Crazy Monday

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2/28/11 (Barb) Just when you think life is calm and serene the crap hits the fan. This morning Skip and I were sitting and drinking coffee while munching on fresh pineapple and papaya and Skip was reading and I was chatting with my friend Mary B. on facebook. All was peaceful. Then just as I finished chatting Skip says to me (and folks I'm not using quotation marks cuz it's just too much work for this)...so Skip says..Barb is this yours and he shows me a little black bundle that I did not recognize. I said no. So I”m reading my email and he says Are you trying to drive me crazy by playing a joke on me? And I say what are u talking about. And he says My 2 wallets (he uses 2..one for keeping in his pocket with most of his money and a small one he uses in 'public' with small bills.) and my passport were banded together with my hair band. I said..Skip I did not do that..so he opens his wallet and it is empty...then he opens the second wallet and it is empty...somebody stole all his money...left his credit cards and his license. I said how could that have happened. We went over the whole day and the only time it could have happened was during the night!!!!!! I could not believe that...the room is very small..the wallets were on a small table not far from the bed which was near the window. He immediately started calling credit card companies (just in case) using SKYPE. I looked around and opened the door to outside and something was amiss...I turned around and went to the window and looked out and there was the chair from the porch under the window outside. Now....this is what had to have happened...we were sleeping on the bed just about a foot from the window which was opened but the screens were locked (with eyehooks)..there was a very small patch of screen that was torn and had to little patch over it. Now the patch was twisted and the hole was much bigger...they used something to open the latch and came in the window while were were sleeping...took Skip's money and then bundled the 2 wallets and the passport and left them on the floor by his head which was about a foot from the window...Sounds just too crazy eh? Well after Skip got done on the phone...he looked at me...I was trying to keep it together..but the idea of someone coming in our room in the nite was freaking me out..and he said..you wanna leave? I said yes...I really feel violated now.
So...I called the lady who owns the hostel and told her what happened...(BTW it was about $250) and she was naturally upset but began to tell me that the same thing happened on the other side of her place to a guy from Germany. Someone came in his cabin during the nite and stole his money also. She said to let her know when we were ready and she would call us a Taxi. Just then the lady from next door and the German guy came to our door. The lady next door and her guy and Skip and I had drank a few beers together the day before. She asked if we were ok...She was obviously upset. She said someone tried to get into their place last nite but failed but she did not sleep all nite. The German guy tells us that he and his wife and baby went to bed around 2 am and usually he sleeps very light (like I do usually) but he never heard a thing...this morning he found his wife's backpack on the ground outside with his wallet empty of American $ except for $40 EURO lined up around the wallet. What a crazy thing!!! Good thing they did not notice my purse cuz I was carrying all of the cash for our hostels! And like Skip said..it probably was a good thing I did NOT wake up cuz maybe we'd be at the hospital right now instead of in the car...who knows???
So the lady who owned the hostel wanted to give us our deposit of $20 back but Skip said no, keep it...and she refused to charge us for the 2 nights. She was pretty upset about everything...the German was leaving...the Canadian couple called to get air reservations for the next day and we took the next boat back to the mainland. She certainly understood and said she was going to put bars on the windows soon.
So off we go with no place to stay...(Mary P's fear!) and we decide to head to Las Lajas where we have our next reservations and maybe we can stay there...it's right on the ocean...So we go there and when we see the place we look at each other and Skip says...what do you think? Is it the same as what I think? And I said if you think Leave..then I agree! So I said to the lady...I see on our reservation sheet that we can cancel 2 days in advance without any charge...so consider this our cancellation...this is not the place for us...(it was a DUMP...worse than a dump...) She was not happy and said don't come back to eat in our restaurant....like I would even consider eating there!!!
So off we were...looking for a place to stay at 5:30 in the afternoon...now that may not sound bad...but it's not like the USA...the towns are small and hotels are few and far between unless you are in a city. We drove to Santiago and got there about 8 pm before we found a hotel. So here we are...finally bedded down and not sure where we go tomorrow!!!
Remember at the beginning of the blog when our plane was delayed and we had to go to another airline and I said I wondered if this was a precursor of how the rest of the trip was going to go...well......I probably should NOT have said that out loud!!! Buenos Noches folks!

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Comments

[sherry ledbetter]

crazy monday
glad you are safe sounds like your still having fun. i think you drank to much of the local beer better switch to american beer. lol have a fun finish enjoying reading your blog stay safe

[Sherri Baker]

???
Holy smokes! I'm glad you guys are ok... that is INsane!!!