That's My Story

CAPTURE THE GRINGO – published Dec. 2005 – Western Outdoors Magazine Baja Backbeat

I got a call late one night at my place from some of my fishing clients that were staying at one of the hotels in town. They told me a story that got my red warning flags up as it was being recounted, but I heard them through.

Jim and his grown sons had been downtown along the waterfront having a nice seafood dinner. Jim is a retired school teacher from Alaska and an avid outdoorsman with a beard that would make any of the guys from ZZ Top envious. Apparently while walking back to the hotel along a dark street, a car stopped in front of them and some young men jumped out. Jim and his sons were understandably startled. Nothing like having a strange car in a strange country accost you in a dark street.

Jim and his boys spoke little Spanish and understood even less, but the young men who jumped out’ve the car, spoke some English. As Jim told me, the men wanted to pick them up the next evening and come with them to meet with some “other friends.” They seemed nice enough, but Jim was now calling me. What did I think?

Well, heck…I didn’t fall off the cabbage wagon yesterday and I live and love Mexico, but an occurrence like that sure gets my radar up no matter what city whether it be La Paz, Los Angeles or Muleville. Our city is a really safe place, but being these were my clients and my responsibility to get them home safely, I could only shake my head and recommend against it. I’d never heard of such a thing and Jim didn’t exactly know what was being said to him in the street.

“I don’t know, Jim. I’m nervous. You don’t just jump in someone’s car in a strange city and let them drive you off,” I said over the phone.

“But they really just seemed like nice kids,” he replied.

“I’d still recommend against it,” I reminded him. “Better to be safe than sorry,”

Jim wished me a good night and hung up and I went to bed myself figuring I’d cut something off at the pass and put it out’ve my mind. Besides the morning was coming soon and we had a lot of boats to put out. As Jim was fishing in a different area, I didn’t see him all day, but the next night, my phone rang again.

“Jonathan, we went with those kids tonite,” said the voice in the phone.

My hackles went up as I prepared to hear the worst. Someone was robbed. Someone got hurt. Someone was in jail or I now had an international incident on my hands. My mind raced!

“But we had a great time!” he suddenly chimed in after he had let his initial statements settle in.
Turns out the “kids” were part of an evening English class at one of the high schools. Most were 17-19 years old and had been “trolling” for a “show-and-tell” subject for their evening class. Kinda of like “Capture the Gringo.” Jim and his boys had been “captured” and taken to the classroom where they were met by about 2 dozen other student. His captors were the only ones able to procure a real live gringo!

Jim, being a retired high school teacher was a hit. As he told me, he used his best “Spanglish” and the students in-turn did their best to speak English. He said they had a big Question and Answer session. The guys wanted to know about American girls and cars. The girls wanted to know about movie stars and fashion and shopping. (“How many movie stars do you see each day in America?” “What’s the best pick-up line for American girls?”) They got along famously and after the class, were taken out to one of the kid’s homes where mom had big plates of steaming tortillas, rice and “some kind of delicious barbecued meat” and salsa for Jim, his sons, and a number of the youngsters who came along.

It was much like American kids heading out for pizza or their favorite burger joint at night. Having never really been outside of a tourist hotel dining room or a tourist taco stand, it was quite an event to be welcomed into the home of new friends. There was music and a lot of the universal language of laughter. They were gone for 5 hours and dropped off back at their hotel close to midnight with handshakes and hugs all around. To this day, via e-mail, they still keep in touch.

I sure let out a big sigh of relief. As Jim would point out to me later, “This was my first time in Mexico. Before I came down, I was nervous about getting off the main tourist areas. Heck, other than panga skippers and drivers and people in the hotels, I don’t think I’ve ever actually spoken to a local per se.

I don’t know what compelled me to tell those kids we’d go with them, but everything else aside, it was the best experience we could have had. So many people think that you’re going to get robbed or mugged if you stray off and that may be true in some places, but this was the most pleasant mugging that could’ve happened. A little communication and a little understanding are a wonderful thing between people who have a lot more in common than we think. ”

Amen, Brother, Jim.

That’s my story!
Jonathan