Anybody expecting anything thrilling here should move on. Nevertheless I think some might find interest in my short story of what happened to me tonight.
At roughly 23:00 I was going home from my salsa classes near the Lanús train station. For the 40th time or something like that. Since I live in Avellaneda, it is quite a good opportunity for me to go there, 15 minutes bus ride. On mondays I go home with remis since I am a bit worried about security but on fridays I go by bus. Felt save because there is much crowd in the streets.
Well, tonight, and ironically the second last time I go to said Salsa classes, I was not so lucky. As always, I took the passage under the train station to go to the other side to take the bus. Unfortunately there wasn't anybody else at the stairs down that passage than a boy and a girl, not exactly healthy looking, but I was not worried (although I did ponder a moment to turn arround, should have trusted my guts). Well, they asked me if I have something (did not understand the word, probably monedas or cigarretes), I said "no" and kept walking when the man slammed me against the wall and shouted "tu celular" (your cell phone), "te mato" (i'll kill you), "tu billetera" (your wallet) and similar. Well, I gave him my cellphone (a roughly 22 month old t-mobile g1, a loss mainly because of my data on it and because i'll spend my last 30 days here without smartphone).
He was probably unarmed but I did not want to try my chances. Anyway, after handing over my phone, he lost balance a second (probably due to being full with drugs), I pushed him and ran (good thing I trained for a 10k run I participated last saturday en mar del plata). His girlfriend was rather passive and probably more focused on whether somebody enters the passage than on me.
They chased me a few meters outside and then gave up. Nobody paid much attention and I was like paralyzed and never shouted for help or the police when I saw that I am loosing them anyway. Then I went to a Pizza stand and asked them for recommendations what I could do. They told me where the train stations police is and I talked to them. They told me they know the couple and it is not the first time they did that, and we went around the station 5-10 minutes trying to find them. They told me I could wait because they surely come back, and then I could alert them again and catch them. I had enough for the night though. I let them show me where the next remiseria is and went home. Got the line suspended, changed my google and facebook passwords and all that **** you need to do after loosing a smartphone.
Police were basically nice and trying to help. I would not describe them as overly motivated though. After a while they told me that if I see the couple again I can alert them, but unless they still have my phone (unlikely) they can't do much due to lack of proof. They asked me if I want to make a denuncia, which I declined after having asked whether this is mandatory or helpful in any way. Police never asked me for my name or an ID.
As I said, nothing too thrilling. Nevertheless, for me the situation was thrilling and 3hs later I still feel like if I had just had 2 cups of coffee and 3 cans of red bull. Most here won't ever think about going to Lanús, even less at night. I am just glad that my health and my further belongings got spared. To many argentine friends such stuff happens more or less frequently. The record holder among them was robbed at gunpoint 3 times and beaten unconcious once. Literally woke up in his underpants. 2010 record holder got liberated of 2 blackberries and a laptop on two separate incidents 2010 (1x Palermo, 1x Lanús). Bottom line is that I am glad that I am fine.
At roughly 23:00 I was going home from my salsa classes near the Lanús train station. For the 40th time or something like that. Since I live in Avellaneda, it is quite a good opportunity for me to go there, 15 minutes bus ride. On mondays I go home with remis since I am a bit worried about security but on fridays I go by bus. Felt save because there is much crowd in the streets.
Well, tonight, and ironically the second last time I go to said Salsa classes, I was not so lucky. As always, I took the passage under the train station to go to the other side to take the bus. Unfortunately there wasn't anybody else at the stairs down that passage than a boy and a girl, not exactly healthy looking, but I was not worried (although I did ponder a moment to turn arround, should have trusted my guts). Well, they asked me if I have something (did not understand the word, probably monedas or cigarretes), I said "no" and kept walking when the man slammed me against the wall and shouted "tu celular" (your cell phone), "te mato" (i'll kill you), "tu billetera" (your wallet) and similar. Well, I gave him my cellphone (a roughly 22 month old t-mobile g1, a loss mainly because of my data on it and because i'll spend my last 30 days here without smartphone).
He was probably unarmed but I did not want to try my chances. Anyway, after handing over my phone, he lost balance a second (probably due to being full with drugs), I pushed him and ran (good thing I trained for a 10k run I participated last saturday en mar del plata). His girlfriend was rather passive and probably more focused on whether somebody enters the passage than on me.
They chased me a few meters outside and then gave up. Nobody paid much attention and I was like paralyzed and never shouted for help or the police when I saw that I am loosing them anyway. Then I went to a Pizza stand and asked them for recommendations what I could do. They told me where the train stations police is and I talked to them. They told me they know the couple and it is not the first time they did that, and we went around the station 5-10 minutes trying to find them. They told me I could wait because they surely come back, and then I could alert them again and catch them. I had enough for the night though. I let them show me where the next remiseria is and went home. Got the line suspended, changed my google and facebook passwords and all that **** you need to do after loosing a smartphone.
Police were basically nice and trying to help. I would not describe them as overly motivated though. After a while they told me that if I see the couple again I can alert them, but unless they still have my phone (unlikely) they can't do much due to lack of proof. They asked me if I want to make a denuncia, which I declined after having asked whether this is mandatory or helpful in any way. Police never asked me for my name or an ID.
As I said, nothing too thrilling. Nevertheless, for me the situation was thrilling and 3hs later I still feel like if I had just had 2 cups of coffee and 3 cans of red bull. Most here won't ever think about going to Lanús, even less at night. I am just glad that my health and my further belongings got spared. To many argentine friends such stuff happens more or less frequently. The record holder among them was robbed at gunpoint 3 times and beaten unconcious once. Literally woke up in his underpants. 2010 record holder got liberated of 2 blackberries and a laptop on two separate incidents 2010 (1x Palermo, 1x Lanús). Bottom line is that I am glad that I am fine.
