More mishaps...

Just when I thought things couldn´t get worse, I one upped myself. Good job, Eric.

After traveling and traveling, we settled in the city of Chiclayo (destination was Trujillo, but that didn´t work out). We toured a very good museum and a very big archelogical site before taking the bus, finally, to Trujillo. Stayed in a very nice hotel (family paying, yay!).

The next morning, my beloved Domke bag was stolen from me during breakfast. With it, my passport, my D80, my four lens, my 3 filters, my 2 hoods, my 2 polarizers, my 1 spare battery, my 4 2GB memory cards, my cleaning kit, my sun glasses (aka my best purchase in years), my travel log, my reading book (ironically on chaos theory - this all started with the Trujillo flights cancelling on me) were all GONE. That bastard made out with about $2300 worth of merchandise.

We even spotted the person on security camera... he scouted us for about 15 minutes before making a smooth move to take the bag without any of my family noticing. But just like a 24 episode, the video was recorded over and the clip forever lost.

Anyway, police report and phone calls ensued, and I now have to break away from my family to get my passport done and possibly buy a new camera if available. So... tomorrow is my birthday, and instead of spending it with my family on the majestic Lake Titicaca, I will be running around Lima with my travel agent trying to reroute my flights to join my family once my passport is settled. Even my surprise birthday party was cancelled (it was at the same hotel restaurant where my bag was stolen).

While negativity dominance (a social psychology term) took reign, there is some perspective. The reason we went to Trujillo was to visit a volunteer there. She showed us around; I´ve seen poverty, but not that up close. I guess losing $2300 worth of stuff isn´t that bad afterall.

By the way, if I can take back one piece from the lot, it would be the memory card with all my pictures from the first two days. Second in line would be my camera body. Then the bag. Then the passport. Funny how I prioritized.