As a female traveling alone, I personally feel safer traveling in Mexico than in the United States. But I use the same common-sense precautions I follow traveling anywhere else in the world and am alert to what's going on around me.
Mexicans in general, and men in particular, are nosy about single travelers, especially women. If a taxi driver, waiter, or anyone else with whom you don't want to become friendly asks about your marital status, family, and so forth -- and they will -- my advice is to make up a set of answers (regardless of the truth): "I'm married, traveling with friends, and I have three children." Saying you are single and traveling alone may send the wrong message. U.S. television, widely viewed now in Mexico, has given many Mexican men the image of American single women as being sexually promiscuous. Check out the award-winning website Journeywoman (www.journeywoman.com), a "real-life" women's travel information network where you can sign up for a free e-mail newsletter and get advice on everything from etiquette and dress to safety; or the travel guide Safety and Security for Women Who Travel (Travelers' Tales, Inc.), by Sheila Swan and Peter Laufer, offering common-sense tips on safe travel.
