viaje al sur

Sad to say we got robbed on Thursday afternoon while walking up a hill to a viewpoint in Popayan, a town in southern Colombia.  First of all, we are both completely fine, not hurt at all.

Around two in the afternoon we were taking a walk to this hill nearby called 3 crosses which overlooks the city, a popular tourist spot. The path up there was a dirt road through some woods and was a little remote.  We know better, but were feeling complacent in a nice seemingly safe small town.  We did bring the hostel owners’ dog with us, not that she helped!  Halfway up the path when no one else was around these two young guys walked up behind us.  They came up and showed us a knife and took our small North Face bag.  It happened really quickly, obviously all they wanted was the bag.  Unfortunately, in there was my sweet camera and some other small stuff.  We both had cash in our pockets which they did not take. We did what we were supposed to and did not resist.  The robbers just took the small pack and took off back down the path.  Obviously frightened, we quickly got up to the top of the hill where there were other people and called the police.  The police were there in a few minutes and took good care of us.  They made an effort to look for the guys – no luck though.  We went back to the police station and filled out a report, which we now have, and will need to make insurance claims for the camera, memory card, bag, headlamp, etc.

We are of course upset that it happened, but we are still fine.  We had a great time in Colombia, just too bad this happened on our second to last day there (we´re in Ecuador now). More upset at ourselves for having brought the camera and pack up there in the first place.  But glad that the only things stolen are replaceable and we weren´t hurt. We didn´t lose any pictures either, just the ability to take new ones!  We’ll look for a new camera in Quito tomorrow, so hopefully we won’t be without one for long.

Unfortunately not all of our stories are happy and fun, though we try our best to keep them that way.