Eli
Super Nomad
Posts: 1471
Registered: 8-26-2003
Location: L.B. Baja Sur
Member Is Offline
Mood: Some times Observing, sometimes Oblivious.
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An Evening Tour of Coatepec
Yesterday evening on my way back "home" to my little casa, I took a cab from the Mercado with a Young Guy who before I got in the car didn't feel
perfectly alright (I got to learn to listen to myself).
I told the guy I wanted to go to Anahuac near the subdivision Los Angeles, and he took me past the turn off, over the bridge, and we just kept going
thru a part of town where I have never been. At one point I said to him I had never taken this route to get to Anahuac and he didn't reply, and yep,
visions did appear of all the stories ya hear and having watched way to much CSI and other crime shows, well, paranoia did set in. There must have
been 10 times that I thought "hey just tell him to stop and get out right here, this does not feel right". But I hate to offend, I always like to be
kind, ya know.
Anyway, he kept waving at people he knew, and crossed himself at the churches same as I do. So,I hoped he was alright, just not gracious as most of
the folks around here that I have met, but I kept thinking how the heck are we going to get to Anahuac via his route.
Finally we are kind of out in the boonies in an area that reminded me of the Subdivision Los Angeles, and he stops and asks me where in San Martin I
want to be. I don't know diddle about San Martin or how he came up with that when I asked for Anahuac, lord knows they don't even sound the same.
Anyway, I said I don't want to be in San Martin, I want to go to Anahuac, at which point he got kinda peey about it and insisted that I had said San
Martin as we turned around and headed back thru town, and I am a little huffy and said I didn't even know San Martin existed until he brought me there
and well we were both pretty grumpy by then, which does no one any good.
By the time I got to my casa, I was determined not to pay him more than the absolute max of $20 pesos that would be charged from downtown to my place,
and told him so. He was sad but not mad, really he had taken his little sedan down some pretty rough roads, and apart from my own paranoia, he had
shown me a part of the city I would never have known if he had not committed this error. So I figured I could afford OUR error more than him and gave
him compassion and all my change equal to about another 15 pesos and thanked him for the tour, and finally he gave me a genuine smile. Porbricto, he
really, really wasn't paying any attention to begin with, he had been munching down when I got in the car and I think maybe he was stoned, and really,
really, I should have known to not get into a car where my guts tell me not to go.
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Mulegena
Super Nomad
Posts: 2412
Registered: 11-7-2006
Member Is Offline
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Magical Mystery Tour
... NOT!!
Wow! You got some mojo workin' for you there.
Glad you're ok.
You are protected.
Lesson learned: If it isn't right, correct immediately.
"Raise your words, not your voice. It's rain that grows flowers, not thunder." ~Rumi
"It's the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." ~ Aristotle
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Natalie Ann
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2819
Registered: 8-22-2003
Location: Berkeley
Member Is Offline
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Great story, Sara - and of course I am glad all worked out well for you.
I once had a similar cab ride. Strange at the start. Even more so when the driver, who was wearing wrap-around sunglasses in the dark of night,
turned around and told me that he was known as "un poco loco".... followed by a big Jack Nicholson grin straight out of The Shining. We rode all over
hey that night... me suggesting when and where we should turn to get me home, him being certain he knew exactly the way. As with you, a tour and a
bit of grumpiness on both parts ended at last with fair fees and smiles.
Ain't Mexico just grand?! 
nena
Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.
.....Oscar Wilde
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Eli
Super Nomad
Posts: 1471
Registered: 8-26-2003
Location: L.B. Baja Sur
Member Is Offline
Mood: Some times Observing, sometimes Oblivious.
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Mulegena, Although I really believe that the only thing this guy was guilty of was being Oblivious, I was lucky this time as I have been most of my
life. For sure my lesson to learn is first listen to gut feelings, and 2nd., we don't always do others or ourselves a favor trying not to offend. It
was interesting to discover another part of town, but not really the best circumstances.
Nena, The wrap around sun glasses after dark, yeah, ya should have known. In the end no harm and Yes Mexico is grand, it has been so good to Me.
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