No trip through the wild west would be complete without a bank heist!
After a lovely few days in San Cristobal, I decided to buy a couple more Christmas presents. I was running out of cash, so I used my debit card at one store. It was declined. This was surprising to me, because I knew I had plenty of money in my account; I figured it was just the faulty Mexican card reader. So I went to an ATM, which told me that I had $0 in my account. Oddly, I could get to my savings, so I withdrew some of that (should have withdrawn ALL of it - stupid stupid stupid). This happened on the Day of the Dead, the whole entire reason I went to Mexico in the first place. I almost missed the coolest part of the trip because of this crap. Anyways, I tried not to freak out and got in the cab with Stephanie and two other folks we'd met and went to the cemetery.
All money worries went away completely when we got to the cemetery. Day of the Dead is the coolest holiday ever. I really wish we celebrated it in the States. The cemetery, which is usually overgrown the rest of the year, is thoroughly cleaned of weeds, trash, and grime a couple days leading up to November 2nd. People care for the graves differently; if it's an earth grave like in Chamula then there are pine needles all over it, if it is a big mausoleum like the ones we saw this day then the pine needles are kind of scattered around and inside it. Candles are lit in front of pictures of the dead, flowers (especially marigolds) are laid everywhere. Entire families are gathered on, in, or around the graves and mausoleums, eating food and hanging out. Tents are erected if you have enough space, and there are food, balloon, and ice cream vendors wandering through the crowds. The atmosphere is much more like a caranaval than anything else. Groups of teenagers are even there, roaming around in packs.
One of my favorite things was the mariachi bands that were everywhere. At first I thought that they were family members playing only for their relatives, but we saw enough of them wandering around that I think they were actually for hire! Troubadours willing to play your dead relative's favorite song - how cool is that!
I saw people eating any and all kinds of foods, drinking shots of tequila, getting their shoes polished, singing, praying.....but not crying or mourning. Not that I thought they would be, I didn't really know what to expect, but in the States graveyards are always dark, sullen places. But this was awesome; it was a place to really go and hang out with your dead relatives as if they were really there enjoying the food, sunshine, and tequila with you! I seriously hope that my family does this for me when I die.
I left the party a little early, because I had a bus to catch and a bank account to sort out. I grabbed my stuff from the hotel, said goodbye to Stephanie, and went straight to an internet cafe. My worst fears were realized a few minutes later.....dozens of charges and withdrawals made from my account in Guatemala starting the day I left the country and came to Mexico. Someone in Flores had stolen my debit card information from an ATM (and my Mom's as well, I would later find out). I hadn't noticed because I'd been using traveler's checks the whole time. I had one traveler's check left (for $100) and about 2oo pesos - enough for a bus ticket to Palenque. I didn't want to cash my last traveler's check in pesos, because I was heading straight back to Belize, but obviously I needed to do that. I was hoping that when I got to Palenque some money would still be in my savings account.....
.....but it wasn't. My overdraft protection was efficiently shoveling money from savings account to my now overdrawn checking account. By the time I got to Palenque everything was gone. I spent the night there so that I could figure everything out the next day. Surprisingly, things went fairly smoothly once I talked to the bank. Getting in touch with them took some work, but they cancelled my card and told me to file a fraud claim, which I did immediately. It still wasn't a fun bus ride back to Belize though.
This is a pretty common thing that happens all over the world - you wouldn't believe how many people had similar stories once I told them what had happened. On my looooong bus ride home (21 hours straight - I couldn't stop because I had no money!!) I started to think that maybe I should be surprised that this didn't happen to me sooner. How many ATMs have I used all over Central America?? Not to mention traveling in Greece and Turkey; my debit card has been my main source of money through all of my travels so far. It's still the most convenient way to get to your money. It's hard to avoid this kind of fraud, so I don't really have any pearls of wisdom for you! I did some research about it, and there are several ways to steal someone's information directly from the card (which is what happened - I still have the card itself) - you can attach a scanner to the front of the ATM that reads the card as it goes in, or you can hack into it and have a laptop nearby downloading everyone's information.
I guess what really saved me during this ordeal was having several different forms of money on me. I had traveler's checks, the ill-fated debit card, and cash (Belizean dollars and pesos, some US cash would have been nice). I had forgotten my credit card, but that would have been useful too, for hotels and emergency bus fares. So I'm sure I'll continue using a debit card when I travel, but I'll pay closer attention and I'll always carry several different types of money!!
*Update - I still haven't received my new debit card yet in the mail. I've received bank statements and letters saying I"m overdrawn (duh) but I still can't get to my money, even though the bank has completely refunded every penny. Big thanks to my Mom - for wiring me money to tide me over!
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