There is a saying here, 'no des papaya' which, translated literally, means 'don't hand out papaya', but essentially means that you shouldn't make it easy for someone to take advanatage of you in some way. (I first heard the saying during a bushwalk back home in the Blue Mountains, when we were climbing out of a canyon and I jokingly offered to carry my friend Ben's backpack as he seeemed to be struggling, whereupon Nati, his Colombian wife, advised me 'no dar papaya!', meaning that he might just take my offer seriously.)Another way you might be 'offering papaya' might be to make it easy for a pickpocket to get his hands on your wallet, as I did the other day in Armenia. I had taken a bus from my base in Salento to Armenia for a physio appointment and, after arriving at the bus terminal, I waited for a local bus to take me to the medical centre. When my bus arrived and I stepped aboard, the guy in front of me dropped some coins and spent a while picking them all up, blocking my entry and backing into me all the while. I realise now his accomplice behind me would have been trying to rob me, but didn't succeed that time.
So then the same thing happened when I went to get off. As I was moving toward the back door, the same guy dropped a load of coins and bent down to pick them up, blocking the exit, and again backing into me forcing me back against the accomplice. I must have sensed something was going on because I did a subconscious pocket check as I was getting off the bus and noticed my wallet was gone. Fortunately I was able to get back on the bus before it pulled away and confront the pickpockets asking them to return my wallet. They looked hesitant until two old ladies proceded to give them such a ferocious earbashing that they handed it back and fled. I never carry much cash in my wallet here (I have a separate pouch for larger amounts and cards etc.), but it was still a good reminder to keep my wits about me and not to 'dar papaya'.
Posts
