I think not being American I didn’t see Spanish as a special case that you are somehow more expected to know than other languages. So I interpreted “the local language” as the language of whatever country you are visiting in general. In that case I disagree strongly. It would be a rather sad world if people visited only the handful of countries where they speak the language.
I would have been inserting “habla mas despacio por favor” in between his pleadings… (I would probably actually be saying: habla mastipachio por favor)
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You meet the nicest people on a Honda!
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Who said anything about this being welcoming or gracious? Just that no harm was done, other than getting shaken up. Again, I think that if you’re going to travel the world looking for dicey neighborhoods, as it sounds like he’s doing, and if the worst thing that happens is someone waves a toy gun at you and chases you a little bit, then I think his overall point that the world isn’t such a dangerous place is reinforced.
Your mileage may vary of course, and of course this level of adventure isn’t for everyone.
I don’t know, the kickstarter seems to be going well based on my rough translation… 
translation for the non spanish speakers: “welcome to my country, here let me help you with that bag. no kind sir i must insist, you look so tired from riding that bike and your bag looks so heavy. oh you are american? here I have a gun for you. american’s like guns no? wait…where you going? come back friend? wait, i insist I must assist you…”
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FWIW, there was also a crew of people that basically formed a human shield around him and helped find a police officer.
Still, if it were me, I would have given the guy the backpack. Being robbed at gunpoint isn’t fun regardless of where it happens.
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So, there are a few suburbs that aren’t too nice, but no way that anywhere in the city of Buenos Aires qualifies as one of the most dangerous places on earth. In the video they looked like they were in a relatively nice, residential part of the city, too, though I couldn’t tell exactly where. (I live here, in the barrio where even locals will tell you never to go alone and it’s just fine-I walk or bike around all hours of the night alone, with a nice backpack.)
However, the deal here is that motochorros is a thing-that is, ‘professional’ theives on motorcycles who snatch bags or packs. Motochorros. I shit you not. It’s like in Barcelona the pickpockets who slit your bag with a knife and grab whatever falls out. Surely the nice backpack was a target, but also just that motochorros happens. Compared with getting shot or beaten, it’s no big deal, and I agree with the commenter who speculated the gun was not loaded. The only time I got robbed in nearly 10 years I was walking across the biggest city park (think Central Park size) at 4 am with a date, talking in English. Still we were able to argue with the robber for quite a few minutes over inflation and how much cheaper robberies were going for only a couple years before and lots of Italian style hand gestures until he ultimately, and sheepishly, showed us a gun in his pocket. But, I mean, we both kept our cells, wallets, cards, and even some cash for later.
A youtube commenter wrote in Spanish ‘you’re lucky you were in Argentina, anywhere else you’d be dead.’ Seriously the safest place I’ve ever lived (though the locals never stop bellyaching).
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OK. Well for future reference, if you are going on a several weeks’ bicycle goodwill tour through South America, you should take the effort to speak Spanish.
So Now You Know
That works so much better when you bring new facts to the table instead of just reiterating an opinion that the other side has rejected before.
Motorcycles have become the vehicle of choice for robbers in Brazil as well, usually targeting people in cars and gas stations.
It’s a great choice for this sort of crime; 125-250cc motorcycles are a cheap alternative to the bus and used by almost every messenger and food delivery worker in the country so they blend in, are easy to steal and nearly disposable, and the full face helmets are handy for anonymity.
I’ve even read about small towns that banned helmets as a security measure.
Sadly, here they come in pairs, with real guns, and do use them quite often. The guy in the video was lucky to be in Argentina when trying cleverness to keep his stuff.
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No, not all of them.
In Surinam and French Guyana they don’t speak either language
Poor Guyanas, always forgotten. When was the last you heard of them?
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Never.
The only reason I ended up going there was precisely because I knew (and I still know) next to nothing.
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