After a pretty chilled-out week Hostel sitting in Popayan, it was time to move on again. I was heading to Cali, generally considered to be the Salsa capital of the country as well as the major hub of Cocaine distribution, Drug Barons and money laundering. Sounds like something of a party town! Although, of all the available options, I thought I’d better stick with the Salsa.
I tried two days of Salsa lesson whilst in Cali, day one was a little better than day two as it was only hampered by heavy walking boots and a lack of natural rhythm whereas the second day of lessons had all of the above and a nasty hangover. I didn’t make it to a third day!
From Cali I was heading north via Salento in the Colombian coffee region to the Northern city of Medellin. It turned out to be an eventful bus journey as only a couple of hours outside of Cali – in the town of Buga I had my daypack stolen! Seemed to be a very apt town name as ‘Buga!’ is very similar to the words that passed my lips once I discovered the theft :-)
Typically, I don’t travel with much in the way of valuables. HOWEVER, the recent trip to Japan (irresistible technology wonderland) and the buying power of the Pound against the Dollar in the States meant that I had amassed something of a ‘Gadget’ collection: Laptop, Nikon SLR Camera, Canon Camera, 160GB Ipod, JVC Noise Cancelling Headphones, numerous memory cards and battery chargers. All tucked in one easy to carry (or grab, as the case may be!) bag.
The bus was never crowded, in fact for the first hour or so of the journey there was only Chika and I on the bus. Our main packs and day packs all had to go inside the bus and were carefully stashed directly in front of us, less than one meter away . Chika’s main pack was sandwiched behind the driver’s seat, supported on one side by the drivers seat and on the other by a waist high plastic partition. My day pack was next to her main pack, so on one side it had the back of the drivers seat, on the other the same plastic divide, Chika’s pack on the third side and my leg blocking the last side. Blocked on four sides - quite safe, I felt!
A few other people had joined the bus by now, but it was the four Colombian men that got on near Buga that were going to be the real problem. A very professional act as I found out later - a distraction man, a blocker, a grabber and a fourth to finally walk away with the goods once the bus moved on. Studied under Fagin and graduated under David Copperfield I’d suggest as the disappearance of my daypack was nothing short of Magic!
The whole episode unraveled in a space of about 15 seconds and I was only ever aware of one man – the distracter. As the bus slowed ready to stop on the outskirts of Buga, the old man sitting directly behind us began to stand. He pulled himself up using the headrest on the back of our seats and as he did so he ‘accidentally’ dropped his medicine. A few tablets dropped onto our seat and I turned to help him pick them up! It only took about 5 seconds, but that was enough. I watched him walk slowly from the bus and cross the road in front of us. The bus was just about to pull away as I looked down to where my leg was and my pack had been. The empty space staring back at me created a heart sinking and adrenalin rising effect all at the same time! I leapt up and calmly asked the driver to please wait and quickly explained that my pack had been stolen. Without further consideration I jumped from the bus and scanned the scene for someone to chase after. There are those who might say that it’s not the best idea to chase after robbers in Colombia! As one of the passengers later said to me, 'it’s lucky you weren’t shot!'
However, of all the people walking away from the bus, nobody was carrying my pack. My heart sank again. Everything had been going so well.
I noticed a couple of well dressed men standing at the bus stop, on the pavement just behind the bus. I wandered over to ask if they saw anything and as I rounded the bus, there, sitting in the road, directly behind the bus was my daypack. The two men at the bus stop told me that the robber ran off and pointed towards a small market. I grabbed my pack and thanked them. What I didn’t realize is that they were part of ‘the team’. Their job was to carry off the pack once the bus had gone. I can’t believe I even THANKED them! :-)
Still, it turned out ok in the end. I got back on the bus and chained the pack to the seat! We were carrying on to the ‘Coffee Region’ of Colombia – not sure about coffee but I certainly felt like I could do with a beer!
