Getting Lost En Route to Parque Metropolitano in Leon , Guanajuato with a little help from a seemingly friendly stranger

  The super friendly stranger, who almost derailed my day trip to Parque Metropolitano, didn't fit any of the profiles of people to avoid I'd met before and caught me completely off guard.  I had my route all planned out, thanks to the Optibus app and there shouldn't have been any problems. 

 

When complete strangers are over the top friendly, you should be immediately on your guard.  Normal conversations with random people you meet is healthy enough.  It's the ones who seem inexplicably too happy to see you, even excited about the encounter, that are likely to cause problems.  You need to ditch them fast or you may find yourself robbed or invited to a cult. 

 Have you ever been accosted by a stranger on the beach, who ignores the fact that you were enjoying a peaceful walk with your private thoughts before they intruded.  Maybe you had been enjoying an audio book.  Within minutes of banal chat, they ask for your phone number and email address.  I've even had invitations to share an apartment!  Disturbing to say the least.

I've learned to watch out for that overbearingly superficially cool waiter.  When they start the good-times-are-here love bomb, it's time to thoroughly check the bill and count your change.  If the print is too faint to read, he likely forgot to mention the tip had already been added, besides the hidden items you never ordered. 

My route began at a roadside bus stop.  That's where the super friendly suburbanite woman started chatting me up.  She was overweight, hitting 60 or more, quite grandmotherly.  That's probably why my guard was down. I was more interested in listening to my audiobook but there are a lot of lonely alienated people out there, more than ever, and a little politeness doesn't hurt.  Except when predators exploit it as a weakness.

I was still polite when she invited me to sit beside her on the bus. "Field of Blood" by Gerald Seymour would have to wait until we parted ways at Station A, one of three huge transit stations in Leon with buses headed for multiple destinations.  I pulled out my best Spanish for the 20 minute ride.  I learned that she took yoga lessons every day.  I would never have guessed that if she hadn't told me. She asked about my Canada pension.  That should have been a red flag right there but I suppose I was in tourist mode. I just explained that it was a tiny thing and I could never afford to retire.

It was at the station that things turned weird. Or weirder.  I'd been there before.  I knew I had to walk down a tunnel to reach my platform but suddenly this woman is my self-appointed tour guide.  She knew I was headed for the park but she tried to lead me out of the station!  Clearly she was confused and it was time to restore my personal space.  I said adios. Continued on my way.  She came running right behind me to show me the way I clearly already knew. Whatever.  Apparently, wherever she had been going herself no longer mattered.  

 

    

I couldn't think how to say no when she asked for my phone number.  It was sitting in plain view in my shirt pocket.  The answer is simple really but it didn't occur to me then.  In situations like this, just say no.  You just met them.  You don't have to explain or make excuses.  

She got on the same bus as I did as if she hadn't been previously leaving the station. We finally separated when she announced my stop.  Really?  I jumped up with relief.  But when I was on the street, looking around, I knew it wasn't the right place.  She had simply tired of the game and ditched me!

So, I was lost.  But only temporarily.  I walked around for a while before remembering that the trip had been quite direct before receiving the help I'd never asked for.  I was to take the bus from Station A all the way to the next big station.  From there, another bus with 12 stops.  I was on my way again.

Yeah.  This is not the park.

This is where I got off the final bus.  I'd lost count of the stops and I hadn't seen anything park-like.  I was just guessing when I got out and I had my doubts. 

Wait a minute.  I looked around and google mapped for 5 minutes before finally looking up and seeing this sign.

I had no intention of losing my way again so I took pictures of the intersection for future reference.

Straight down this street.

This is definitely the park.  In your face, strange fat lady!

Bikes!

My ride for the next 2 hours.  A lot of athletic race around the lake a couple of times an hour but I was there to see the place and in no hurry at all.

Away we go!  It felt good to be on a bike again after a few weeks.

The lake really doesn't look like the best spot for a refreshing swim but there's a sign just in case.  I definitely wouldn't dive.

This lake will rise up the rocks in rainy season and submerge the little peninsulas. 

Drinking water

Another sign that shouldn't be necessary but is.  There is nothing inviting about that lake at all for swimming. 

 

This is near the end of my loop around the lake.  Nobody swims here but a few small boats launch for fishing and other people pop beach umbrellas to enjoy a quiet day in the sun by the water.

This table is first come, first serve.

The groovy chairs are locked in the cement.

So, I made it, no thanks to the strange lady and enjoyed a great afternoon.  I was heading back to Francisco's and Natalie's when the potential seriousness finally struck me.  Getting derailed at the wrong stop was inexplicable but just annoying.  But she had tried to lure me out of the station!  What was that about?  Then I got a text from her, asking me to send pictures!  Yikes!  This was not an acquaintance I needed to continue.  Thanks to Francisco showing me how, I blocked her completely.

 It wasn't until today that I think I might have finally figured out her game.  On the first leg of the bus trip, she had mentioned the possibility of the two of us going out for coffee and again when I stupidly shared my phone number.  I said sure at the time but that really wasn't going to happen.  It is quite possible when she tried to lure me out Station A,  we were headed to a clip joint like the tea house scams of China.  After all, she herself presented no apparent physical threat to me but there may have been accomplices on the horizon.

https://www.gonomad.com/3310-all-the-tea-in-china-the-tea-scam

https://sightdoing.net/shanghai-tea-house-scam/

I've seen a lot of videos about this business on Youtube and variations of it all over the world.  In American thrillers, they are all called clip joints.  It seems lots of cities all over the world have them.  Friendly young women will approach tourists and invite them to the coolest bars in town, usually deserted,  which will have the victims wondering what exactly is going on until they see the bill and suddenly the ambience of the place has gone from dull and pointless to hostile and threatening as goons surround them to collect.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clip_joint. It's the same scam whether, it's tea, coffee, watered down drinks or, in the case of a horrific story I read in someone's blog years ago, carpets in Monaco.

So, watch out when strangers are just too friendly.  Sure they're excited to see you, just like any predator grinning at their next meal.

Getting lost en route to Ixmiquilpan

 Finding the Pachuca bus station is no problem if you know what you're doing. I didn't and still don't.  A convi from Real del Monte (familar turf) back to the big city, restock on cash before continuing to the bus station and onward to Ixmiquilpan and, ultimately, beautiful Totanlongo. Foolproof plan.

To be safe, I extracted the daily maximum from the ATM. It all came out in small biĺls, hundreds and fifties, a wad so thick my wallet couldn't hold it, let alone fold. Yikes. That was a conspicuous stack of notes to be travelling with to unknown places. I shoved most of it into my zip jacket pocket.

Now. Bus station. Find a convi or taxi and we're off.  I walked to another popular convi spot by the square with the big statue to ask around but there was no transportation of any kind there. The police had blocks and blocks of streets closed to traffic for some reason. Keep walking.

I came to one of the local city bus terminals Edgar had pointed out on the way in tiwn.  Closed. They were still cleaning up the broken glass and debris left behind by the riot girls of International Women's Day 2023.

Taxis were super scarce. No problem. I knew the direction. Or did I? Soon I was hiking along 8 lanes of seperated highway roads with multiple exit ramps and overpasses. I had no more confidence in my sense of direction.

Finally, a taxi! He didn't know why so many streets had been closed either.

Finally, rolling down the highway.  Glad I'd checked with the driver before storing the big backpack under the bus. The real bus was 15 minutes late. Who knows where my luggage would have ended up?  The driver of the real bus had me carry everything on board. What do you expect for 44 pesos? A bathroom?

Ixmiquilpan has a rather tiny bus terminal. Depending on which direction you're coming from, you might not see it all. My driver just pulled over to the side of the road. I'd asked him earlier if there was an actual terminal and he'd assured me there was so  I was still waiting  to see something like at Pachuca or Actopan well after Ixmiquilpan. There was another stop further on where he collected packages and shortly after that I finally realized I'd missed my stop.

The driver let me off on the side of the highway, at least minimizing the damage.

So there I was, in the middle of nowhere, wondering how far I had to walk back to town or at least find a bathroom. I had only walked 10 minutes when, out othe blue  local public transport rolled up over the hill. Saved again. A woman I had marched on by raised her hand and this little bus pulled right over. I followed her example and it worked for me too. Good thing too. I estimate from that ride I had been looking at a minimum of 2 hours or more of midday sun hiking with all my luggage

Found a cheap hotel quickly enough. Interesting place that has clearly seen better days. 

Looks like it was an amazing deluxe place back when it was new in the fifties or sixties. Now the pool is dry, the showers are cold, only about a third of the wide sweeping vinyl awning remains and the tvs don't pick up any stations. But the price was right, the feeling of an impending urban exploration adventure was quite intriguing and, as I soon learned, it was ideally situated to get on the bus to Totanlongo the following morning.

Time to wander Ixmiquilpan and figure out my next move.

I managed to get lost only once and a little backtracking set me straight again.

For sure Real del Monte was the birthplace of pastes.

This imposing church dominates the town.

I assumed this church was  Saint Antonio,  the one where the Tolantongo shuttles gather.  So glad I asked someone who knew. The real Saint Antonio was significantly smaller and near the market where I'd just stuffed myself with Barbacoa. More backtracking and I found it right away. Practically around the corner from my hotel.

Saint Antonio. This is the place, at a huge walled convi parking lot within sight of the church. Look for the sign that says Entrada. 

Next stop  Tolantongo