Tonight, I was robbed by two muchachos in the streets of Tumbaco. It was a short encounter with the brute directness of imposition, the rapid crossing of foreign life lines, the intrusion of characters in my life not chosen to meet deliberately.
I was out for dinner with Lili: we had delicious Tortillas de Papa and humitas, bags of corn, in a traditional restaurant, later two beers and the time passed rapidly with kind chatting about life and future. At about eleven p.m. we walked down a lonely street near the central parque to fetch a cab when behind a passing car two youngsters in hoodie jackets crossed the road to our side. Lili, with an accurate intuition instantly suspicious, began to run while I, just not believing that something like that could ever happen, continued steadily. The first guy stopped me while the other approached me from behind. After a short struggle and a little conversation (que quieren?, que quieren?), they got away with a five dollar note of my wallet. A cheap but important lesson: when in doubt, better run.