Guanajuato, Mexico - A Kidnapping Event Foiled

On the way home to GTO from Zacatecas, we had an event we shall not soon forget.

After the bus stopped in Aguascalientes, about forty minutes outside that city, the relief driver (there are always two) walked back to where we were sitting and offered this song and dance:

He said that since we were going to Leon, GTO, where we would change buses to get to the city of GTO--our home, he wanted to save us an extra hour by pulling off to the side of the highway and put us with our luggage off the bus. He claimed another bus bound for Leon would soon drive by and stop and pick us up. This, he said, would save us an hour since he claimed they had to stop in Lagos de Moreno before going to Leon.

So, picture it: He claimed we would get to Leon faster this way and would be saved from having to ride to and through Lagos de Moreno.

But, here's the deal: The bus we were on does NOT go through Lagos de Moreno. The reason we knew that is because not only had we ridden this same route before on the same bus line before the Express Kidnapping became the name of the game, but we speak Spanish and always ask the ticket agent how many stops the bus for which we are purchasing passage, makes.

The ticket agent specified the bus stopped at Aguascalientes, Leon, and then on to its last stop in Mexico City. All but five of us were Mexico City bound.

The relief driver did not offer the three Mexicans on board the same "get-off-the-side-of-the-road deal". Only us--The Americans.

We refused, of course. And, sure enough, we drove right past the Lagos de Moreno turn off.

The would-be kidnapper's accomplice lied to us.

Look at the facts:

1. That bus route did not, nor ever, go through Lagos de Moreno. Why would the relief driver said it was going to do so? We have been on this bus route before about three years ago and knew it did not go through Lagos de Moreno. We always ask the ticket agent how many stops the bus will make. He DID NOT mention Lagos de Moreno.. And, we drove right past the Lagos de Moreno turn off. He lied. Why did he lie?

2. Ask a Mexican if he or she would have gotten off the bus--IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE--and stood on the side of the road to wait for a phantom bus to take a more direct route to Leon.

3. Why didn't the driver ask the other passengers who were getting off at Leon the same thing they asked us?

4. Our friend, Carlos Bocanegra, said that this line was dangerous and known to stop for the driver's friends to rob and plunder the passengers.

5. What person in their right minds, who reads Mexican paper news and watches Mexican TV news, would agree to get off in the middle of nowhere to wait for a bogus bus in a country like Mexico????

What else could it have meant?