The day my bus got hijacked by the Mexican cartel

the cartel came out from the hiding position in the forest, pointing their guns at the driver telling him they were going to kill him if he did not open the bus. Once they were in the bus they pistol whipped him on the head and split him open and took control of the bus.

24-hour bus ride

I was coming off a week of partying on a coastal town of the west coast of Mexico called Puerto Escondido which is in Oaxaca. It is famous for surfing all day and partying until the sun comes up.

I decided to leave Puerto and head north to Puerta Vallarta which is like a 24 hour bus ride, including a bus transfer at Acapulco. As most backpackers know when you take these long bus rides stock up on Valium at a local pharmacy as you want to try and sleep for most of the journey.

I got to the bus station at Puerto at night ready for the long haul chucked my backpack in the under carriage which contains my valuables. This is a big no go as everybody knows you keep your valuables on you & never in the undercarriage. I went to my allocated seat and popped two Valium’s, hoping when I wake next it would be day light..

THE hijacking

So, this is when shit hits the fan. Instead of waking up to daylight I woke up with all this yelling in Spanish and I realised members of a cartel were holding up this bus. At this point I was sitting on the aisle seat and I was the only gringo on the bus. Fortunately for me, I have a dark complexion and I look more Latino than Australian. I looked over to the women beside me and I saw her shoving money down her bra and could see the guy opposite me in the aisle putting money down his socks. But I wasn’t going to risk my life for any amount of money. I focused on looking down at my feet and not making eye contact with anyone. I just remember thinking to myself thank God I look Mexican.

On the police report by the bus driver which I found out later.  the cartel chopped a tree down and had it lying across the road and when the bus came to a stop at the tree, the cartel came out from the hiding position in the forest, pointing their guns at the driver telling him they were going to kill him if he did not open the bus. Once they were in the bus they pistol whipped him on the head and split him open and took control of the bus.

Then things get even more interesting – The cartel then took control of our bus and started driving on the highway for a while until they went off it and onto a dirt road. They kept driving up this dirt road for ages. Could have been 10 minutes or an hour.. I wouldn’t know the difference as my body was still in shock and still slowly processing what was happening to me. Especially as half of me was still a bit hazy from the Valium.

So, they got to a spot and they took the people from the front half of the bus outside, including myself. I remember walking down the aisle just looking down trying not to make any eye contact with anybody at all. As soon as I got outside, they searched me. They took my phone and my wallet which I didn’t give two fucks about. As long as I survived the night I was happy. Than I got brought to an area close to the bus and was told to kneel down and put my hands behind me head. I looked around and beside me was a Latino couple and the bus driver whose head was split open. There was blood all over his face. We kneeled down for a few minutes whilst the cartel were talking to themselves. And than we hear the bus start. For those few seconds I thought we were going to be executed outside.

The girl who was beside me start screaming and crying but than the hijackerers quickly ushered everyone back on the bus as apparently which I found out later that the spot they stopped to search the whole bus wasn’t good enough. They wanted to go somewhere more private which I thought was stupid as we were driving down a dirt road for what seemed like a lifetime. 

When we got back on the bus there was heaps of commotion and the cartel was screaming telling everyone to shut up “callarse la Boca”. Then they shot at a window a few times. I just remembered thinking that they shot someone and looked down not wanting to see any dead bodies. I heard the main cartel member started speaking and walking up and down the aisle speaking in Spanish.

We got to a point on the dirt track where the bus ended up getting bogged. (This night was in June so it was the raining season of Mexico mainly rained late in the evening or late at night big storms used to come in most days in the afternoon). You could hear the bus struggling for a bit trying to get out of the muddy patch but the cartel member driving the bus gave up. The bus was bogged. We all got dragged out of the bus and by this time the clouds gave way and rain started pouring down on us. The whole bus was on our knees in the mud whilst the cartel rampaged through the bus & up ended it. I don’t know how long we were waiting at gun point outside whilst there fellow gang members were inside searching the bus, but it felt like a lifetime.

After a while I heard a Mexican guy speak in Spanish but he wasn’t wearing a face mask so I realise he was one of the unlucky passengers who caught that bus just like me. He actually was an off duty police officer (which I found out on the bus statement later on). He was calming everyone down and saying to everyone “it’s was alright now, they have left.”

I just remember having a huge sense of relief knowing I was going to survive the night. I walked toward the bushes and relieved myself. By far the best piss I have done in my life!! There were old Mexican women who walked beside me and squatted down to piss. It was as the movies say, after being that scared of a maybe near death experience everyone just has to go to the toilet. 

THE aftermath

After the cartel left, the off-duty office called the local police. I don’t know how the police found us, as for a tourist it seemed like we were in the middle of nowhere. But somehow a squad of 4wd police vehicles came to the rescue. The cops were fully armed with assault rifles and body armour. We were told to grab our belongings and get to one of the vehicles. 

I walked into the bus and it was like an aftermath of a war zone. The blood off the bus driver was stained everywhere. The glass was on some seats where the window was shot in and the whole bus was turned upside down. I quickly found where I was sitting and saw my small backpack was turned upside down with everything out. Fortunately for me they did not take my passport or bank cards. And they did not search the under carriage of the bus where I left my MacBook and camera. I was very fortunate that the only thing the cartel got from me was some money, an underwater camera and my phone.

The one time I left my valuables in the undercarriage so happened to be the safest time to do it. Once we got our bags out of the bus, I jumped into the police 4wd and they were doing trips back to the highway where another bus picked us up to take us to Acapulco. 

I was sitting on the back of the ute next to a guy called Alejandro who spoke perfect English. He said he would help me get a police  report once we get to Acapulco, before I took the next bus to Puerto Vallarta. Alejandro was from small town in northern Mexico. He moved down to Cancun to work in the tourism industry a few months ago and try and make something of himself there. His parents were supporting him a bit financially whilst he got his feet on the ground, but instead of him working in tourism he decided to take his parents money and go see Mexico.

He was telling me about his travels around Mexico and his experience over the bus hijacking, saying he hid his iPhone down between the seat and knowing his luck somebody rang him whilst the chaos was unfolding and they found his new iPhone. An iPhone to the western world isn’t too much money, but for a Mexican they could have saved up for a year just do buy it. He was devastated & he was broke as the cartel took the rest of his cash. So, he had to tell his parents he wasn’t in Cancun anymore, was on the west coast of Mexico seeing the country and needed more money to get back to Cancun. He seemed more nervous about telling his parent than facing the cartel. 

Once I got to Acapulco I was able to get a bus report from the company and Alejandro took me to the police station to get a police report. I emailed the police and bus report to my insurance company and filed an incident report of the hijacking. Once I received my insurance payout, I wired a couple hundred dollars to Alejandro. He had been a huge help running around Acapulco, being my translator. And I know it would of went along way for him.