Mexico, to go or not to go?

Wow, it has been along time since I wrote anything on here.  I have excuses.......there was Christmas, and then I went to Mexico for 3 weeks, too relaxed to think about writing, and not sure I should write about being away while I am away, as I have advised people not to do that on facebook.

I have been home for a whole week, and I am ready to go back to the sunshine now.  But then we hear of another beating of a Canadian tourist in Mexico.  My first thought is always "so what, that happens here all the time," but if that was me in Mexico......it would be scarier than if it happened here.

While we were in Neuvo Vallarta, we felt very safe, but we did hear of a person who had been robbed at knife point getting off a bus in Puerto Vallarta, in broad daylight, (but we still took the bus and didn't get robbed) and another person who was car jacked in a little town of La cruz. (he had a really nice truck that is a target) We also heard about the shooting in Melaque (which could happen to anyone who stands up to a robber with a gun) and the UBC student who was found buried in Huatulco (sounds drug related to me).
We also heard of at least 3 shootings at home, on Christmas day, New Years eve, and continuing gang violence all though this past few weeks of 2012.  So is it really safer at home?

There are many people quoting the statistics of crime per capita in Canada versus Mexico, but my concern lies more with the investigation and punishment for crime in Mexico.  We rarely hear that the Mexican police have found the people responsible for the beatings or the murders of Canadians.  I am thinking back to the couple who were murdered at the Barcelo Maya Resort in July 2006, was that ever solved?  Apparently from the google search I just did, a security guard was charged with these murders in 2009, clearing the names of the 2 Canadians who were the first suspects.
Funny I don't remember that being a big headline?  I did find a CTV news report from 2009, but do you remember hearing about that?

I also found this really informative site, it is a long read, but is very good information.

http://playazone.wordpress.com/2011/09/14/safety-crime-in-playa-del-carmen-mexico-2011-the-truth/?blogsub=confirming#subscribe-blog

• First don't believe everything you read in an online forum, or through word of mouth, facts get distorted, look for facts.
• don't walk around the streets, looking rich, lots of jewelry and money makes you at target anywhere.   Not just at 2AM on the street in Mexico after you have been drinking for many hours.
• there is a list of many places to find facts, if you read to the bottom of the article.  (Tripadvisor forum is not one of them, yet I read that alot)

I really feel bad for the girl who was beaten in Mazatlan, just as I felt really bad for the man who was biten by a shark in Hawaii a few years ago, but I think I will still travel to both places, until someone changes the weather here.