The carnival is coming to town. Carnie workmen are setting up their rides and game joints in a downtown empty lot across the street from the Sunshine bar. They are working through the evening. It looks like the entire downtown will be turned into a pedestrian mall with a market, taco carts, and more game joints set up in the streets.

JANUARY 16 - THE LOST WEEKEND

Sadly, Wanda’s seasickness morphed into something stronger. Perhaps a touch of dehydration added to her plight. Anyway, she was down for the count through the weekend. This Monday morning she woke up with renewed vigor, chastised me for keeping a messy bachelor’s pad, and like a white tornado, sparkled up the house. My baby is back.

There is a tender story to tell during Wanda’s convalescence, one that restored my faith in the human race. On Friday, Wanda asked me to get her some yogurt, ice cream, milk, etc. She needed some light sustenance that she could hold down. So, I went to the nearest Oxxo convenience store that is 1/3 mile away.  

I bought my groceries, paid by credit card, put my purchases in my backpack, and stowed my wallet in my fanny pack. As soon as I got home, I noticed that my wallet wasn’t in the fanny pack. That was odd. Had I really put it in there? I searched the backpack - no luck. My pockets - no luck.

I slowly retraced my way back to Oxxo, carefully scanning the street - nothing. It must be on the counter at Oxxo. Of course, in my haste to retrace my steps, I forgot my iPhone with the hand-dandy Google translate app. I clumsily conveyed my predicament to the cashier lady. I thought she figured out what I was asking, but I couldn’t be sure. Anyway, my wallet wasn’t on the counter or anywhere in Oxxo.

Oxxo is next to a strip mall that has a couple of security guards. With tons of gestures, pantomimes, and a couple of broken Spanish words, I ascertained that neither guard saw my wallet, or at least they understood that I was in some kind of panic. One guard took pity on me and took me back to the Oxxo to ask the cashier lady again. Again, language was an issue and I wasn’t absolutely sure the guard or the cashier understood exactly what I was looking for.

A restaurant in the strip mall was just closing and one of the waiters was sweeping up the outside seating area. I asked him if he saw a wallet. Although he said no, he spoke very good English. He also took pity on me and went back to Oxxo with me. After another conversation with the cashier, I was now certain that she understood what was going on. She emphatically stated that she did not see my wallet. 

Did I trust her? Yes, but I admit that I did, in the back recesses of my mind, harbor a stray thought that maybe, just maybe, she hid it behind her counter.

By now, I was trying to figure out the damage and how to get by. I had about 1500 pesos ($75 US) in the wallet. I could afford to loose that. The credit cards? I could cancel those. Wanda has a couple of other credit cards we could use. However, my two invaluable ATM cards, my pipeline to getting pesos, were gone. I could borrow money from Jeff. He could take me to his bank to exchange that into pesos. Yikes, this is a full-blown, being chased by a serial killer, nightmare. I didn’t think I was going to wake up very soon.

The Oxxo convenience store in question.

I returned to the house to fetch my iPhone. For the heck of it, I checked for messages. This was doubtful. I have my phone set to not receive calls from numbers that are not in my contacts. I am plagued with sales calls - especially car warranty extensions for cars I sold years ago. Don’t those people update their databases? With this setting, strange calls are basically sent to never-never land. If someone tried to call or text me, I probably wouldn’t receive it.

I quickly changed the setting. I then checked my email. There was a recent odd email. The message was in Spanish. I put the message in Google translate. It said, “We have a purse, call 555-555-5555” (OK, that wasn’t the number, but I am keeping it anonymous). A purse? That could just be a bad Google translation. At least I had a shred of hope.

I tried the number. “Verizon can’t complete the call as dialed”, a recording blurted. I have called Jeff, who lives down here during the winter, all the time. However, he has a US phone number so technically I am not calling Mexico. I looked up the Mexican phone code. It is 52. I tried adding this Mexican prefix to the phone number. Same recording. 

I called Verizon customer service. After a zillion menus, I finally got a lady that tried to sell me a $10 per day foreign country phone plan. I explained that Mexico and Canada are included in my current plan. I hung up - no help there.

I Googled, “how to make calls in Mexico.” Ahh, you have to dial +52. My iPhone touchpad doesn’t have a '+' button. I noticed that the ‘0’ number has a tiny, teenie-weenie, little '+' sign over it. I add the ‘0’. That didn’t work. Finally, I tried pressing and holding the ‘0’. Sure enough, that gave me a '+' sign. Now I am back in business.

I dialed the phone number. After a long recorded message in Spanish, the call seemed to drop. NOOOOOOOO! I tried again. Same thing.

Just then, I got a call from the number that I am trying to reach. That call dropped. Yikes, now what? I sent the number a text indicating that I was the person that lost the wallet. I received another phone call. Glory Be - This time we connected. The guy spoke in rapid Spanish. I said, “No hablo español.” His wife got on the phone. She speaks decent English. She has the wallet. They found it on the street. They live 15 minutes away. They are willing to drive back to give it to me. Where do I want to meet? I suggested the Oxxo. She didn’t seem to know where that was. There are billions of Oxxos in the area. I suggested the corner, where the stop and go light is, next to the Plaza Los Amores strip mall. She seemed to know where that was.

I waited 20 minutes at the corner. A car pulled up and parked. It turned out to be a bunch of tough-looking older Mexican dudes. Definitely not the right car. I called the number. This time the call immediately went through - my iPhone seems to be getting the hang of these Mexican numbers. They are at Oxxo, a block away. “I’ll be there in 30 seconds,” I cried out. “Don’t rush,” she soothingly answered. I rushed. 

A young man and woman got out of a car in the Oxxo parking area. They are a cute couple in their mid-20s. They apologized for going through the wallet, but needed to do so to find out who the owner was. They assured me that they took nothing. Jeez, they were apologizing?!?!? They protested vehemently when I tried to give them 1000 pesos. I insisted. They resisted. I insisted. I won. They were so humble, honest, and delighted to have helped me out that my eyes misted. I hugged them. I thanked them profusely. I promised to name my first born after them. OK, at 70 years old that isn’t going to happen, but if I were still a young man, I would have.

Sadly, I watched them drive off. They made such a wonderful and powerful impression on me, and I will never see them again. My hope in mankind has been restored.

How did they know how to contact me? Wanda and I have a business card with our travel website, phone numbers, and email address. I keep a couple in my wallet to give to people we meet on our trips that express an interest in our travels. They got my email address from the card. 

Everyone that I tell this story to are genuinely surprised. People are so fixated on how corrupt and dishonest people are that they have forgotten the possibility that there are millions, even billions of honest trustworthy people in the world. I like to think that I am one of those.

Above: The front of our business card with our contact info.

Below: The back of our card. We are riding in a long boat in Thailand. We are following the Dalai Lama's advice.



Luckily I had a couple of these cards in my wallet. I don't have any other contact information in my wallet. My drivers license has our address but that isn't all that helpful in Mexico.

My ratty wallet that caused me so much consternation.

This is my fanny pack. It is water proof and very secure when zipped. 99.99% of the time I consciously zip it up when I put my wallet inside. Apparently, this was the .01% of the time that I didn't.

Ironically, this is the same fanny pack and wallet combo that I lost in the surf last year at the San Pancho beach. A giant wave tumbled me and one of the clasps slipped off. Through shear luck, the surf threw it up onto the sand. What were the odds of that happening? After that scare, I added the silver carabiners to reinforce the clasp when we go swimming.

The wallet fits snuggly in the fanny pack. When zipped, it is very secure. When zipped!

Dave and Wanda

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