It’s a well-known belief that Latin American men (stereotypically) are more aggressive towards women. They have no problems yelling things at a woman they find attractive on the street, and a lot of the “dancing” that happens at clubs is better thought of as long make-out sessions. That said, most of the stuff I’ve heard have been pretty tame: “que linda!”, “diosa” or the always exceedingly creative “rubia!” (Really? Because I had no idea that I’m blonde). However, a recent incident while I was walking home made me think of my top four strangest/creepiest male encounters here.

4.) In fourth place is the most recent incident, and I’m not even sure if it was directed at me, but it was still funny. I was walking home from work a few days ago and ahead of me, walking the other direction were two youngish men. Without warning one of them made a face and shook his head in a way that immediately made me think that he was trying to motorboat me from 15 feet away. When I actually passed them on the sidewalk he didn’t say anything, so I don’t know if that was something he meant to do at me, or if it was a reaction to something his friend said.

3.) Several months ago I was walking home from my old shift (so this was about 12.15am) and a guy started talking to me while I was waiting to cross the street. He asked me where I was going and I pointed ahead. He said something else and I was started to feel creeped out, so I kind of desparately asked him what he wanted. He said that he wanted to accompany me and talk to me a little, so I told him I couldn’t understand him and ran across the street. This wouldn’t have bothered me if it had happened during the middle of the day, but at midnight on a week day… I was a little freaked.

2.) I was walking home (broad daylight this time) from the gym (so I was disgusting-looking) when a guy in a car pulled up to the curb beside me and honked his horn. I, of course, reacted and looked at him. He started talking to me, slowly driving along the side of the road as I walked. I tried to ignore and he continued talking, asking if he could give me a ride, if he could have my number, etc. After about a block I pulled out my cell phone and called my boyfriend, talking to him very loudly and saying “mi amor” a lot. Eventually the guy got the hint and accelerated away.

1.) But, none of these incidents compared to something that happened when I was in Colón, Argentina. I went there to jump the boarder and renew my visa, so I was by myself. While I was waiting in the tiny bus station to go back to Capital and older man came in and sat down on the bench next to me. Even though I was reading, he started talking to me. At first it was benign: Where are you from? Do you like Argentina? Did you like Colon? etc. Then it started drifting into weirdness. He told me that he had seen me walking from my hostel to the bus station and decided to follow me here. He then asked me where I had stayed (I spent the night in a hostel) and when I told him he said, “What a pity. You could have stayed with me! I have a bedroom that you could have stayed in. I love having young women over for the night. You have to promise me that when you come back to Colon you will stay with me.” I made some non-committal remark about a boyfriend and then, thank God, my bus pulled into the parking lot. I jumped up, grabbed my stuff and walked out. He followed me, waving and yelling chau and stayed in the parking lot, watching me (he could see me through the window) until we pulled away. I’m not planning on going back to Colon any time soon.

Anyone else have strange experiences here?

(Side note, most of the stuff I’ve heard on the street in Bs.As. is nothing compared to what I heard in Nicaragua. Those men are artists)