Mexico is a 'great place to live'
Helmi Meister's first visit to Mazatlan five years ago was little more than an eight-hour stop on a cruise voyage, but it was enough time to fall in love.
Right after the ship docked, she and her husband, Bill Dixon, were whisked in a taxi straight to Zona Dorada - the Golden Zone teeming with tourists - but that wasn't what they wanted to see.
The Calgarians instead soon found their way to Mazatlan's 19th-century old town, full of vibrant marketplaces and colourful old buildings.
A couple of cervezas on a patio later, and they were sold. On their way back to the ship, they picked up a business card from a real estate agent. The next year, they rented a home in Mazatlan for a month, and by the following season, the couple had purchased a townhouse. "We just adored the people and our neighbourhood," said Meister, 57.
For six months each year, the couple now lives in a pink and blue townhouse in the heart of Mazatlan's historic centre. He takes Spanish lessons in the evenings, she gets involved in various social clubs and charity work. They wander down the street for fresh fruit and veggies from the little stand, they loll in the sunny weather.
And they bristle when their adopted home comes under harsh international criticism.
"If I walk around the streets here, I'm perfectly safe day or night. At night, it's like any place in the world, you don't go wandering around by yourself," Meister said.
The most recent case drawing criticism to Mazatlan involves the strange beating of Calgary office manager Sheila Nabb, who was found unclothed and unconscious, her face badly injured, inside an elevator at a five-star all-inclusive resort in the heart of Zona Dorada.
A Mexican man has been arrested in the case and charged with attempted murder.
The case drew multiple international headlines and stoked the heated debate over whether Mexico is a safe tourist destination.
Last year, 50 Canadians were assaulted and six murdered in Mexico. In the same year, 1.6 million Canadian tourists flocked to the country, up from one million in 2006.
In Mexico, politicians and tourist officials stress much of the violence that occurs there is contained to powerful criminal gangs linked to the lucrative drug trade. Drug gang violence has claimed 40,000 lives in Mexico since 2006 and the government has pledged to tackle the brutal turf wars.
While violence has dropped along the troubled U.S.-Mexico border, tensions are heating between the powerful Sinaloa cartel, headed by notorious drug lord Joaquin Guzman (known as El Chapo, or Shorty), and the Zetas, a violent gang invading Sinaloa territory.
Mexico is now in the middle of a $30-million, three-month blitz to lure North American visitors to prop up a tourism industry that poured roughly $12 billion US into local coffers in 2010.
Calgary retiree Bill Babione has a message to Canadians seesawing over whether to visit Mazatlan: Welcome.
Babione, 69, and his wife, Sally Babione, 60, purchased a Mazatlan home seven years ago, joining the estimated 2,000 Canadians who spend at least part of the year living in the Mexican resort city.
Right after the ship docked, she and her husband, Bill Dixon, were whisked in a taxi straight to Zona Dorada - the Golden Zone teeming with tourists - but that wasn't what they wanted to see.
The Calgarians instead soon found their way to Mazatlan's 19th-century old town, full of vibrant marketplaces and colourful old buildings.
A couple of cervezas on a patio later, and they were sold. On their way back to the ship, they picked up a business card from a real estate agent. The next year, they rented a home in Mazatlan for a month, and by the following season, the couple had purchased a townhouse. "We just adored the people and our neighbourhood," said Meister, 57.
For six months each year, the couple now lives in a pink and blue townhouse in the heart of Mazatlan's historic centre. He takes Spanish lessons in the evenings, she gets involved in various social clubs and charity work. They wander down the street for fresh fruit and veggies from the little stand, they loll in the sunny weather.
And they bristle when their adopted home comes under harsh international criticism.
"If I walk around the streets here, I'm perfectly safe day or night. At night, it's like any place in the world, you don't go wandering around by yourself," Meister said.
The most recent case drawing criticism to Mazatlan involves the strange beating of Calgary office manager Sheila Nabb, who was found unclothed and unconscious, her face badly injured, inside an elevator at a five-star all-inclusive resort in the heart of Zona Dorada.
A Mexican man has been arrested in the case and charged with attempted murder.
The case drew multiple international headlines and stoked the heated debate over whether Mexico is a safe tourist destination.
Last year, 50 Canadians were assaulted and six murdered in Mexico. In the same year, 1.6 million Canadian tourists flocked to the country, up from one million in 2006.
In Mexico, politicians and tourist officials stress much of the violence that occurs there is contained to powerful criminal gangs linked to the lucrative drug trade. Drug gang violence has claimed 40,000 lives in Mexico since 2006 and the government has pledged to tackle the brutal turf wars.
While violence has dropped along the troubled U.S.-Mexico border, tensions are heating between the powerful Sinaloa cartel, headed by notorious drug lord Joaquin Guzman (known as El Chapo, or Shorty), and the Zetas, a violent gang invading Sinaloa territory.
Mexico is now in the middle of a $30-million, three-month blitz to lure North American visitors to prop up a tourism industry that poured roughly $12 billion US into local coffers in 2010.
Calgary retiree Bill Babione has a message to Canadians seesawing over whether to visit Mazatlan: Welcome.
Babione, 69, and his wife, Sally Babione, 60, purchased a Mazatlan home seven years ago, joining the estimated 2,000 Canadians who spend at least part of the year living in the Mexican resort city.
"We live in a great neighbourhood, the neighbours know us, we know them. We all watch out for each other, whether it's native Mazatlan people or expats," said Babione.
"It's a great place to live." Like other expatriates who have found a comfortable life in the sunny Pacific Coast city, they readily concede there are crime concerns not found back home in Calgary.
Babione describes it as mostly "bad guy against bad guy.
"There's places here in Mazatlan I won't go. There's places in Calgary I won't go either, even at high noon."
Word of the attack on Nabb has set the Mazatlan expat community abuzz.
The residents share condolences with the Calgary office worker, who returned home last week for surgery at Foothills Medical Centre, and her family.
Meister said she's concerned high-profile crimes involving foreigners may unfairly stereotype her Mexican home."We're so comfortable down here," she said. "I feel perfectly safe." It's too soon to say what kind of lingering effects the recent attack may have on tourism in the district.
At least one vacation company this week offered a last-minute Calgary to Mazatlan round-trip for $275.
"If the deal is good enough, people will still come," suggested Meister.
"It's a great place to live." Like other expatriates who have found a comfortable life in the sunny Pacific Coast city, they readily concede there are crime concerns not found back home in Calgary.
Babione describes it as mostly "bad guy against bad guy.
"There's places here in Mazatlan I won't go. There's places in Calgary I won't go either, even at high noon."
Word of the attack on Nabb has set the Mazatlan expat community abuzz.
The residents share condolences with the Calgary office worker, who returned home last week for surgery at Foothills Medical Centre, and her family.
Meister said she's concerned high-profile crimes involving foreigners may unfairly stereotype her Mexican home."We're so comfortable down here," she said. "I feel perfectly safe." It's too soon to say what kind of lingering effects the recent attack may have on tourism in the district.
At least one vacation company this week offered a last-minute Calgary to Mazatlan round-trip for $275.
"If the deal is good enough, people will still come," suggested Meister.
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