San Miguel is Safe
We in San Miguel understand that you might be wary of traveling to Mexico these days. We assure you that San Miguel is a safe, quiet town, hundreds or even thousands of miles away from the drug wars that U.S. media loves to report.
Sitting in a flower-filled, 350-year-old courtyard in the warm sun, sipping a margarita with friends, with mariachis playing in the background, is not news, so you won’t hear about that part of Mexico on your news shows. But far more of Mexico is quiet and heartwarming than endangered by violence. Being afraid to visit San Miguel is like hearing about a gang war in Los Angeles, and being afraid to visit Vermont.
San Miguel is up in the mountains and isolated from other parts of Mexico. Most of the negative news reports are from places over ten hours away and have little to do with our charming hamlet of artisans.
Here are some facts that may comfort you:
• Of the seven cities the State Department has warned against, the closest one is ten hours by car from San Miguel, and the farthest is twenty-nine hours away.
• The average murder rate in most Mexican states is 2 murders per 100,000. That’s about the same as Evansville, Indiana or Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. In Mexico City, the average is 8 per 100,000, which is low for the most populated city in the world.
• Last year, 111 U.S. citizens were killed in all of Mexico. Almost all of those killed were involved in trafficking guns, drugs, or people across the border. According to the FBI’s national crime report, the cities of Boston, Las Vegas, and Orlando had 111 murders last year as well.
If there were any threat of violence in San Miguel, the 8,000 Americans and Canadians who live here so happily could easily leave. Instead what happens is, friends come to visit us — and end up buying a home here!
Don’t let misleading news coverage keep you away. You’ll be missing a heart-warming, life-changing Conference that all the rest of us will be inhaling!
