Editorial: From bad joke to best chapter

Wairoa Mayor Craig Little

So anyway, a Mexican lawyer is hitchhiking through Hawke's Bay.

It starts out as a bad joke but gets much better.

Thumbing a ride in these parts midday Monday, Roberto Arteaga was picked up by a few unsavoury types before being allegedly fleeced of all his belongings at gunpoint near Raupunga.

While one can only imagine the headlines if a New Zealand visitor were served the same treatment in Mexico City, the flipside is it'd be highly unlikely the capital's presidente municipal would take said Kiwi in and make him an honorary citizen.

Hearing about the 30-year-old's misfortune, Wairoa mayor Craig Little extended some true northern Hawke's Bay hospitality by opening up his home and making Mr Arteaga an honorary citizen of the town. This included the gifting of a Wairoa tie and cufflinks, $100 cash out of the mayor's fund and a book about the town.

And thus we had a black-comedy on our hands.

The tourist later described the unexpected honour as "a beautiful present and a big surprise".

"One of the things I like about the people from New Zealand is they make you feel really comfortable in their country," he added, charitably.

Despite three local lads being charged in relation to the incident, the lawyer said he hadn't been put off hitchhiking.

"It's one of the best ways to have more contact with the local people."

This feel-good provincial parable underscores "local people" are somewhat of a broad church.

Either way, when the Wairoa mayor shared his house with a stranger he aptly turned our collective provincial embarrassment into something we could all be proud of - and inadvertently gifted the tourist the most memorable chapter of his OE.