Must be full moon

Often when I meet other North Americans here and we discuss our different lives here I am always asked "aren't you afraid?" when they find out that I travel alone. (most North American here travel in packs)  I am also asked this when I am still in Canada, I get asked this all the time...all the time. Like a politician I always answer this with a question, "Afraid of what?". And then they are stumped, they have no idea "of what". They never thought about it before asking the question, some people are just like parrots and repeat garbage without putting any thought into what they are asking/saying. Most brutal and scary attacks here are done with some serious heavy ammunition, like Ak47s and such, do you think having a husband  at my side is going to save me? No. If some guy wants my purse he'll snatch it and run even with a man by my side, if some guy wants to rape me he's just going to shoot my husband first and then do whatever he wants with me. I believe that a husband by your side (although good to have to carry all your stuff) is for the most part a false sense of security. For the most part. It's like having a fence around your house, might keep a lazy thief away but one that is determined can always find a way over/around it.

In my 13 years visiting here I have never even been a little intimidated by anyone....until one day about a week ago.My Mexican sister had to let her bilingual waiter at the Old Bull go because she just couldn't afford to keep him on and he needed steadier work so I got promoted to waitress, I mostly wait on the English speaking customers (the few that we have) , one of my sisters sons or her daughter (even the 6 year old) takes the orders of the Spanish customers, once the order is taken I can usually deal with the rest.  One day (can't remember  what day it was) we were just finished closing the place up, the sun was just getting ready to set, my sister was in the kitchen, I was up front and from out of nowhere, seriously I have no idea where he came from, a guy was in front of me, his face was 2 inches in front of mine, I was startled, I stumbled backwards, bumping into a chair, by now he had my hand in his in a firm grip, and was talking to me, using my name. I had no place to go, I was backed up into a chair so I sat down in it trying to pull my hand away from him..slowly, not to anger him. He was drunk but mostly very stoned on something, his eyes were scary. He was telling me he was in love with me and telling me how beautiful I was and how beautiful my name is (I know...you're all laughing now) I was still being polite at this point, and thanking him for his compliments ....can you believe that...the polite victim, hilarious. 

My sister realized what is happening and hollers at me from the kitchen to quickly come and help her, I wrestle my hand from his and tell him I have to go, I have to push him away to get past him...I did even say excuse me, he follows me and I decide I don't want him in the kitchen with us (too close of a space) He was a bit too out of it to be a physical threat, I 'm sure my sister and I could have clobbered him quite nicely with the pans if we had too,  I was just afraid of his scary eyes. I take the long way around the palapa, he's right behind me, I go up the stairs that leads to her 4 plex in the back, he doesn't follow me. Her and  I hang out there for about 5 minutes peeking to see if he is gone, we think he's gone, we can't see him. We had wanted to go for a walk on the beach at sunset so we decide to go through the neighbors property just in case he is waiting under her palapa, he meets us around the corner and is trying to grab my hand again, all the while telling me how he wants my phone number and email address and wants to be my facebook friend, (oh my gosh this freak is on facebook) by now I am pretending I don't understand him. (I can still pull this off very nicely)  There is a fisherman on the beach mending his nets and he has his family with him, wife and 4 little kids, we head towards them, also by now the neighbor boy (about 18 or so) whose property we cut through  has noticed this and my sister motions for him to intervene, we are all standing around (hoping the group of people will scare him away) trying to ignore him and trying to have a conversation with the fisherman's wife while this guy is pushing and shoving to try to grab my hand, young Juan is trying get between him and me (he was so cute) determined this guys isn't going to get a hold of me, I'm backing off and backing off, away from the group telling him to leave me alone I am not interested, Juan keeps telling him "listen to her". The cantina is right close by and Juan tells him to go have a beer (like he needs more). He finally takes off towards the cantina. We all try to figure out who he was, nobody knows him which means he is not from the Island.My sister says that if he comes around again she will sic one of her boys on him and he will never bother me again (not sure what that means) but at this point I don't care. 

We go for a short walk on the beach, by now it's dark already. When we get back we see him still in the cantina, I decide to take the long way home now....not past the cantina, I don't want him following me home. That night before I go to bed I close all the shutters in my windows, normally if it's a warm night I leave them open, but I was a little spooked. He knew my name, which is why I was so spooked....and his freaky eyes.In the morning I wake up and find that I had locked my door all right but left my key in the lock, on the outside...nice, I decide I am an idiot. This by the way is not the first time I have found my key still in the keyhole on the outside.We never did see that guy again, kept an eye out for him the next day on the beach. We laughed at how the beach was full of men all day long and the one freak that shows up is in love with me.And this is the scariest story I have about my 13 years visiting Mexico....not too bad I'd say.

A few days later a guys comes into the restaurant and asks me if I would like to go for a drive with him on the beach or go for a boat ride some day, before I can even answer my sister pips up, all loud like and gigglily like she always is "do you have a car"? he says "no" she says, "do you have a boat"? He sheepishly says "no", but of course she knew this already, she says "well then you really have nothing to offer". I howl with laughter, she just kills me sometimes. I find the Mexican people to be so abrupt and harsh sometimes, they say things that we think but don't want to say out loud. He says he'll come back at sunset with bread, she says "that's a start I guess, I'll make coffee". I howl again with laughter, "what the frick is happening here, I didn't agree to a bread and coffee date".I left just before sunset, apparently he came back at 7pm with bread, (late) I am not sure what was discussed in my absence. I'm sure she gave him the gears for being late. I've seen him around since but he hasn't approached me again. Maybe he's forming a new plan.

Never a dull moment here at the Old Bull

This is where the Pepsi and Coke guys zap their little hand held electronic thinger to bring up our order and our account, we are very high tech