Puerto Vallarta is one of the most expensive cities in Mexico to live in. Few Mexicans can afford it, so they live in outlying areas. Huge villages spring up around the city dumps. These people live in cardboard and tin shacks and depend on what they can pull out of the dump to either sell or eat. In the midst of all this poverty, you drop in a few million gringos who pay over $100 a night for a hotel room, or $1,000 or more for a tiny apartment. There has been a lot of talk in the political debates in the U.S. about the discrepancy between the rich and the poor in the U,S, When Mexicans hear this, it sounds like a joke to them. I truly believe that 90 to 95% of the people here are honest and hard working, but a fraction on the population can wreck a lot of havoc. In view of the above, no one should be surprised to hear that there are robberies here. Even in a popular tourist destination like Varrata, there are few jobs. Ninety percent never go to high school. Education is free here, If you are bright and want to become a lawyer or a doctor, the government will pay for your education. It isn't that they do not appreciate the value of education, For most of them by the time they are 14 or 15, they must work to help support their families. Therefore most of the work force are unskilled laborers, which is why labor is so cheap here.
Somehow, for over five years here, I felt perfectly safe. I had never been robbed, never been accosted or threatened on the streets. Call me naive and stupid, HELL I call myself that all the time is this blog. For over three years I have lived in my present apartment. I am the only gringo within several blocks, but I know all the Mexicans who live and work here. I also believe that I am well liked so I always thought they would watch out for me. In a previous posting I told you about leaving my door open on the street while waiting for the Ciel Water man. But I laid down and fell asleep. Talk about STUPID! It really shook me up to find that money and my camera had been stolen. I no longer leave that door open when waiting for someone to arrive, so I was beginning to feel safe again. One Sunday I took off for the beach carrying a beach towel and beach bag. To anyone watching, it was obvious that I would not be returning soon. I will never know for sure, if my first robber was the Ciel guy, or a professional burglar who seeing the open door took advantage of it. He would have seen the computer and TV, but with my sleeping in the next room, probable did not think that he could disconnect them without waking me up. So, he decided to come back at a later date. I have been told that they watch you. There are always guys standing by the tienda, or sitting on the curb drinking.
The first thing I noticed when I arrive home was dirt. It was on the window sill above the sink, in the sink and on the floor. I thought some kid must have thrown a dirt clod through the window. I made a note to speak to Saul about it as his kids play in the yard behind me. Next I saw paper flowers strewn across the bedroom floor. I used them under my desk in an attempt to conceal all the wires. Then I saw that the computer was also gone. Later I discovered that $300 US dollars were missing from my wallet. I do not carry that wallet in Mexico but keep it on top of a chest in my closet. A few days later I was at Frida's talking to a friend of mine. He was sorry to hear of my loss and said it has happened to him as well. He has lived here twice as long as I have. When I told him how odd it was that they removed the bills and then put the wallet back. He said,"That is what they do" He went on to say that they are not evil, just desperate. They think that no gringo would really miss a few hundred, but know that taking the wallet with identification and credit cards would cause us no end of grief. I was leaving for The States in a few weeks and my passport was also there. Had they taken it, I could not have left the country.
Why not the credit cards? In Mexico you cannot charge more than 100 pesos without identification, certainly not a Mexican with a U.S. credit card. They also left the TV, but not as any act of kindness. When I lock the door, you cannot open it even from the inside without a key, so he had to take every thing back out through the window. Elvis told me the day I moved in here that the window was a problem. It was the only window without protective iron bars. Since it was two stories above the ground I was not concerned, The thief scaled a ten foot brink wall, inched across a steel beam and then somehow spanned the five feet distance between the bean and the window. .This robbery really shook me up. When would they come back? Also I was leaving in a few weeks for California. I could not leave that window unprotected. I called Saul and told him I wanted bars added to that window. He asked, "When" and I said, "Now" He brought the iron guy over and I explained what I needed and wanted it done before I left. He told me that he would be back in 5 or 6 hours. Sure enough he showed up with an iron frame and a welding machine. I had just asked for plain bars, but instead he made it with the same wavy lines that are on all the other windows in the house. He charged 980 pesos (less than $60.00)! Can you imagine having such a thing hand wrought, painted and installed in 6 hours for so little. But that shows that even the skilled workers with their own shops earn very little (I gave him a heavy tip)
With the doors and windows locked the only way into my place would be to break the lock on the front door. The door is metal and it is a double lock, so unlikely. Still you are left with an uneasy feeling. Later someone asked me what if they produced a gun. They don't have guns. Being caught with a fire arm will result in heavy jail sentences. Oh Yes, the drug cartel has plenty of machine guns and grenades, but not your average crook. Unlike the U.S. where there are more guns than people.
When I returned everything was still here. I had given Filipe some money just to water my plants while I was gone. He also came back to turn lights on and off so it looked as it someone was here. He had also sent his wife over the clean the whole place. Yes, there are thieves among us, but the general population is really nice.
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