BOURDAIN's stunning love letter to Mexico and Mexicans

[Atman]

20. We took a wrong ferry back from the islands...

We landed in a town where we didn't have a clue where we were. No cell phone. We had to walk half a mile down the beach from the ferry landing, down a dark road through some sketchy-looking neighborhoods. My wife was literally in tears. She was certain we were going to be killed. Of course, no one looked twice at us. I kept saying, we'll just walk towards the bright lights, that's gotta mean some "civilization." As it turned out the darkened road passed right by an incredible resort hotel. We cut through there, figured out we couldn't afford to stay, and kept going. We eventually found the main road and a bar with wifi, so I could use my iPhone to look up my sister's number, then make a pay-phone call for her to "rescue" us. I gotta admit, I was a little bit nervous just because I didn't know where we were, but my wife was so freaked out she couldn't even eat. Just sobbed that she was "lost" on the other side of the planet and we'd never make it home again. This was even after a week of island-hopping, taking ferries to places we'd never heard of, going to little villages where no one spoke English, carrying nothing but a backpack. It was quite a learning experience.

Still, I would be FAR more scared walking down a street in Hartford at night. Carjackings, muggings, random shootings happen all the time.