Cynthia:  The cartel violence in Puerto Vallarta last week was unsettling.

Edd:  It ended quickly, but the memory will remain for quite some time because of the way it was covered in the media.

C:  I’m guessing a lot of people planning travel to Mexico are having second thoughts. It’s a huge country and the activity was confined to only a few areas. Puerto Vallarta is actually one of its safest cities.

E:  All this is so reminiscent of the situation we wrote about here in Ecuador two years ago. Drug violence in a few pockets of over 1,200 miles of coastline was blown way out of proportion with headlines screaming that the entire country was “gripped with fear.”

C:  Oh, I remember. Meanwhile, here in Cuenca it was like we were reading news about something occurring on another continent! Sure, there was concern about the problem, but daily life for us and most people living in Ecuador continued as usual.

E:  Maybe expats near the troubled coastal areas relocated somewhere else, but ...