Dude looks like a lady

I saw a piece on the news a couple of mornings ago about this gang of transvestites who work Calle San Antonio in the city centre. The piece was saying that they were robbing drunk people at night and had footage of some middle-aged man chatting to one of them (what could he have been asking about? I wonder) before they apparently swiped his wallet and went off, leaving him stumbling around in the street. But while the news seemed to think this was actually 'news', really it's not as everyone knows about this kind of thing. I´ve only passed by las travestis of San Antonio once, as I was having dinner at the magnificent Peruvian restaurant El Aji Seco which is just a block or so along from where they hang out, but I made sure I went to a cash machine a fair distance away.

So if everyone knows about this gang, how do they get away with it so easily? I guess it has something to do with a reluctance to report to los Carabineros that you were robbed by a man in mini-skirt and high heels. 'And what exactly were you doing talking to this person drunk and at 2am, sir?' would be a difficult question to answer. The ingenuity therefore lies in making the victim into the guilty party by simple means of association.

Street-cormer transvestites have a dangerous and violent reputation and I was warned about them by Chilean friends in my first few months here. While I appreciated the concern, I´m not sure it was really necessary to warn me to avoid the six foot two men with tits the size of my head. But it´s the thought that counts.