Post: #1

Quote:A corpse found along a dirt path in a remote town in Mexico has been confirmed to be that of Harry Devert, a US citizen who went missing in January on a road trip he planned to the World Cup in Brazil.

Devert, 32, disappeared on January 25 in a dangerous region of southern Mexico. He was chronicling his journey on a website he called A New Yorker Travels.

source

Once in a while I read something I figure is worth sharing with you guys. This is one of them, since I know many of us on the forum live like this man did or aspire too. I don't mean to be fear mongering as I know many members here have gone/go to Mexico regularly, stay safe, and have an awesome time. It's just sad to see a guy that had the world by the tail go out so horrifically.

He had a pretty interesting website that guys like us would appreciate, though it was still in its infancy. Contained info on travel, trading, and he was about to start a category on fitness and lifestyle.

I'm sure he never imagined what would happen to him, but he clearly didn't heed much warning to the region he chose to travel through. Such a shame, a bright torch that burnt out quickly.

Post: #2

During the past 5 years that I spent traveling I’ve used almost every mode of transportation imaginable and crossed nearly every different type of terrain I can think of. It was always an adventure, always interesting, always fun, always new. I’ve flown in every type of airplane imaginable. From the biggest airbuses, all different types of Boeings, a private jet, an army helicopter to the smallest of planes, 20, 12, 8, 6, 4 and a 2 seat plane. (occasionally flying some of the smaller ones myself) I’ve sailed on steam boats, catamarans, cruise liners, longtails, yachts, ferries, junk boats, schooners, steam boats, speed boats, houseboats, cigarette boats, island hopping boats and taken a fisherman’s canoe for a few days into the ocean to a tiny island where I stayed by myself. I’ve traveled in almost every different type of train I knew existed, and some I didn’t. From the high speed TGV that leaves the south of France, steam locomotives, a 4 person plank dragged down the railroad tracks by a motorcycle, 1st class trains across India as well as steerage class 30 hour train rides so packed that I wound up hanging out the train with one hand gripping the door and one foot dangling above the ground that we were rolling over as there was no room on the inside of the car. I’ve ridden inside buses that were loaded with chickens hopping around, some beautiful buses with reclining seats and champagne before bed, buses with doors and without, with seats and without, and ridden lying down on top of bushels of grain on top of buses, holding onto a rope and attempting to bus surf as we roared through the hairpin curves and mountains of Nepal, and hanging onto the back grate of buses. I’ve ridden in every type of car that I can imagine. From small vans with no doors packed with people, to off-road jeeps, regular cars, the back of pickup trucks and carrier trucks that would pick me up when I was hitchhiking. I’ve walked, jogged, run, rollerbladed, skateboarded, sprinted, climbed and swum in almost every weather imaginable (it’s illegal to go in the water during a hurricane in Florida because of me for example) I’ve ridden bicycles, mountain bikes, racing bikes a unicycle (or attempted to, I didn’t get very far), two seat bikes, mopeds, Vespas, and on the back of motorcycles. I still haven’t been in a hot air balloon, although truth be told I don’t have any huge drive to and I still haven’t paraglided (which I’m sure I’ll get around to eventually). Other than that, there’s no real form of transportation that I’m aware that I haven’t undertaken at some point. - See more at: http://www.anewyorkertravels.com/nyc-to-...89F4I.dpuf







His writing was very SWPL. This just screams "me, me, me, me and me!!!"

In half a dozen paragraphs he wasn't able to share a single insight for others, only boast about what he has done.

Nonetheless, RIP

Post: #3

There's a difference between traveling and doing stupid shit to put yourself in real danger. Going on a motorbike ride through cartel war zone towns and buying drugs along the way is just making yourself a huge mark. He played with fire and got burnt. I don't feel much sympathy with people who don't use basic common sense.

(07-19-2014 11:50 PM)ASOT Wrote:  In half a dozen paragraphs he wasn't able to share a single insight for others, only boast about what he has done.

Nonetheless, RIP

Agreed, you meet a lot of these "finding myself" and "padding my life experience resume" tools in SEA. The dress sense, mentality, etc.. is all very cliched and borne from the same cookie cutter SWPL suburban lifestyle.

Post: #4

Jeez, he wasn't just murdered -- he was dismembered and left in two pieces.

I've often felt that of all the ways to die, to be butchered by crazed monsters in a hot foreign land must count as one of the worst.

I feel that in many parts of Mexico, murder is never far away. Reminds me of this great passage by Burroughs, by far the best thing that fag ever wrote:

Quote:When I lived in Mexico City at the end of the 1940s, it was a city of one million people, with clear sparkling air and the sky that special shade of blue that goes so well with circling vultures, blood and sand–the raw menacing pitiless Mexican blue. I liked Mexico City from the first day of my first visit there. In 1949, it was a cheap place to live, with a large foreign colony, fabulous whorehouses and restaurants, cockfights and bullfights, and every conceivable diversion. A single man could live well there for two dollars a day. My New Orleans case for heroin and marijuana possession looked so unpromising that I decided not to show up for the court date, and I rented an apartment in a quiet, middle-class neighborhood of Mexico City.

I knew that under the statute of limitations I could not return to the United States for five years, so I applied for Mexican citizenship and enrolled in some courses in Mayan and Mexican archaeology at Mexico City College. The G.I. Bill paid for my books and tuition, and a seventy-five-dollar-per-month living allowance. I thought I might go into farming, or perhaps open a bar on the American border.

The City appealed to me. The slum areas compared favorably with anything in Asia for sheer filth and poverty. People would shit all over the street, then lie down and sleep in it with the flies crawling in and out of their mouths. Entrepreneurs, not infrequently lepers, built fires on street corners and cooked up hideous, stinking, nameless messes of food, which they dispensed to passersby. Drunks slept right on the sidewalks of the main drag, and no cops bothered them. It seemed to me that everyone in Mexico had mastered the art of minding his own business. If a man wanted to wear a monocle or carry a cane, he did not hesitate to do it, and no one gave him a second glance. Boys and young men walked down the street arm in arm and no one paid them any mind. It wasn’t that people didn’t care what others thought; it simply would not occur to a Mexican to expect criticism from a stranger, nor to criticize the behavior of others.

Mexico was basically an Oriental culture that reflected two thousand years of disease and poverty and degradation and stupidity and slavery and brutality and psychic and physical terrorism. It was sinister and gloomy and chaotic, with the special chaos of a dream. No Mexican really knew any other Mexican, and when a Mexican killed someone (which happened often), it was usually his best friend. Anyone who felt like it carried a gun, and I read of several occasions where drunken cops, shooting at the habitués of a bar, were themselves shot by armed civilians. As authority figures, Mexican cops ranked with streetcar conductors.

All officials were corruptible, income tax was very low, and medical treatment was extremely reasonable, because the doctors advertised and cut their prices. You could get a clap cured for $2.40, or buy the penicillin and shoot it yourself. There were no regulations curtailing self-medication, and needles and syringes could be bought anywhere. This was in the time of Alemá¡n, when the mordida was king, and a pyramid of bribes reached from the cop on the beat up to the Presidente. Mexico City was also the murder capital of the world, with the highest per-capita homicide rate. I remember newspaper stories every day, like these:

A campesino is in from the country, waiting for a bus: linen pants, sandals made from a tire, a wide sombrero, a machete at his belt. Another man is also waiting, dressed in a suit, looking at his wrist watch, muttering angrily. The campesino whips out his machete and cuts the man’s head clean off. He later told police: “He was giving me looks muy feo and finally I could not contain myself.” Obviously the man was annoyed because the bus was late, and was looking down the road for the bus, when the campesino misinterpreted his action, and the next thing a head rolls in the gutter, grimacing horribly and showing gold teeth.

Two campesinos are sitting disconsolate by the roadside. They have no money for breakfast. But look: a boy leading several goats. One campesino picks up a rock and bashes the boy’s brains out. They take the goats to the nearest village and sell them. They are eating breakfast when they are apprehended by the police.

A man lives in a little house. A stranger asks him how to find the road for Ayahuasca. “Ah, this way, señor.” He is leading the man around and around: “The road is right here.” Suddenly he realizes he hasn’t any idea where the road is, and why should he be bothered? So he picks up a rock and kills his tormentor.

Campesinos took their toll with rock and machete. More murderous were the politicians and off-duty cops, each with his .45 automatic. One learned to hit the deck. Here is another actual story: A gun-toting politico hears his girl is cheating, meeting someone in this cocktail lounge. Some American kid just happens in and sits next to her, when the macho bursts in: “¡CHINGOA!” Hauls out his .45 and blasts the kid right off his bar stool. They drag the body outside and down the street a ways. When the cops arrive, the bartender shrugs and mops his bloody bar, and says only: “Malos, esos muchachos!” (“Those bad boys!”)

Post: #5

(07-19-2014 11:57 PM)The Lizard of Oz Wrote:  Jeez, he wasn't just murdered -- he was dismembered and left in two pieces.

It's fairly unusual that an obvious gringo would get mutilated like that too. I'm going to assume he must have behaved in a way that was not considered polite amongst the local gang folk.

Post: #6

It isn't clear from the news accounts, but was he mixed up in the drug culture? I find it hard to believe that a foreigner would be targeted like that, with drugs found near his body. I would have expected a kidnapping.

Is this a case of a granola-eating neckbearded gringo who got mixed up in the drug rackets, and got what was coming to him from the vigilantes, or was it something else?

Post: #7

"Unspecified amounts of marijuana and cocaine were found alongside the body. Locals along Mexico's coastal regions frequently sell small amounts of these drugs to tourists."

I have lived in Mexico for over three years, and when I hear about a gringo death, there always seems to be drugs involved or homosexuality. Getting involved with drugs in a third world country in risky and is not going to put you in contact with nice people.

Post: #8

(07-20-2014 12:09 AM)Quintus Curtius Wrote:  It isn't clear from the news accounts, but was he mixed up in the drug culture? I find it hard to believe that a foreigner would be targeted like that, with drugs found near his body. I would have expected a kidnapping.

Is this a case of a granola-eating neckbearded gringo who got mixed up in the drug rackets, and got what was coming to him from the vigilantes, or was it something else?

1) He was mixed up in small time trafficking or was talking up plans to traffick. The locals caught wind of it and treated him like an outside competitor to their business model. Very unlikely but weirder things have happened.

2) He mouthed off like a prick or gave some snide attitude to the local thugs while passing through thus drawing their ire. Some guys forget that white god factor doesn't make you impervious to third world ultra violence. Likely.

3) He was a random mark for kidnapping or robbery. Maybe he resisted and the local psychos decided to draw and quarter him for shits and giggles. Less likely because killing an obvious tourist draws some heat. It's easier to get him to fork over his macbook and wallet. Plus it's a lot of trouble to chop a body up like that.

Post: #9

I'm sad about anyone getting killed, but he sounds exactly like one of the people that I'd refuse to host on CS.

Post: #10

Sometimes all you need is to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. (Like in MH17)
But usually there is a reason to everything that happens.

If you live by the sword, you might die by the sword.

Post: #11

(07-19-2014 11:18 PM)Laurifer Wrote:  ...

He had a pretty interesting website that guys like us would appreciate, though it was still in its infancy. Contained info on travel, trading, and he was about to start a category on fitness and lifestyle.

I'm sure he never imagined what would happen to him, but he clearly didn't heed much warning to the region he chose to travel through. Such a shame, a bright torch that burnt out quickly.

On the one hand it does not matter how long you have lived, but how well - he has experienced more in his short life than most Americans will do when living to 70.

On the other hand he was just careless to the verge of stupidity. Going on a bike through an area where rival gangs and the military are in constant conflict as a gringo looking like this is just nuts:

   

Mexico has an unhealthy fascination with death and it has gotten way worse since the economic disintegration of certain regions and the drug mayhem (both created by design by the international plutocracy).

A commentator put it very well on the site linked:

Quote:Mexico is, for the most part, a safe country. I live in the capital, and have been to over 70 diferent places, without any trouble.

This lad either didn't listen to warnings, or was too brave for his own good and didn't heed them. You wouldn't ride a bike through a civil war, so don't ride one through Michoacán and Guerrero: it's like signing your own death warrant. The Zetas and the Knights Templar don't take prisoners, and aren't going to let you go even if you are a tourist...they'll assume you've seen something, and will get rid of you. And you'll be tortured beforehand if they think you're DEA, like they did with Kiki Camarena. It's just not worth the risk, no matter how attractive adventure seems.

America needs to step in and do something about this drug war. 70,000+ people dead since it began. People are always going to want drugs...just legalise them.

Post: #12

This guy was as experienced a traveler as they come. There are only a few guys on this forum who even come close. I certainly don't.

I can't really judge Harry Devert, and I'm sure he was at least somewhat cognizant of the risks he took. I mean, the guy was a trader for a living. As a trader, your mentality is to always be aware of your risks.

I was sad to hear that Harry Devert died. His blog posts were interesting and he led a lifestyle that was interesting and sometimes dangerous. The dangerous part caught up with him, and it serves as a sad but somewhat fitting way for a world traveler to pass away.

It should be noted that plenty of people make trips through Mexico to South America by motorcycle every year. As for the drugs, it seems that they say more about the killers than about their victim.

My heart goes out to his mom. I have been following the disappearance and subsequent search for many weeks now, and her persistent optimism had me hoping that he would be found alive somewhere.

Post: #13

(07-20-2014 02:59 AM)Zelcorpion Wrote:  On the other hand he was just careless to the verge of stupidity. Going on a bike through an area where rival gangs and the military are in constant conflict as a gringo looking like this is just nuts:

While you have a good point, c'mon, let's be fair. We've all put on a dorky hat for a photo or while clowning around for at a party once or twice - at least those of us that don't take life too seriously. But I hardly thinking the guy was riding his moto across the Mexican countryside looking like that.

Quote:A commentator put it very well on the site linked:

Quote:Mexico is, for the most part, a safe country. I live in the capital, and have been to over 70 diferent places, without any trouble.

This lad either didn't listen to warnings, or was too brave for his own good and didn't heed them. You wouldn't ride a bike through a civil war, so don't ride one through Michoacán and Guerrero: it's like signing your own death warrant. The Zetas and the Knights Templar don't take prisoners, and aren't going to let you go even if you are a tourist...they'll assume you've seen something, and will get rid of you. And you'll be tortured beforehand if they think you're DEA, like they did with Kiki Camarena. It's just not worth the risk, no matter how attractive adventure seems.

America needs to step in and do something about this drug war. 70,000+ people dead since it began. People are always going to want drugs...just legalise them.

Agree 100%.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #14

For a quick second, I worried this was Naughty Nomad.

   

(Source: One of his youtube videos.)

Post: #15

Wow, just wow. You shitlords. STOP FUCKING VICTIM BLAMING

Don't tell ME not to tour through Mexico alone buying drugs, teach cartel members not to kill me!

Ugh



/sarcasm

Post: #16

Its nothing to a death squad to warrant this treatment to someone, however they will do it to people they do not like.

The reasons for their dislike must be there because tourists are not targeted in this manner. I've delved into this whole Mexico drug cartel war enough to know that he did something to piss them off.

Post: #17

What regions of mexico should be avoid and which are relatively safe?

Post: #18

(07-20-2014 09:08 AM)Coldfire Wrote:  What regions of mexico should be avoid and which are relatively safe?

/thread-16644.html

Post: #19

Does anyone know if he spoke any Spanish? I can't seem to find it in any of the articles I've read, so I'm going to assume he did not.

I'm not going to make the argument that he would have not ended up the way he did if he had spoken Spanish. HOWEVER, as a foreign language aficionado, I can attest to the fact that even rudimentary knowledge of the language for speaking to the locals is absolutely crucial in these types of situations. I've had several instances (especially in Bogotá, Colombia, for example) where people from the city specifically pointed out where I should never go, or where I should never go during the evening alone.

Again, would this have changed his end result? I'm not sure. As some others have echoed here, I think there were some other shady dealings we haven't been made aware of just yet. But, gathering any type of information from people around the area could save you a lot of trouble.

Post: #20

The sad thing about this is it just adds to the American fear of Mexico, which I think is really overblown. Sure, there are violent cities in Mexico but there are just as many places in Mexico they are safe and amazing places to visit. It is overall a very underrated country.

Also, it will feed into the American fear of traveling overall. Dimwits who do not have their passport see nothing but stories like this on American TV and think that it is common.

Post: #21

On other news: "Stupid mexican tourist gets jumped in Detroit, nobody is surprised."

Post: #22

Hmm...I'm headed to southern Mexico tomorrow...and am sorta blogging about it...and I'm from New York.

Not worried a bit, we create our own fate. I know better than to fuck with any drug trade.

Post: #23

(07-20-2014 05:16 PM)Goldmund Wrote:  Hmm...I'm headed to southern Mexico tomorrow...and am sorta blogging about it...and I'm from New York.

Not worried a bit, we create our own fate. I know better than to fuck with any drug trade.

No more stories about fucking hipster bishes?

I is sad.

Post: #24

(07-20-2014 04:01 PM)nomadicdude Wrote:  The sad thing about this is it just adds to the American fear of Mexico, which I think is really overblown. Sure, there are violent cities in Mexico but there are just as many places in Mexico they are safe and amazing places to visit. It is overall a very underrated country.

Also, it will feed into the American fear of traveling overall. Dimwits who do not have their passport see nothing but stories like this on American TV and think that it is common.

I lived in Mexico for a year and a half in San Luis Potosi and Mexico City. Nothing ever happened to me or anybody I knew.

I don't know what this guy was caught up in but the chances of you "accidentally" getting caught up in something and killed are very very slim.

Your environment (the places you go & the people you know) will dictate your safety.

Lie down with dogs come up with fleas.

My thoughts go out to his mum though.

Post: #25

(07-20-2014 02:59 AM)Zelcorpion Wrote:  

(07-19-2014 11:18 PM)Laurifer Wrote:  ...

He had a pretty interesting website that guys like us would appreciate, though it was still in its infancy. Contained info on travel, trading, and he was about to start a category on fitness and lifestyle.

I'm sure he never imagined what would happen to him, but he clearly didn't heed much warning to the region he chose to travel through. Such a shame, a bright torch that burnt out quickly.

On the one hand it does not matter how long you have lived, but how well - he has experienced more in his short life than most Americans will do when living to 70.

On the other hand he was just careless to the verge of stupidity. Going on a bike through an area where rival gangs and the military are in constant conflict as a gringo looking like this is just nuts:



Mexico has an unhealthy fascination with death and it has gotten way worse since the economic disintegration of certain regions and the drug mayhem (both created by design by the international plutocracy).

A commentator put it very well on the site linked:

Quote:Mexico is, for the most part, a safe country. I live in the capital, and have been to over 70 diferent places, without any trouble.

This lad either didn't listen to warnings, or was too brave for his own good and didn't heed them. You wouldn't ride a bike through a civil war, so don't ride one through Michoacán and Guerrero: it's like signing your own death warrant. The Zetas and the Knights Templar don't take prisoners, and aren't going to let you go even if you are a tourist...they'll assume you've seen something, and will get rid of you. And you'll be tortured beforehand if they think you're DEA, like they did with Kiki Camarena. It's just not worth the risk, no matter how attractive adventure seems.

America needs to step in and do something about this drug war. 70,000+ people dead since it began. People are always going to want drugs...just legalise them.

Zelcorpion:

I like your comment here: "Mexico has an unhealthy fascination with death..."

I would say that Mexico has an extremely pronounced fascination with death. It's been that way for centuries, and it runs like an electric current through Mexican history.

Look at the ancient Aztecs and Mayas. The religions of the pre-Columbian Mexicans is based almost entirely on blood-sacrifice. Without death--without a constant stream of human sacrifices--there could be no life. War was waged for capturing people to sacrifice to the gods.

The Spanish conquest destroyed the old religion, but folkways die hard. I've noticed that Mexicans have a fatalism and morbidity not possessed by other countries of the Americas.

I don't intend to imply anything derogatory here about Mexican culture. I'm only making a cultural observation. People need to be looking at history and culture to understand why things are the way they are today.