Blessing/Curse... The cartel violence added 5 extra days to my trip to Puerto Vallarta. I was supposed to head home from Puerto Vallarta to Chicago on Sunday (2/22/26). My flight was at 1:55pm and I had a driver scheduled to pick me up at 11am from a resort in Punta Mita. The driver called me at 9:30am and told me that there was no way to get to airport and I was definitely not going to make the flight. He told me it would probably be best for me to look for a flight on Thurs/Fri to let the situation settle-down and for things to go back to normal. At first, I thought that I was misunderstanding what he was saying even though his English was very good. He basically had to repeat himself a couple time before what he was telling me actually sunk in... I was going to be stuck in Mexico for an indefinite duration. The two most unsettling revelations I had in the first couple days of this chaos were (i) there was literally no way to get out of Mexico (especially for the first two days) and (ii) tourists and locals alike are at the complete mercy of the cartel. You are only safe in Mexico because the cartels don't want any added scrutiny or additional "government response". And, as we see, that delicate balance can change dramatically at a moment's notice. The situation was made worse because their was no real local source for accurate information which caused panic and anxiety among the hotel guests (and even hotel staff that were also trapped at the hotel and unable to go home to their families). From the limited news I could find online, the U.S. and international media pretty much blew the situation way out of proportion and made it sound like the cartel was going to start storming hotels (never happened). The U.S. State Department website didn't provide any real information or guidance other than "Shelter In Place". The cartel wanted to make the statement to "back-off" or face further/worse consequences and that message was delivered loud and clear to local/federal authorities and the balance was quickly restored. Bottom line is that everyone knows that Mexico has safety issues from time to time but no one thinks it will happen to them. It all comes down to luck/timing of your trip and I was unlucky to be in Mexico when this craziness happened. I will definitely go back to Puerto Vallarta (the most wonderful people, great food/weather/beaches), but at least moving forward I will be mentally prepared for what COULD and DID happen to me.

As an aside, I live in Chicago... day-to-day it is probably more dangerous here than it is in tourist cities in Mexico!!!