The worst day of our lives; an end to our travels.


Advertisement
Argentina's flag
South America » Argentina » Mendoza » Mendoza
April 23rd 2010
Published: May 16th 2010
Edit Blog Post

If you’re reading this part of the blog then we’ve managed to negotiate our way home to our families without too much trouble and have told them in person all about this before putting this blog up to help give other travellers a bit of a warning.

Having not done much except eat, sleep and wander around the city since our arrival in Mendoza we decided that the next day (Friday) we’d visit the famous local wineries and get some Malbec red wine down us ... so we took a trip down to the Bikes And Wine office and booked ourselves a transfer to the Maipu region, and some bikes for when we got there. It seems that everyone works on “Laos-time” in Argentina, so we needn’t have worried about rushing to a cash point and back to the office for our 10:30am pickup as it didn’t arrive til 11am, before embarking on some “interesting” driving to our destination - Maipu. Compared to the lush green beauty of the Hunter Valley wineries in Australia, the aesthetics of the place could definitely do some work, the area really wasn’t what I expected, although the Andes mountains make a stunning backdrop. We grabbed ourselves a couple of bikes and set off.

The first winery that we went to was called La Rural - a pretty winery, lots of art work, big barrels and show cases of wines such as ‘Trumpeter’ - funny name for wine, no? We were given a glass of wine each then told we could sit down at a table to the side to drink it. No sooner had we wandered around the reception and sat down than we were moved on by a lady working there saying she needed to use that table for a ‘special’ wine tasting. Fine. She actually went out of her way to get us another table and two chairs so no harm done. After finishing the wine (well Matt finished mine - I didn’t actually feel like drinking any at all,) we went to peruse the strange things in the museum that was attached to the reception area. Being the uncultured people we are, we found it pretty boring so we went outside to see what else we could find; vineyards, a mountain of grape waste and a large truck dropping grapes into a machine that was dropping them into an
area lower down. After being told off by one of the guides for walking around by ourselves rather than with a guided tour, we briefly joined up with their group (despite it being a Spanish tour) before exiting as soon as possible. They really need to let guests know that they can’t walk around on their own rather than getting narky with them for taking a look around. Stupid place.

Cate might not have been up to drinking wine that early in the morning but she was quite happy to be knocking back shots of liquor at our next stop Historias Y Sabores, a place that makes chocolate, liqueurs, jams, preserves and all that sort of stuff ... a much more appealing proposition for my wife. So after a brief “tour” we sat down and had some shots of ridiculously sweet alcoholic drinks (chocolate banana flavour for Cate, dulche leche for me). Barney’s influence has obviously rubbed off on Cate as she’d finished her drink well before mine (I think mine was the less sickly of the two!) We also got to try some yummy jams and some chocolate before making our way back into the big wide world to cycle towards a potential lunch destination.

The sky was a brilliant shade of bright blue, the snow-peaked Andes loomed over the vineyards and the roads were bumpy (causing me to have to ride standing up as much as possible.) I’d like to say that there was lots of fresh air but part of our route took us up a main road where huge trucks were passing close by on the narrow road, releasing fumes into our faces as they went. When we reached the restaurant which was an option for lunch, the host told us that they were very busy that day - would we mind waiting 20 minutes? We didn’t mind - we just wanted to look at the menu really and neither of us were that hungry so after a brief sit down on the grass, he came over to us to show us a menu of the three dishes they were serving that day. Vegetable lasagne didn’t sound like a good enough main course for 50 pesos so we declined politely and went on our way, heading towards our final proper winery of the day.


The next winery that we were heading to was called Tempus Alba, on a street called Moreno, so we turned off the main road at the petrol station as the map showed and headed towards the winery. Unfortunately we never made it to the winery as half way down the road, in what was effectively the middle of nowhere, two guys jumped out in front of our bikes and tried to force us off onto another side road. I was riding slightly ahead of Matt and saw the two guys who were probably in their early to mid 20s at the side of our road, next to a road that was leading off from it. They started to jump up and down, putting their arms out wide, trying to push me off to the side. I didn’t know what was happening - I suppose it was extreme actions for people trying to divert us to maybe a winery or something but I had no idea what was about to happen. As it was happening I was thinking to myself a mix of “this can’t be what it looks like, right?” and “this isn’t really happening is it?”

We weren’t exactly complying with their intended direction for us, and we both ended up stationery in the road on our bikes when we effectively ran into them (although unfortunately not hard enough to do them any damage). Before we knew what was happening we were in the unthinkable situation of having two guys assaulting us. As I came to a halt, the guy who was on my side tugged at the strap of our camera case that was around my neck, snapping it with the force. I at some point must have dropped my bike and fallen away from it, I don’t remember when. I just remember the guy tugging at the camera strap, and my reflex reaction of holding onto the camera case and not letting go. It felt like a tug of war - I don’t think I was scared. I was just totally confused and probably naive despite my concerns about being mugged in South America prior to coming here. I didn’t want them to take our things. As I looked around to see if Matt was okay and what was going on with him, the guy tugging at my camera strap brandished a revolver, waving it at me. It all happened so quickly. This caused obvious panic in both of us and led Cate to start shouting “stop” at him.

I saw Matt was struggling with the other guy, who was behind him, pulling at his backpack which luckily was on both of his shoulders and pushing him around. Seeing that I’d just about managed to push the other bloke off of me, the first guy then decided the situation may be remedied by pointing the gun at my head in the hope of intimidating us into cooperation with their attempted mugging. However it only increased the panicked shouting and screaming coming from Cate, which really seemed to spook them both (clearly they were relying on a quick grab and run, not a full-scale confrontation). I’ve never heard such an impassioned scream like the roaring “no!” Cate let out when she saw the bloke point the gun at me, it makes me feel all cold and tingly thinking about it now - I love my wife so much and although I knew it already, I could hear it in her voice how much she loves me too. As I watched Matt scuffling with the guy, I must have kept a tight hold on the camera in my hand - although I wasn’t conscious of doing it, I just didn’t let go. To my horror, the next thing I knew was that the guy who was holding onto my camera strap swung the gun around so that it was pointing at Matt. At this point I had never been so scared in my life. I thought he was going to pull the trigger. I remember screaming ‘Nooooooooo!’ over and over, thinking no - you can’t do this to me. Not when we love each other so much. Not when we’ve got the rest of our lives to live together. I can’t tell you how much it breaks my heart to think about that moment. It flashes through my mind all the time. I didn’t want to lose the love of my life, my soul mate, my best friend.

My mind leapt forward. I saw, in what must have been a fraction of a second what could have been the result of the assault. I heard a bang, saw blood, Matt on the floor, me screaming and weakly falling to the floor where I hovered. Even though that thought came and went in a flash, it is what plays on my mind constantly, reducing me to tears, even though we are now safe. And then I was back to the real scene.

Seeing that a car had come to a screeching halt 200m or so down the road further spooked the two of them, and must’ve heightened our awareness that they were now starting to panic too, so I joined in with the shouting, screaming “help!” whilst still tussling with one of them. I screamed as loudly as I could, wanting them to get away from us, wanting for it all to be okay. I thought we had more of a chance of this now that the car had stopped, it’s brake lights on, facing away from us; someone else was now involved and I think that they guys knew they didn’t have much longer to try to get what they could from us and run. The guy with the gun made a last attempt at pointing it at us and unsuccessfully tugging the camera away from Cate before they both started running off up the side-road and into a vineyard with nothing but the gun in hand. I’ve honestly never been so glad to see the back of someone in all my life. As they got a short distance away from us we stopped shouting quite as loudly, and they looked back as if they were considering whether to come back and try again; luckily a bit more shouting and screaming while we grabbed our bikes saw them off properly. I don’t think I could process what had just happened...I ran towards the main road but Matt called “Cate, the bikes!” I ran back quickly, grabbed my bike and started pedalling to the main road as Matt shouted to me to follow him in the opposite direction to the vineyard. Turning around, he then realised that it made more sense to get back to the main road rather than moving further down the deserted street. We rode the bikes in a manner that felt like we were peddling as fast as we ever had, but given the adrenalin running through our wobbly legs I’m guessing we were going at a snails pace. We must’ve been only fifty metres away from the place we were attacked when we saw a man and a woman standing in their front garden, behind their large metal framed gates. The man indicated that he’d called the policia and that we should come and stay in their garden while we waited for the police to come.

I know it was stupid of us to fight them off. I know that people say that you should surrender everything to them and let them be on their way, and I honestly thought that that is what I would do in that sort of situation if I was ever unfortunate enough to be in it, but I guess that instinct takes over and you do what comes naturally to you. Fight or flight.

We just about managed to communicate to the couple that we’d been attacked by two men with a gun, and that they’d run off into the vineyard. The lady got Cate (who was by now slipping into a massive fit of shock, shaking uncontrollably) a seat and repeatedly offered us lots of things in Spanish that we didn’t understand. After what seemed like an age but what must’ve only been ten minutes, a policeman on a motorbike rocked up. Despite his lack of English and our lack of Spanish he broadly managed to gather what had happened (mainly through talking to the man whose garden we were in), and ten minutes later an English-speaking policeman was with us asking for details whilst police vans and motorbikes whizzed around the area looking for the two assailants (who would doubtless be long gone). In my mind’s eye I could see the guy that attacked me, but was unable to describe what he looked like or was wearing in any detail. The guy that was attacking Matt is a hazy figure - I don’t think I even looked at him. I understand now how and why people can’t describe their attackers. At the time you are fighting for your life. You’re not thinking about what the guy is wearing, what he looks like so that you can describe him to the police so that they can be caught and will never be able to do it again. You’re not thinking about reporting it to the police, you’re not thinking past that very moment. I guess you don’t know if you are going to come out of it alive. Not when they are pointing a gun at you and the person you love.

We were sat outside the house of the couple that helped us for a good hour or so, they were so kind to us and really, really wanted to help ... the woman was constantly concerned about Cate’s shivering, and the man (upon seeing Cate distracted for a moment by stroking one of their dogs) brought out the tiniest little newborn puppy you’ve ever seen for Cate to hold, it fitted snugly in the palm of her hand, so cute! The woman kept talking in Spanish to us, rubbing my shoulders, asking if there was anything she could do. The policeman translated to us that she was saying that not everyone is like the attackers, that there are good people in South America too. I think she was disgusted and shocked. Eventually the police presence around the area started diminishing, and the policeman who could speak English asked if we’d like to go to the station to make a report or just have a lift back to Mendoza; I don’t know if we were taking it the wrong way, but it really felt like he was encouraging us not to bother going to the station to make a report (we’d not had anything stolen, and it’d probably mean more paperwork for them). Another thing that struck me as strange at the time was the way that the police involved seemed so nonchalant about the fact that these attackers were threatening us with a gun - is gun crime so rife in South America that it just isn’t an issue to them? In any case, Cate was a bit of a wreck and the best thing to do was just get back to the apartment and take it from there. So with our bikes going back to the rental shop in one van, we thanked the couple profusely who had taken care of us, thanking our lucky stars they had been there and then we headed off back to Mendoza in another van; shaken and confused (should we feel happy or sad?)

I couldn’t help but think about the poor honeymoon couple who were shot in Antigua a couple of years ago, how my heart had gone out to them at the time of reading that terrible news and how we had managed to somehow escape the same outcome. Maybe it just wasn’t our time. We don’t know if the gun was loaded or whether it was real or fake; we will never know I suppose which is both a blessing and a curse, but when someone points a gun at you when you’ve had a relaxing day riding around in the sunshine, the shock of it is enough to send you crazy.

When we finally got out of the police van, a short walk away from our apartment, my legs felt wobbly and my head felt hazy. I had begun to feel numb in the car, numb to what had happened. We walked slowly, with huge effort, my head was straight forward, I felt like death. I could see people staring at me out of the corner of my eye. When we got into the elevator, I caught a glimpse of my reflection. My face was ashen, my eyes hidden beneath my sunglasses, my lips dry, my body weak. I felt sick and when we entered the apartment, I moved as hastily as I could towards the toilet, heaving over and over again. For the rest of the day, my mind was flooded with thoughts; how it could have ended up, why we didn’t just give them our stuff and let them go, the kindness of complete strangers, how lucky we were, how much I love my husband. I didn’t want to let him out of my sight. The very mention of him going out to get me something sweet to eat reduced me to tears; I couldn’t be away from him. At night, we lay side by side for hours contemplating the day, what it had brought, how it had changed our lives. I was frightened to sleep as I was scared of waking up. I didn’t want my lying there with Matt to be the dream, to wake up and realise that actually, things had ended differently, just like what I had seen in my head at the time. Eventually we both must have drifted into a disturbed sleep and woke the next morning thinking whether that day had really happened, and having the sad realisation that it truly had. Before leaving England to go on our travels, my family wondered how I would cope with different situations (I’m sure they, like me, didn’t expect a situation like this one though) and my only response was that in exceptionally dire circumstances, I would have to play the ‘glad game’ from the film Pollyanna. So all I can say now to play the glad game, is that I am glad that nothing worse happened. I am glad that nothing was taken from us. I am glad that we are both alive. And finally I am glad that Matt and I are still together. And I thank God also.

The following day I felt the need, maybe for closure, to go to the police station in Mendoza and report what had happened to us. The policia, despite speaking good English, seemed confused as to why we would want to make a statement when the attackers weren’t able to take anything from us and we didn’t need a crime number for insurance purposes. Maybe we were wasting their time, but I didn’t want to leave Mendoza knowing that some other poor couple might be being attacked on a wine tour and that we could have possibly prevented it by officially reporting what had happened to us and hopefully causing them to have more of a police presence along those quiet roads in Maipu. As for catching the attackers...I certainly hope they will but know that it’s unlikely and at some stage, that these people will probably try again; opportunists maybe not realising the damage they do to their prey by waving a gun around.

We’ve written this blog the day after all of the above craziness happened, and as things stand at the moment I really couldn’t say one way or another whether we’ll be able to continue on through South America or whether this will be the end of our travels. I promised Cate, her family and myself that I’d look after her while we’re away, and it seems that in South America it’s not that easy.

I don’t want to go home yet, and I really don’t want to be going home on such a low-note because of the actions of someone else. It makes me so angry, frustrated and sad to think about all the little decisions on Friday that led to us being on that road at that time. If we’d stayed at the restaurant for lunch, if I hadn’t gone back to the bike shop to change my bike, if we’d gone out to the wineries the day after, and if we’d not gone to the wineries at all ... then we’d probably still be quite happily bumbling along through South America. But I’m relieved, thankful and oh so glad that little decisions didn’t go the other way too, after all, given the situation we did find ourselves in, it could’ve turned out a lot worse.

If we do end up staying we’re going to have to take security things a lot more seriously, not carry much around with us (nothing on show), accept that muggings etc are a very real part of being a tourist in this country, and that IF we were unfortunate enough to encounter the situation again, we should just hand stuff over and deal with it ... we spent enough money on travel insurance after all! Either way isn’t a fantastic prospect; we don’t want to spend our time in a country suspicious of everyone we walk past in the street, and I don’t want us to go home and have to deal with the feeling of regret at having missed out on seeing the sights we were looking forward to. But Iguaza Falls, Bolivian salt flats and Machu Picchu aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, so if we do go home there’s always another day in the future when the place isn’t so rife with crime or when we’re able to afford the security of a fully-guided tour package ... the most important thing right now is that we look after each other.

Matt and Cate x




Additional photos below
Photos: 42, Displayed: 38


Advertisement



16th May 2010

Sorry for your bad experiences
I am sorry to read your last blog-entry. I hope you both will recover soon and that this bad experience will not prevent you from future travel. cheers from Germany
17th May 2010

I am so pleased that you are both safe and well!
I was absolutely devastated for you when I read this entry. I am so thrilled that you are both ok and gutted that such terrible incident happened to you on your travels. Just know that we are all thinking of you and hope that you will get to continue your adventure another time. Much love and best wishes to you both x
18th May 2010

Utter shock!!
I don't even know what to say..... I am so so so so so so thankful that you are both safe and well!!What an awful experience to go through and I definitely think you made the right decision to come home. I cried so much reading this at the possibility of how it may have ended and never seeing either of you again. Thank god it ended the way it did-fate was on your side for sure!! Love you both Sarah
18th May 2010

Wow
If nothing else, you've reminded me to be careful in my travels, and not to take safety for granted. I'm heading to that area in July, and am still looking forward to it, but at least I'll be a bit more aware :) Glad to finish the article with you both being ok, and I hope there are many more days of travel ahead for the two of you!
18th May 2010

Firstly: Oh God, I'm so thankful that you got back safe!! And I'm sending you enormous hugs! I had an uneasy feeling about why you'd come back early, but didn't want to interrogate as thought you may have been homesick! How wrong I was! I'm so so so sorry to hear about what you went through, and no doubt are still going through - there are no words. You described it so visually that I could see it happening, I was dreading what you were going to say the second you mention the 2 men. I can't imagine how terrified you must have been. Well done for finding the strength to go to the police station and do what you could to protect others in the future. That shows the depth of the kind people you are. I'm glad you are back with your family around you, and can't wait to give you those hugs in person!! xxxxx
19th May 2010

:(
Oh no you poor things, what an absolute nightmare. I'm so relieved you are ok and hope to see you both very soon. (Beautifully written by both of you though, horrified and gripped at the same time... is that wrong?) Loads of love, xxx

Tot: 0.117s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 9; qc: 30; dbt: 0.0426s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb