I made a mistake yesterday. A dumb one. I handed my wallet to a total stranger and I turned my back. I paid. Sounds impossible, right? I've traveled for tens of thousands of miles by myself. Why would I do something so naïve? Well, I'll tell you.
I was sitting in a plaza cooling off when a man standing nearby offered to sell me a ticket to a flamenco show. I told him no thank you. His English was extremely good, so we struck up a conversation about the city. He was very charming and sincere. Explained that he works as a tour guide in the region, and is of Swedish/Armenian descent but has lived here for a few years because he fell in love with Spain. I told him I am taking my parents to Sweden in October so we talked about Sweden, and about other places we have traveled.
He was handsome, clean-cut and likable, so eventually I asked him what it would cost to hire him for a walking tour of Granada. I only have one day here so not much time to waste getting to the things I want to see. He told me he would normally get €20 for a tour, and that Sunday is his day off. But because I am pretty and interesting to talk to, he would do a tour for me and only charge me €15. Sold. We arranged a time for the next day.
I told him I was about to go looking for a place to have a tapas and a drink - so he said he would walk with me and show me one of his favorites. He sat with me and had a drink too and we shared a tapas and talked about world politics and comedians and traveling. He bought the drink. We walked a bit more as he guided me through the labyrinth of streets in central Granada, and we passed a square where a huge crowd had gathered and in the center people were line dancing to Achy Breaky Heart sung in Spanish. I had to take a video to share with you guys - it was too funny. So I handed him my clutch and pushed my way through the crowd to shoot a few seconds of video. We said pleasant goodbyes at my hotel and reaffirmed our meeting time for the next afternoon - today.
When I went to transfer things from my clutch to my shoulder satchel this morning, I found I had no money left. Cards and coins were there, but all the bills were gone. I figure he took about €60 - maybe $75 USD.
It has been a very painful lesson today. I couldn't believe it - I looked through everything twice over to make sure I hadn't tucked the money somewhere else. It's gone. Thankfully it was only that much - a couple of days ago I was carrying much more.
So that is how something like that happens, even when you travel a lot. Lesson for today - you can't let your guard down, even for a minute. Not with anyone, not ever.
I messaged him this morning and told him I won't be going on the tour because someone took my spending money from my wallet. I haven't heard back.
I am on my way to a hammam - a traditional Arabic bath where I will hopefully rinse this terrible feeling from my heart. Sometimes people aren't what they seem, no matter how great and normal and sane they seem. I don't like this lesson. I'm looking forward to coming home.
Check out this ruins of an Arabic bath I saw in Ronda. Looking forward to the real thing.
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