The Great Mexican Standoff - A Story of Being Held at Gunpoint in Mexico
““Move over or we are going to call the police!””
““Bring the police then!””
Our story starts with a birthday trip to Cancun. We stayed at the Hard Rock All inclusive Resort. This would be my 2nd time to Cancun and even stayed at the same hotel last trip. Little did I know that we were minutes away from it being the last.
Ace and I were in the ocean . The rest of our group hung out on the shore.
Check out Ace in my the previous post Click here
We were in the middle of a Sandball fight. Don't google that, its not really a thing. We gather sand from the ocean floor, squeeze it into a ball like shape and throw it at each other. Yes like animals. Or children. Or animal children.
In the middle of this makeshift sport, we get interrupted by a voice. It was the jet ski renters that told us to move because we were in the way of their jet ski "dock". You may be wondering what's up with the quotes on the word "dock". Well picture a dock in your head. Did you picture just the beach and the ocean with no safety rope marking some sort of a zone? I mean not even a flag. Or a sign. Just the occasional renter that will yell.
Also keep in mind that this area that was imaginably marked off stretched about 200 feet. Oh we were in Mexico so i should tell you in meters. But math is hard so you know.
Anyways, Ace doesn't like to be yelled at. He's like a bear. You don't yell at bears. They will maul you. As did he to the 3 or 4 people that kept coming to us to get us to move. (Metaphorically of course)
They threatened to call the police. Ace and I stood our ground. We did this in protest. Explained to the renters that they need to be more proactive to safety and establish an area with safety rope so people can actually know where not to swim.
We did it for the people. An unselfish act.
Welp the policia came. With guns. Not pistols. Rifles. The unnecessary, overly dramatic cousin of the pistol. The guy your girlfriend tells you not to worry about in a gun version.
Okay so now I'm freakin out. I tell Ace.
““You can leave if you want””
““Nope. I’m staying. If you go to jail, I’m going too””
Ace and I did not break even when surrounded by the police, (well the Mexican Policia)
We explained ourselves. Politely. Because you know..guns and stuff.
Alyssa, (Ace's girlfriend) goes and gets the hotel manager. Or so he said he was. But come to find out that Tavo wasn't who he said he was after all. He was....
A public relations rep for the Hard Rock Resort. He just kept using the "I am the manager" tactic. We asked for the general manager. We got Tavo.
Mexico is a pretty corrupt place. Especially when you don't speak Spanish fluently. See Tavo was told by Alyssa to come and talk to us first and not the Jet Ski Renters. Guess what he does though.. the opposite. You had one job Tavo. Guy talks to the renters and the police before us and now get brainwashed into thinking Ace and I were the enemies of the state. After their Spanish conversation of where they were going to dinner later, Tavo then graces us with his presence and of course just joins them in trying to get us to move.
Here we are. Ace. Me. 3 or 4 of the Jet Ski Renters. The beach lifeguard. 4 of Cancun's finest, and the hotel not manager, Tavo.
We were trying to figure out who owns the beach property so we could negotiate a solution. Our assumptions were that its the hotel's property. But the "Hotel Manager" 2Face Tavo, said it was federal property.
Ace and I realize that we have no other viable moves left.
The standoff ended with sadness and disbelief.
We didn't make a difference.
At least I didn't have to hear the phrase "Don't drop the soap" in Spanish
Check out the video below. Excuse my friends breaking out in songs.
