Santa Marta

At half past four I wake up - no idea of what woke me uph - and I look at my watch. Because some light comes in the room from the outside, I can look into the room and decide to put my earplugs on the bedside table - the worst noise from outside will be over now - I turn around and try to go back to sleep. I fall asleep again and it must have been about an hour later when I wake up again – did I hear a plastic bag?

I am lying on my side and I am looking dazed towards the corner of the room where my big bag stands. Can I see somebody messing around in my big bag? I realize that I am not in a dormitory but in a private room and that someone is in my big bag - I am being robbed! Without thinking about it, I start screaming out loud, jump out of my bed and starts to chase the guy who rans to the door. In the corridor i don’t see him anymore but I guess he’s running out of the building as soon as possible so i ran down the stairway as fast as I can – in my underwear.  

Downstairs, where the reception is, is all quiet; there is a hooker talking to one of the men behind the counter and at the white gate outside there are some people chatting. I shout loudly that I have been robbed in my best Spanish and ask / say that I am looking for a dark boy, has he run past? There is about five police officers on the corner and they immediately come inside and continue upstairs to my room. The two man staff and the girl from the bar next door are called in and there is a direct banging on other doors of the hotel.

Then I realize that the chances are that the thief is still upstairs and that my door is wide open - I quickly run back and look over my stuff that is everywhere.I walk back to my room and look over my stuff - what did he take with him? 

On the bed next to me I see my notebook. My e-reader is gone! Oh no, it’s a little further up the bed, also touched but not taken away! He has been sniffing in all my little seperate bags that I put on the bed next to me - all zippers are open but I know that there is nothing of value in them. Also in my medicine bag that is there, he has been looking.

The man was busy at that place but there was nothing of value next to my notebook and e-reader. I assume the robber was only looking for money (cash) and/or my passport. I walk to the corner of my room where my clothes are and my big bag. I feel relieved in my inner bag (a bag made specifically in the inside of my pipe of my pants) of my pants that my passport, cards and money are still in it. My camera and my wallet are also untouched. What did he take for God's sake?

I see that he has been rummaging around in my food bag and I feel in my big bag - everything is still there. Probably I woke up from tthe fact that he put my plastic bag away that I always put in the middle of my big bag to alarm me. I put on my pants with all my important stuff and I am called; whether I want to identify someone; it is a dark boy who is watching television two rooms away from mine. He has a white shirt on, is very relaxed and unfortunately I can not remember his face. The police continues to interrogate him.

They check also the roof and in the patio. I’m also taken to another room where someobody lies on the bed, stoned – no it’s not him for sure. 

Not quite sure of my case I walk downstairs again and then up again to check my bag again; has he really taken nothing? I pour myself a glass of orange juice – my whole throat is dry - and see that it has now become five o'clock in the morning. Again I walk to the corner where my big bag is - now I see that my pocket knife is missing - the case is still there and lies on the floor.

I remember suddenly that I used my knife yesterday evening to open my bottle of booz wit hit. The boy from two doors down is taken away and I am asked to see the boy again. He has defenitely the same color skin, the same posture, height but I can not identify his face unfortunately. Then I ask if they might have found a pocket knife? Ahaaa ... first a knife is taken from the policeman and shown to me – nope that’s not mine.

One other policeman now takes my Swiss army knife out of his pocket and I say "yes" that is mine. As proof I take out my little green case-bag where the knife fits in perfectly. The dark boy is there, gets a few blows in his neck from the police and is taken with him after he has been asked if he has a chain of my own, a pair of sunglasses or a hip bag - all that stuff is not mine and I do not want to. Apparently no report is expected because the cops are running away and I go back into my room.  

Now I realize that probably the first time when I woke up is from the fallen empty bottle I put behind the door. The lock is broken, he might have been tipped by one of the ladies that I slept there and he accidentally overrun the trash and came back later? It is not entirely clear but I put a bottle of water on the lock (so that if it is turned, the bottle falls a meter lower on the floor) and turn the light off again. But that is vain hope, I turn on the light again and pour myself a coke liqueur. So I really got away with the fright and still look at all my stuff - did not the guy really take anything? Against all odds I fall asleep again for a few hours and check out the next day.