
Like anywhere in the world, since Los Cabos and La Paz are growing, and you cannot control the growth, you get different kinds of people who come here. However, the crimes that you will encounter here are not violent crimes where you would worry that somebody would come after you and kill you. The crimes that happen here are crimes of opportunity like house break-ins and petty theft. But there are no kidnapping or murders here.
There is an expression here that goes, “We don’t know many things but we know that 2,000 years ago, 60% of the criminals are thieves.” When Christ was crucified, he had two thieves on each side. Thieves have existed for a long time.
The rule of thumb is, if you have a house here, don’t make it too easy for a thief to steal something. Get common deterrents, which is enough most of the time. Cover your windows. If you are not living here most of the year, then make sure your house is closed and make it difficult for a thief to break in. When you have a home here and you live here most of the time, you don’t need a lot of protection. I don’t have bars on my windows here in La Ventana. However, each place is different. In La Ventana, where I live (a small village 40 miles southeast of La Paz), you could feel safe. When you live here, people will not come close to your home or enter without permission. They know how to respect other’s properties. It is the same thing in most areas in La Paz. You would feel safe in general. Most houses in Cabo are in a gated community so you would feel safe.
We are in Baja California Sur and this is very different than the rest of Mexico. Baja, in general is a very safe place. You won’t feel targeted for crimes here. When I go kite boarding in La Ventana, I leave my flip-flops, my bag, and my things and I go to my kite. People ask me if it was safe for me to do that. I tell them, “Yes it’s safe.” My flip-flops, my bag, and my gear are there when I come back. This is how safe La Ventana is but I couldn’t say the same everywhere. Most of the beaches in La Paz are safe. When you walk at night, you can feel safe, too. It’s the same thing in Cabo. As long as you are walking in common areas you could feel safe here. Without a doubt, I can say that Baja California Sur is the safest place in all of Mexico.
I live in La Ventana now but I have also lived in La Paz and Cabo. Living in La Paz is very different from living in Cabo. I have lived in both of these places and I understand the daily life in these areas. Most of the people in La Paz and La Ventana are not poor people. You wouldn’t see lots of beggars here. There may be some but not a lot. Also the locals who live here in La Ventana grew up and have become accustomed to live around expats so expats are not targeted here unlike in other areas where there is a wide difference between the haves and the have nots.
There was a guy who lives here in La Paz who owns a company. He is a rich guy but you will see him go to the same beach with his employees in the weekends. Their kids also share the same beach. That is the custom here in La Paz. People here in La Paz are used to living beside each other regardless of their status in life. There is no resentment at all.
(Kite boarding, La Ventana, Baja California Sur, Mexico, pictured.)