Years ago when I was living in Ohio near Columbus…
A roommate of mine named Chris went to pick me up at the airport in Columbus.
Either way, we got talking about our plans for the future…
He was intending on going to graduate school to get his Masters in European History if I remember right…
Myself?
I was thinking of maybe taking a year trip to China – I knew a guy who was offering me a possible job to teach English there.
And the pay and benefits were pretty good for the cost of living!
But I also said I was considering to move to Mexico.
And Chris knew where I would go…
He knew I hate people who ate with their mouth open and he told me everyone in China does that.
Is he right about that? I have no idea.
But he also knew I really liked Latin America and so it was obvious where I would be going…
And ultimately I did go to Mexico City…
Regardless, I was telling him about my time in Latin America up to this point…
And casually mentioned how people will sometimes harass you for money while at restaurants, bars or cafes…
And that stunned him.
He never spent time in Latin America before and only the nicer parts of Europe from what I know.
So he couldn’t believe people harass others commonly for money at restaurants.
But that was news for him anyway.
And it got me thinking anyway…
Of the more notable examples I can think of in regards to homeless folks just harassing people in general while eating, drinking or just out in public…
Because while most homeless folks are harmless..
Others not so much…
So here’s just 7 examples anyway that come to mind that I haven’t written up elsewhere on this website.
The Regular Kids of Reforma
Back when I lived near la Roma of Mexico City…
I used to pass by Metro Insurgentes often to eat at some of the restaurants closer to Reforma where Angel of Independence is.
Be it Subway, Casa de Toño, Dominos, Chilis, some taco place that had great bacon cheese tacos, etc…
Well, one day…
As I am sitting down at Subway eating my sandwitch…
A bunch of kids come in and start asking everyone there for money.
In and out.
Another day while eating at that same Subway…
A random skinny dude comes in and asks for money…
I tell him I don’t have any…
And he asks me if he can finish my sandwich.
And I had just a tiny bit left but it was clear I wasn’t going to eat it as I put the thing to the side.
Well, I didn’t see anything wrong with that – he needs to eat and I was going to throw it away anyway.
So I let him have it.
In regards to the kids mentioned above by the way…
They are the same kids every time.
They seem to prefer, at least back then, to go to Subway and Dominos specifically.
Where they would come in what seemed like every hour to Dominos anyway.
And a few other areas nearby.
And it’s a sad sight of course when you see kids begging.
Harder to say no to a kid than a grown man to be honest.
Even more so when you see a kid sleeping face ground on the cement in the afternoon in this area all by herself…
Like I did once when passing by Metro Insurgentes.
It’s not common to see a kid by themselves living on the street but I’ve seen it a few times so far.
“Hey, Wey! Give Me Some Money, OK?”
Around December of 2019…
I was walking around the same area described in the last section around Reforma area…
Close to Metro Insurgentes…
With a friend named Angie as we were catching up for drinks and sex.
Well, we are basically bar hopping…
And as we leave one bar going to another one…
This random guy who is literally at most 5 foot tall…
Not bullshitting you – one small motherfucker.
Says “hola” to us…
And before he gives us the pitch for money…
I, being a bit drunk by this point, go…
“Hola q tal wey!!! Como te vas?!? Q onda!!!”
And he seemed a bit surprised but also cheerful by my response.
“Like ok, ok, here’s another borracho….haha hahaha haha…”
Or would he say “jaja jaja jaja jaja…”
Hmmmm…..
Well, anyway….
In typical Drunk Matt fashion, I introduce him to Angie like we are best buds.
And Angie is looking at me confused like “the fuck? You know him?”
Hell yeah, I do!!!
Well, not really but…
We exchange a small bit of small chat between us and he asks for some money among that..
I hand him like a 10 peso coin and figured it was time to head out to the next bar.
So Angie and I start walking but the dude keeps following us…
And he looks at Angie and I remember him saying some shit about her ass…
Or something along those lines and other shit too.
But anyway, I remember at this point Angie is starting to feel very nervous..
And once the guy pisses off after about a minute of following us..
She tells me “don’t do that again, he was creepy” or something along those lines.
Either way, we had a good laugh about it at the next bar and moved on.
Which was some rock n roll bar that had some live performance by some local band.
Ah, the good ol’ days…
Before Coronavirus…
The Colombian with Constipation
On another night in Barranquilla, Colombia…
I had a date set up with some random chick…
And we were set to meet up at a bar called Bogota Beer Company if I remember right…
Well, I get there first and figured I might as well order my beer while I sit down and wait for her…
Which, she showed up about 10 minutes late – not bad in Latina time.
Either way, as soon as I sit down…
This Colombian dude walks up the stairs to where the bar is and looks at me and starts asking for money…
And every time I said no, his face literally looked like it was crunching up and he would repeat “por favor, por favoooor”
And he would walk up closer to where I was (there was a tiny bit of distance between us initially)…
Well, I read in cases like this, you should take your valuables off the table in case they might snatch it and run.
So I put my phone in my pocket.
And as his face crunches up more, the more constipated he looks.
“The Constipated Colombian.”
And at this point I tell the guy to piss off in a more rude fashion as he wasn’t taking the hint.
While nodding to the waiter and he comes up to me…
I was sitting outside and he opens the door and knows what this is about right away.
Tells the guy to piss off and that was it…
The Screaming Lady in Bolivia
One time while I was walking around Cochabamba, Bolivia….
I left my homestay at the moment and was walking over towards a mini plaza area close to where I was living…
Well, from memory, she was basically screaming whatever she could at anyone…
I saw her ahead of time and wasn’t feeling so great…
So I figured I would walk more to the side and a bit farther away from where she was while I pass her…
But she sees me…
And similar to how she was screaming at everybody else…
Yelling a bunch intelligible stuff…
And then when she sees me, marches up to me and yells whatever…
As I pass a little bit hungover and just think “oh fuck off lady!”
Before I kept going on…
The Scary Homeless Area Near Metro Insurgentes
Back when I was living near Metro Insurgentes again…
What is it with this place and homeless people?!
Well, I was walking around late at night after finishing a night of drinking with a friend named Angie and a friend of hers from Sinaloa.
As I am walking towards Metro Insurgentes, I have to get to the other side to get to my apartment.
Some homeless lady, at around 4 AM maybe, started yelling something at me but that was it.
Though this specific area back then…
And I say back then because I’m not sure if it is the same anymore..
Last time I have been to this area, I didn’t see any homeless folks close to Metro Insurgentes.
They used to have a ton all camped out by a part that you would have to pass to get to Calle Durango.
And often enough, dates I would bring back to my place from Metro Insurgentes were sometimes intimidated by the folks hanging out there.
But nothing bad usually happened – sometimes harassment but not usually.
“Please Disrespect Me & Take My Money! Take My Wife Too!”
One time while I was in Xela, Guatemla…
Near the end of my trip, we were at some bar in the center area of the city…
Where there were tons of people around having beer and watching a soccer game.
I think it was Argentina vs Germany if I remember right.
Well, some random dude comes up to me and begs me for money.
I tell him no and nothing more.
He then proceeds to mutter some shit like “fucking Americans” and the like…
Where then a guy I was sitting with – a slightly older American in his 30s who was there on a short trip to learn Spanish.
Reached into his pocket and tapped the guy’s shoulder and gave him around 50 bucks more or less in the local currency (quetzales).
Probably because he was about to leave Guatemala like I was soon enough….
And the guy looks at him with eager in his eyes…
And goes “mas??”
But the other American guy still didn’t speak Spanish as well – mine wasn’t perfect either.
And he didn’t understand what the guy was trying to get at – “more?!? You got more for me?!?!”
Basically, he saw the guy as a limitless ATM machine.
His name was Adam by the way.
But because Adam gave him 50 dollars in local currency, which is a shit ton more than what the locals would ever give..
You know, he just saw gold right there – “more?!? More?!?”
And Adam, when figuring out what he wanted, gave him just a few cents more in local currency.
Not much – maybe 50 cents more at most.
And the guy, now looking offended (no bullshit), muttered the same offensive shit under his breath…
Shit like “fucking asshole” or whatever…
And walked off.
Adam though, looking proud, goes “that’s how you do it! You got to be humble and help out the people here. They are poor…”
In hindsight, all I can think is “fucking idiot.”
They disrespect him (and me) and he gives the guy a shit ton more money than any other local would.
And was too dumb to not realize the guy was insulting him and saw him as a tool for money.
But not my money anyway – I didn’t argue. His money, his decision.
Adam, in all honesty, was that type of person who would bend over to appease the locals because it’s the “socially just thing to do” or whatever.
If the homeless guy wanted to fuck his wife (assuming he had one), then…
“No problema, amigo!” would probably be the response.
“Whatever you want! You are a poor brown person and I am a privileged white male and I will take my SJW politics here and let you take all my shit to make myself feel better while you insult me!”
That’s the usual mentality anyway of these types…
But we went back to our beer and enjoyed the soccer game anyway…
And a musical performance by some local band as well…
“Vete a La Verga!!!!”
In another incident in Barranquilla, Colombia…
I was sitting down at a popular place called La Troja with my girlfriend at the time and some of her friends….
As there was a huge soccer game going on and the place was packed with lots of people.
Well, as we are sitting down waiting for the game to start basically with a few beers and eyes on the TVs above us…
All of a sudden, people around us seem concerned.
Some commotion and I noticed this random homeless dude was throwing rocks at our crowd.
Not us specifically but everyone around us.
As this bar had plenty of open space and all of us sitting down..
We get up anyway on our feet and this guy chucks one more large rock at the crowd…
And I hear some random woman scream and it turns out it hit some chick.
While the guy was yelling a bunch of random shit – most of it not very intelligible…
But when he threw the last big rock, he yelled something like “vete a la verga!!!”
Or whatever it was – a bunch of obscenities and the like.
And that was it – he stumbled around off and seemingly a bit drunk by how he was walking….
But he didn’t get far as some random dude from the crowd – maybe a boyfriend of the girl who got hit – runs up to him to get him.
And police show up – get him – and then it was all over.
The Point
I could go all day about this topic…
I’ve seen plenty of more cases – tons of them – of homeless folks asking for money from people sitting down at restaurants.
And similar to the few folks mentioned in the start of this article…
Most of them are harmless – just asking for money or maybe some food to get by in life.
Not looking to start shit or anything.
And not harassing people necessarily either – just asking and taking whatever answer you give.
But, among those asking…
Are those also harassing.
Either because they are drunk or on drugs like the guy throwing rocks in Colombia and just want to fuck with others..
Or like the other guy in Colombia or the one in Mexico City who will harass folks as well.
Similar to the situation here in the DR where I noticed a little group of people harassing those who ate at Applebees.
Or this situation here in Mexico City where a random homeless dude was harassing me for having a laptop at a Starbucks.
Truth is, you got some bad folks who turn their begging into threats of violence or harassment.
And it is a factor of life in Latin America.
Poverty and inequality are much worse here.
And even though we have plenty of poverty and inequality in the US…
I have never been harassed for money in the US or threatened with violence while eating at some place.
It’s never happened.
And perhaps that is why someone like Chris at the start of this article – a young dude from rural Ohio – found it so bizarre that people do that down here.
Which is also an example I think of something else…
Where you spend enough time down here and certain things become normal and you forget they are not normal back home…
Like homeless people begging, harassing or threatening you for money while at a restaurant or bar.
Nowadays, it’s normal to me because I’ve been down here long enough but not normal where I’m from.
So when you go back to the US, sometimes you notice things like that – shit you now consider normal and come across a scenario where you learn it’s actually not so normal.
Just a different culture where the folks back home are not used to that.
And of course, not every area of Latin America is so bad when it comes to this issue.
Obviously, the poorer or more unequal an area in terms of income, the worse the issue is I think.
But that’s in general – because you also got places like Bolivia that is poorer than Colombia…
But I noticed the harassment issue was worse in Colombia than Bolivia.
So it’s not all just based on the economy but that has something to do with it obviously.
Either way, that’s the article!
Got any experiences, questions or comments relevant to this article?
Drop them below in the comment section.
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Best regards,
Matt