we got robbed

Having spent a year and a half in Argentina, mostly in high crime Buenos Aires of all places, I have not been robbed. Well, not until yesterday. The thieves made off extremely well.

Myself, along with Geordon (whom I´m running the marathon with) and Mark arrived in Bariloche yesterday, rented our car and were going to get a few things in Bariloche, look at a nice hotel, hike up a little trail, and then head on to Villa La Angostura, where the marathon is. We´re out in the middle of beautiful scenery, hardly anyone around, far away from Bariloche town, and we park the car on the side of the road. This is like out in a forest next to a lake with a tall mountain in the background, there´s really nobody around. We hike up the trail, can´t find what we´re looking for, and come back to the car. We get in, and go up a little further on the road, stop again, still not seeing anyone, then hike up another trail and find what we were looking for. Both times we left the car, locking the car with our 6 bags total out of sight under the rear canopy.

We continue on after going up the trail, jump in the car, and leave the area, not checking the bags, because we are in a really peaceful area and had seen, by this time, 4 other day hikers. Our next stop was a supermarket to get some food for dinner before heading on to Villa La Angostura. Geordon goes to get something out of his bag, opens the bag, gets a look on his face of surprise, and exclaims nos robaron todo! I thought he was messing with me. Then I looked seriously at his face, and he was not kidding. Everything robbed, all our bags gone.

And so, for the two 15 minute periods where we left the car and had hiked off the road a bit, someone or someones had come by, broken in, and made off with all our stuff. They took all our running stuff, my passport, and all our personal effects. That made today and last night a challenge getting gear to run our marathon with tomorrow. But I think we´re back to manageable status. We´ve got shoes and clothes. It could have been much worse. We´re going to finish this marathon.

I´m at Peace with it now, but I mean, come on, stealing a prayer journal and a Bible??? I guess I should be disappointed that it wasn´t a Bible in Spanish. Then I could have maybe considered it a much better event to have happened. As it was, it was mostly horrible. Sad more than anything. It´s interesting when everything you ¨have¨ in a moment gets taken from you, you really answer the question, well, what is of most value to you?

After the robbery happened last night, Geordon knew some people at the Argentine military school in Bariloche. All I can say is wow. The hospitality they showed us was incredible. These Argentine military men gave us lodging, invited us into their homes to have dinner, gave us more clothes to use than we would need in a week, and really just loved on us. That was a really cool experience.

It was weird, yesterday, within the span of two hours, I experienced some of the best and some of the worse things people can do to each other. But yes, the marathon still remains to be run and this has only made us more stubborn to finish.