Well, it has finally happened.
I was robbed at gunpoint
by the very -well -armed -Cartel.
Sorta.
Except they didn't get anything, and I never really 'saw' a gun.
Or even a robber.
I was walking down the street, to a bar, when this funeral procession turned the corner directly in front of me. So my reaction was to take off my hat, step off the sidewalk and stand while it passed. While I was standing there, an old woman came up (close to me) and said, "this is so sad it reminds me of when my son passed at 26." Then she walked on down the sidewalk. After the crowd past, i took this photo and walked on.
When I got to the bar, a guy at the door said, "Did you get robbed? It looks like someone opened your backpack." This is what it looked like. Sure as shit, while I stood quietly and respectfully for the dead, a living 'pickpocket' had opened my backpack. Fortunately I'm not only homeless, I'm also very poor. So there was nothing in the pack to steal. [i had gone on a photo shoot that morning, so i had taken my CAMERA BAG and left this backpack totally empty of "stuff."] I just took it with me out of habit.
I laughed about my luck to have been robbed when I didn't have anything to steal. Then I made a new plan to be more careful. I had a couple of cocktails and walked back home.
On the way home I walked past this corner where often a kid sits asking passersby, "want weed?" This guy shown photographed asked me, "Weed? Dope?" I said no thank you, then asked if I could take his picture. (I KNEW you would be dying to 'see' the Cartel and he seemed pleasant enough.) *note: off to the right of the frame there were three more buddies of his standing and laughing. He pulled up his shirt and removed a small plastic bag of 'stuff' about the size and shape of a tennis ball, all wadded up. I did not 'study' it, just took the photo and thanked him as I walked on.
This was not the face I expected to see when watching out for the Cartel. I expected something older and more sinister. I guess that's their trick? Some days I've walked past and a kid of about 14 was sitting on the corner asking "want weed?"
After today I'll take a different route to avoid this corner.
Viva Mexico! Skip
