I’m sorry about neglecting this blog lately. It’s a combination of being busy doing the tourist thing- checking out all the new things to do/see/eat/drink- and just plain laziness. I’ve been meaning to get back on here for at least a week now. So many cool things to talk about…

First, I should explain what I meant in my last post re: wandering around the marina in Cabo San Lucas.

I really wanted to catch a marlin, especially since Cabo San Lucas is known for catching marlin. Those big game, fantastic fighting fish. In all my years of fishing, I’ve never caught one. Not even close to catching one. I would’ve also liked to go out whale watching or swimming with the whale sharks, but it definitely was not the right season for that, so I ‘settled’ for going out for the marlins.

I’d been walking around the marina, checking out the boats, trying to see if any of the docks were open so I could talk to the crews (sadly, they were all locked up tight, with guards even). Walking around the marina you run a gauntlet of people trying to sell you everything you can imagine: fishing trips, tours, swim with the dolphins, jet skis, parachute behind the speedboats, souvenirs, restaurants, shops, weed, tequila and of course time shares.

Time shares. The dreaded 90 minutes of hard core pressure. If you want to go and waste that 90 minutes of your hard earned vacation in exchange for a ‘free’ breakfast, or a fishing trip for only $20, then you better have an iron clad wallet (and no credit cards).

I already have a time share. I’m using my weeks for my accommodations for this trip. I have NO desire to go and waste 90 minutes of my vacation time to hear about any more of them. When anyone mentioned ‘timeshare’, I told them that.

But still, somehow I wound up going fishing through the efforts of ‘Oswaldo’- one of the guys who’d been trying to get me to go look at a timeshare (which he insisted was not one). I should have known better.

We made arrangements that I would meet him at the dock at 0800 Tuesday morning. I made it 100% clear that I was ONLY interested in fishing for marlin. He assured me that his little pangas (small fishing boats) would go out far enough to catch them.

Right. First off, he was 45 minutes late getting to the dock. There went 45 minutes of my fishing time. Then, he insisted that he needed $50 so he could get my fishing license and bait for the trip. I was more than a little upset by this point, but since I really wanted to catch a marlin, I gave in and let him “borrow” the money. He promised he’d return it by the time we got back to the dock (with the marlin).

He even gave me his ‘drivers license’ that he ‘needed to do anything’, just as collateral so I’d be sure he’d pay me back.

Of course, he was nowhere to be found when we returned to the dock.

Of course, we did not even attempt to go out far enough to look for a marlin.

I had the entire boat to myself. I would’ve preferred to go with a group, but when I asked around I was told that was very hard to arrange. For $150, I was supposed to go out from 0800-1300, to catch marlin, in a panga.

I have to say, the captain was OK, he was very helpful, even if he wasn’t really into the marlin fishing. We caught dolphins (mahi-mahi) instead. I let him keep them all since I don’t eat seafood anymore. Too many years of nothing else to eat has cured me of any desire to taste fish ever again (weird, but I will eat canned tuna fish if there’s enough other stuff mixed up with it so it doesn’t taste like fish). 😉

It’s always a blast when you’re catching fish. I had a good time on the boat. I always enjoy being out on the water. I know there’s never any guarantee to catch anything so it’s nice that I did catch something (and dolphins are much better eating than marlin anyway).

The big issue came after we got back to the dock. Oswaldo, the guy who set all this up, was nowhere to be found. OK, I was a little pissed, but I figured I’d give him the benefit of the doubt and come back later. I did. I came back later that night and talked to him. He didn’t have my money but promised he’d have it by morning.

Turns out his ‘drivers license’ was nothing but a voter ID. I don’t know what they do with that in Mexico, but it sure as hell isn’t the same as a drivers license and so now I knew for sure he was lying to me.

I came back in the morning (Wednesday). He didn’t have my money, but promised he’d have it that afternoon. I came back that afternoon. After arguing with him over going to the police about my $50, one of his friends gave me $25. Oswaldo still didn’t have any of my money, but swore he’d have it that evening and would bring it to my hotel. He did not.

I returned to the marina the next day (Thursday). He promised he’d have the money by noon. He did not. He promised he’d have the money by 1600 (said he got paid at 1500). He did not have it at 1630. After more arguments, I told him I was going to the Tourist Police station (right next door to the little stand where he was working/hanging out).

Of course, he knew they would already be closed by that time. By now, I was really pissed off. I was making a scene, people were looking at me like I was crazy, but I didn’t care. I was wasting my entire vacation going back and forth to the marina looking for this asshole! I’d already wasted half of Tuesday, all day Wednesday and all day Thursday and I was leaving Cabo Friday afternoon.

I stalked off to find a real policeman. I found a sympathetic guard and told him my story. He called for the police for me. They showed up in force. A half dozen of them interviewed me while another bunch went after Oswaldo. Apparently, they all already knew Oswaldo (and not in a good way).

They asked me if I wanted to ‘press charges’ (that was all in Spanish, so I’m not exactly sure what they said). They had him in their police car and I was told he was going to jail. He was threatening me with all kinds of shit from the cage. So what! When I get pissed, I won’t back off.

Of course I wouldn’t get any money back from him, but at least he’d be off the streets for a couple of days and not able to screw over any more gullible tourists.

There was a big misunderstanding with the police who thought at first that some men who ran a business where I had met Oswaldo had cheated me out of the fishing trip I’d paid for. I finally got it straightened out, explaining that no- I got the fishing trip and those guys actually had nothing to do with anything. They didn’t do anything wrong and actually tried to help me.

One kind man even paid me back $20 out of his own pocket. So after all the aggravation of the whole thing, I was only out about $5. Lesson learned?

Should I just be a cold hearted bitch and not talk to anybody? Or try to be nice, treat everybody with respect and understand that every once in a while I’ll get taken for a ride, but most people are decent and worth getting to know?

I do have to give a big thumbs up to the Tourist Police. They take their jobs seriously and really want to help keep their city safe for their visitors. Thanks to them, I got all but $5 back and some peace of mind for the rest of my time in Cabo San Lucas.