At Least We Weren't Mugged

Post Safari, we hung out in Arusha for a couple of days figuring out what to do with the last week of our African journey. We decided to head off to Zanzibar for some island relaxation. While walking back to our hotel after booking bus tickets, we were pick pocketed.

Well, it was really an attempted pick pocket because they didn't get anything. Being the risk averse people that we are everything was tucked away behind zippers and under clothing. We were angry and rattled but the situation was really pretty funny. This was a typical scheme involving two guys. They picked an opportune time when we were sufficiently distracted, Najam was handing me his drink and we were about to cross a street. An older man, bumped into us and quickly grabbed the bottom cuff of Najam's pants, slapping it repeatedly as if to wipe the dust away and profusely apologizing. A teenage kid also bumps into us and, we're guessing, searched Najam's accessible pockets for goodies while our attention was being drawn to the older man and Najam's "soiled" pants. This all happened within maybe five seconds and ended when I nudged the old guy off insisting that we were OK. The two quickly dispersed and a few onlookers snickered. We were pretty sure they didn't get anything right after it happened but we had a nagging feeling for days that we would eventually discover something missing.

After the fact, we thought about how we responded. The best thing to do is just try to get out of the situation quickly and avoid conflict, which is basically what we did. I think it would have been funner though to mirror the older man, slapping the cuff of his pants and repeatedly apologizing. It might have been fun to reach for his pockets too, after all, he was distracted. The next time we travel, we're definitely carrying an extra decoy wallet with a booty of monopoly money inside covered with poison oak.