My faith in human nature restored on Coz

[ggunn]

A tale of disaster narrowly averted...

I arrived on Cozumel on May 8 for 12 days of diving, fishing, and general laying around, with my wife and my mom in tow and muchas equipje. We took the shuttle from the airport, and on arrival at Lorena, bags began moving toward our rooms before all our stuff was off the shuttle (belated red flag). I soon started "moving in" to the room, and when I got to the point where I needed something from my carry-on, the bag was missing. It wasn't in my mom's room either, where some of my stuff had ended up. My name was on the bag, but the name of my hotel wasn't (next time...). I reached the rational decision that it was time to panic.

Of course, the stuff in my carry-on was what I could least afford to lose - both (mine and my wife's) dive computers, both regs, my mask AND its backup (positive diopter Rx, no off-the-shelf option), portable CD player with about 80 CD's, my eyeglasses and backup pair, Traveler's checks, return plane tix, tourist cards... It's been a long time since I have f**ked up in such spectacular and devastating style.

Many calls to the airport from the lobby (in rapid Spanish by the hotel desk guy) yielded nada, so I caught a cab to the airport, and after nearly half an hour of frantically running around talking to people who knew nothing and couldn't help me, a guy approached me out under the awning and asked, "Do you remember me, señor?" It was the shuttle driver who had taken us to Lorena. He walked me around to the back of his van and opened the door, and there was my bag! He stood and smiled while I jumped around and yelled; then he said "Let's go" and he took me back to the hotel. I'm not sure how much I gave him; I just pulled a sizeable wad of bills out of my wallet and gave it to him (although he asked for nothing).

All I got was that his name was Lalu, and that day he was driving shuttle #2. If you happen to run into him down there, give him a big tip; he did me right when he just could have just as easily taken my stuff and my trip would have been ruined, and I would never have known what happened to it. ¡Muchas gracias, Lalu!

 

[Cave Diver]

Always good to hear a story that has a happy ending.

 

[Dee]

I don't know if he's the same one, or even how common the name Lalu is but.....I know a Lalu. He used to drive a taxi in the evenings and we would request him to take us to town and to various spots. So very nice. Over the years we met his wife and 2 sons and got to know him. Last time I was there I was told he was driving a shuttle bus at the airport but I could never catch up with him.

If he's the same one, your story is no surprise...he wouldn't have dreamed of doing anything else!

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

It just confirms my theory that most people are good at heart. Some would not even consider the alternative to the right thing!

 

[teamheatwave]

I had a similar experience where my shorts had shallow pockets and running late for the flight (Cancun Airport) my wallet fell out of my pockets and into the back seat of the taxi. I called the hotel where over the years I have become good friends with the conceirge and he would talk to the taxi driver who was one of their "regulars". I told him keep the cash in the wallet to cover costs and rewards but to please ship the wallet & contents back. 2 days later via dhl it was at my door. The cash was a small price to pay to eliminate the need to cancel the credit cards and I would gladly pay a hefty sum NOT to go to DMV to get a duplicate license. Anyone ever experiencing the NJ DMV system knows what I mean! Over the years I have made may friends in Mexico. I have found for the most part the people living in the Cancun / Cozumel area are very honest, hard working, religous people with a decent sense of values. That's probably one of the reasons I keep going back.