Day 18 - Antitrust

Fact:  I have never had anything robbed from me, not anything I can remember anyway.  I was quite proud of this fact especially considering sometimes I can be a bit clumsy and a wandering daydreamer.

Phone a friend

I would be gutted if someone stole my phone, it is the first decent phone I have had for a long time.  I was quite proud of the fact that I had my Nokia 6300 for over 5 years.  I just didn’t like the culture of people constantly upgrading their phones every 6 months to the slightly newer model.  It is surely a waste of money and bad for the environment.  But after my Nokia refused to charge I decided it was finally time to get a new phone. 

Perhaps what is more important than my new phone is the micro sd card that is inside.  I have had this micro sd card for the last 3 phones and it contains all my phone photos, videos and some text messages that I saved as they had some deep personal meaning.  This micro sd card was like a diary of my life since 2008 and being a sentimental person I really valued it.  If someone was to steal my phone with the micro sd card inside I would be pretty devastated.

Olivia

Myles my friend whom I met up with at the start of my journey to Panama City had gone back to England.  In his place my friend Olivia had come out to join me.  Olivia is a keen scuba diver and had come out to see the beautiful reefs off the coast of Belize.  The plan was together we would head back to Caye Caulker so we could do some diving together and then Olivia would head back home and I would return to Los Amigos in Flores and continue my journey to Panama City.  I was having a replacement debit card sent out to Los Amigos and I was hoping it would have arrived by the time I returned to Flores.  Before then Olivia would have to pay for me and I would have to owe her the money when I got back.  I hated having no money and having to borrow constantly from Olivia but despite this hostel life was pretty good.  Olivia is much more of a people person than me and finding new friends and things to do is always easier with her around.

Midnight lake

It was a Sunday night, we had spent the evening in the hostel bar like we did most nights.  The only issue with the hostel bar was that it closes.  At around 1 o’clock the lights are turned off and we are strongly encouraged to return to our rooms.  This night however nobody had any plans for Monday so we decided to continue the night outside the hostel by buying a bottle of tequila and going for a swim in the lake.

At first none of us went into the water, we were sat around the side of the lake having deep conversations whilst passing the tequila around.  It was around 3 o’clock when some local man drove past us on his motorbike, stopped and came over towards us.  At first I think he was trying to sell his bike to a few people in the group.  I couldn’t understand what he was saying as it was all in Spanish but he was talking to some of the group whilst showing them around his bike.  As he didn’t speak any English and I didn’t speak any Spanish conversation between the local man and myself was difficult so I generally tried to avoid him.  I didn’t want to buy a motorbike that night either.

After another hour or so the group did start to venture into the lake and to my surprise the local man stripped off into his y-fronts and joined us in the water.  I didn’t really want him there; I just wanted it to be the group from the hostel.  Mainly because I couldn’t speak to him but also he did feel like a third wheel sat at the edge of the group.  But other people in the group who spoke some Spanish seemed to be having decent enough conversations with him.  Maybe this guy is alright and I am just being very judgemental again.

That sinking feeling

It was now approaching 5 o’clock and everyone in the group was pretty tired.  However we had made it this late so we decided to stay in the water a bit longer so we could watch the sunrise together as a group.  I got out of the water a few times to check the time on my phone which I had left on the side under my t-shirt.  Other people from the group had left a few things by the side of the water as well including Olivia who had left a small bag.  It was at this point the local man left the water and started to get changed into his clothes next to our stuff.   

It was at this point that I became extremely paranoid, “that local man is going to steal my phone” my judgemental self said.  “No, he is a friend, I have to stop being so judgemental” my none judgemental self argued.  I desperately wanted to get out of the water and watch over our stuff until he left but that would be very rude.  “That is no way to treat a friend” my none judgemental self said.  The compromise was to watch him from the corner of my eye from the water and to just glance over once in a while.  The rest of the group where doing the same.

After he left I quickly got out the water to confirm that my phone was still there.  Of course it was going to be there, the local man was nice and he spent a few hours with us, why would he steal from me? 

I lifted up my t-shirt to find my phone was gone.  “I fucking told you” my judgemental self scream in my head.  Olivia’s bag was also missing.

I told the rest of the group that some stuff was missing and stormed off down the streets.  I went to look for the local man; maybe he hadn’t left the island yet.  I was hoping that I would find him sat around one of the corners inspecting my phone.  Of course this wasn’t going to happen though.  What kind of thief would steal something and then just move one block down?

After a pointless walk around the island I went back to the hostel where I met up with the group.  “Where did you go?” ask Olivia.  “I thought maybe, he might still be on the island” I replied in a very defeated voice.  Although I was relieved to find out that Olivia only took out with her in her bag some lose change for the tequila and a cigarette case.  She had far more sense than to take out anything valuable.

I couldn’t sleep that night; I just laid there on the top bunk having a massive argument with myself.

“It was my fault, I shouldn’t have brought my phone out when I knew I would be swimming”

“It was arrogant of me to flash around a fancy phone to a local man in such a poor country; I probably deserve to have it stolen”

“But how would I know he was going to steal it?”

“I should have trusted my gut instinct, I knew he was going to steal it but I was trying to be to God damn polite, I am always too God damn polite”

This self ranting continued throughout what was left of the night and most of the morning.  Maybe I was being too harsh on myself.  It was the local mans fault for stealing my phone, like he didn’t slip it into his pocket by accident.  But one thought stuck with me and haunted me the most.  “He had spent a good few hours with us, getting to know us.  Was that all just part of his plan?  Was he playing us all along?”  This thought continued going round and round in my head along with the image of me throwing his stupid motorbike into the lake.