A streak of bad luck

On my last day in Chile, in the city of Puerto Montt, I had a very unfortunate turn of events, which gets to why I now no longer haves pictures on my blog. Yes I got robbed for the first time in the 6 months I have been traveling. I think it´s actually a pretty funny story so I thought I would share it with you all on my blog...

Talia and I went to Puerto Montt to look into catching a ferry boat through Patagonia down to the glaciers in the far south. After some searching around and mixed reviews we discovered that it just changed from high season to low season at the start of April and now it is not possible to sail past the glaciers and the boat is crap and kind of expensive. So we changed our minds on that idea and found ourselves stuck temporarily in a small city with nothing to do. I think we were the only tourists to be seen because no one really stays there, they mostly just come to pass through farther south. There really was nothing to do there so after eating a makeshift breakfast at a tattoo parlour turned suddenly into a restaurant as we walked by (and then it conveniently turned suddenly into a tourist information source when we were done eating), we decided to buy a box of wine and get a little picnic and spend the day hanging out in the park on the waterfront.

We found a nice spot in the grass, took off our shoes, relaxed and enjoyed our picnic and wine. We were just chatting away, drinking, and having fun-- a good way to pass the day, no? A few times we talked about this younger kid who was hanging out by us doing nothing except for playing with his plastic bag. We thought maybe he was waiting for a drug deal or something, or he was just bored because there was nothing to do in that city and he was passing his time trying to fly his plastic bag like a kite. Anyway we laughed about him for a little and then forgot about him again. Then we got back to our box of wine and by this point (a few hours later) we were on our last glasses and getting pretty silly. We were also talking about how chill it was in Chile and how for the most part the people leave us alone and don´t bother us much. Bad things always have a way of happening when you least expect them, huh?

All I remember after that was Talia and I were cracking up about something (we get very giggly and goofy together) then all I registered were sounds... the sound of feet right behind me, swoosh... the snatch of my purse, followed by feet running away, and Talia yelling, ¨Run, Tess, Run!!!!!¨ My mind was in a blur and Talia´s words were the only thing that made sense so instantly I jumped up and began to run after the kid (of course it was the kid who had been standing behind us the last 2 hours playing with his plastic bag-- so I guess what he was doing the whole time was waiting for the right moment to snatch my purse-- I guess the jokes on me). I was pretty tipsy and barefoot and running over rocks, cement areas, playgrounds, going as fast as I could and screaming at the top of my voice, ¡Ayudame! ¡Ayudame! ¡Alguien me robo! (help me). I was gaining on him and there were lots of other people around, including this group of high school kids on skate boards and they started going after the jerk as well. Due to my semi drunkenness and barefeet I tripped a few times, stumbling down, still screaming out, then I would jump right back up again and continue running-- there was really only one thing on my mind-- catch that guy with my purse!

I had him in my sight and then I was beginning to lose steam and I tripped again running over some rocks and when I got back up he had dissappeared and the skater kids were standing around all bummed that they lost him as well-- he ran across the street and disappeared into the city. I was with the kids like damn, now what do I do? One of them, Sebastian, volunteered to take me to the police station-- he was really bothered by the fact that that just happened and that it put a bad image on Chile and he wanted to help me out. The kids were looking at me and then they looked down and were like where are your shoes? I told them how my friend and I were drinking wine in the park because there was nothing else to do and I took my shoes off to relax. They got a kick out of that and admitted to me that they drink in the park to pass the time as well. I think though that they thought I was a crazy gringa because I was running barefoot, screaming my head off.

So Sebastian and I went back to find Talia (we had run a long ways away) and we came upon her with the remnants of our picnic and my shoes. Talia and I were out of it enough that we were just laughing at how crazy everything was that just happened and how that kid had been waiting that whole time just to steal my purse and how Talia yelled run Tess run and I just took off. It really was pretty funny in a way.

Sebastian ended up being one of the coolest high school kids I have ever met (and he was really cute, but only 17) and he helped me out a lot. At the police station the cops pretty much laughed in my face when I told them I got robbed and they half-assed filled out a form and gave me a piece of paper and told me nothing would happen... great, thanks a bunch. I thanked Sebastian for his help but told him I had nothing to offer him (because I now had nothing on me) but we invited him back to our hostal para tomar un poco de la hierba buena. Talia and I were going off being our natural crazy selves and Sebastian had fun but he also admitted he was kind of scared of us, haha.

Talia and I decided that the good luck objects we got in the witches market in La Paz were actually causing us to have bad luck and we needed a ceremony to get rid of our bad luck and Sebastian had to come. So we all went back to the spot where it all went down, by the semi train tracks, and Sebastian was like, oh this is the dangerous part of the park. It just looked like a nice grassy spot, who knew, I guess we were on the wrong side of the tracks. Anyway we all wished away our bad luck and then I threw the witches bottle into the ocean and that was that. By that time it was night and to comfort ourselves Talia and I went out for a nice seafood dinner and some more wine, haha. For having nothing to do that day, it turned out to be pretty eventfull.

The next day I woke up kind of hungover with bruises on my legs from falling and I was all just like what happened yesterday? Talia and I were really goofy but I guess that is what happens when you start drinking wine after breakfast. So I lost my Ethiopia patch bag, my camera, a little cash, and some other random stuff from my bag-- but luckily no ID or credit cards or anything so it wasn´t that bad. Even though I was drinking, I don´t think it would have been different otherwise because I was still very carefull and my bag was right next to me the whole time. Oh well, that shit happens, and that kid will get some bad karma for doing what he did. I am really pretty lucky though that I have been traveling so long and has happened until then and I didn´t get hurt (except for my bruises which are now my war wounds).

For some reason around that time people were also being outright rude to me and Talia for no particular reason so that was adding to my streak of bad luck. I think our ceremony worked though and things have now turned around which is good news. Until I replace my camera I won´t have any pictures, but now Talia is the photographer for the two of us so you can always see some pictures on her blog.

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