So I wanted to share this after I've had a few days to reflect on my experience. Not doing this to scare anyone, but I do want to make sure that people are mentally prepared and aware of this type of situation because it is certainly not unheard of in Colombia. Most importantly, I believe there are precautions you can take to prevent yourself from being a victim of crime, but this doesn't reduce your chances to zero, obviously. And lastly, even though bad shit does happen in Colombia, chances are that you fill be fine if you are aware and take standard precautions like you would in any country.
Backstory: I have been traveling Latin American for a continuous 8.5 months now with no problems. I had already spent nearly 88 days in Colombia with zero violent incidents. The previous 13 days or so, I had passed in the south of Cali in an highly secure apartment in Ciudad Jardin. Cali was to be my last port of call in the country with 90 days in total before heading south into Ecuador over land. I was having a tough time in Cali up to this point, only doing day-game approaches with essentially zero lays (after several dates with some very sexy but flaky women). Spent almost 2 weeks in the south of the city doing strictly day game around the University del Valle area and Unicentro and some parts of the north around Centenario Mall, with only a sloppy BJ to show for it all...which admittedly is still better than nothing.
That being said, I decided to ship in a young sexy 21 y/o Colombiana from Manizales (I had met about 5 weeks prior) for my last weekend in Colombia. I had a few lukewarm prospects for the weekend but decided on the sure things instead. She had been hitting me up lately with, "quiero verte antes de irte." So I decided to go for the guaranteed lovin and bought her a bus ticket to Cali.
I met her at the Terminal de Transportes around 10PM on a Friday night as her bus was actually on time. From here we grabbed a quick snack before making our way over to the taxi line. Take note this is the official taxi line - we did not hail a cab from the street which is generally not advisable in Colombia, even though I've done it several times without incident. There was a single dark-skinned Colombian guy (looked black) in front of us in the line with several other middle-class people with luggage behind us. Red flag #1, when it was time for the black guy to get a taxi, I noticed that the next available taxi actually waved off this black guy and pointed to us to come get in instead. The thought that crossed my mind was about a Chris Rock standup routine complaining how hard it is for a black person to get a taxi in NYC, but otherwise didn't think anything of it.
Red flag #2 - I was instructed to put my girls luggage in the front passenger seat. When I closed the door (a bit too firmly, apparently), the taxista started angrily complaining that I slammed it way too hard. He clearly seemed to be agitated for some reason. I apolgized and was like, "tranquilo, tranquilo." Anyway, I gave him the address to my hotel and didn't think anything more of the situation.
Red flag #3 - about 2-3 minutes after leaving the terminal, the taxista pulled into a natural gas refueling station to fill up the tank. We were instructed to get out of the car while it was being refueled for our own safety. The taxista then disappeared for a few minutes and returned once the refueling was complete, probably 4-5 minutes later.
Ref flag #4 - we get back in the car and the guy is complaining about how expensive it cost to have to refuel his car (50,000 COP) and about how he has already been working 20 hours straight today. I was starting to now get uncomfortable at this guy's negativity but me and my girl just kinda brushed him off and thought it better to ignore him.
We slowly approach my hostel now and it is probably 10:45 PM. My hostel is located on Calle 5 across from the Library. It is quite dark, there isn't much traffic, but I didn't think anything further. The taxista approached my hostel very slowly as he appeared to be looking at the numbers to see where the hotel was. Eventually, I just said, "this is close enough, we will walk 3-4 buildings...gracias." We get out of the taxi, my girl gets our on the opposite side toward the driver's side/street and I get out on the opposite side on the sidewalk/passenger side. Pay the man 20k and get about 9k change. I have the change now in my left hand and my girl's wheeled suitcase in my right hand. Close the door gently, and the guy pulls away about 20 ft and stops.
As I turn to my right I see a guy on a motorcycle (engine quietly running) wearing all black clothing and immediately notice a semi-automatic pistol in his lap, full face helmet on his head. Immediately I knew we were fucked. Next thing I know I feel a cold hard metal object being repeatedly rammed into my right shoulder blade. I knew it was a gun (#2). I dropped the taxi fare change to the ground, and we both simultaneously put our hands up. Then, I slowly went for my iphone 4 in my left pocket and just held it up. It was snatched up immediately. I look out of the corner of my eye and I see my girl in a hysterical panic. The girl was now being approached by guy on motorbike #1, gun shoved in her face. The guy takes her huge purse and her wheeled suitcase, when a third guy on motorbike pulls up now and scoops up her suitcase. The guy then starts patting her down with one hand while holding her at gunpoint with the other. From here, I still have a gun in my back, and my guy tells me "Cartera, Cartera." I reach into my right pocket and give him my moneyclip. From here, the guys slowly walk towards their waiting motorbikes while looking back over their shoulders at us.
Then, they just drive off, while occasionally looking back at us. I grab my girl and we immediately run into the front entrance of my hostel. The robbery is over, although she is absolutely hysterical and can barely breathe...
Overall damage: she lost what amounted to easily over $1200 USD in merchandise. For her, this is about a 3 month salary. Two smartphones, lots of nice clothing, her wallet, bank card, 30,000 pesos in cash, makeup, purse, etc. I lost about 150,000 pesos in cash, my travel bank card, my ID, and a beat-up iphone 4.
Lessons learned/advice from this experience:
(1) Whenever possible, always use easytaxi, uber, or a similar app when calling taxis in Colombia. This will ensure that you have the driver's information in the event shit hits the fan. I personally prefer using public transport when possible, but in a city like Cali this isn't really possible.
(2) Under no circumstances should your taxi driver stop en route to your destination. Taxi drivers are specifically prohibited from doing this during a taxi fare - didn't know this at the time.
(3) Under no circumstances should your taxi driver be on his phone. People in Colombia are generally very wary/paranoid of a taxi driver on their phone because it is easy for them to tip off some waiting robbers.
(4) If your taxi driver seems agitated or in a negative mood at all whatsoever, get the fuck out of the cab and get a new one. There is no reason you should be dealing with a taxi driver with a bad attitude or bad mood.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It turns out we firmly believe that we were set up - the whole thing was planned. When we stopped to fill up the tank, we believe that the taxi driver called in the muscle during the time that he disappeared to use the bathroom. Next day, we filed a police report at the police station in the centro of Cali, then I went to the bus station and we watched the video of the registered taxi line. While at the police station telling our story, one of the clerks just shakes her head, let's out a sigh, and says, "Cali es Cali" (Cali is Cali)...she seemed disappointed but completely unsurprised. Luckily, our taxi driver's vehicle was on video and we were able to get his plate number. That being said, it is highly unlikely that there will be any sort of justice done on our case. After talking with the police detective, we realized how swamped and understaffed their office seemed to be. We realize and understand that there will probably be no justice in this case, given how inefficient the justice system seems to be in this country. Lesson learned, and I hope at least one person can learn from this too.
Backstory: I have been traveling Latin American for a continuous 8.5 months now with no problems. I had already spent nearly 88 days in Colombia with zero violent incidents. The previous 13 days or so, I had passed in the south of Cali in an highly secure apartment in Ciudad Jardin. Cali was to be my last port of call in the country with 90 days in total before heading south into Ecuador over land. I was having a tough time in Cali up to this point, only doing day-game approaches with essentially zero lays (after several dates with some very sexy but flaky women). Spent almost 2 weeks in the south of the city doing strictly day game around the University del Valle area and Unicentro and some parts of the north around Centenario Mall, with only a sloppy BJ to show for it all...which admittedly is still better than nothing.
That being said, I decided to ship in a young sexy 21 y/o Colombiana from Manizales (I had met about 5 weeks prior) for my last weekend in Colombia. I had a few lukewarm prospects for the weekend but decided on the sure things instead. She had been hitting me up lately with, "quiero verte antes de irte." So I decided to go for the guaranteed lovin and bought her a bus ticket to Cali.
I met her at the Terminal de Transportes around 10PM on a Friday night as her bus was actually on time. From here we grabbed a quick snack before making our way over to the taxi line. Take note this is the official taxi line - we did not hail a cab from the street which is generally not advisable in Colombia, even though I've done it several times without incident. There was a single dark-skinned Colombian guy (looked black) in front of us in the line with several other middle-class people with luggage behind us. Red flag #1, when it was time for the black guy to get a taxi, I noticed that the next available taxi actually waved off this black guy and pointed to us to come get in instead. The thought that crossed my mind was about a Chris Rock standup routine complaining how hard it is for a black person to get a taxi in NYC, but otherwise didn't think anything of it.
Red flag #2 - I was instructed to put my girls luggage in the front passenger seat. When I closed the door (a bit too firmly, apparently), the taxista started angrily complaining that I slammed it way too hard. He clearly seemed to be agitated for some reason. I apolgized and was like, "tranquilo, tranquilo." Anyway, I gave him the address to my hotel and didn't think anything more of the situation.
Red flag #3 - about 2-3 minutes after leaving the terminal, the taxista pulled into a natural gas refueling station to fill up the tank. We were instructed to get out of the car while it was being refueled for our own safety. The taxista then disappeared for a few minutes and returned once the refueling was complete, probably 4-5 minutes later.
Ref flag #4 - we get back in the car and the guy is complaining about how expensive it cost to have to refuel his car (50,000 COP) and about how he has already been working 20 hours straight today. I was starting to now get uncomfortable at this guy's negativity but me and my girl just kinda brushed him off and thought it better to ignore him.
We slowly approach my hostel now and it is probably 10:45 PM. My hostel is located on Calle 5 across from the Library. It is quite dark, there isn't much traffic, but I didn't think anything further. The taxista approached my hostel very slowly as he appeared to be looking at the numbers to see where the hotel was. Eventually, I just said, "this is close enough, we will walk 3-4 buildings...gracias." We get out of the taxi, my girl gets our on the opposite side toward the driver's side/street and I get out on the opposite side on the sidewalk/passenger side. Pay the man 20k and get about 9k change. I have the change now in my left hand and my girl's wheeled suitcase in my right hand. Close the door gently, and the guy pulls away about 20 ft and stops.
As I turn to my right I see a guy on a motorcycle (engine quietly running) wearing all black clothing and immediately notice a semi-automatic pistol in his lap, full face helmet on his head. Immediately I knew we were fucked. Next thing I know I feel a cold hard metal object being repeatedly rammed into my right shoulder blade. I knew it was a gun (#2). I dropped the taxi fare change to the ground, and we both simultaneously put our hands up. Then, I slowly went for my iphone 4 in my left pocket and just held it up. It was snatched up immediately. I look out of the corner of my eye and I see my girl in a hysterical panic. The girl was now being approached by guy on motorbike #1, gun shoved in her face. The guy takes her huge purse and her wheeled suitcase, when a third guy on motorbike pulls up now and scoops up her suitcase. The guy then starts patting her down with one hand while holding her at gunpoint with the other. From here, I still have a gun in my back, and my guy tells me "Cartera, Cartera." I reach into my right pocket and give him my moneyclip. From here, the guys slowly walk towards their waiting motorbikes while looking back over their shoulders at us.
Then, they just drive off, while occasionally looking back at us. I grab my girl and we immediately run into the front entrance of my hostel. The robbery is over, although she is absolutely hysterical and can barely breathe...
Overall damage: she lost what amounted to easily over $1200 USD in merchandise. For her, this is about a 3 month salary. Two smartphones, lots of nice clothing, her wallet, bank card, 30,000 pesos in cash, makeup, purse, etc. I lost about 150,000 pesos in cash, my travel bank card, my ID, and a beat-up iphone 4.
Lessons learned/advice from this experience:
(1) Whenever possible, always use easytaxi, uber, or a similar app when calling taxis in Colombia. This will ensure that you have the driver's information in the event shit hits the fan. I personally prefer using public transport when possible, but in a city like Cali this isn't really possible.
(2) Under no circumstances should your taxi driver stop en route to your destination. Taxi drivers are specifically prohibited from doing this during a taxi fare - didn't know this at the time.
(3) Under no circumstances should your taxi driver be on his phone. People in Colombia are generally very wary/paranoid of a taxi driver on their phone because it is easy for them to tip off some waiting robbers.
(4) If your taxi driver seems agitated or in a negative mood at all whatsoever, get the fuck out of the cab and get a new one. There is no reason you should be dealing with a taxi driver with a bad attitude or bad mood.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It turns out we firmly believe that we were set up - the whole thing was planned. When we stopped to fill up the tank, we believe that the taxi driver called in the muscle during the time that he disappeared to use the bathroom. Next day, we filed a police report at the police station in the centro of Cali, then I went to the bus station and we watched the video of the registered taxi line. While at the police station telling our story, one of the clerks just shakes her head, let's out a sigh, and says, "Cali es Cali" (Cali is Cali)...she seemed disappointed but completely unsurprised. Luckily, our taxi driver's vehicle was on video and we were able to get his plate number. That being said, it is highly unlikely that there will be any sort of justice done on our case. After talking with the police detective, we realized how swamped and understaffed their office seemed to be. We realize and understand that there will probably be no justice in this case, given how inefficient the justice system seems to be in this country. Lesson learned, and I hope at least one person can learn from this too.