So my walk today offered a little more excitement than the usual. At one point I ended up being chased by machete man. Yes, you read that right, I was chased down the street by a man flailing a large machete directed at me and my girlfriend.
The First Walk
As you may know by now, I start my day off with a long walk, usually about two hours duration. Today I was meeting up with a friend from back home mid-morning, so my early walk was only a little more than an hour. And it was a blissful hour. I walked along the Malecon here in Puerto Vallarta, and the beach after sunrise, enjoying the serene nature of the day before the hoards of tourists awoke.
The Second Walk
When I met my friend, we decided to venture into an area that I had not been to before. She had explored the area briefly the day prior with some other mates. We headed up the mountain, opposite direction to the beach, up and over, then followed the Rio Cuale up to El Rio Barbecue.
Somewhere along Manantial, we walked under an underpass. As I was taking a photo of a mural on the wall of a small building, a dishevelled male came out from behind the building. He was about 25 years old, skinny, and was wearing a faded pink t-shirt and dark shorts.
As soon as I saw him I turned to my friend and said, “ooops we have wandered into someone’s area, lets get out“. The spidey senses were tingling and please women, when you feel these, take heed and take off.
Below is a picture of the mural on the little building under the underpass. Should you be walking in the same area and see this, please take heed.
We promptly turned around and left and started walking up the road again. A few minutes later our path took us behind a condominium complex. When we were coming back out onto the road, I turned and saw this same male about 20 paces behind us. He had been following us the entire time. We went into the neighbourhood directly ahead for safety, and to see if he was actually tailing us. There were plenty of people about in this little town, so we felt relatively safe at this point.
We turned down a street, looked back and could no longer see him, so we felt enormous relief and went about our merry way.
Not five minutes later, as we are walking down quite a busy road (Manantial), here comes this same male, walking quickly towards us, yelling loudly and slashing a machete back and forth through the air. He is absolutely fixated on us so we are acutely aware that we are his target.
My friend grabs my left arm, I immediately turn and scan for someone to help.
I see a male about 50 paces inside an industrial complex. We walk directly and quickly towards this safe man. I think he could sense our fear and see the terror on our faces. He could also see and hear the stranger danger who we were fleeing.
The scary male stopped at the sidewalk and kept yelling. My friend and I retreated further into the complex. The safety man, plus another passerby on the street, plus a staff member from the industrial place, all came immediately to our rescue and chased the machete man away.
We were so grateful to these kind men for helping us. They all said this guy is loco, crazy in the head and that we would be okay now.
My friend and I did carry on with our walk, shaken as we were by the incident. We continued to explore, however we were hyper aware of our surroundings as we had to backtrack through the same area to return home.
Now I know many people are going to think well its Mexico, its a dangerous place, what do you expect? However, I have had far worse things happen to me in the little town I am from in Canada. While this event was frightening, what I want most by telling this story, is for people, all travellers, whether male or female, groups or singles, keep your wits about you.
Be aware of your surroundings at all times. Look back regularly to see if you are being followed. Do some research before you explore a new area. And always stay where you can see people that can help should you need it.
These situations can and will happen everywhere in the world. No where is immune to people with mental health problems. Stay safe out there my peeps. The world is an incredible and beautiful place, explore and enjoy to your hearts content.
