Express Kidnapping

Having twenty-one days of annual leave left before my completion of service (COS), I decided to do a bit of traveling around Central America. My first week was planned and spent on Bay Islands in Honduras with my two training buddies, Marisha and Robin, and then two weeks in Nicaragua to spend time with my dear friend and fellow Peace Corps volunteer, Carolyn.

I arrived in Managua after a three hour delay at 830pm, where Carolyn met me at the bus station and we promptly headed straight to the hotel, grabbed some dinner, did some catching up before we zonked out for the night. The next day Carolyn had some errands to run at the Peace Corps office, so it wasn't until Wednesday, 14 July that we officially started our vacation.

That morning we left the Peace Corps office and headed to the bus stop on a busy street. Our plan was to visit and have lunch with Carolyn's host family from training, and then go to the near-by town of Masaya, which is known for its artisan crafts (a chance for me to do some drooling and perhaps get some new ideas).

After waiting at the bus stop for about ten or fifteen minutes, a woman, who also appeared to be waiting, started chatting with us and asked us how we liked Nicaragua, how long we have been here for? She was very nice and seemed interested in what we had to say. We told her we are both volunteers and have been here for almost two years, Carolyn in Nicaragua, me in Guatemala. She then asked us where we were going, and said she was also going to Masaya. She then proceeded to offer to share a taxi with us. Sharing a taxi with other people is a very common practice in Nicaragua.

Upon entering the taxi, Carolyn sat on the left, I sat in the middle, the woman sat up front, and a man sat next to me on the right rear. After about moving ten metres or so, another guy indicated that he was also heading to Masaya and tried to get in on Carolyn's side, which would have sandwiched us in the car. At that point she told me she was getting a bad feeling, and we didn't allow him to sit beside Carolyn; instead, the guy sat up front next to the woman. As we continued to move down the main road, the man sitting next to me started asking us how we liked Nicaragua. I wasn't 100% comfortable at that point myself and didn't engage in conversation.

About one minute later, the woman mentioned that we should lock our door. Carolyn and I looked at each other and ignored the suggestion. Carolyn asked that we be let off at the next bus station. The driver started turning into where the bus station was, started slowing down, and then slammed on the accelerator down a dirt road. As soon as Carolyn started screaming and everyone else was yelling, I knew this was a situation we could no longer get ourselves out of.

Carolyn tried opening the door to escape, but the guy in the front jumped on top of her to lock the door, she tried kicking him back, but got punched in the face. While that went on, the man next to me pulled out a knife and started yelling and threatening that we cooperate, while hitting us on our heads, otherwise we would get hurt "very badly."

We were ordered to shut our eyes and cover them with our hands. They immediately started searching our pockets, taking out the little cash we had, our phones, cutting the string attached to my camera that I had tied to my belt loop and demanded to know where our bank cards were.

"Sólo queremos 'money'," The man next to me kept on saying, as he continued to threaten us and hit us on the head with the butt of his knife.

I kept on thinking to myself that this will end soon. But it didn't.

Somehow, I was unnervingly calm during the whole ordeal. I don't know if it was because I was so scared I didn't know how to react, or I just wanted it to be over with as quickly as possible so instead of fighting back I just did what they wanted.

After searching through our pockets, the man started undoing my belt and button of my pants. Inside I was screaming, but the knife kept on flashing in my head, and fear ran through me as to what they would do to Carolyn if I fought back. They only patted me down to see if I was hiding a money belt, a relief to the height of my horror.

About twenty minutes in, they went through my small backpack, where they found my MP3 player, and told us to direct them to our ATM cards. Once found, they demanded our PIN numbers with the threat that if we didn't give them the correct numbers we would be put in even more of harm's way. Once given our PIN numbers, the woman in the front was dropped off at or near-by some ATM to verify that the numbers we gave them were correct, and we continued to drive around for another thirty minutes until she called saying the withdrawal was successful.

Before they let us go, the man next to me stuffed money into my hand and asked told us to take a taxi straight to Leon. That Masaya was very dangerous, as was Managua (yes, our abductors told us this as they were abducting us). Ironically, the money he gave me was more than he had taken out of my pockets.

We were released out of the car and our backpacks were thrown to the ground before the car sped away down the dirt road. The trunk was left up, so we were unable to get the license plate number.

We looked around the wooded, remote area we were dumped in. We were both shaking, relieved to be out of the situation, but had no idea as to where we were and what we may encounter next.
We walked up the dirt road for about ten minutes until we hit pavement and saw a hotel. A bit uneasy, thinking that our abductors may have a connection with the hotel, we went anyway; we had no other choice.

The hotel staff quickly realised what had just happened, and immediately called the police, while Carolyn called the Peace Corps office for someone to come pick us up.

A driver from Peace Corps came to get us and took us to the police station while we waited around until we realised we were waiting for someone who was taking their time on their lunch break. I had some minor burst outs of tears, but it wasn't until we arrived to the Peace Corps office and inside the building did I break down, and Carolyn was the more composed one at that point.

The Peace Corps / Nicaragua management and staff have been nothing short of amazing in helping us deal with what we were put through- I have also gotten calls from the Guatemala staff checking in on me. It makes me wonder what lone travelers have done after being put through this.

I cannot express the gratitude from the amount of e-mails and calls I have received. All of them have been urging me to come home, but I would be defeated if I were to have done that. If I would have had to decide the day it happened, I would probably be sitting at home in Clarence, confused, locked up in my room and wondering if I had made the right decision.

Instead, Carolyn and I spent the long weekend in her site watching trash television shows, movies and Sex and the City DVDs... and of course I got the opportunity to meet her friends, fellow teachers and her home for the past twenty months- the reason I had come to Nicaragua. I will be returning to Guatemala on Monday to continue on with my last three months of work.

Life has gone on, and we are unbelievably thankful for that- and also realise how much worse it could have been.

On the bright side, what didn't get stolen? My five-and-a-half year old Canon SLR, C$900 (~45USD) from Carolyn's left bra, C$800 (~40USD) and my US debit card from my left and right bra, respectively. It has brought a whole new meaning to "cash or debit?"

But the most important thing that didn't get stolen: us, obviously.

Please, please, please, if anyone plans on traveling ANYWHERE, check out the US Department of State website, or to get even more useful travel information, creep away on Peace Corps Journals to find a volunteer serving in a country you will be traveling to and contact them. I can assure you that about 99%, if not 100% of PCVs will be more than happy to provide safety, security and realistic travel information to anyone who asks for it.