Being chased out of a hotel by a Mexican drug cartel was not the happy ending a couple celebrating their silver wedding anniversary expected.
New Zealand couple Belinda Gelston and Peter Varcoe celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in Los Cabos, Mexico.
Ms Gelston told New Zealand Herald the trouble started after she fell ill at the four-side beachside Royal Decameron hotel.
Belinda Gelston (pictured) ended up in a Mexico hospital after falling ill while on her anniversary with husband Peter Varcoe
Ms Gelston (pictured) said they were asked to pay almost US$10,000 in medical bills which their insurance company agreed to pay
The couple were meant to be celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary at Royal Decameron Hotel (pictured) in Los Cabos, Mexico
After becoming so sick she was unable to drink water, Ms Gelston was taken to a local medical centre and given IV fluids.
The couple were told the treatment would cost US$5100, which was approved by their insurers, but were later told the bill had been revised to $US9700.
‘[The doctor] was really, really worried, I had the start of pneumonia, which as it turns out was the first lie, and he needed to get me urgently in to a medical centre or hospital,’ Ms Gelston said.
The couple agreed to pay the money, which Ms Gelston believed was linked to a Mexican drug cartel, and went back to their hotel but discovered their room key wouldn’t work.
They were then faced with an ‘angry-looking big man’ who told them they weren’t ‘paying [their] bills and [they] need to pay them’.
Ms Gelston said the hotel told them to pay the medical centre within the next hour but the concerned couple contacted their insurance company, who told them they weren’t safe, arranging for them to leave at 2am.
New Zealand couple Belinda Gelston (left) and Peter Varcoe (right) said they were chased by Mexican men at their hotel because they didn’t pay the medical bills upfront
‘When we got down to the lobby there was someone there … there was three [men] and I don’t know why, but I could see that things were not right and we were in danger and I said to Pete, ‘run, f***ing run’,’ she said.
‘We were being chased by these three Mexicans.
‘You’re in fear for your life, it’s a place we’ve never experienced in our lives.’
While they were meant to be celebrating in luxury, the couple said they feared for their lives
The couple ran from their hotel (pictured) to a nearby safe American hotel to escape what they believed was a Mexican drug cartel which had power over most of the town
Mexican authorities met the couple at the airport before threatening to send them to jail if the payments were not made
The couple ran to a nearby safe America hotel however more trouble arose at the airport.
Ms Gelston said an American Airlines attendant and armed Mexican police told the couple they ‘weren’t getting on the flight until we paid [the money] and if we didn’t pay it, we would be taken to jail until it was paid’.
After negotiations with their insurance company, the embassy and Mexican authorities, the couple were finally able to leave the country.