Mary Wells | 11/29/2008 6:33 am

The Gypsy Dispatches: First Person Accounts From Mumbai and Mexico

From Mumbai: I just had a call from my Swiss friend who just arrived in Geneva from Mumbai and when he was leaving his hotel in Mumbai to go to the airport and his elevator arrived in the lobby there was no one alive there, just a horrific group of dead people and blood everywhere and he saw a man with a gun but was hustled out onto the street by someone and into the restaurant next door where he and others hid in the dark all night in the confusion. He said the terrorists were shooting anybody and anywhere, it was total chaos.

From Mexico: Yesterday I just had another call from a friend in Baja who has a home near the lovely and luxurious resorts there who packed up and left and doubts she will return as the two drug factions are having a war there and up and down the south coast of Mexico and in Mexico City and they are cutting off heads and rolling them down the beaches and it is total Hell.

It is a good time to stay home and bless America for being as safe as it is.

Gypsy

Read more about: India, Mary Wells, Mexico, Mumbai, News

102 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Mary - do you mean near Cabo San Lucas??? My husband is taking clients down there and now i’m scared. Do you really think Cabo isn’t safe right now?

By Chrome Toe on 11/29/2008 9:28 am

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I just rec’d an email from a friend who is a constant world traveler, including to dangerous places, on her return from Mexico: “Re: Baja photos “Hi Suzanne! We didn’t feel safe in Northern Baja - there is a lot of kidnapping, drug killings and tension. It was a bit too edgy for us and consequently there were few tourists, except for cruise ships in Ensenda. Such a shame. We’re pretty used to dangerous travel (driving South Africa for three months, a week on Komodo, two weeks throughout Cambodia and Laos, etc.) We left a day early - even though we had a gorgeous four bedroom house on the beach! Cheers”

By Delete This on 12/05/2008 1:31 pm

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Ya… my husband already changed his cabo plans after going to the state departments website. it just isn’t worth it you know. there are a lot of other places you can spend your money. Bummer for Mexico. I love the place. Hopefully they can get a handle on this.

By Chrome Toe on 12/05/2008 4:35 pm

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WABOHW!!! Thats what a bunch of hogwash! First person accounts??? Mary, were you there. first person account come from people who are actually there. not talking to friends on the phone. Here is a first person account: I live in Baja, in a beautiful house on the oceanfront with my wonderful husband and 5 y/o daughter. We have a great home on acreage in the pines 5 minutes west of town in Boulder but choose to live here full time. my daughter is blessed with an increadible education at a private bilingual acadamy with phnomenal resources. Our home is in the residential resort community of Club Marena. It is not only safe and secure but crime here is all but non-existant. The people are wonderful and loving and the pace and rythem of the lifestyle is something you could not find north of the border. Of the 14,000 US citizens that live in the area we know of NONE that are leaving. Yes, there are some terrible things going between the drug gangs. They are killing each other in TJ at an alarming rate. This violence is fueled buy the US’s thirst for cocaine & meth. Drugs go up, money and Guns come down. This literally has no effect on our lives. There are NO heads on the beach and no tourist have been involved in any of this! For daily information on safety in Baja contact Ocean Front Baja These are first person accounts as is this!!! Come down and enjoy Baja in the first person. you will love it! JF

By Jennifer French on 11/29/2008 10:02 am

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so…. you think Cabo is relatively safe then?

By Chrome Toe on 11/29/2008 10:54 am

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Is Larry French your husband?

By sibelle daubigne on 11/29/2008 11:07 am

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I heard a man in Chicago who is originally from India, interviewed after this terrorist attack. He said it is so hard for the people of India to get their minds around this tragedy because visitors to the country were killed and injured, and in India, “visitors are ‘gods’.

By DeBúrca obj on 11/29/2008 11:22 am

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Here is a link to a recent account. They caught one of the killers. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1090546/I-told-kill-breath-Captu…

By Frannie Em on 11/30/2008 12:16 am

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3536220/Mumbai-siege-300-feared-dead-as-… http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/3535801/The-audacio… http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/article14086308.ece http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/29/asia/30mumbai.php http://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-36780320081129

By Frannie Em on 11/30/2008 2:04 am

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So very true!!! I’m a frequent visitor of India & I love the land & its people regardless of their religious beliefs. India has a long history of terrorist attacks. What makes this attack exceptional is that for the very first time we could see the faces of the killers. It was sort of one on one manslaughter. It bodes evil things to come. I’d like to share the words of a friend of mine who lives in the area, he reminded me of other horrendous attacks in Mumbai in the last decade, but he pointed out, this time around there were foreign victims involved & for that reason we were much more aware of this senseless massacre. It happened before, it will happen again. We are all part of this drama. It can happen anywhere as you well know after NYC and WAS . As it happened twice in Buenos Aires, my hometown, in 1992 & 1994, in Madrid & London & so many other places. This has to stop. The day we can erase from the face of earth the arms dealers, that day peace will be nearer.

By marta pont on 12/01/2008 10:53 am

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Marta- “The day we can erase from the face of earth the arms dealers, that day peace will be nearer.” I certainly agree but look no further than the US [world’s biggest arms dealer] and families like the Bush’s that have made fortunes in arms dealing, and corporations like Citigroup that have made fortunes on money laundering that keeps arms/drugs dealers in business. But what do people really care about? It can be measured daily by looking at Google Trends. For today…..most people are interested in tonight’s rare conjunction of Jupiter, Venus and the moon: http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends

By Delete This on 12/01/2008 8:53 pm

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Yes you are right, but don’t forget the guys in Belgium/France/Germany even the very proper Swiss plus the biggest of them all: Sacred Mother Russia cradle of the AK47 or Kalashnikovs the weapon of choice of terrorists in that part of the world. When I see this new breed of russian millionaires spending their money so lavishly , it gives me the creeps because I see all the blood behind their monies. By the way, the Jupiter/Venus conjunction is veeery good indeed!!!. Enjoy your Pacific view, you lucky one, Carmel is so beautiful!!!

By marta pont on 12/02/2008 6:53 am

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Marta My son was in the army and on his different deployments to the Mid east they found more Chinese weapons than anything. There was French weapons, but I believe they were illegally obtained and brought in my Syrians. It is too crazy for me. I told my son about a commercial I heard on the radio that was accompanied by very dramatic classical music, and it was an advertisement for a U.S. company that made weapons. The language was full of hyperbole and tension to describe what they did. I told my son about it, and he said “Mom, that is what we should be afraid of. Those companies sounding like they are just average manufacturers. The world should not accept this bull shit.” Unfortunately, as there is always a resource war going on (oil) and now the Chinese are scouring the earth for every resource they can buy, it may become worse. For me, the only good thing about the financial crisis is that it is slowing down the drive to obtain natural resources. Too many bad bargains have been made with dictators to insure their good graces for their countries resources.

By Frannie Em on 12/02/2008 2:58 pm

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Hola Frannie, hope yr son is back & safe, you are right, I should have included the chinese who are really proactive at this time. Anyway the arms issue is too complicated to analyze on a Forum like this. I hope I will see some dramatic changes in my lifetime, including world peace. I’m a born optimist as you can see.

By marta pont on 12/02/2008 3:36 pm