Grumpy Blogs about life, dreams and Work

I’m in Santiago Chile today.  Black Bear wants to go to Brazil, but we didn’t plan very well. He found a hotel online, but in the notes it said you have to be careful after dark.  This, compounded with the stories an Antonio told me on the plane, confirmed I don’t want to go.  Antonio said he got robbed on the beach at the point of a shot gun. It was  broad daylight, people around and the robber didn’t care.  Also, he was kidnapped.  A group of bandits hijacked the caravan of busses he was passenger in. The tour buses travel in caravans so as not to get hijacked. The bandits conquered this by doubling up as well. They are like fast food restaurants.  They super size, we super size. The bandits drove the busses into the jungle, robbed everyone of everything except the clothes on their backs, emptied the vehicles of gasoline and left them there.  The tourist hiked out to the main road and another bus picked them up.  The driver of the new bus said they got off easy.  The passengers could have wound up like the driver of the original hijacked bus.  He was shot. Brazil doesn’t really sound like a place a gringo like me needs to be.  Instead, were just going to hang out here, then head to the beach this weekend.

Note: Antonio also relayed a storey of a girl who hitchhiked through brazil alone.  Everyone she met warned her of the dangers.  Apparently she completed her travels unmolested.