starting from zero

I have a sad story to share, though it is a little late in coming,

A week ago now I was robbed while waiting for a ride at a gas station. It was an extremely frustrating and embarassing experience. No, I was not robbed at gunpoint, assaulted, or anything violent. (thank goodness) It was because of a moment of neglect on my part, not following my own advice, letting my gaurd down, and really there is no one to blame but myself...which is why I am still kicking my own ass about it.

After leaving the house to get to Monteverde last weekend, I got off at a gas station by the highway that was to be the meeting point for students leaving the mountain and going up to it. I arrived, bought a snack, and sat down to wait. Shortly after the driver who had come down the mountain arrived with students, and so I set my bags down next to the car and sat in front to wait for the other vehicle. While sitting and waiting, I see out of the corner of my eye a car stopped and someone tossing something into the backseat...MY BAGS! I jumped down and ran over, seeing a black Hyundai Elantra leaving and my eyes flew to where I had left my two backpacks, propped against each other. There was only one, Big Blue, loaded with all my clothing and personal items. The other, Little Brown, was gone. I felt like I was about to choke on my own tongue...I didn't know whether to scream or yell or cry! I ran back to the car and told the driver...he sped off to see if he could catch the robbers. The panic was starting to flood me and I paced, nervously balling my fists and running my hands through my hair. The driver got back with no success...my bag was gone. In there I had my laptop, external hard drive, a camera, my wallet, umbrella, waterbottle, headphones, sunglasses, an envelope with some cash, and a folder with several personal documents and bank info.

HOW COULD I HAVE LET THIS HAPPEN?????????????????????????????????? I always tell my students to watch their bags, never leave them alone. And for some reason I did just that, leaving myself open to being a victim. What was I thinking? ...That it wouldn't happen to me. My bags were in sight, it was ok. That I was in a safe place. WRONG!
The most frustrating of all is that I could have just put the bags in the very car I was sitting in...it was the one that went to Monteverde. Of all the things I lost, I was most upset about the external hard drive. It was the backup for all of mine and E's files, documents, pictures, movies, music... I lost everything, EVERYTHING. But E also lost important info. Upsetting too is that I almost left that external at home, and I should have. I didn't need it. What also gave me a panic attack later that night was the loss of my personal documents...and we are talking personal documents! Information for my residency, bank stuff, pay stubs. That was all gone.
It was just a moment of letting my gaurd down, letting myself feel too comfy...and it was a disaster.

Trying to see the positive.
While I did not have any way to check my e-mail or listen to music, at least I had clean underwear all last week. Big Blue, with all my clothes stayed put. Also, at least I didn't get physically hurt...it was a nonviolent crime, and that is something else to be grateful for. (Just for the record, while recently violent crime has been on the rise,  the vast majority of crimes in CR are crimes of opportunity, and nonviolent.) Last but not least, all the things I lost were material things, and while it will be costly, can be replaced. It's not like I lost a limb, life goes on with or without you connecting to the internet/taking pictures/ blogging abou it!
I cancelled my cards and I only had a little cash stolen. That is not a big deal! Replacing the cards is easy.
On Wednesday night, I got a phone call from an unknown number. It was a woman who lives near Sardinal, calling to tell me that her husband had found a ton of papers on the side of the road...MY PAPERS! He had picked them up thinking to throw them away, and noticed what they were...and they called me to see how they could get them back to me! We arranged a meeting on Saturday, when I would be on my way down the mountain, and I recovered pretty much all the papers I lost, including the residency documents and bank info. THANK GOD!  I was so surprised and so happy that someone would make the effort to do that! So all is not lost...just most. At this point I don't feel like crying when I think about what happened, but I am still very frustrated with myself. Live and learn, right?

Bottom line is that I learned a very painful and very important lesson. NEVER LEAVE YOUR STUFF ALONE, EVER.
So if you want to help me out with replacing anything, I would appreciate it ; )

Pura vida...Costa Rica.