el_expatriado
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- Joined
- Jun 6, 2005
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Hi everyone,
So, it finally happened to me. Just a a week or two after posting that I had never been been victim of a crime here, I was almost car jacked last night in the town of San Pedro in the Province of Buenos Aires. My wife and I are staying in a hotel here in San Pedro for the 3 day weekend because we wanted to get out of the city.
Well, last night around 10 PM we were driving along Av. España to a parilla called "La Rueda" to have dinner. The road is not lit at all and I was slowing down trying to find the entrance to the parking lot. That's when a guy, around 25 years old and wearing a hoodie, came out of nowhere (he must have been hiding along the side of the road) running towards my car.
He was about 10-15 ft away when I first saw him and by then it was too late. I was concentrating on the other side of the road and I didn't see him approach until the last minute. He opened my door and started screaming at us.
I was only going about 5 kph at this point because I was about to pull into the restaurant.
Now, I know what you are all thinking... I'm an idiot and I deserve it for having my door unlocked. But I've only had my car for a couple weeks and I was used to my old car (Citroen C4), which automatically locked all the doors once you go into 2nd gear. My new car (Toyota Rav4) doesn't have this auto door locking feature. So, I haven't got into the habit of locking my doors yet.
Anyways, with my door open I slammed on the accelerator and took off as quick as possible. I was able to pull the door shut with one hand, helped by the inertia of the sudden acceleration. I was able to get out of there quick. We went back into town to a different restaurant that was better lit and with more people.
I didn't think that in a town as small as San Pedro (only about 60,000 people) they would have such security problems. This is a really sleepy little town and the last thing I expected was to have a car jacking attempt here. I always thought that kind of stuff would be limited to the Capital or Gran Buenos Aires. But no.
Anyways, I wanted to let everyone know. Make sure you are always driving with your doors locked. I just learned my lesson the hard way.
So, it finally happened to me. Just a a week or two after posting that I had never been been victim of a crime here, I was almost car jacked last night in the town of San Pedro in the Province of Buenos Aires. My wife and I are staying in a hotel here in San Pedro for the 3 day weekend because we wanted to get out of the city.
Well, last night around 10 PM we were driving along Av. España to a parilla called "La Rueda" to have dinner. The road is not lit at all and I was slowing down trying to find the entrance to the parking lot. That's when a guy, around 25 years old and wearing a hoodie, came out of nowhere (he must have been hiding along the side of the road) running towards my car.
He was about 10-15 ft away when I first saw him and by then it was too late. I was concentrating on the other side of the road and I didn't see him approach until the last minute. He opened my door and started screaming at us.
I was only going about 5 kph at this point because I was about to pull into the restaurant.Now, I know what you are all thinking... I'm an idiot and I deserve it for having my door unlocked. But I've only had my car for a couple weeks and I was used to my old car (Citroen C4), which automatically locked all the doors once you go into 2nd gear. My new car (Toyota Rav4) doesn't have this auto door locking feature. So, I haven't got into the habit of locking my doors yet.
Anyways, with my door open I slammed on the accelerator and took off as quick as possible. I was able to pull the door shut with one hand, helped by the inertia of the sudden acceleration. I was able to get out of there quick. We went back into town to a different restaurant that was better lit and with more people.
I didn't think that in a town as small as San Pedro (only about 60,000 people) they would have such security problems. This is a really sleepy little town and the last thing I expected was to have a car jacking attempt here. I always thought that kind of stuff would be limited to the Capital or Gran Buenos Aires. But no.
Anyways, I wanted to let everyone know. Make sure you are always driving with your doors locked. I just learned my lesson the hard way.
