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Published: April 4th 2013
This updated is for all you Claire followers!
What happened to Claire? What caused her to miss the trekking in Torres Del Paine in Chile? We all know it clearly wasn't my super company that turned her away, no one would ever run from that!! And for the record Justin, there is no baby ( though we often talk about the food babies growing in our bellies)
Ah, so much to tell
Let's take a step back in time to when it all started...... I arrive late into Buenos Aires(BA) on 2nd march as my first destination and Claire is the friendly face at the hostel. We have a late dinner, gossip, head to bed with grand plans for the next day to head to the famous San Telmo market held every Sunday!!
So far, all good.
Sunday morning we bounce out of bed and head out on my first actual day in BA, Claire's third and try to find the market. The map provided by the hostel is pretty dodgy, it's hard to figure out where we actually are and we kind of work out way in the right direction. We are about to cross the road and next minute *splatter*.......... A"Bird shits" on us.
Now, this whole next bit happens really quickly, though explaining it sounds like it takes forever. There are dirty pigeons everywhere, we turn around and this cute couple just happen to be there and see what happens and offer us a tissue and water to help clean of the mess. So we step back off the road, they are turning us around to help clean it off our back. The bird seems to have shit everywhere and they are helping move our packs so they can get all the shit.... Claire puts her pack down for maybe 2 seconds, next minute she screams " MY PACK". Here pack had been taken!!
At this point they had just taken my pack off my back and I was about to put it down and I grabbed on to it so quickly. The couple pointed up the lane way and said " they ran that way". Claire is running up the road going " my pack,.... It's got everything in it..... Oh my god! Etc etc" I start chasing Claire asking her if she actually seen anyone run up the lane way.
No one ran up the lane way
By the time we ran back to where we were robbed they were gone! Just like that, within seconds. Poor Claire was distraught and my heart was beating so fast I felt ill!! All Claire kept saying is "that bag had everything in it, I'm fucked, what am going to do, I have nothing." The bag contained Claire's passport, credit cards, camera, travel documents, over $1500 in cash, iPod, kindle. Pretty much everything of value.
i was trying to remain calm so that Claire wouldn't totally loose her shit. But it was pretty crazy!
We found a police officer who spoke poor English and pointed us in the direction of a police station. He didn't really seem to care, when we got to a police station they directed us to another. Then we had to wait for an interpreter! It was a long drawn out day,but we finally got a police report made. The biggest challenge was going to be the fact Claire was due to fly to Antarctica on Tuesday, it was Sunday, she now has no cash or access to cash, identification and no travel documents. it was Sunday which meant the British Embassy was closed until Monday.
Sunday we spent the day at police stations, phoning insurance companies, cancelling her credit cards ( which the managed to spend over $1,000 in that short time). The next day we were down at the embassy all day sorting out an emergency passport. But what the meant is that Claire would only be allowed to stay in Argentina. So no trekking in Chile. I helped Claire out by paying for her passport and giving her enough money to make sure she made it to Antarctica. Luckily the tour she was going on had been paid for and included meals.
The good news is that Claire has now received replacement cards and has access to her money! And we have managed to get plenty of trekking done in Argentina.
Not an ideal way to start an 8 month trip, not going to lie, my first reaction was "what the hell am I doing travelling alone, maybe ill just go home now..." However, the fact we were robbed on day 1 was a blessing in disguise really. It's made me alert and switched on and travel a lot safer than if it hadn't have happened.
Claire thinks she was lucky I was there to help her out, keep her from just flying home, giving her money etc. especially as we had only met 24 hours earlier. But really, I.m lucky she yelled "MY PACK" when we were getting scammed as she saved me from being robbed as well. It's the best lesson I could have had on day 1.
The reason I didn't want to tell the story earlier is I didn't want to stress anyone out. The more people I talk to here the more stories i hear of people getting robbed. So I've had my turn now!
We talk about it and laugh now, because it is funny. For starters, what kind of bird shits so much that it goes all over two people??? It just all happened so quickly and we had a natural reaction and weren't even thinking of dodgy scammers!!
So there you have it!! The Claire story.
Let your lesson be this.... If anyone shits on you just keep walking!!! Shit is the new black, wear it like you own it!
B
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Kylie
non-member comment
SHIT
Lesson learnt and you're both safe - that said I was pissing myself laughing reading that, I probably shouldn't be, but dear me that was funnyB - "Shit is the new black, wear it like you own it!" gold my new IM status I think