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Published: October 26th 2010
The robbery, Sunday the 24th of October 2010... My brother in laws family… including his father, mother, brother and little 2 year-old nephew… and I were on our way to the centre of Bogota city. We had to take a different route because on Sundays they close one of the main roads so that people can cycle, run or walk for the day. On the way we stopped at a look-out on the mountain side so I could take some photos of Bogota City and Alba (my brother in laws mother) could change Lucas’ (my brother in laws nephew) nappy. We were there for about 5 - 10 minutes… Alba had changed Lucas’ nappy and they were sitting in the back seat of the car, Arturo (my brother in laws father) was in the driver’s seat with the door half open, Santiago (my brother in laws brother) was on the driver’s side about to get into the back seat and I was on the passenger side about to get into the front passenger seat.
Santiago and I had our doors open and just as we were about to get back into the car 6 guys came running towards us from nowhere yelling in Spanish. They didn’t have masks on but I knew straight away that they were going to rob us. When the guys came running at us I looked at my open door and thought about jumping in the car real quick, but one of the guys was holding a big 8 barrel hand gun and he pointed it straight at me and yelled ¨parate¨ which is - you, stop!! I looked straight down the barrel of the gun, put my hands in the air and didn´t move an inch. The guy with the gun ran to the driver’s side and opened the half closed door and pointed the gun straight at Arturo, two hands on the gun with a crazy look in his eyes - I was so scared he was going to shoot one of us. Lucas started crying while the other guys took everything from us... 300,000 pesos (170 AUS) from Arturo, his blackberry mobile phone and his watch; Santiago’s wallet with his ID and money in it and his mobile phone; Alba’s jewelry and her bag with all her money, credit cards and ID in it; and they took my camera, my wallet with all my credit cards, license and about 100000 pesos (60 AUS) in it, my jacket and my sun glasses. I thought they were going to take the Mercedes as well… because they normally take the car as well… but we were very lucky and they just told Santiago and I to get in the car and leave. Santiago jumped in the car while the other guy was still frisking me… I kept saying - tienes todo, tienes todo, which is - you have everything, you have everything. The guy with the gun stepped back, Arturo slammed the door and then I jumped in the front passenger seat. The guy with the gun was still pointing it at Arturo and then as we drove off he looked into the back of the car to see if we were hiding anything else. He had this crazy look in his eyes like he wouldn’t hesitate to shoot… they all had a crazy look in their eyes actually - I think they might have been on drugs or something… which makes it even scarier because they probably weren’t thinking properly.
As Arturo drove off we were all in shock and were all shaking… I don’t know how Arturo was able to drive especially since he had the gun pointed at him most of the time. Alba stopped Lucas from crying and Arturo drove us straight to the Police/Army station. Arturo told them the exact spot where we got robbed and we told them what they looked like as best we could… I was talking Spanglish because I was in shock and couldn’t remember my Spanish… so every second word was in English. They radioed to some troops in the mountain and then sent a few more troops up there but obviously the guys were long gone. Alba made some calls to some family members to let them know what had happened. Then Camilo (my brother in laws other brother) and Patricia (my brother in laws sister in law) - the parents of Lucas, arrived. They were happy to see we were alright and Camilo lent me his phone to call the bank and block my credit cards… but he had already sent a message to Jenny (my older sister in Australia where the time was 5am - sorry Jen!) saying that we need to block my cards. Jenny had already blocked my cards (thanks Jen) but I talked to the bank anyway to organise some emergency cash so I could pay for my Spanish course which I was starting on Monday. The Police took our statements and wrote a police report for us. We were at the station for about 1.5 hours or more. When did the robbery take place? MIDDAY!!! In broad daylight on a quiet road in a dangerous suburb… but we didn´t know that it was a dangerous area and we had stopped for quite a while, big mistake.
After talking to the bank I called Mum and before I told her anything I told her to promise me not to freak out… and as I told her what happened I was the one that freaked out! I was shaking and I was very upset. The family and I then went to a nice lunch and had a few beers to relax a bit.
That night the internet at the house wasn’t working and I wanted to talk to my family so much. I went to sleep and had a few weird nightmares and woke up at 2.30am thirsty as hell. I had a drink of water and checked if the internet was working. It was! So I called the home phone from Skype and told them to get on the computer and video Skype me. My whole family (Mum, Dad, Emma, Jen and Francisco) were at the dinner table… they had just finished dinner. I told them all about what happened and how it felt. It was good to let it out and it was awesome to see them… they put the computer on some phone books on the seat where I normally sit at the table… so it was like I was sitting at the dinner table with them! Technology is pretty cool these days.
I went back to sleep at about 5am. Then I was up at 7am so I could get ready for my first Spanish class. Today is Tuesday (Wednesday in Australia), I had my second class this morning and it has been two days post event… I’m feeling a lot better and I think my Spanish is improving heaps. Thank you for all your prayers, concerns and best wishes. Colombia is a beautiful country with some minor problems just like any other country. Please don’t be deterred from coming here. Have a look at my last blog and look how beautiful this place is and how beautiful the people are! As always, anywhere you go in the world, there is always a minority that can throw a spanner in the works. It´s important to be cautious wherever you travel too… but it´s also important to enjoy yourself, see as much as you can and not be afraid… after all my traveling I feel that most people in this world are beautiful people… it’s just the media that put a magnifying glass on all the negative. I’m going to continue my Spanish lessons, meet some more awesome people and continue traveling with the same outlook as I did before. Thank God we are all safe and well… and on the bright side… I have a pretty interesting story to tell… not that I don’t already have some interesting stories to tell!! Haha!
Thanks again to everyone! Miss you all and will see you soon!
Tim
P.S. I had downloaded all my photos from my camera onto the computer before the camera got stolen, except for 10 or so … oh, and the look out where we were had an awesome view of the city… when I get another camera I want to go back and get some photos!!.... JUST KIDDING!! Although there is a part of me that does want to go back, the rest of me is not stupid.
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Vic Tim
non-member comment
Robbery!
Dear Tim Tam: Just as well they only took the replaceables and not your lives. Do you need some donation?