Well, when I said I was going to lay low on the blog for the next month, I guess I was fibbing a bit. Truth be told, writing in the blog has become habit and something that I really enjoy. So, I will continue to post on occasion between now and the time I leave.
The reason I was prompted to write though was an account of a really scary event that happened to my friend who is now traveling in Costa Rica. Mattis, my friend, was sitting in his bed in his hostel, working on his computer when he heard several loud bangs. He looked out his window and saw a female police officer in hysterics, as he put it, over the body of another police officer that had been shot in the head.
Apparently, some armed men had attempted to rob the Hostel that Mattis was staying in and when the police arrived, shot one of them several times in the chest and once in the head before running away.
It is a terrible tragedy, and I sincerely hope that the officer is OK. A lot of those guys are corrupt, but still, that does not warrant a gunshot to the face in my eyes.
Things like that make you really stake a step back and realize how fast it can all go. A lot of people would take that story and say, see, stay away from the third world! Well yes, the third world is not the safest place but things like that can happen anywhere. Violent crime is a big problem here in the states.
I just hope that my friend is not scarred by this event and that the Officer lives to fight crime another day. Mattis said the officer was still alive when the ambulance showed up, so that is good news. I also hope that the degenerates who did this receive justice. You can blame the society that they live in, the poverty that encourages crime, or what have you, but no one chooses to pull that trigger other than the man attached to the finger. That deserves retribution.
I have a lot of friends that are police officers and to think that someone like that could come to such a terrible end really angers me. But, it is out of my hands in this case.
At any rate, that is a story that I thought was relevant to the blog as I had just been there. The game plan now is to fly into Brazil on February 11th, to meet Mattis, stay through Carnival which should be a blast, and then head down into Patagonia to do some trekking.
I hope everyone had a great New Years!
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6 comments:
It is annoyingly addicting I suppose. I remember when I used to laugh at my brother for blogging about his life and I said I would never have a blog, no way. Then I started one for my photography, then I started one for my travels, then oh why stop there the monkey that makes me money needs one too. I will stop there though. I really enjoy posting on my blogs as well. I enjoy telling a story about something once instead of getting on the phone to 7 different family members and telling the same story over and over again. My family enjoys seeing me grow as a photographer through my blog as well.
As for your friend did he change hotels or stick with the one he was in. I guess now it will be the safest hotel in town for the next week if you think about it. That's really awful about the police officer shot, there is absolutely no reason to shoot someone in the head and take their life for such a stupid thing.There's such a problem all throughout the world with violent crime. It's the one thing that stops me going certain places at 3 in the morning to get pictures of something and it aggravates the hell out of me. It's all about world peace. Life would be so much easier and relaxing with it.
holy shit that was more typing THAN I thought.
good thing I will travel to Costa Rica in a few weeks...
Oh Reece, that is some sad news to relay. I hope too that the officer recovers. However, I am happy to see that you are going to continue to post thoughts and such while you are back in the States. It would be a shame to miss out on what passes thru your life as you adjust back into the world of Neverending Choices - ha! er, I mean the States. I'm sure that was mindblowing coming from 3rd world living back to Cali at Christmas!! At least you knew what you were coming to. Imagine a first time immigrant from Central American or any other impoverished country. Our way of life is as fabulous and confusing as if it were from out of space!!! Take care and can't wait to read what happens next - especially at Carnival - wow!!
Yeah man, it was one crazy experience but I stayed at the hostel for the rest of my stay there and everything was fine after that. It goes to show you that bad luck can happen at anytime, but it seems that in some countries the chances of running into "bad luck" are higher than in others no matter what precautions you take.
I really hope that cop was ok because all he was doing, was his job which at that point was to protect my hostel and the people in it (including myself). I hope those robbers get what's coming to them as well.
Looking forward to Brazil my man, going to be fun times. At Pagalu in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica and the brothers Christian and Mike say hi!
Laters,
Mattis
http://www.flashpackerbackpacking.com
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