Twenty-one years living in Yucatan has given Kristine Ellingson a different opinion of safety in Yucatan Peninsula for women than the U.S. media leads us to believe. In this video excerpt of a interview with Kristine, she gives safety tips for women traveling alone in Yucatan.
Kristine bases her opinions of safety in Yucatan Peninsula for women not only on her own experiences, but also on four women living alone in the same village where she resides.
Kristine says that drug-related violence is mostly close to the U.S. border, far from Yucatan.
Nonetheless, although her advice concerns female solo travelers, her first-hand knowledge of the local situation will help anyone who wonders, “Is it safe to travel to Yucatan alone?”
As author of Tales from the Yucatan Jungle, Kristine has not only lived in a Mayan village for 21 years, but has also been married to a Mayan man for that time.
Timeline of the video:
00:00 I’ve never felt unsafe in the entire time
00:30 [Interviewer] “That’s not what we’re hearing in the U.S.”
00:35 [Kristine] This is true and it’s unfortunate.
00:56 These women drive over to Cancun.
01:00 They go to the beach.
01:08 If you have a flat tire or car problem
01:18 The world at large needs a geography lesson
01:28 The problems are drug-related
01:41 This is pretty much in the northern part
01:47 It has nothing to do with down here
01:55 You would have to be in the wrong place
02:05 You know where you shouldn’t be going
02:15 That would be lack of intelligence on your part.
02:20 I wouldn’t think that people should be afraid
MUSIC: “A River of Light,” Composed and Copyright 2010, Nancy Burrows, Used with Permission
Video footage and maps: Copyright 2012 Carol Chapman, Used with Permission