Hi all.  It’s been a while since I posted here, but don’t forget to go to the home page where I post a lot more.  This is a post I’ve been working on for a few weeks….

A few months ago, I wrote a post about a bad day.  I had mentioned to a friend that I had some bad days on the trip, but then he helped me put it in perspective that they weren’t really bad days; they were just not great days.  Well, any of you who are on my facebook or have heard through the grapevine already know that I got robbed in Bolivia on Friday, December 5^th.  The guys got my computer, phone, camera, and about $300 cash.  I put the full story below for people who are unfamiliar with it and there are also some details that I didn’t include in the original FB post.  While this situation seemed horrible and could be classified as a “bad day”, it still wasn’t as bad as it could have been to I have to stop and ponder, “Maybe it wasn’t such a bad day after all?”  While most of my electronics and cash were gone, the guys left me my passport, my ATM and credit cards, and some local currency.  With these items, I was still able to continue my trip.  I was leaving Bolivia the next day (12 hours later) to go to Easter Island, Chile and I couldn’t have done it without my passport.  If they had taken my passport, I would have been stuck in La Paz for at least a week longer.  Without my ATM cards, I would have to rely on Western Union which is quite inconvenient.  So even though I was gutted at the time for what was taken, I was so incredibly thankful for what was left.  Another thought was that these guys could have hurt me in many ways, but they didn’t.  I think they were just going for the quick theft and then they move on to the next victim.

I would still classify that evening as one of the worst nights of the trip so far, but things have continued on.  I bought a new camera in the La Paz airport the next morning.  There were only two choices, but I’m actually quite happy with it.  It has many features that my old camera didn’t and it’s a tad smaller.  I also purchased a new computer in Chile which I also like better than the previous one.  The biggest pain is downloading all my data.  I have all my pictures, music, and documents backed up to a cloud (I use Carbonite, but there are a ton of options) so at least I didn’t lose everything.  The problem is that I have so much data that it took over a month to download it all.  It would be a little bit easier if I was at home since the wi-fi would be better.  After this incident, I did buy an external hard drive.  This way I’ll have everything backup up and more accessible if something like this happened again.

I’m not really sure what would make for a truly “bad day.”  It seems like no matter what happens there is always a bright side.  Even if the guys had taken my passport and I was stuck in La Paz at least I could still be glad for my health and appreciate having a longer time to see the sights in La Paz.  One friend who got stuck in La Paz for some severe stomach issues was able to be a tad thankful in the end because she got to see sights that she wouldn’t have otherwise.   So to an extent there is always a bright side.  I think sometimes it’s hard to see at the time, but it’s always there.

Full Story of the robbery…

I was coming back to La Paz, Bolivia from Lake Titicaca where I had spent the past two days.  On the bus, I was contemplating how happy I was to be leaving Bolivia the next morning.  I was actually not afraid of getting robbed at all; I was afraid of getting sick.  Almost everyone I know that went to Bolivia had some sort of stomach issues.  There was also a girl on the bus and we had to keep stopping for her to use a restroom.  Finally the bus driver put her in a taxi so that we could continue without having to stop continuously.  When the bus got to La Paz, I got into a taxi to go to my hostel.  I was in La Paz before so I knew that my hostel was about a 20 minute walk away which is too much with my 40 pound backpack when there are taxis readily available.  In La Paz there are no official taxis such as in other cities.  Any Tom, Dick, or Harry can put up a sign saying they are a taxi.  Anyway, I got into a taxi and really didn’t pay attention to how legit he looked or not.  We went along for a few minutes and then another guy got into the back seat.  I’ve had other instances where a driver has picked me up when other people were already in the back so I didn’t really think about it.  The guy said he was a tourist and that he was going to San Pedro Square where I happened to be going.  We went along a little while longer, and then the driver stopped in the street for a guy with a badge.  The new guy got into the front seat and said he was an agent the drug administration.  He was asking the driver for his credentials and the driver seemed quite nervous.  The agent then asked the guy next to me for his ID and he searched the guy’s bag.  It only took a second since the guy only had a little fanny pack type bag.  He then asked to see my passport and to search my bag.  He went through everything and it seemed like he put everything back in its place.  By now we were in some random neighborhood and not where I had asked to be taken (San Pedro Plaza).  The driver had gotten out and put my big backpack on the sidewalk while the agent gave me my bag back and said to get out of the car.  Not really thinking, I just did what he said.  They all drove away and that’s when I checked my bag and my computer, camera, phone, and all my extra emergency cash (~$300) were missing.  At first I was really shocked, and then I felt really stupid.  I felt like I should have noticed in the taxi that he was taking all my stuff or I felt like I should have been more observant about which taxi I got into.  Luckily they left me with what local currency I had.  I picked up all my stuff and walked toward what I thought would be a main road.  I literally had no idea where I was so I was just guessing.  Thankfully, I only had to walk about 5 minutes before I found another taxi who took me to the correct location.  I checked into my hostel and then I had to do damage control.  Since my phone logs into my e-mail and Facebook automatically with a saved password, I had to get to an Internet center and change those passwords immediately.  I also changed all my banking passwords as well, just to be safe.  At this point it was more about the lost data than the actually machines themselves.  Both my phone and my computer require a password to get into them, but I wasn’t sure if these guys had a work around for that.  I tried doing the “Find my Phone” but it didn’t work.  I had the phone on airplane mode so it wasn’t connected to any network.  I did do the “erase my phone” which also didn’t work, but it stated that it would work if the phone ever connected to a network.  After doing that, I had to call AT&T and get the phone turned off so these guys couldn’t be calling Tokyo on my dime.  After that I called Carbonite which is the company I used to back up all my files on my computer.  I was hoping they could press a button and erase my computer of all the data, but that wasn’t possible.  They were able to suspend the account so that no changes could be made.  Once that was all done, I called my dad who knew just what to say to make me feel better.