A really bad day
This is a post that I would hoped we wouldn´t have to write. We were robbed on July 5th on our way from Rivas, Nicaragua to the Costa Rica border. We are both okay, but our bikes are a lot lighter.
The short version is that 3 guys came out onto the road and blocked our path asking for water. It quickly became apparent that water was not actually what they wanted. After forcing us down into the ditch next to the road (Matt:
did we mention that they had a gun?), they went through our bags and took whatever appealed. Beyond the obvious stuff (computer, camera, money) they also found our shoes (except the ones we were wearing), swiss army knives and a bunch of other stuff to their liking. They made a point of giving us our passports so that they wouldn´t get lost in the mess. So, after they left we gathered up what was left, straightened out Matt´s bike and made a beeline for the border. On our arrival, we told the moneychangers (always the first people to greet us at borders) that we were robbed. They replied, ‘again?’ and pointed us towards the police, where we found out that we are the third group of cyclists to be robbed on that stretch of road. (We have since put the warning out on all the bike/travel forums we can find to try to prevent it from happening again.)
We wanted to get a police statement for insurance purposes, but we didn´t expect the police to actually do anything. I´m still not convinced that they are actually going to do anything to find these guys, though we did spend a huge amount of time making statements. We even went back to the scene with 6 armed police to show them the hiding spot. Some of our stuff was still there (things like small bags of cookies that we hadn´t bothered to pack up) so they took forever putting little numbers by everything, taking pictures and making a detailed list of what they found, all of which seemed pretty stupid to me. They should have been looking for stuff that wasn´t ours, right? They did try to dust some of the stuff for fingerprints, but didn´t find anything.
Next, they took us to the health clinic where a doctor looked at our scrapes and wrote a report, but didn´t actually put on bandages or anything (we had cleaned up while waiting for the police and they were just scrapes, but still, what a joke.) The best part was when the guy with the camera took a picture of us talking to the doctor to prove that they had taken us there. (Matt:
Everybody kept asking me whether or not the robbers had hit me…I wasn’t sure why everybody kept asking me that until I looked in a mirror later and saw that I had a pretty bad black eye.)
When we were finally free to move on, we dug out the money we had stashed in our bikes and other secret places and came up with about $90. Enough to get us over the border and on a bus to San Jose where we could deal with everything. We caught the last bus away from the border. Unfortunately, this meant that we arrived in San Jose after dark, a big no-no of traveling in Latin America. And, as they warn you, one of our bags was snatched as we were putting everything on the bikes to get to the hotel. The bag had been pretty much cleaned out already and only had a couple things in it. Unfortunately again, those things were Matt´s sunglasses, the police report and our passports. At least we were able to get into Costa Rica before losing the passports though, right?
We are working on getting back on our feet and excitedly waiting for Becky to show up on Friday. My dad wired us money and getting passports was pretty easy (Matt:
If you’re from the US you automatically get to go to the front of the lines at the embassy—now that’s service!). We also have managed to find some cheap new shoes to wear until we have credit cards again. San Jose isn´t the most beautiful city, but it is nice to be in a place that feels somewhat familiar. We visited the mall yesterday, which was just like being back in the States. Generally, we are doing well.
We haven´t decided what we will do after Becky leaves. We are comtemplating sending the bikes home and continuing by bus, maybe volunteering or doing some more language school, though really, the best part of the trip is the biking and all the nice people we have met. Can we really let 3 bad guys ruin that? We can´t decide. We lost enough stuff that is crucial to biking that it would take us a while (and a bunch of money) to get ready to ride. We go back and forth on the options hourly, so it will probably be a while before we are ready to make a decision.
(Matt:
We had a great time the week prior, in Granada and Ometepe Island in Lake Nicaragua. We may go back and fill in some more details on those days later on. It will help us to remember that not everyone in Nicaragua is bad.)
Sounds like you are having the entire experience, good and bad. I am relieved you guys are ok. Whatever you decide, just keep having fun!
That sucks!! Is Becky coming from Seattle? Can we give her some stuff to bring to you to replace what you lost? What stuff do you need? Bike stuff? Camping stuff?
shoes? socks? starbucks?
Be careful please. I understand your sentiment about “not letting 3 bad guys ruin a whole trip”, but 3 bad guys can ruin your whole life if they have more violent tendencies. I know that Nicaragua is known to be a danger spot along the route, so there is obviously an urge to think “we made it through the worst part”. But things can happen anywhere really… so listen to your gut instincts whatever they tell you – and focus on how you feel *right now*, rather than looking at the whole plan or schedule or mission or whatever. Take care.
Very sorry to learn that you got robbed, but glad to hear that you’re OK. Let us know what we can do to help… Robin, Maggie, and I are looking forward to seeing you when you return. Matt, you’d be excited to know that I finally bought a new amp–its 50 years old though..I’ve enjoyed all of your pictures and blogging. Let us know what your plans are–and if we can help.
Ok, bye. —Mark
Damn, sorry to hear about that experience. You hear about it traveling but always hope that it won’t happen to you.
Glad you guys are okay, and glad that you’re not going to let this incident ruin the trip of a lifetime! Hope you keep on trucking/biking/whatever and have a great time!
So glad you two are okay. Take care and know that we are thinking of you and
hoping that the bad days are behind you.