Last night I had an occasion to visit a pretty rough area. I went bar-hopping in Tijuana. I have done this many times, and I am not a novice. If you speak the language, keep your eyes open, and don’t get drunk, it’s a fun evening! Tijuana can live up to all the stories (with the exception of the urban myth about the donkey.)

Over more than 43 years of visits, this was the first time that I have ever had any problems, and hind-sight makes the event more comical than anything else.

When visiting areas like this, I always prepare myself for the worst. I utilize what we Marines call a Navy wallet – namely a sock tucked into the waistband that holds the important stuff – Wallet, ID, Passport, money. In the sporran, I only carry a photocopy of the passport (good enough as the original in most cases) a little money, lighter and ciggs.

Several of us were standing outside of one bar, discussing which place to visit next, and I felt a tug at my sporran belt. I grabbed for the sporran, and easily had it in my hand before it hit the ground. My buddies started yelling, and I turned to see a thief running away with my severed sporran belt in his hand. This guy must have been experienced, and had obviously used this method on women with purses, but it didn’t work with my sporran. I called my buddies back from their chase, and held up my sporran. No loss! I begged a length of twine from a shop keeper, and was back in bar-hopping mode is minutes.

As the evening wore on, I became less irritated and more amused at the sporran belt thief. I’m also glad I use a solid belt that is looped through the back of the sporran, and not one that has clips. This shows that, had the belt been clipped to the sporran, the thief could have been successful. So, all I lost was an old belt, which I can easily replace. In fact, I have a couple of good ones on order from Steve at Oconee right now. And Jerry at SWK has a couple of very usable sporran belts also.

The lesson for the night – Act like a Boy Scout and “Be Prepared” and Traditional Kilted attire is much safer that pants!