Wednesday, April 20th, 2016 :(

8 days and counting!

Still no internet.

The workmen showed up at 7am and started digging out the rocks closest to the finca.  I understand they’re going to build a better walkway with rocks and pour cement near the finca for a turn around area for Walter’s taxi.

A man named Arnan (sp?) came by and we bought a bottle of honey from him for 10mil.

I took a nap on the couch after doing a little Nook reading.  I woke up about an hour later at 12:30 and when I looked outside the finca, as far as I could see, all the rocks had been removed from the sideroad.

While in the finca, without wi-fi, I decided to read another book Michael gave me – Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger.  The only problem is I found the print is so small that I can’t read it unless the lighting is perfect – and in the finca the light isn’t perfect.

TV news reported that thus far they have found 11 Colombians dead in the Ecuador earthquake.  I think the other day they said there were 2 or 3 Americans also found dead in the earthquake.

Well, that was interesting! (An obvious understatement as you will see.)

About 3pm, 3 men came down the hill with the 2 men who had been working on our sideroad.  I saw one of the 3 men holding a revolver at his side and another man holding a knife.  They came into the finca and over the next hour they seated us on the couches with Teresa on the last chair, fastened all our arms together using those plastic ties, and ransacked the house looking for money.  Then they put plastic tape covering each of our mouths and put an electric cord around Teresa’s neck for some reason.  (Later she told me it’s because they threatened her to give them money.)  The man who put tape over my mouth repeatedly said in English, “sorry, sir”!  Fuck you!  I didn’t say it then but I’ll say it now.  Then they locked the front door with our strong Stanley lock and took the keys.  I had visions of spending the weekend like this.

I managed to wriggle one of my hands out of the tie attached to the man on my right.  Teresa and I went into the kitchen and used a knife to cut the one tying us together then I used the knife to cut the ties connecting the other two men.  But we were still locked in the finca.  The guys found a long piece of rebar that they used to pry off the lock.

It took us less than 20 minutes to get totally free but I understood we were warned not to leave for 60 minutes.  After time expired and the two men left we took stock of what they took.

They found quite a bit of cash in one location, money that I had converted to pesos while the currency exchange rate was high.  They also found the spare cash I take with me in my fanny pack when we go to town.  But they removed a small bag I had in my shaving kit that contained 1 million pesos and they obviously didn’t open it so we have that.

I thought they took my laptop but later I found it under blankets they had thrown on the bed.  They took both my debit cards that I can hopefully cancel tomorrow.  I have a new USAA card in the mail that should be at MBE any day now.  They took my cheap Timex watch but I have another one; it just needs a new battery.  They destroyed my 3 prong to 2 prong adapter unplugging my laptop power cord but I finally found an extra (otherwise my battery would die real soon).  They broke our nearly full (with 500 peso and 1mil peso coins) piggy bank looking for something more valuable but didn’t take them.  They also took the 2 small flashlights my brother brought me from the States.

Of course Teresa was very distraught but for some reason I was pretty cool through the whole thing.  She started crying again when she thought about the fact that they could have slit our throats but I told her not to think like that.

Teresa wants me to buy a gun but I hate guns.  Even if I had had a gun with me and had it in my hand I might have had to shoot one of the workers to get to the only bad guy carrying a gun.  I told Teresa I understand it’s difficult to buy a gun legally in Colombia.  She told me that people who live in fincas have a right to buy a shotgun.  (It better be more than a double barrel or the 3^rd guy would get me before I could reload.)  Now I know why so many gringos live in gated communities with 24-hour security.  Well, we won’t be keeping a lot of cash in pesos here in the finca; just enough to appease any thieves that might do this again.

So, tomorrow we’ll go to Carbón de Leña in Envigado where I know they have a strong wi-fi signal and hopefully I’ll be able to use my iPad to cancel my debit cards.  Then we have to buy a new (inexpensive) cell phone and call MBE to see if my new debit card is waiting for me.  At least I won’t have to wait 3-4 weeks for the banks to issue me a new card to be able to access my cash again.

I really wonder if this was a random thing or were we targeted in some way.

Teresa borrowed the cell phone of one of the men before they left but there were almost no minutes on it.  She called Wilson but I don’t know what transpired and then there were no minutes left.  That was our one call so I hope she used it wisely.

Teresa asked me if this happened in the US would we call the police and I said absolutely.  She said, here no!  She made me swear not to tell anyone about this and I replied “only gringos”.  She seemed to be ok with that.

It took us some time to put the house back together.

Teresa spent about an hour counting all the coins – a total of something like 300,090 pesos.

We talked a bit about how to protect ourselves in the finca.  Teresa thought we should put up a camera but I figured they would just find the recorder and destroy it.  I thought about getting a loud horn for above the entrance to the finca with a panic button just inside the door.  I also decided it would be a good idea to keep my backup debit card at another location like Wilson’s apartment.

T-shirt of the day: Sometimes when I reflect back on all the wine I drink I feel shame.  Then I look into the glass and think about all the workers in the vinyards and all of their hopes and dreams.  If I don’t drink this wine, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered.  Then I say to myself, “It is better that I drink this wine and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver.”