The legendary pickpockets of Buenos Aires

by | Sep 3, 2016 | Argentina, Buenos Aires, San Telmo

Are any of these people professional pickpockets?

Are any of these people professional pickpockets?

I had heard about the legendary pickpockets of Buenos Aires before I even left Florida. Supposedly they are some of the most skilled in the world, and indeed I was told they even held conventions and trade shows in Buenos Aires for their craft where they display and share the latest and best techniques for lifting purses and snatching cameras.On my third day I took a walking tour of San Telmo, and as I whipped out my $85.00 Blue-Light KMart Special camera to snap a shot, the guide quietly cautioned me to wrap my hand through the camera strap if I wanted to keep it. He said the pickpockets were known to drive by and snatch cameras loosely held right from your hand and drive quickly on.

Arlean, a 78-year-old expat, and the first I met on arrival in Buenos Aires, told me how she had her wallet and passport lifted from her purse on the subway shortly after her arrival, and it had cost her $100 to get her passport replaced. I was regaled with the story of how on the sidewalks one will come up behind you and drop bird poop on you and another accomplice will rush up to help you clean it up, while the first one beats a hasty retreat in the ensuing confusion–with your wallet in hand. I was told they often work in pairs and one will distract you, perhaps bumping into you on a crowded subway while another makes their move. Any purse, camera, or other valuable not firmly grasped by both hands, or with your arm firmly looped through the shoulder strap is at risk.

Determined not to be a victim to such predators, I quickly made an executive decision to leave my good Canon in its new case locked up in the hostel locker. If they were going to get my camera, they weren’t going to get my good one. I practiced holding my backpack on my back and then on the front of me, clutching it with both hands, with my arms crisscrossed  over it in front of me. I watched other subway travelers and studied how they held their purses and bags and even cell phones. I had been told that electronic gadgetry fetched high prices on the street in Argentina and I fully expected to see pickpockets  patrolling every subway car looking for careless passengers holding their smart phones loosely by open subway doors, making themselves targets for a grab-and-run.

I began to wonder what a typical pickpocket would look like? Would he be short, small, quick and nimble on his feet? And speaking of feet, I wondered what kind of sneakers he would wear. Would they be shabby, and his clothes likewise labeling him as part of Argentina’s underclass?  Or would the really successful pickpockets be dressed to the nines, wearing designer jeans making a pointed statement about their many successes?

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Traveling Safely in a Hostel World

by | Aug 23, 2016 | Argentina, Buenos Aires, San Telmo, Uncategorized

 

 

As with any big city, it is the people on the street that you meet that determine the quality of your experience. Hostel Puerto Limon makes you want to stay or come back again and again.

As with any big city, it is the people on the street that you meet that determine the quality of your experience. Hostel Puerto Limon makes you want to stay or come back to Buenos Aires again and again.

On the way to the Tampa airport I felt some vague discomfort in my right hip that grew progressively worse. I was traveling light, with only a backpack and camera case and nothing to check through. However by the time I hobbled from the parking lot to the ticket counter to check in, I knew I was in trouble. I struck up a conversation with an American Airlines staffer who had sensed that I was in pain, and told him it had just happened and I didn’t know what it was about, but I would need help to get through security. He got me a wheelchair and asked if I wanted him to call an ambulance, and I said no, I was going to Buenos Aires.

Only later did I realize what a golden opportunity was given me to turn back at the last minute and how different my life might have become. Sometimes life comes down to just a few moments, and this was perhaps one of them. Did I experience a moment of doubt? More than a few of them. I knew of course that many people younger than me had already replaced major joints such as knees and hips, and perhaps my time had come. How did a bad joint announce itself anyway? Like this, on the way to some airport? And if this is what was happening, what was I going to do once I got to Buenos Aires? Turn right around and come back for a hip replacement operation? And if I did that, what would the chances be that I would ever resume my path of expatriation and extended travel? Was I an absurdity, attempting such foolishness, and had I just been given a sure sign that I should give the whole thing up? Yes, I wondered, but not for too long.  I was going to Buenos Aires and we would let the chips fall where they may.

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