I am certainly biased against CM as it isn't as it was back in the late 80' /90's .The air was cleaner then, but far more garbage strewn acrioss the country side. I think the rat population has stayed about the same. Buying shoes was a problem and for a Christmas turkey you had to go in with a group of guys to fly them up from Australia. There was a daily sense of adventure/danger, far more guns were evident and very few white women who were not missionaries. Today it is crowded, polluted with what appears to be a malignancy of 'spas'. The only spa we had was across the river with the glass wall and pretty girls with numbers. However, last year one of my daughters wanted to go back to CM who hadn't been there for 12 years (24ys old now). She loved CM and extended her time there a few more weeks prior to going off to Bali. It seems to depend on whos eyes you are looking through and if visiting rather than living in a place.

 

i just tell people to come decide for themselves, but dont specifically recommend it.

 

i also dont give out a lot of advice on what to expect, do or avoid, other then my phone number in an emergency.

 

people need to enjoy their rose colored glasses, they dont last forever. they need to come up against challenges and make decisions on their own (really hard to do these days with youtube and all these yappy bloggers giving out advice).