Cruisers Robbed in Mexico

"We are still enjoying the wonderful fruits of the Baja Ha-Ha, as we progress down the Mexican coast, visiting with other Ha-Ha folks along the way. It had been a great experience until a few days ago, February 12, in Chamela, which is about 15 miles north of Tenacatita Bay. Linda and I were strolling along a paved road from the beach to the small village in the middle of the afternoon, with other people within 100 feet, when a real ‘Frito Bandito’ jumped out at us from behind a tree with a large caliber revolver in his hand. He was very agitated, so we did not quibble when he asked for our money. He took about 950 pesos — about $60 U.S. — and ran back into the woods.

"I reported the incident to the local village leader, who got the police involved. Within two hours, a panga was sent out to our boat so I could meet with the police and try to identify the suspect. Yes, they said they’d already found him, and that he was an ‘outsider.’ In fact, they had the guy in shackles in a police pickup.

"I told the police what had been taken from us, and it’s what they found in his wallet. I could not positively identify the guy — and I told the police that — but the money, especially a 500 peso note — was fairly evidentiary. One is guilty in Mexico until proven innocent, and the police had all they needed to nail this guy. The officials were all very apologetic, and said that things like that never happened in Chamela. We’re inclined to believe them.

"What lessons did we learn? Even though I had never been attacked or robbed before in all my worldwide travels, I still consider Mexico very safe and would not want to discourage others from travelling here. Perhaps we should have walked in a larger group — my wife and two others had made the same walk only 60 minutes earlier! Or maybe this was just bad luck.

"If others report this incident, it might get corrupted in some form. Please use this letter as a statement of simple facts."