[PowderMonkey]

Lived there and worked there. Incredibly bad judgment on on the school's part. Armed private security is plentiful there for a reason. Forced entry of occupied dwellings, accompanied by the use of extreme violence the norm. Sneak about in the dark of night, and you can expect to stop a bullet from somebody’s private guard. All to often schools take kids to places liked this based on assurances from a teacher who vacationed there, but doesn't have a clue as to what's going on outside the hotel compound. Had the parents read the State Department's warnings, those kids would never have gone there in the first place.

[momtothree]

“... had the parents read the State Department’s warnings...”

Many schools have these foreign trips that boggle the mind. Mexico, Russia, etc... I am probably more neurotic than a lot of parents but I have told my high schooler no. He was offered the chance to go to France. How I see it: he is still my kid and I won’t relinquish his safety to a group of chaperones. I know, I know... I’m a meanie.