There goes my street credibility - a wrinkly old peruvian grandma steals my purse, my 10 soles ($4 aussie) & my pride. Third time lucky for the thieves - 1st failed attempt by street kids in Santa Marta, Colombia; take 2 at Belen market in Iquitos and I outsmart the 20 yr old lads; but grandma in Mercado Modelo in Chiclayo with her slick team proves that a life of crime does pay.
True I didn't even feel a thing or see grandma's arthritic hand dive into my right front trouser pocket. Amusingly 2 'lucky' charms that I have just bought at the market were sitting on top of my busted up old wallet - grandma doesn´t take them...lucky for me!
The whole situation came to pass in a busy part of the fruit & veg market. A guys cuts me off & jams my path so that I can't move forward or back. Grandma shunts my friend Robin into me. I crush someone's foot (maybe grandmas)with my boot, and just like that they are gone, as is my wallet perhaps with a 3rd perpetrator. I don't even realise for a split second & by then the wee scoundrels have fled (hopefully one limping), impossible to give chase, their faces unrecognisable in a sea of Peruvians.
The moral - don't take anything you care about losing to crowded markets. Dr Dave learn't the same lesson the previous day. He was 'crowded' by 4 thugs & a valuable camera was stolen from his chest pocket - he didn't feel it either.
The lesson - if you are being shunted, pushed or jammed in a market or busy street in Peru, you are probably being robbed.
The revenge - an extremely ugly plastic purse has been purchased, & contains a few low value centimo coins, & a hand written note translating loosely to: "get a job you son of a bitch". An aussie pal Aden had a similiar 'decoy wallet' stolen from him 3 times in Peru much to his delight. I can't wait for this sweet, sweet revenge...pick my pocket now grannie!
