Theft at Wednesday Ajijic Tianguis

A couple was at the Tianguis today in Ajijic at 11am. The husband was in front of the wife and then an older man in front of her bent down in front of the lady and purposefully seemed to drop his keys and the wife stopped, felt someone bump her but thought nothing of it, the lady or person behind used a razor or very sharp object to make 2 slits into her bag and stole her wallet with her ID, cash, etc. which sshe discovered upon getting into her car afterwards

The people said it seemed to be an older couple and the old man wore a baseball cap.

We made a report to the MP and I dropped off a copy to the Chapala police so they would be aware and all of you should be aware as well of those around you and especially in crowded places and only carry those items necessary when going out.

Well said, Spencer. After eleven years here and in Chiapas, we have learned to carry only those items we really need in street markets anywhere in the Mexico or the rest of the world for that matter. For example, in France, roving gangs of pickpockets, quite adept at their art, plague the streets of places such as Paris. When we recently took the Metro in Paris to Pont Neuf, a popular tourist attraction, we were warned over the Metro public address system that gangs of pickpockets were preying on passengers debarking there so this is a problem in many places.

We have learned over time to take only those documents we require to any place and only that cash we feel we will need to successfully negotiate any business we may require.

We had a traffic accident in Tapachula, Chiapas and the local Tapachula cops stole our wallets in the process of rescuing us from the accident. Later, we told the federal police that the local cops had stolen our money and documents and their response was. of course, that it was a common practice for the local cops to steal the belongings of accident victims and there was nothing to be done about it. Then, the federal cops asked us if we had any money left and we responded that, yes, we still had $500 Pesos so they extorted that from us as payment for the ride they were giving us back to our hotel. No negotiations; simple thievery.

Then, the taller in Tapachula chosen by our insurance company that repaired our car stole everything worth stealing from the car before we picked it up including the jack.

Someone else posted that awhile ago the same thing happened to their friend in the Ajijic tianguis and speculates the couple has been "working" that tianguis for awhile. Sad to say that I can barely navigate the cobbles in that market and had heard about the old man almost tripping people so I don't go to that one any more. A bad fall for me could be really bad.

And thanks for the reminder not to carry important stuff in my purse Spencer.