Mexico is an awesome place but 99% of people who visit never leave the touristy parts, I learned there's good reason for that the hard way.

When I was about 7 my family went to Mexico City. My dad had to go for work and he took me and mom along to make it a vacation.

I was an adventurous and crazy child and I had gotten into a fight with my parents (can't remember about what) so I sneakily ran away while my parents were getting the luggage unloaded from the car to go have some real fun. Bad fucking idea.

I wandered around for a couple of hours, going through alleys because I didn't want my parents to find me. Lo and behold I see an ice cream cart. I'm fucking starving.

For some context I was in the fucking slums. There was litter everywhere, it smelled like rotting whale and there are people fighting.

I head up to the ice cream cart. I tell him I want chocolate, he pulls one out. He holds up 8 fingers and like a fucking idiot I pull out a wad of about $50 US dollars (birthday money) and hand him 8 US dollars. He looks at me like I'm insane and just takes a $1 bill.

Suddenly, there's this shady as fuck looking (several teeth missing, smells like piss, stained wife beater, thick beard, unkept hair, very skinny) dude standing behind me...I can't speak a word of Spanish, I'm wearing Jordans and a RL Polo and I'm holding a significant amount (for Mexican slums) of American currency in my hands.

Suddenly, the motherfucker grabs my hand and starts saying some shit in Spanish and then with a thick accent, "I take you home, I take you home". I'm a dumbass but even I know better than to trust this guy.

He starts getting more aggressive, the ice cream gets knocked out of my hand, I'm close to shitting myself at this point.

Thank god the ice cream cart guy intervenes, pushes the dude away and takes me to the nearest police station. My parents are crying when we're reunited and I felt like shit. Moral of the story is, there is awesome stuff to see in third world countries in the poorer areas but do it in a large group and with some locals. Also, don't think you can handle the world at 7.