Relativity
Everything's relative. I know some Mexican folks whose cousins fled Mexico City after other members of the family were killed in a car jacking. They moved TO Baja because it is considered a safe area by Mexican standards.
The murder rate in the United States is roughly triple what it is in Canada but I don't know anyone who hesitates to cross the border for that reason. Is the murder rate in Baja triple that of the United States? I doubt it, in fact, I have a sneaking suspicion that there is less crime in Baja than, say, in L.A.
As for aesthetics, once again it all depends on your point of view. Much of Mexico can appear scruffy by some standards but there's that eye of the beholder to consider. In "Into Thin Air" Jon Krakauer describes a Nepalese village on the approach to Everest as a filthy environment, which members of his team, puking away, are relieved to escape. I spent a couple of days there around the same time and it didn't look that way to me. I kind of liked the place.
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