I admit I bought into the whole fear aspect. For less than and hour, for the first time in my life, I was afraid to go back to the town I grew up in. It wasn't the mass e-mails sent out by my university warning students not to go to Mexico that caused this fear, it wasn't even the wide-eyed classmate who in hushed tones questioned my sanity at going to such a 'dangerous' place, it was the words written in bold and splashed accross the front of a newspaper page that ultimately marked my momentary hesitation. "18 killed in Culiacan!" it read. I panicked.
Fortunately I knew exactly who to call. And once he was able to pause for a breath of air after laughing hysterically at my question of "Is it safe?" my dad managed to gasp out "Of course it's safe!". My face burned with shame.
When I landed in Mazatlan a few days later, what I encountered was not at all what I expected. Apparently the newspapers had not even voiced the worst of it. People told me about the night club shooting where 4 died and 21 were wounded, the 4 men who were shot and then hung off an overpass, the restaurant that was shot up twice because the owner either couldn't or wouldn't pay safety / blackmail fees to the cartel, the 2 cartel members shot in broad daylight in the middle of the day in front of a big hotel on the main strip, and so on. But this was not at all what surprised me, I was astonished to hear the same people who expressed these terrible situations saying in almost the same breath "We are not afraid to be here.". And I was awed. Because at the end of the day the truth of the matter is that it is EXTREMELY unlikely that anyone I know could possibly get hurt because of this cartel situation. People killed are those who are involved in the cartel or are simply hanging out with the wrong crowd at the wrong time.
On my second day I had the privelage of going to see not only the 12th feeding center that has been sponsored by the Vineyard, but I was privelaged enough to stand on the ground that is destined to someday hold the 13th feeding center. And I realized that life has to go on. People continue living with the same issues, working for a living, and in general etching out a life. I nearly burst with pride at how lucky I was to be surrounded by so many fearless people who put aside their own worries and anxieties in order to continue to do great work.And most importantly, I find Mazatlan greatly unchanged. There are fewer tourists, but it is the same town that I loved in my younger years and that I now miss for whenever I am away;the same people who are loving and helpful and warm; the same laid back and relaxed approach to any issue that life brings our way. In essence, in my opinion the absolutely best place to be right now is defnitely Mazatlan. :)
