Not the Day We Expected

Day 2 Wednesday, January 31/18

Today we went for the cultural experiences. Started off in a taxi. Tiny little thing, agile, good for darting about through the traffic which the driver did with great enthusiasm. Traffic is abundant. Probably 2 lanes, hard to tell, with motorcycles down the middle. Decided it would be good to be in the brake or body shop business. We reached our destination Plaza Bolivar safe and sound and found our way to the Tourist Office for info (this is important later). One side of the Plaza houses the National Capitol Buildings. After all the violence in this area, they are understandably well guarded with check points to wander down the side of the complex. On the other side of the Plaza is the Palace of Justice where the siege was held in 1985. Then we were off through a beautiful old church (1 of 3 today) and on to lunch.

We found a little restaurant and sat upstairs for a bowl of green soup that turned out to be potato, corn, a bit of chicken, and cilantro. Bland but local. A lady sat down beside us and dropped her jacket. Ever the polite Canadian, Fred leaned over to pick it up for her. Unbeknownst to us, her accomplices, sitting behind us, leaned over to steal Fred’s camera, which we didn’t see because we were engaged in helping the lady pick up her coat off the floor. She then appeared to get a phone call (probably didn’t but looked real as she lifted her phone and put it to her ear) and then quickly left the restaurant. When we got up to leave, following lunch, we realized the camera was gone. It was a slick and impressive theft. Annoyed but resigned to the loss of the camera, we walked back to the Tourist Office to ask about a safe place to get a new camera. When the staff person heard the story she leaned out the door to hail a police officer (they’re abundant in the area) who called the Tourist Police who came and took us away in their van along with a Tourist Info Officer who spoke English. Nice fellow, he offered to take a picture of us in the police van.

At the Police Station there was an officer who spoke pretty good English so he took a report. Think part of his motivation was to practice his English because he wanted to go to Canada as did his partner. Our motivation was to get the police report in the off chance we could claim the camera. Once done, we headed back to the square and hoofed it up the street to look at the recommended camera shop. The prices in the store were very high but we took down the info for comparison later. We hiked back to our new friends at the Tourist Centre who helped us do an online search for Canon Zx60hs which is the camera Fred wants to buy and use on the trip. He has a small digital but the zoom is very limited. The folks at the TC hailed an Uber to run the gauntlet of traffic to home. Rush hour this time.

Back at the hotel, with the help of one of the staff Fred tried to purchase the camera he wanted online (Bogota distribution) and have it shipped to the hotel. The supplier Mercadolibre, baulked because the credit card holder’s address is in Canada and it was to be shipped to a local Bogota address. Via one of the hotel’s staff, who was doing the intrepretation (not all pages on line can be automatically translated), Fred learned that the supplier would be checking with his Visa Card company to see if they would honour the purchase. So, he still doesn’t know if he will get a replacement. Todays pics are all from the small camera Fred takes kayaking with him.