While photographing the murals of the Open Sky Museum in Santiago, at least four locals (2 women and 2 men) stopped to chat with me over the two hours I was gawking at the murals, camera in one hand, cell phone in the other. They didn’t speak English, and my Spanish wasn’t good enough to understand them, but they seemed friendly and I assumed they were trying to tell me something about the murals in their neighborhood. Mostly, I smiled and said gracias.

Until the fourth person (in the gorgeous red dress), who after talking at me for several minutes (with me smiling and saying gracias), seemed to get frustrated and pretended to snatch my camera and run off. “Malas personas aqui, roban!!” No Google translate needed for that; it finally dawned on me what she was trying to tell me. Put your camera away! Bad persons here, steal! Then, she would not walk away until I had tucked my camera and cell phone into my backpack, AND shifted my pack from the back to the front. Though she did momentarily relent and allow me to take the cell phone out to take her photo!

Of course I know better than to flaunt my tourist accoutrements in public. But the murals! They were everywhere, just asking to be photographed. How could I put down my camera?

That definitely put a damper on my clicking behavior. Every time I pulled out my camera, I heard her scolding me. But I appreciated that there were guardian angels out there on the streets, monitoring my stupid tourist behavior.