Sometimes I consider myself the luckiest person on earth. But if you follow my blog, you also know that my life is full of “events”. A few hours ago, I found myself in another situation that made me think, “That might be it.”
I am now in Bogotá, Colombia. I have been traveling this beautiful for exactly 5 weeks now. During this time, I heard about various tourists being robbed and one being stabbed on a street where I spent a lot of time. So, there’s some context to the story.
Today at 3:00 am, after a nice party, I wanted to head home. My friends from the party have successfully booked a taxi after a long waiting time. Out on the street when I walked them to their taxi, the streets were packed with taxis and other cars. Just a regular busy Saturday night. I found a vacant taxi and jumped in after he offered a reasonable price.
He drove off, I followed the trip on Google Maps to make sure that the path was right. He took small side streets, so I felt a bit dubious. Soon enough, he slowed down on a ramp, where I thought the car might be a bit too weak, suddenly two young thugs jumped into the car, sandwiching me in the back seat, waving knives, and shouting at me in Spanish, including the driver. It was clear, I was being mugged.
I used my basic Spanish to tell them that I would give them everything. No time for bravery in a small taxi with three thugs in a dark street in Bogotá. They took my phone, watch, the cash I had, and my wallet. I had around 4 bank cards! I usually don’t carry all the cards with me, but today was my lucky day, I guess. They asked me which one had money, so I pointed at the one debit card that had the least amount (around 400 Euros). They somehow believed me and forced me to unlock my phone and open my banking app. They put a cap on my head and kept saying “close eyes” so that I don’t see them and I don’t see the road etc. I kept my head down.
While all of this was happening, the complicit driver was driving around. Then they pulled over where another car came and they exchanged one member of the gang. The one with my credit cards went in the other car, and a new thug came in to help watch me. Then we started driving the streets in what, I assume, was in circles until the other guy withdrew the cash from my card. They communicated back and forth discussing the amount that they would make and which ATM machine would have the least limit on cash withdrawal. They asked me many questions and sometimes with Google Translate when I didn’t understand.
I was there, with a dry mouth, thinking about all the possibilities. I had zero chance of overtaking the three in the taxi with their knives. They can have the money. I just hoped I wouldn’t be harmed. I was trying to prepare to fight if they attempted any physical violence. They drove to a quiet place, where someone started to wash the car. Here, a thousand other scenarios started playing in my head. Will they color the car? Was it a fake taxi? Just a yellow car that I didn’t notice? Is this escalating to a bigger crime? Will they kill me? Stab me? What are the possible lives I could be living? If any.
I kept myself together and stayed mostly calm. I cracked a few jokes, hoping that making them laugh would earn me a few credits of survival. I told them that I was an Egyptian dancer and that they could keep the watch because it was a gift from my Ex. They laughed and even put on one of my favorite songs. I was not sure if this was a good sign or if they were sarcastic. One comforting thing was that they insisted that I look down and don’t see their faces. I hoped it was because they would release me later. One of them told me, “Sleep if you’d like, we will release you in a bit”. They were waiting for the guy who had my debit card to squeeze all that was inside.
After a while, they drove to a dark road and told me that they would release me, and if I looked back, they would stab me. I told them that I understood and that I was not stupid enough to do this. Released in the random darkness of Bogotá, I ran away from that spot. I stopped another taxi (I had nothing more to lose), and went to my hostel, and immediately called the other banks to block the cards. Afterward, I went to the nearest small police station where they said that they couldn’t help me. I should make a report online.
It was a long night. I have lost some material things, but I am glad that I am unharmed. Now, don’t wonder if I am not reachable for the next couple of weeks. I still have access to my Instagram and WhatsApp, but I am not sure how long the WhatsApp on the computer will continue working. I wrote this to share with you my experience, partly because of emotions, but also so that you avoid making my mistake.
Later, while writing this post in the lobby of the hostel, an American girl came crying because she was robbed a couple of weeks ago and her only remaining credit card was blocked, and has no money for food or to go to the airport. She sat beside me and we exchanged stories, and later found solutions to our financial crises, thanks to great family and friends.
I still love Colombia 🙂
