So a Pigeon **** on my shoulder in the center of Bogota today..I mean I got robbed

[Mountain Man]

Well guys I have been to Bogota nine or ten times in the last three years and have had an Apartment here nearly the entire time, spending two, three and four months at a time. Always felt safe but today that changed a little when a Pigeon **** on my shoulder!

Guess what? .... it was a Colombian Bandito plot. My wife quickly assessed what was going on! I was completely oblivious!

Here is how I saw the event... I was walking hand in hand with my wife with her sister tagging along. We were on a busy street near the center of Bogota as we got to a busy corner I felt bird dodo land on my shoulder, I looked and saw this white spot on my shoulder and a woman was touching my shoulder and saying perdon perdon and was pointing at the sky wanting me to look at the bird. My wife grabbed me and hauled me away telling me not to look up! Now my wife and her sister had me from both sides hauling me away. Ok I was still oblivious! They said... do you have everything do you have everything? I said... what do you mean? As I said that I checked my money and my passport and had both... are you sure? I checked again and confirmed I had it all... by this time I was starting to figure out they were not crazy and that something bad really did happen! As we walked a little more I checked my left front pocket and Lo and behold all my cards were gone! We rushed back to my apt. and used my Vonage phone to call all the card people and none had been used successfully yet. I guess they hit the wrong pocket!

Ok I will continue in a bit and tell you what my wife and her sister saw happen to this big dumb Gringo!

[Mountain Man]

Ok here is what they tell me happened! All of a sudden my sister in law was pushed away from us. The bird do do was squirted on my shoulder by a woman whom then tried to keep me occupied while they pushed my wife away as I held her hand. They only pushed her away enough to give clear access to my pockets and not breaking our handhold. If that had happened it would of changed everything. My wife was yelling... thieves, thieves! I did not even hear her yelling and did not know the Spanish word for thieves anyway. At this point the girls pulled me away and the rest is history. I remember looking back where this all happened and the crowded street corner was now completely empty!

My wife tells me there was at least six Banditos involved in this! Lots of action!

Now remember I was on a busy street corner with lots of action going on... this was all beyond me. It will not happen again!

[Mountain Man]

I can think of a few things I did wrong! However the bottomline is I stick out like a sore thumb in Bogota especially in the center of the city. Soooo be carefull guys!

[Cap'n Jib]

MM,

Sorry about your experience. Colombia.....a beautiful country BUT a very tough place to live.

[HonkyTonk]

Damn MM! That's one hell of a story. I keep all my stuff in my front pockets too. Hard to stop a pro.

Glad to see you got your old Username back...

Interesting story. Reminds me of somthing that happened to me. I was downtown Bogota with my then novia about a year ago. It was during the day and she told me "hurry run." So, we ran for a few blocks until she thought it was okay. The place was extremely crowded and she saw something that did not look right. Didn't have to run again, even in a crowd. Just happened once. Good news is nothing happened and as you found out these girls are very perceptive.

[Sailover]

I had a 'blind' man in Bucaramanga drop his keys which of course I bent over to get for him. Sayonara dinero.
But I didn't feel stupid, just like a bottle of bird ****, I had never heard about that sort of thing before!

Another day my girl pulled us off a bus early because she didn't like the look of one of the thugs. I thought she was being paranoid. Maybe not!!

[Sailover]

Hey MM, what part of the city did you get hit? I have found the best way to keep out of trouble is to walk fast. Both times I was robbed I was with a girl which meant walking slowly. But at my normal pace I can walk through hideous areas with no problem. They just can't keep up and it looks too odd to have TWO people walking quickly, one behind the other. (with a bottle of bird ****)

[Charlie640]

Wow.. very sorry hear that MM.

A few comments though..

- You said you "FELT" bird crap hit you.
That must have been one hell of a load of crap for you to have felt it when it landed!!

- They say you should ALWAYS put you valuable stuff in your FRONT pockets. soooo I am mistified how they got your cards out without you knowing it. Were you wearing baggly dress pants?? I have heard of them using razor blades.

- "Ladrones" ( robbers/thieves) wa some of the first new words I learned when I arrived in Lima !!

- Do you have a commuter marriage.. or has your wife been to Canada?

[LastLion]

Mountain Man, **** man what a bummer. They must be good to get money out of your front pocket without you even knowing it... Hmm maybe those under the pants money and passport holders are really worth it!!!

I always keep a little money in each pocket and one credit card only with a folded up copy of my passport!!!!! No wallet!!!!