Lesson learned

This girl might have been the sister of the guy who asked for my bike. But for whatever I know she was just as honest as somebody can be. She organized a cab for me to get back to the hostel, waited with me until the cab showed up,made sure that the driver knew there I was going, negotiated a fixed price for me. Even if I was never really afraid of the toy gun I now didn't feel very comfortable in the neighbourhood any more.

Alberto skipped biking to help me going to the police station to get a report, and organized for a fantastic day biking in the mountains the next day!

The people I meet here in Argentina are just amazing, but I guess living in a country there the government more or less literary robs you, as does some of the kids on the street. You learn to stick together and help each other.

And about myself I guess you learn from your mistakes. There were a lot of things I could have and should have done to avoid this.

I should have told Alberto that I was planning to follow calle Goody Cruz for about five km east to come to his place, he would have told me that I should rather go one or two km south than five km east.

I should have turned around when seeing that the houses there not very pretty and the neighbourhood didn't look like the kind of place you chose to live in if you can afford to spend a lot of money on a bike.

I should have turned around when I saw that the house number where 4200 and not 34.

I should have turned around when the first women I asked for directions indicated that I should be careful about who to ask for directions and watch out if I see two people arriving on a scooter.

Instead I biked back and forward trying to find number 34, and stopped to ask for directions a second time. So now I know the reason why the people here always insist on taking long detours to pick me up at my place. And why still in Brazil I always asked asked about where it is safe to go before going for a run. So now I learned my lesson, and the price could have been a lot higher.