The Police Called The Hit
This Saturday I saw H’Sao play, an amazing band from Chad. The guys in H’Sao could only speak English and French, and I got to play translator at a salsa bar we went to the night before. I surprised myself and later got a chance to rap in front of a few of them. I was as entertained as I was educated from their concert. I like to go to shows just to get ideas of things to do in my set. I usually film a few songs and turn it into a blog if it’s worth sharing, which I would have been doing now if I hadn’t been robbed later that night.
Ten friends and I decided to make it a quiet night and get some pizza, a few beers, and relax in a park outside of Buenavista (a shopping mall). We sat in a picnic area, had a car playing music, and were enjoying the heat lightning that has filled the sky for the last week or so. At about 11 pm two cops drove up to us on motorcycles and asked us to turn the music down. About 20 minutes later three men came out of the shadows with guns, telling us all to be quiet and give them everything we had.
The first thing my mind went to was training I had received in Washington before coming here. I put my hands on my head and looked at the floor. Often robbers are more prone to hurt you if you are looking at their face, and reaching into your pockets to give them things could be interpreted as reaching for a weapon. Another cool thing I learned was how to book a hotel room in a “lets blow us up some Americans” area of the world. It’s best to get a room in the back of the hotel on the 6th floor. Bombers usually attack the front of buildings, and a standard fire truck latter can reach up to the sixth floor.
They stole my wallet, blackberry, and flip camera, but were nice enough to drop my keys on the way out. This was the first time anyone has ever pointed a gun at me and it was a very interesting feeling. I wasn’t scared that they would shoot; I was more focused on what I needed to do to make sure they wouldn’t.
The most messed up part of all this is that my friends are fairly sure the police that came twenty minutes before the robbery called the thugs to come rob us. Ten minutes after the three men drove away with my friend’s car the same two cops showed up on the motorcycle, and they didn’t look so concerned. Apparently the police system in Barranquilla is very corrupt, but I think there’s a little of that everywhere. I’m just glad I popped my getting robbed cherry without anyone getting hurt.
Here is a video of H’Sao I found on youtube, since I couldn’t make one myself:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs9Vt_KiKPU&feature=related]