S**tember

It was all going so well wasn't it? Well, no amount of touching wood could save Intrepid Traveller Emma from the curse of the backpacker! Intrigued? Read on...

It was another grey day on Tuesday and it was really cold! After returning to Aerolineas Argentina to pay for my flights first thing, I met Claire and Laura and we headed back to the mall (that I didn't actually end up exploring the day before!). After lunch, we decided to visit the zoo, which was fun, but I felt it was a bit neglected and needed a lot of love. Plus, it was quite warm in my hostel that morning, so I'd gone out without my coat and thus I was absolutely freezing! Luckily, the girls had enough spare clothing to help limit the damage!

There were some extremely funny moments in the zoo though! I can't elaborate too much, as this is a family-friendly blog, but I had told Claire a tale about a male baboon I had seen on a documentary and how he was fascinated and subsequently disappointed with a certain part of his anatomy! She seemed to look at me with incredulity but was amused by my tale nonetheless. Imagine my absolute satisfaction when within minutes of approaching the baboon enclosure, a large male replicated the exact same behaviour I'd seen on TV just metres away from us! We were in stitches, and I was glad that Claire could see I wasn't a strange weirdo that made up bizarre tales about wild animals! In fact, the baboons were so fascinating that we probably spent more time watching them that might be considered healthy!

I was due to meet Anh for her last night in Buenos Aires that night, so I needed to head over to her hostel. We all boarded the subway, but because it was rush hour, it was absolutely rammed. It was quite amusing as we has to pile in and I couldn't see Claire as she was wedged in behind other people, so I spent most of the journey giggling and chatting away to Laura about it all! I said my goodbyes a few stops later, as I had to change lines to get to Anh's, and stepped out onto the platform.

Then I looked down...

The zips of my handbag were open and my heart stopped beating. Then it started again, but way too fast and up in my throat. S**t, s**t, s**t... On September 1st, I had been pick-pocketed. I checked through the bag and my little cash purse had gone, but NOT my phone, camera or main purse with my cards in, which had a large amount of cash in for the rest of the week. Thank goodness not much had gone, but I was gutted that after all this time, I became one of those backpacking statistics. So, I looked back at the closing doors of the train, knowing that it was impossible to get back on and tell the girls. I saw the woman who had been stood next to me, so I decided to chase after her and demand my money back. I had no proof it was her, but from where she was stood, it probably was. Of course, she denied it. I stood there like an idiot not knowing what to do, so I chased after her again and asked to see her pockets (all in English, even though she only knew Spanish). Well, I couldn't strip search her could I, so I just had to let her go, not knowing if it was her or not...

I guessed it served me right, because I was with friends, I wasn't paying enough attention, especially on such a crowded train. I served me right as I had been going on for days how I hadn't had any bad experiences and I was determined to get home unscathed. It served me right as I went out with my handbag for the first time in weeks instead of stuffing my money into my bra as usual. It served me right as I felt a bit of movement near my bag on the train, but I didn't actually look down to check it... blah blah blah.

So, instead of changing trains and heading to Anh's, I really just wanted to go home, so I boarded the next one back to the hostel. I met up with Claire and Laura again and told them all about it, I was reeling. Then, if things couldn't get any worse, I asked Sandy, the guy at their hostel, about the football tickets: "So, you´ll be getting our tickets tomorrow, won´t you?" I quipped. "Erm, about that..." As if my heart couldn't sink any lower. To cut a LONG story short, the agency that had sold the package to us hadn't sold enough and therefore wouldn't cover their costs by buying the pack of tickets that they had access to. The manager was going to try to buy the exact number needed but there was no guarantee he could do this and so it was possible there would be no ticket, or it would end up being significantly more expensive.

Of course, I tried to formulate a back-up plan, but on one day before the on-sale date, my options were limited. My hostel had told me that morning that they were definitely getting tickets but they wouldn't be selling them until they knew exactly how many they had and how much they would cost. I knew it was too good to be true when I paid my money last Saturday and for such a good price. Anyway, I found out that I couldn't get a refund unless there was no ticket (meaning that I would potentially had to pay a lot more extra). Needless to say, I didn't sleep very well that night!

Today was yet another grey, rainy day. I had wanted to meet Fiona for lunch, but with the whole football situation in the balance, I didn't want to leave San Telmo until I had a definite answer about the tickets. I spent the day going over to the girls' hostel to pester them. Of course, they couldn't give me any definite answers as everyone was in the same boat. I managed to put my laundry in to my hostel and then I had a haircut, but that was as constructive as it got all day! At 10pm, Sandy told me that it was looking 95% sure that we'd get our tickets, but he still couldn't confirm it for definite. To be honest, by this point, I had reached a weird calm place of acceptance - I was resigned to the outcome, whatever happened as at least I had made an effort to get a ticket. Realistically, I would be very lucky if I did as thousands of other people would be trying to do the same thing. Also, I'm still peeved about my purse, but there wasn't much money in it and it could have been much worse if my other things had been taken as well. So, the last 24 hours has been pretty crap, but I'm over it now - yes, I was horribly stressed last night, but in the past, that level of anxiety would last for days, if not weeks. As the end draws near, I really am noticing just how much I've changed. Let's just hope the rest of September improves!!!