Marc & Nora ROUND THE WORLD 2005/2006 - Join us!

Tigre is a small harbour town approximately 30kms outside of Buenos Aires. It has a very significant ecological zone: the Parana River Delta. The name Tigre derived from an old story of jaguar hunters. It is believed that a few very famous hunters used to live in Tigre.

As it was a pleasant sunny day we walked along the river and it is quite amazing to see all the houses right next to the rather high river. It reminded us both of the Klongs in Bangkok.

There is also a rather impressive fruit and antique market in Tigre which we of course had to visit.

Back in Buenos Aires we spent a nice day in San Telmo and ate some more steaks.
The last day (night) before taking our flight to El Calafate was a bad one however.

We spent our last days in the same hostel where we had been previously (Home Sweet Home). We shared the 6bed dorm with a Canadian Girl and the same German Girl we knew from before (she lived and worked in Ecuador and was robbed 6x already)

however - to cut a long story short: she was about to go back home and only had 4 days left. we talked about safety, robbery, etc etc. then 2 guys checked in (in our hostel the receptionists even demanded to see the passports personally which has never been the case in any other hostel)

the 2 guys (from chile - at least thats what they said) made themselves comfortable on their bunk beds.
i had an awkward feeling somehow, i dont know why, but i just took all my stuff and put it into the locker. I really cannot explain why i felt uncomfortable, the guys didnt do anything to make me feel insecure. i guess i just sensed something.
i even put my expensive wind jacket and put that into the locker which i have never done before.

marc and i left for a last visit of the city centre and had a fantastic dinner in a really nice restaurant in san telmo. when we got home around midnight the German girl opened the door and her facial expression told us immediately that something bad had happened.

Those 2 bastards (sorry) were real professionals. They had screwdrivers and other tools with them and managed to open our locked lockers within minutes - the German girl was in the shower whilst the robbery happened!

They took everything except my jacket! I initally thought my whole small rucksack was gone but then we found it in another empty locker. I dont know why but they havent taken my sunglasses either.
What a bummer! 2 credit cards - both in 2 different lockers, my bankcard, marc's ipod, his mobile phone, all my documents, 2 cameras (one digital, one manual one) - all gone!
I kept my manual camera in my big rucksack - in case that my digital one will be stolen and i cant believe that they had the time and thorough to check my big rucksack out as well. It was stuffed below my bed, all closed, and the camera was in the middle of my rucksack - covered with clothes above and below.

Initially I thought my passport was gone as well - I usually keep it in my document bag but luckily we found it in Marc's rucksack where it has been since we crossed the Brazilian border. How lucky as we had a flight out the next morning.

The German girl lost her passport, her camera and all her bank cards as well.

We thought we both were really careful - we deliberately did not take all of our valuables with us as the chances of being mugged in South America are high and then we would lose everything. The hostel is really really nice and there is 24hours reception, we felt so safe there and we would still recommend it as a great hostel. There is nothing they could have done - those guys checked in as tourists and left with a small rucksack saying they are going to town. They even put the locks back onto the safes so everything looked normal.

After 4 hours in the most horrendous looking police station I have ever seen we got a police report for our insurance. Great!
I wrote down the names and passport numbers of those 2 guys but of course the passports were fake.

Now, a few weeks later we have met so many people that have been robbed. It is incredible what scams and distraction techniques there are - you simply cannot trust anyone!
We also met a Swedish girl who got robbed in the same manner as us - also in a hostel in Buenos Aires, her metal locker was opened with violence and the guy who did it also checked in and said he was from Chile as well. The poor girl had another bag stolen at a bus station a few weeks earlier - it was simply ripped off her - she is currently travelling with her 2nd (!!) provisional passport.
I guess this is organised crime - lets hope it is the last time for us! Such incidents really spoil the experience! We still have worse countries such as Bolivia and Peru ahead of us - but we are very alert and cautious!

Keep your fingers crossed for us!