Despite the frustration of dealing with the unfortunate and unsavory events of the past week – robbery, police reports, embassy bureaucracy, access to cash, replacing passport, credit cards and drivers license while having to stomach the loss of some very sentimental memories stored on my mac and back up drives, life goes on..
Through this ordeal we’ve received some great support, and when looking back, actually had a great week. Carla, co-owner Bikram Yoga Buenos Aires, has been amazing and I cannot thank her enough for her help. Arriving home at 23:15 and finding ourselves in a ransacked apartment, unable to successfully communicate with either the local police, or the Argentinian equivalent of 000 or 911, we were in a tight spot. Within 45 mins of calling Carla, the police had arrived, checked our apartment and we were sitting in the station waiting to make a statement with Carla at our side.
Since our apartment had been accessed with keys (can you believe it?) we didn’t feel that safe returning so Carla insisted we stay at her place and after completing the police report we finally climbed into bed at 4am. The next day we found 4 out of 7 apartments had been burgled. What’s hard to believe is our apartment is directly opposite the front gate to a military base (remember the brass band wake up calls every morning?) and the 24/7 guard apparently didn’t see multiple flat screen TV’s, microwaves, luggage etc walking out the front door!
The following afternoon, as we walked to the 17:00 Bikram Yoga class at BYBA, the sun popped from the clouds, beaming down on the lovely green park opposite the studio. I smile danced across my face – we were safe and about to get our asses kicked again.. how could I not be happy?!
After a tough class it was time to unwind with Pisco Sour, champagne and great company: Carla, Danni, Tracey and Juan Pablo, complete with the necessary Bikram party posing . Two days later we were in another apartment, saw an underground theatre performance (just happening to find ourselves sitting right beside Veronika’s future colleagues from Sweden), went to Tango lessons / birthday Milonga with Ed, dinner at Tracey and Juan Pablo’s and more hot, humid and very challenging Bikram classes.
Jay,co-owner Bikram Yoga Buenos Aires, arrived home and lent us his laptop for a few days so we could skype home, complete paperwork and get our identities back. We feel very lucky actually and I’d like to say a huge thank you to my Mum & Dad who have been wonderful helping me get all the necessary paperwork completed at home.
Finally, thanks for all the supporting comments on facebook.. after feeling perpetually in Rabbit Pose, we’re getting back on track!
🙂
Hey Matt,
Can’t believe this happened to you! What a way to close out your trip. There is something poignant and poetic about the fact that in the closing days of your year long odyssey all of the physical evidence from the trip has been stolen… What remains is just the two of you (and the website of course!!) – which is all that matters.
Love you! Love Heidi
My friends…Claudia told me about the robbery.
Nasty really Nasty, but that’s life…we cannot do anything about, us a old bikram teacher on my Teacher training said “just do the yoga”
Best wishes for you and Veronika, Feliz Navidad…
Regards
Osvaldo
Dear Matt,
I am more than sorry for the robbery. Anyway, it’s also true that, after thinking a bit, only things were taken, just material stuff. Besides the fact that you both are safe and sound, nobody can take away what you’ve learnt so far, which, in the end, is what you’ll keep forever. 😉
Hi Matt, I have been a bit self absorbed lately, so haven’t caught up with your progress for a while. Damn, what can I say? ‘Hang in there’ seems a bit trite… I really hope you can get all the stuff sorted out soon, so you can put it behind you. Following your progress from the beginning, especially the concept of ‘couch surfing’ around the globe, your human kindness and decency meter must still be way in the black… not sure how useful it is me saying that…
Stay safe mate.. and if you see the guys that robbed you, i think you need to suspend all those calm, yoga philosophies and simply kickem in the nuts!
Cheers,
Pete.
It’s been a real test of my patience dealing with the bureaucrats (oxygen thieves) at the Australian Embassy here in BA. Sometimes I wish I’d picked another country this month but comments and gestures of goodwill remind me I’m in the right place. Thanks for the tour of MALBA today St Loup, and Pete, your donation into my paypal account was really touching.. Cheers!!