on a motorcycle guided tour of the Baja . He said a burned out school bus was a nice home there. The top notch of homes.

Mucho Bad Hombres!!!

like some others who posted, you couldn't get me into Mexico (or any central American country) anymore on a dare. It's just too unpredictable. Old boss of mine has a daughter working in a missionary somewhere down there. He went on a visit, they got robbed by a gang of kids. His daughter carries pesos to hand out when she's robbed on buses. They just walk onto the bus with their hands out and then get off and walk away.

My wife and I went there to attend my niece's wedding. We stayed at a resort and had a good time, but when we got home and our bill came for our Verizon phones, we received a bill for $650 for roaming on my wife's phone. Quite surprising as we did not use our phones in Mexico. It took four months to get that mess taken care of as someone had hacked into my wife's phone number and made over 2000 calls with it.

(quoted from post at 09:57:23 10/27/16) My wife and I went there to attend my niece's wedding. We stayed at a resort and had a good time, but when we got home and our bill came for our Verizon phones, we received a bill for $650 for roaming on my wife's phone. Quite surprising as we did not use our phones in Mexico. It took four months to get that mess taken care of as someone had hacked into my wife's phone number and made over 2000 calls with it.

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Um, isn't that a problem for the phone company? The same thing happened to me when I was forced to go to Chicago for work. I have ATT and same thing, it took 3 months for me to get the charges reversed, but had nothing to do with Chicago, but with the phone company not being able to secure the phone number and IMEI from external decoding and subsequent spoofing on a handset. (funny the IMEI was designed to be used to thwart theft of service. hahahahahahhaaa!)

I've visited Mexico too many times to count and in the last 3 years, 8 times. Luckily, never had a problem of any kind. As far as money, I take very little cash, I use my debit card, at times in stores like Walmart or any major grocery stores, restaurants etc. Your card will work just like it does here at home. I exchange for pesos in ATM machines and have never had a problem using my card. When you use an ATM try to take out what you'll use for several days as there is a charge for every time you use the ATM, not much though. At today's exchange rate, to draw out $100. would be over $1,500. in Pesos. Be sure to call your bank and let them know you'll be in Mexico using your card, giving them the dates you'll be gone from your home area, they will also tell you if there will be any charges from your bank for using your card in Mexico.

Phone: I have Verizon wireless and they have a Mexico plan that you can get while you're in Mexico. Doesn't cost but about $20.00 extra a month and that was for 1000 minutes.. You phone will act just like it does when at home. You can make and receive calls from and to home or make local calls in Mexico. The first time I used it, I had a problem setting it up but there's a number you can call and they helped me get it going. Worked really good. Call your provider and see if they have a plan for you while in Mexico. It's nice to know you can make and receive calls while traveling down there. Your provider will also be able to tell you the best provider to use down there so you have a good connection.
I know there are many problems in Mexico as there are here too, but I can honestly say that in all my trips to Mexico I have never had a problem of any kind.
A good time to go as the exchange rate is between $18.00-$19.00 Pesos to the dollar. Of course things are higher too but if you shop wisely it's still cheap. If you don't shop wisely it will cost you just as much as here in the USA.
Dick