Maybe the wind blew it away...

Do let me explain. I realize that I you with very little information about this robbery…

Many people live in our house, as I have previously described. I assumed that these are all people that Susana and family know or at least trust on the most basic level. Some of them have been living there for years, coming and going, others not. The thing is, I don´t know who is who.

Alberto has been friendly with me, sending me nice text messages daily, bringing me dinner at night, proposing marriage. It almost seemed like an obsession for the past week, he was contacting me so much. The other night, he came into my room when I was on my computer. I had my camera on my desk, and he saw it. He warned me that I shouldn´t bring my camera to the university because there are thieves all over the place.

Yesterday he told me he was on his way to the cyber cafe, so I told him that I wasn´t using my computer and he could use it this once. I had to go to class, but every other person who lives in the house was there. I couldn´t imagine that someone who lived in the house, who knew that we know where he works, where he´s from, could steal something that valuable right under the noses of everyone.

Talarin, Susana´s uncle, bought two chickens yesterday. He brought them home in a big,opaque black plastic bag. He left the bag in kitchen. He said that when he came back from the bathroom, the bag was gone. Maybe the wind blew it away, he thought, reasonable since the house is essentially outside.

When I came back from class my computer wasn´t in my room. I sent Alberto a text message asking him where he had left it. He didn´t answer. I went to the park with Susana, and on the way for the first time I thought that maybe the computer had been stolen. I decided I would look for my camera as well when I returned.

I went straight to my room, and the camera and charger were gone. My webcam, computer charger, hard drive and my cellphone from the US were still there. Shit hit the fan when I told the family.

The thing is, the bruto (translated: dumbass) left all of his most important papers in the house. He left the equivalent of his driver´s license, passport, birth certificate and resume.

This morning we went to the police station, where they looked at the documents. The officer told us that he had been recently arrested for something related to drugs. He hasn´t come back to the house. I sent him several text messages, offering four hundred dollars for the stuff, saying dont sell that computer to someone else because it is worth much more to me than to anyone else in this country.

In reality, I had almost everything backed up, I think. All I don´t have are the pictures from Nathaniel and my trip and the pictures I have taken here. What I was really upset about was losing the ability to talk to you guys when I want to, to connect to the outside world ¨magically¨ as my dad says, which it really is. I have the money to buy a new computer and camera, and I guess I will.

Having my bike stolen was like sick, good practice, this honestly feels like round two of that robbery. My frustrations with the two things are opposite: With the camera, I am frustrated because it was so old that it wasn´t worth anything, with the camera I am frustrated because it was brand new, a waste. I kind of expected to have one of those things stolen, but not at the beginning of the trip like this, and definitely not from my bedroom. I feel like there is no chance I will get anything back. The guy is obviously a drug addict, out of his mind. I´m sure he stole it to get his next high and now he´s wandering the streets, can´t go to work, can´t come home.

In the house, everyone told me that they thought it was very trusting that I often left my windows and doors open while I was home, where he could see your computer. BUT THAT´S WHAT I WAS TOLD TO DO!!! I was specifically told to leave my windows and door open. Geez. Sometimes, I just don´t know. People here assume that I know things that I could never intuit… Like to do the opposite of what they tell me.

We are going back to the police station tomorrow. Several friends of friends are helping us, but I honestly can´t imagine what they can do. Perhaps arrest him, but recovering my stuff is like a needle in a haystack. Not to mention they have things like regular homicides to deal with, slightly more important than a rich gringa getting robbed of an old computer.

I guess it´s another excuse to go shopping. Or for you all to come visit me soon.