I know I have been prone to exaggeration in the past and making up stories that were based on fact. Today, I am reporting the absolute truth because the truth needs no embellishment.
It was the day from hell. We accomplished the move to our new “home” which is half the size of the previous room. Clothes are stowed in the bar, shoes in baskets on the floor and toiletries on a little $2 plastic table. Gone is the nice stall shower, gone is the storage, gone is a smoother ride, gone is a window you can actually see out of. It is bumpy even in calm water.
I try to be a trooper, but snarky comments keep sneaking out of my mouth. Michael’s patience is starting to wan. We managed to get off the ship around 10am. It was mass pandemonium in the cruise terminal area as there were at least six large cruise ships in port and it was embarkation day for most of them. We were told it would cost $7 to go to the Pink Building and then we could walk around downtown and see the sights. The first taxi wanted $11.50 so we skipped that. I wanted to hire a driver for a few hours because you can cover more territory than you can on foot. But Michael likes to walk and besides I didn’t feel like arguing. So we took a taxi (the driver spoke no English) for $10 and wound up at the obelisk, which wasn’t even remotely near the Pink Building. It is hot and I am sweating already and I admit I am crabby. I wanted to take a sightseeing tour bus and not just walk around. So I went to a hotel and got the information on where to get the tour bus. We finally found our way there after asking for directions from a policeman, who spoke no English, only to find out that the tour company did not take credit cards or US dollars. Michael tried to exchange US dollars for pesos, but the bank wouldn’t do it and we hadn’t taken our ATM card so we could not get money for the tour.
So on we walked. We came to a park near the Pink Building, which I have no idea what this is or why I should care, and I was so hot I needed to rest in the shade. While sitting on the bench, an old man started talking to me. No habla espanol, but he kept talking. I am minding my own business when a young man approaches me like he was going to ask for a handout, but instead grabs my Water Walker necklace right off my neck and takes off running. I am in shock, it takes seconds for me to realize that this really did happen and I jumped up and started screaming for him to stop. I yelled thief. Michael saw what happened and took off after him. I started running and found a piece of the chain that had broken off and picked it up. The thief crossed an extremely wide and heavily travelled round-about. People on the other side of the street saw him running and one man tripped him, another held him down, and another person gave him a kick for good measure. Michael has crossed the street, but I am still on the other side waiting for the traffic to clear so I could cross. By the time I reach the other side, a crowd had gathered and the police had the thief in custody. One lady and one man were talking with the police. They were witnesses. Michael was there and there were more and more police arriving by the minute. Police cars and a paddywagon arrived. There had to be at least 10 officers plus 5 or 6 cars. The thief is on the ground and all I want to do is to shake him, kick him, and get my necklace back. It is a unique, one of a kind, sentimental piece and I want it back. The police would not search him right away. Just give it to me I tell them and I will be on my way. More police arrive. A man stops and offers to translate for us. Everyone was so nice and they apologized that our one day in Buenos Aires had come to this. They finally searched the thief’s pockets but apparently the creep tossed it when he was tripped up. I walked the street looking in the gutters, under/over any possible place it could have landed. The police then took the thief into the paddywagon to strip search him with the man who tripped him and the translator as witnesses. But it is long gone. He may have palmed it to an accomplice.
It was the day from hell. We accomplished the move to our new “home” which is half the size of the previous room. Clothes are stowed in the bar, shoes in baskets on the floor and toiletries on a little $2 plastic table. Gone is the nice stall shower, gone is the storage, gone is a smoother ride, gone is a window you can actually see out of. It is bumpy even in calm water.
I try to be a trooper, but snarky comments keep sneaking out of my mouth. Michael’s patience is starting to wan. We managed to get off the ship around 10am. It was mass pandemonium in the cruise terminal area as there were at least six large cruise ships in port and it was embarkation day for most of them. We were told it would cost $7 to go to the Pink Building and then we could walk around downtown and see the sights. The first taxi wanted $11.50 so we skipped that. I wanted to hire a driver for a few hours because you can cover more territory than you can on foot. But Michael likes to walk and besides I didn’t feel like arguing. So we took a taxi (the driver spoke no English) for $10 and wound up at the obelisk, which wasn’t even remotely near the Pink Building. It is hot and I am sweating already and I admit I am crabby. I wanted to take a sightseeing tour bus and not just walk around. So I went to a hotel and got the information on where to get the tour bus. We finally found our way there after asking for directions from a policeman, who spoke no English, only to find out that the tour company did not take credit cards or US dollars. Michael tried to exchange US dollars for pesos, but the bank wouldn’t do it and we hadn’t taken our ATM card so we could not get money for the tour.
So on we walked. We came to a park near the Pink Building, which I have no idea what this is or why I should care, and I was so hot I needed to rest in the shade. While sitting on the bench, an old man started talking to me. No habla espanol, but he kept talking. I am minding my own business when a young man approaches me like he was going to ask for a handout, but instead grabs my Water Walker necklace right off my neck and takes off running. I am in shock, it takes seconds for me to realize that this really did happen and I jumped up and started screaming for him to stop. I yelled thief. Michael saw what happened and took off after him. I started running and found a piece of the chain that had broken off and picked it up. The thief crossed an extremely wide and heavily travelled round-about. People on the other side of the street saw him running and one man tripped him, another held him down, and another person gave him a kick for good measure. Michael has crossed the street, but I am still on the other side waiting for the traffic to clear so I could cross. By the time I reach the other side, a crowd had gathered and the police had the thief in custody. One lady and one man were talking with the police. They were witnesses. Michael was there and there were more and more police arriving by the minute. Police cars and a paddywagon arrived. There had to be at least 10 officers plus 5 or 6 cars. The thief is on the ground and all I want to do is to shake him, kick him, and get my necklace back. It is a unique, one of a kind, sentimental piece and I want it back. The police would not search him right away. Just give it to me I tell them and I will be on my way. More police arrive. A man stops and offers to translate for us. Everyone was so nice and they apologized that our one day in Buenos Aires had come to this. They finally searched the thief’s pockets but apparently the creep tossed it when he was tripped up. I walked the street looking in the gutters, under/over any possible place it could have landed. The police then took the thief into the paddywagon to strip search him with the man who tripped him and the translator as witnesses. But it is long gone. He may have palmed it to an accomplice.
After standing on the sidewalk for over an hour while all this was happening, we were told we needed to go to the police station to file a report. They took the chain that I found as evidence and told us it would be several days before all the paperwork would be done and I could get the chain back. The translator explained to the police that we were on a cruise ship and it was leaving by 5pm today. After much negotiation and translation, the police finally got it and promised it would only take two hours and we would be free to go. By this time I had violence in my heart. I wanted to kick and beat the crap out of him for ruining my stay in this city that I really wanted to see, but mostly because he violated me. I stared into his eyes and he didn’t even have the good grace to look away or be ashamed. I was robbed and violated. Fortunately, I was not physically hurt. My pride is hurt, I feel foolish for even wearing it in a strange city when the possibility of this happening was real. The translator told me not to feel that way; he had the same thing happen while he was sitting in his car sitting at a red light.
We sat in the back of a police car for the ride to the station. Buenos Aires is an old city and we weaved in and out of traffic, fighting with public buses for room on the road for about 20 minutes. It is hot and I am thirsty. I am sick inside, I am mad. We walked into the police station and were transported to a third world version of the Closer. The lobby was small, people coming and going. There were few chairs to sit on. The computer equipment was antiques. No one moved very fast. The police talked to me in the car on the way to the station, but once there, they spent a long time taking Michael’s statement. When he was done, they took mine again. After what seemed like three hours, we had the police report and told them to keep the chain as we just wanted this to be over. We were finally free to return to the ship.
The police agreed to drive us back to the ship. We rode in the back of this tiny police car. They were very nice and one officer spoke limited English and pointed out the sights. So there you have it – we saw Buenos Aires from the back of a police car. Uh oh , wait a minute, not so fast. Michael almost blows it in the police car. The nice policeman asks where we will visit on the cruise and Michael says Montevideo first and then on to the Falkland Islands. This is met by total silence and then the nice policeman says to Michael he must mean that we are visiting the Malvinas which are the legal property of Argentina and have been illegally stolen from them by the British and renamed the Falkland Islands. He was dead serious, and Michael had to think quickly to find a way to lighten the moment.
We returned to the ship hot and thirsty and hungry and sweaty, and so when Michael suggested we go swimming I acquiesced for the first time on this cruise. It was very pleasant and we followed our pool time with a dip in the hot tub while sipping drinks. I actually ordered a strawberry margarita with alcohol, so you know how I was still feeling. We concluded the evening with one more very pleasant event. While sitting down to dinner at the outdoor grill area who comes out the door and heads right for us but four members of the Portland Yacht Club – Bill and Corny Stevens and John and Ann (last name to be provided). We spent a pleasant couple of hours getting reacquainted.
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