Bad Luck

         This week was the week of bad mojo for Sucre House. It started Tuesday evening, when we returned home and realized two computers, a camera, iPod, money, and credit cards had been stolen from our house. The police were called, and it was a long night of tears, fear, and having almost 10 police officers in our house, asking the same questions over and over again. Although we don’t know exactly what happened, we have a hunch. The older dueños (landlords) of our house had come that Monday to stay in the adjacent apartment and take care of matters in Cuenca. Well, multiple times on Monday and Tuesday we would come home to our front door open, because they were either next door at the internet café or running an errand. Also, in the morning on Tuesday some man looking for a gringa (but not one of us) was let in by the dueña twice, thinking it was one of us he was looking for. The first time he was let in I told her nobody in the house knew him, which then baffles me why she let him in a second time. Well, in the afternoon while we were all in class (except Annie, who was probably upstairs), someone most likely entered through the open front door and made a quick grab of the valuables he could see in the rooms downstairs; we assume it was the same guy, who had had a chance to scope out the place when he was let in TWICE. Lucky for those of us that live upstairs, he didn’t have time to make it up there. Unluckily for Kelsey and Amanda, though, he swiped thousands of dollars worth of stuff. We were all upset, both by the robbery and because our space had been violated; we were very mad at the dueña, to say the least. After that the week continued as normal, but with an air of sadness lingering in the house. Our friend Clara tried to cheer the girls up by bringing us a puppy and a cake; I think for the moment, it definitely worked. By the weekend we had moved past the robbery, and were trying to enjoy Cuenca again and not be upset at what had happened there. Well, Saturday morning our friend John gave a free self-defense course to all the teachers at CEDEI, because it’s always good to have knowledge of self-defense when living in another country. And Saturday afternoon was incredible; I went on a long run with my friend Janet, and then met up with other friends by the river, sitting in the sun, eating food, and enjoying life. After the sun went down, we headed home, and got ready for our night. I am friends with an owner of a club here in Cuenca, meaning free entrance for my friends and me whenever. So Saturday night we had plans to head over to this club. We had some friends over beforehand, and then throughout the night I bothered the bouncer to get close to 20 people into the club. Everyone was having a good time, and my roommates and I stayed until closing time. I was going to wait to get a ride home with my friend, and then decided I didn’t want to bug him more, so the roommates and I started heading home. First I bought a nice piece of street corn, and then we waved down a taxi. Once in the taxi we asked how much to our house, and after quoting a high price, we decided no thank you, we’ll find another cab, and jumped out. We had walked less than a block from that cab, off of the main street just a bit, when all of a sudden I heard a commotion behind me. Someone was trying to steal my friend Kat’s purse, and had pulled her onto the ground in his attempt to get the purse. Kelsey had her mace on hand, and started pepper spraying the guy. Well, 30-seconds of chaos happened after that, with Kat grabbing the mace and spraying more, and Kelsey and Annie both ending up with mace in their eyes. I grabbed Kesley, who couldn’t see, and started yelling every Spanish curse word I knew at the guys. As we walked away from the situation, some guys continued to follow us, who may have been trying to help, but were essentially just freaking us out more. I ended up punching one in the chest who got too close. After the incident we found another cab, hailed it down and climbed in, a frightened and crying mess. The cab driver was certainly freaked out by our behavior, although we can only assume he saw some of what had happened. It was a terrifying night, and following the robbery so closely, made us feel very unsafe in Cuenca. Now, a couple of weeks later, we can all say, “things happen sometimes”, and have learned from these incidents to be more careful. Still, Sucre House has filed its quota of bad karma, and we looking forward to more months of amazing times from Cuenca.