Stick 'em up

Really?... I knew I should not have written it but I did. My close of service survey, my greatest accomplishment (or biggest surprise or something) I answered as “not having a major security incident, at least not yet.” Being pick-pocketed didn’t count. Considering how much time I have spent in Tegus, how often I walked around the capital, traveled with luggage, at odd hours, hitch-hiked etc, I have taken unnecessary risks and been lucky so far. This time, I did everything right. I took the small direct bus, got on at the “station” in Tegus and waited on the bus until it left. Why do people have to be punks?!

6:28 pm, Saturday August 29: bus pulls out of Tegus
About 20 minutes outside of Tegucigalpa, a young guy says he wants to get off at the next “stop”. The ayudante (money collector) rolled his eyes and they pulled over to let him crawl all the way from the back seat. As soon as the kid stepped off the bus, he got back on and had a pistol in his hand. The ayudantes closed the door and the driver continued. I did not hear what the youth said to them. Bug (another PCV who lives near by and was traveling with me) noticed the gun too. The kid pointed the gun at the two ayudantes as they handed over all the money they had just collected and the earnings from earlier that day. The kid also robbed the driver and told him to keep driving. The ayudantes were checked again, lifting their shirts, turning their pockets inside-out, taking off their shoes. This kid looked about 18 years old as did his accomplice. The other guy started in the back asking for cell phones and money from every passenger. The first guy camped out in the front and started collecting from the passengers near him. The entire mini-bus (probably about 35-40 people) sat with our hands on our heads for about 15 minutes. When the accomplice from the back arrived at our row (near the door) he waved his gun toward Bug and I and asked for “celulares y dinero.” I had sat on my Peace Corps issued phone but the second he asked I handed it to him along with about 400 lempiras that were in my front pocket. I turned my pockets out to show that nothing else of value was in them. Luckily, they did not ask for more and we both got away with the majority of the money we had just gotten out of the ATM, our debit cards, groceries and overnight bags. I had kicked my backpack under the seat in front of me at the start of the robbery. If they had asked, I would have handed it over. I am glad they never asked.

After robbing everyone on the bus, the first guy told the driver to make a U-turn to drop he and his buddy off at a pre-arranged spot on the highway were get-away vehicles were waiting. As we returned to their drop-off point, the second guy glanced at me, and asked for my earrings. Really?! They are sterling, really, not worth much and everyone here where gold anyway! I gave up all 5 of my small sliver hoops. Anything to keep them from getting nervous and pulling the trigger. Finally the two assailants got off the busito and we again started heading toward Valle de Angeles to visit other Peace Corps friends. While the majority of the passengers started yelling at the driver and ayudantes for not stopping at the police station on the highway and letting the guys on the bus in the first place, Bug and I began to laugh it off. The passengers were upset because one woman apparently warned the ayudantes they were thieves and why did they let them on the bus? (Yet she still got on the bus after them.) The driver responded honestly, “I had a gun to my head, what did you want me to do?!”

Suddenly, a woman yelled that we were being followed and it was the motorcycle one of the robbers got on. Bug saw a motorcycle behind us, and a car did follow us until the last turn to the police station in Valle but whether it was the robbers or not, I have no idea. Oddly, those last few minutes we were ducked on the bus floor and the driver sped, honking toward town were as scary if not more frightening than the actual robbery. Women wailing and praying out-loud will have that affect.

While staring at a gun in the hand of someone using it as a means of control and threat, I was glad I remember to report my whereabouts to Peace Corps. I gave them my money, cell phone and earrings pleading silently for them to leave our wine and groceries. I completely forgot my camera was in my backpack as well. I wondered if my friend Fazy responded to the text message I sent her just minutes before, I hoped our friends started cooking dinner despite not hearing from us when we reached the halfway point as planned. I wondered if the guns were really loaded. Really? Those are the things that crossed my mind in the presence of two desperate kids with guns? It all turned out ok in the end. We made it to our destination, late and to worried friends (who were trying to call us and call us and call us) but safely. We corked a bottle of wine that survived the robbery and laughed all night in disbelief that the whole thing really happened. We told the story over and over, covering all the details. “My notebooks, my notebooks,” cried a university student in the front seat. He threw the backpack at her head and told her shut up about her notebooks as she continued to cry “My notebooks, my notebooks…” in relief. He took my small earrings and not Bug’s huge ones? He even examined my single hoops through two holes before deciding that he did indeed want that one as well. Money gets lost or spent, things can be replaced, everyone is safe. It is just one more story to share and an experience I hope I never forget, nor repeat.