Well....I guess I'm going to do some of my own rambling....
I've been going to Penasco for about 25 years now.....I love it there.....mainly because I love the ocean and the stress relief it gives me. I've also made some great friends over the years down there. I hate California....the other possible source for my stress relief....the water is too cold, it takes twice as long for me to get there, and it will cost me 3 times as much to play. And yes, I don't live there permanently, or have a heavy investment in Penasco(like a house or condo)....I'm one of the trailer trash.....so it makes it easy to "cut and run" without losing my shirt (this was for the benefit of Rosy, Mexicoruss and a few others). I can respect your opinions and your reasons for staying, but please respect mine, and don't try to poo-poo them because of the reasons you may have for staying.
I also am not much of a believer of the concept that if it's your time to go, it's your time to go. Maybe it's true, but I'm not going to intentionally walk in front of a bus or into the middle of a narco war.
Statistically, the violence in Penasco may not be anywhere near what we see in Phoenix or Tucson, but the type of violence that we've seen in the past week or so is something that we don't experience. Just look at the police fatalities that we've had the past year or so.....how quickly were the shooters apprehended? How many of our police chiefs have been targeted? At least in Phoenix, I have a pretty good idea of what parts of town to avoid, at least if I'm not armed. Yeah, there are gang type shootings, the occasional road rage shooting, but for the remainder of the homicides, usually the people involved know each other in some way. In Penasco, the shootings have not occurred in what I would consider "seedy" areas. One last year was in the Vina del Mar parking lot, and then the target was finished off in the clinic. Another was on the main drag right ouside the bank (Calle 13/Benito Juarez). The police chief was shot up near where the new hospital is. So, what parts of town do I avoid? In addition, there is no possibility of being armed when in Mexico. As someone mentioned, a bullet doesn't go around another target to get to it's intended victim. Eventually, if this continues or escalates, some innocent bystanders will be hit....be it locals or tourists. It's inevitable when several shooters are firing automatic weapons like an AK-47. The bullets will eventually ricochet or go thru some walls or vehicles and hit an "unintended" victim (as if killers fire "discriminantly" trying to avoid "innocent bystanders")!!!
I've got a couple of friends in Penasco that I've been in touch with the past week.....asking them some specific questions. One is married to a Mexican lady who has contacts in the police department. I haven't heard anything back from him. The "no news" is what is disconcerting! Another friend wrote back to say that even the local mob bosses were upset about the police chief shooting. Are they upset about losing business in their legitimate businesses, are they upset that someone else is muscling in, or are they upset that they may have some rogue elements that they can't control? We've heard that the police chief is relatively new, but no one has shed any light as to why he was possibly targeted. Was he applying pressure on someone? Was he supporting some faction of the narcos and another faction decided to make him an example?
So, I'm not writing off Penasco....yet! I'm taking a wait and see attitude to see how things develop and play out. I'm hoping to be down over the 4th for a long weekend. But I'm also not going to put on some rosy (sorry!!!) colored glasses or stick my head in the sand and say everything is back to being peachy keen!!!
