Quiero decirles “hola” a todos mis amigos de Colombia. Gracias por toda la ayuda y apoyo que me han brindado. Garlys, recibí tu mensaje que me dejaste. Muy lindo. Te agradesco muchísimo, y ya estarás recibiendo un email de mi parte. Hoy regreso a los Estados Unidos, pero volveré entre mas o menos un año.

Now the English part…   Today is my last day in Colombia. I was supposed to fly out today, but I missed my flight. I arrived at the airport at 7:00 am for an 8:00 am flight. I thought an hour was plenty of time and I was even trying to hurry. When I got to the ticket counter they told me the flight was already closed and there was no way I could get on. So I changed the flight to tomorrow.

(Note to travelers: Make sure you arrive at LEAST an hour and a half early for international flights in the Bogotá Airport.)

‘Just as well,’ I thought. ‘This way I can spend the whole day uploading photos. Finally I can tell everyone what kind of replacement vehicle I purchased.’

But then I met a middle-class Brazilian man named Jair (pronounced ‘zjhah-eer’). Jair recently left Brazil for a two-week trip to Costa Rica. His travel plans included a two-day layover in Colombia.

During Jair’s second day in Colombia, he was robbed by common thiefs. It happened in the middle of the day, in a rough neighborhood near downtown Bogotá.

All of Jair’s money, information, and documents (including passport) were in his hip pack. He was walking through town when two young men approached him. One of the men grabbed the hip pack forcefully, breaking the plastic latch on the back. The two men ran away with Jair’s hip pack. A report was filed with the local police department.

As a result Jair now has to return to Brazil to replace his passport, and he is unable to travel to Costa Rica for the time being. Yesterday he spent several hours in the Brazilian Embassy, getting a document that would allow him to return to Brazil without a passport.

At any rate, right now I’m hanging out with Jair at an internet cafe close to my hotel. I got him some food and helped him make some phone calls to let his family know where he is.

I realized that Jair and I have many things in common. For example, when Jair called his family, he decided not to tell them he was robbed because he didn’t want them to worry. He told them only that he had some problems with the immigration department, and that he would be returning to Brazil ahead of schedule.

That’s just like the time when I crashed my car in Northern British Columbia, and I didn’t tell my mom because I didn’t want her to worry too much.

To make a long story short, Jair and I will be busy following up with the police about his passport today. But I promise I’ll stop meeting people and put up a whole bunch of photos when I get back to Alaska.