After 5 days of not being able to choose what I could eat (and getting a LOT of capsicum) I was keen to head back to Santa Marta in the morning and get ourselves a good lunch. We checked out of Costeño and headed out to the roadside to wait for a bus. Not long after one came by so we flagged it down and climbed aboard. The conductor said to leave our bags up the front by the driver so we did as the buses are often too full to put them anywhere else. Along the way a policeman hopped on and had a look around which was a first for us on our whole trip but he got off again without any trouble. The bus then terminated at a big roundabout outside of Santa Marta (all the other buses we had caught, went right into the centre) and the conductor tried to say it was a 10,000 peso fare when it had been 7,000 on the way there for a longer ride. Jimmy stood his ground and refused to get off without our change and they finally gave it to him, albeit very reluctantly. Another couple had been dumped on the side of the road with us so we shared a cab back into the centre which dropped us back at Masaya where we had booked for our last night on the Carribean.
After a swim and some wifi catch up time, we headed out in search of some food. Jimmy ended up being quite the hit with the locals along the beachfront, being asked twice if people could have their photo with him. We didn't end up having much luck though, instead ending up with a pizza and beer but hey, not a single capsicum in sight. Hoorah!
On our way back to the hostel we heard a whistle from across the road and it turned out to be a few people from Costeño who had come into Santa Marta for the Santa Marta birthday celebrations that were on that night. After a few more beers with them it was time to go back to the hostel for one last sunset dip in the pool. After a while I figured I'd go get myself ready for the night out as we thought we may as well go out who a bang with the others from Costeño.
My phone was running a bit low on charge so I thought I'd plug it in while I got ready. That's when I discovered that my electronic bag was missing from my pack. I thought maybe it was in Jimmy's bag by mistake but had no luck so went and got Jimmy to check if I was just going crazy or it was actually gone. Sure enough, as soon as he came back, he confirmed that not only had mine gone but so had his. That's when we realised that after 3 months of travel through South America without a hitch, we had finally been robbed by the bastard bus conductor. What we were baffled by was how our locks weren't broken, but a guy in our dorm room soon informed us how they can just stab a pen into the zip, open it up, take what they like, then move the zips across it again and wahlah, a beautiful closed zip again. At first we thought meh, the worst thing gone was my hair straighteners, but then we started realizing more and more stuff was gone like both of Jimmy's pairs of shoes, my running shoes, my leather bag I got in Madrid all those years ago, first aid kit, backgammon set, sleep sack, Jimmy's new Colombia shirt, and the list goes on. But of course it's all just stuff (most of which is replaceable) and thankfully no money, photos or passports were gone as we had them on us on the bus. It's just unfortunate that Colombia had to live up to its name and give us such a bitter taste in our mouth after such an amazing last few weeks.
As you can imagine, our spirits were slightly dampened after our discovery so instead of having a big night we decided to just go and check out the fireworks with the Costeño crew in the square then grab a bite to eat. The fireworks in the plaza turned out to be not just your usual fireworks display, instead each corner of the plaza had fireworks on a frame, with the fireworks sticking out sideways, rather than up into the sky. This meant when they were lit, the middle of the plaza would be alight with shooting fireworks everywhere. The plaza had a fenced strip so you could choose to stand inside and be shot at, or outside of and laugh at the crazy people inside the fence as they ran back and forward away from the fireworks. Jimmy was keen to join the crazy people of course and go into the middle so I humoured him and went too but stayed right at the back in order to not risk losing an eye. Being robbed was enough bad luck for one day for me!
The next day it was off to Bogota by plane where we had about 20 hours to see the city. Unfortunately most travelers we had met along the way didn't have very good things to say about Bogota so after the recent turn of events we weren't really feeling like doing a whole lot of exploring. Especially when the hostels explicitly tell you to never take your phone or credit card out with you, only enough cash for what you will be doing. When we did go out (with a phone stuffed in my bra) the amount of security/police standing around either with semi automatic rifles, hand guns or holding onto enormous Rottweilers, didn't exactly ease our concerns either. So after our lunch it was a quick stroll around the historical centre to check out Plaza Boliviar, the cathedral and the president's home. We were then happy to head back to the hostel for a lazy night reading with no chatting as I have managed to lose my voice. I think it's still relaxing on the beach somewhere!
No comments:
Post a Comment