Sands, Not Safety, Draw Notre Dame Students

March 12, 2011

Despite current safety warnings in Mexico, college students will dig their toes into the country’s sandy beaches next week over spring break.

The U.S. government issued a travel warning for Mexico in September as a response to violence, often drug-related, and kidnappings in the northern area of Mexico. Americans in the border cities of Tijuana, Nogales, Ciudad Juarez, Neuvo Laredo, Monterrey and Matamoros should remain especially alert, according to the U.S. State Department.

Violence escalated between drug-trafficking organizations in those areas, particularly Ciudad Juarez, and even the popular Acapulco witnessed a shootout in April 2010 that killed three innocent bystanders.

This warning and reports of recent violence has apparently not deterred many Notre Dame students from their plans to head south in refuge from gray Midwestern skies.

Many students say they will, however, avoid major conflict areas by traveling to the island of Cozumel. The island is in the Caribbean Sea off the southeast coast of the mainland.

Notre Dame seniors Joe Donovan and Matt Delaney are among a group of 26 headed to Cozumel’s beaches for the week. The students will stay in a hotel on the island.

Delaney said many parents were wary.

“We seriously took into consideration the violence on the mainland,” he said. “Many of the parents of the girls we are traveling with forbade their daughters from going to mainland Mexico. That is why we chose the island.”

A large group of seniors will travel to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, but Delaney said his group opted out of that trip because of concerns about drinking water in nearby Haiti.

Donovan said the travel advisory was not a major factor in the students’ decision for their spring break plans; spending time with his friends during his semester was his priority.

“I don’t think we were worried because we are so far south,” he said.

Taking heed

The State Department issues travel warnings when long-term conditions make a country dangerous or unstable. Americans are warned the U.S. government’s ability to assist its citizens there might be limited.

Kayleen Carr, leisure manager at Anthony Travel, said the agency offered a spring break package for students to Punta Canta, Dominican Republic, but took the travel advisory to Mexico very seriously.

“We tried to stay away from Mexico because of the travel advisory,” she said.
Although most resort areas are isolated from border violence, Carr said the agency decided to discourage students from traveling to the country even though resort areas have remained relatively safe.

“I don’t think Mexico is not a safe place to travel right now,” she said. “The resort areas, with the exception of Acapulco, are all still very safe.”

Last year, the agency offered packages to Rivera Maya and Puerta Vallarta in Mexico. Carr said they booked many family trips to Mexico in the beginning of April but decided not to book any student packages to the country over spring break.

Students are not looking for the same experience over spring break that a family traveling to the area might want to find, Carr said, and Anthony Travel wanted to find a more secure area for large college groups to enjoy beaches and bars.

The agency booked about 150 students for the trip to the Dominican Republic, Carr said. The cost of the trip was about $1,090 and included travel, meals, drinks and lodging.

A better deal?

Seniors Carolyn Conley and Megan Walsh will spend their week in a Cozumel condo with four others from Notre Dame. When the group began its spring break planning in the fall, Walsh said warm weather was their main priority.

The women investigated the travel package offered by Anthony Travel to the Dominican Republic, but Walsh said the price was too high.

“One of my family friends has a condo in Cozumel,” Walsh said. “When I made that connection we looked into it and decided that would be a better deal.”

Walsh said she knew the condo was secure because the owners visited the condo multiple times in the past months and took their five young children on the trip.

“They have never had any issues,” she said. “The fact that it is on an island might help that. It buffers the area a little bit from the mainland.”

Conley said her parents approved the plan with no trouble, but other parents expressed concerns.

“Some of my friends who are going with us, their parents were nervous when we were first planning, but the advisory is mostly for border towns,” she said. “Cozumel is an island, so they have not really had any of those problems.”

The group will board a direct flight to Cozumel on Saturday morning in Detroit.

“My friends’ parents who were concerned took the approach that we are responsible people, and we know what we are doing,” she said. “Plus we are paying for everything with our own money.”

Travel warning aside, Conley said the vacation is a needed escape.

“I can’t wait to get out of South Bend,” she said, “and be in the sun.”