Story Time - Robbed in a Caribbean Island (Photos)

You know when something very unlucky happens to you and you trace back every step that lead you into that moment? Yeah... I tend to outline a timeline like that quite often. I pick and choose different decisions that I made that could've avoided the whole thing and flat out torture myself. This was one of those situations... although, I have to say its one of the most fun experiences I've ever had.

It all started on a warm Panama night walking on the streets of this Latin American city. I was talking with a friend that was quite a few years older than me. He had just arrived to Panama and was wanting to meet new people. Apparently, he met some girls online and they had invited him to a party. I was quite hesitant at first, given I had never even considered meeting someone online in Panama for obvious reasons. Somehow, he still managed to convince me to come with him. I wasn't going to know anyone at this party and I would've normally declined such an offer, but this time I didn't. Just trying to get myself out of my comfort zone and probably even meet some cool people, you know? -
We were actually walking on this street that night.

So we get to this party, right? I was quite surprised to see it was a fairly luxurious and high class party; but, with a lot of young and cool people. My older friend spotted the girl that invited him and left me to explore no-man's land by myself. It wasn't that bad as people actually approached me, offered me drinks, and asked me who I was. I got to meet a lot of people, particularly a group of women who's ages ranged from 25 to 29. Bare in mind... when this happened I was only 20 years old. Some of them actually started flirting with me and I was quite surprised (maybe they couldn't tell how young I looked in a dark room and boozed up with jagger shots and tequila). To be fair, I'm 6'0 and I could grow a decent amount of facial hair.

So... we started talking and we discussed the upcoming Panamanian holidays and talked about plans. I told them I was going to go to an island called Bocas del Toro and some of them said they were planning to go too. I told them I would hopefully see them there and we could hang out. I didn't know that this was the second thing that could've prevented me from getting robbed (the first being going to the party). - Yeah, I know. This is Bocas Del Toro dudes.

Weeks went on and the Panamanian holidays were here. For my "luck", there was this huge party the night before we were supposed to leave for the island and ALL of my friends went except me. Turns out, since I was the one who was going to endure the 12 hour drive, I didn't go out with them. Still, being the night owl I am, I barely sleep for a couple hours. The plan was to leave at around 6 am so we could catch a "water-taxi" to the island before they stopped the service. I tried waking my friends up but it turned out they had been sleeping for approximately 30 minutes. They are all knocked out drunk - street drunk style. Somehow I managed to put them all into the car and we left.

Oh god... so I drive for a couple hours, right? Something was off - I couldn't see any street signs hinting I was going in the right direction. I finally reached a toll and the lady who worked there was kind enough to tell me I had been driving the opposite way for two hours straight. We turned back and I was ready to give up. My friends were passed out and smelling like rotting bodies in a whisky barrel anyway. Finally we get back home and everyone goes back to sleep.

"Fuck it!", I thought to myself, and drove to the bus station where I was going to purchase a ticket to leave for the islands. Guess what? They were SOLD OUT. Damnit! I accepted my defeat and went back home. I laid down to sleep for a moment, and after 10 minutes of closing my eyes and said once again: "Fuck it!". It was already 12pm, we were going to be hell of late in a place we don't know to hopefully find a way to the island. Worse case scenario, we could sleep in port and leave in the morning.

"Hey motherfuckers we're going!", I yelled as I barged into my friends' room. Everybody got into the car like a line of zombies being stacked for burning. I got my GPS right this time and drove away. It was one of the hardest drives I've done in my life. Horrible thunderstorms, two way roads, huge freaking trailer trucks, and a looping 12 song playlist my "co-pilot" had put on right before passing out. These guys had the brilliant idea to smoke some dope to avoid getting a hangover. I guess it worked because they all slept through it, while I was enduring one of my toughest challenges. I remember I thought to myself that I had all of these kids' lives on my hands.

And... we made it! we got there after 12 freaking long hours of non-stop driving. The whole place was dead! We needed to find a boat... and quick! Several strangers would stare at our car and some even approached asking if we needed some help. I had been told that taxi drivers usually worked with other companies in the area and that they would help us out. After turning down some people we finally spotted a taxi truck that we tailed down. The guy offered us to take us to the island for $100 bucks. He showed us an abandoned gas station port. We literally parked our car in a corner in hopes that it was still going to be there when we came back. A small boat approached the deck. Two ARMED guys that looked like mercenaries were driving the boat and offered us help putting our bags inside. We just awkwardly looked at each other and complied.

During the 30 minute boat ride in the dark space of the Caribbean ocean I started thinking about plans to take over the boat in case they started shooting at us and I wasn't the first one to go. Turns out they were very nice working people. It was all just a scene like taken out of a movie. But, we made it! we're finally in the island after all our efforts.

So one of the nights we stayed there we decided to go to this club that was in another near by island. We had to take a boat to get there. It was awesome, it had some swings and an area to dive into the water. So we were hanging out and having a good time with my friends when some of them started jumping into the water. I took my stuff and gave them to a friend while I jumped into the water for a minute. I came out and he gave them back. Right as we were gathering up to leave... I see the girls from the party pull up in another boat. - Actual Bar

Again... "Fuck it!", I thought to myself. I told my friends to leave me behind and that I would find my way back home somehow. So, immediately the girls recognized me and started talking to me. One in particular, a 25 year old Argentinian girl. We started talking by the bar while I had my wallet and some other random junk laying on the counter. I didn't want to put them back in my pocket because my bathing suit was wet. After about 15 minutes of talking I try to go for my wallet and notice it was gone.

"Did you take it?!" I emotionally asked this girl who looked at me like I was a public masturbator on the loose. She had no idea what I was talking about. I asked the bartenders, people standing around me, and looked throughout the whole floor. No signs of my wallet. The only thing that gave me some sort of identification, cash, and credit cards was gone. I was not only in a country that was foreign to me, but in an area a whole 12 hours away from the city. I had no cash and no way to get myself to the main island and to my house.

This girl was the final reason why I got robbed that night. But, she was also the reason why I could get out of this nasty situation. She offered me to pay for the boat ride back, gave me five bucks, and found a phone to make an international call to my parents so they could cancel all of the credit cards. She was in part an angel in this part of the story. So, I find a taxi truck and offered the guy five bucks to take me to my rented house. The dude said it wasn't enough. After I explained the situation to him, a voice from the back of the truck said "Wait, kid. Your wallet was stolen?" I replied "yeah, dude. I got no money left". "Get in." He said, and I did.

"Listen man that sucks, but I'm the owner of a really cool extreme water-sports location here in Bocas. I will pay for your taxi ride and tomorrow come over to my shop and bring all your friends. I will fix you up with a free ride." Holy shit! This was awesome. This dude just saved my ass AND offered me to do some cool ass activity. Too bad my friends were drunks that wouldn't do anything that didn't involve alcohol and getting smashed. Oh well... it was still an awesome experience.

Ended up going back home and realized someone had taken my spot in a bed and locked the door. Slept on the floor with some cushions that I found laying around. and called it a day. Hope you enjoyed this story and maybe even inspired you to get out and do something that will put you out of your comfort zone. I assure you, when you do that, crazy things happen. It might alter the order of things and start a new chain reaction that could take you to your next adventure.

Good luck!!