The Good

San Francisco, California

A Victim of an Attempted Mugging

My wife and I decided to take in a play, “Where’s Charley Brown,” and get a room for the night in San Francisco.  At the motel my wife wasn’t feeling well, so she laid down to rest.  I decided go for a walk and along the way I picked up a newspaper and bought an ice cream cone.  Immediately, I realized that I was an easy target with both hands occupied.

I started back to the motel.  Normally, I am aware of my surroundings and check out the people and buildings.  I began this ritual after the 1970 University of Texas massacre.  A deranged student sequestered himself in the university’s bell tower with a .30-06 rifle and shot students and people indiscriminately. 

So while waiting for the light to change with a crowd of people I dropped back to the edge of the crowd and scanned the people, as usual.  To my far right I saw a man in his forties wearing a suit, white shirt and tie and he was pointing at me.  Then I saw a young man to my left in a white t-shirt and jeans and he was nodding his head.  They never noticed me watching them.  I broke sharply to my right and away from the crowd and walked at a fast clip South on Van Ness Street.  They figured I was an easy mark because both my hands were busy carrying the newspaper and ice cream cone.  They followed me down the street.  I was headed back to our motel.  Quickly I decided to follow the street curb away from the buildings and alleyways.  I figured I’d take my chances dodging the Van Ness traffic.  Lucky for me the sun was setting and their silhouettes cast a long shadow.  I kept a close eye on their bobbing shadow heads to maintain the same distance between us.  After three blocks, I made a sharp left turn into my motels parking lot and headed towards my room on the lower floor.  Over my shoulder, I noticed the two would-be muggers looking in the motel’s window and pretended to point at something and laughing.

The Good

Colombia/Cali

Mugging Averted

It was 1998, and I was visiting Cali, Colombia and a group of us were visiting the oldest church in Cali and was three hundred years old.  The church overlooked the whole city and it was a beautiful sight to see the city lit up at night.  Then about two hundred yards to our left, I noticed a large group of young men heading our way at a fast pace.  Our Spanish translator, Ray, greeted one of the men.  He knew one of them from playing soccer or football as it is known in other countries.  They indeed looked like they were on a nasty mission of some sorts.  As they continued on there way Ray said, “It was a good thing he knew one on them,” because he felt that we would have been robbed or worse.  This happen despite the presents of a policeman at the foot of the hill we just ascended.

The Ugly

Cali, Colombia, March, 2005

Shooting Outside a Mall

I went to the Unicentro Shopping Mall alone to enjoy a couple of cold beers and check my email at an Internet Café.  After spending three hours there and darkness settled in, I decide to go home and upon leaving I noticed a policeman, in the shadows, on a dirt motorcycle armed with sawed-off shotgun.  I just got into the Taxi when gunfire erupted.  It was the car exit gate I had just walked through.  My taxi driver shouted to me in English to get down.  I complied; I didn’t need a second invitation.  People all around me were hitting the pavement.  After turning around I saw a policeman looking into the window of a fairly new Toyota SUV at the gate.  Either he was talking to the people or checking out the dead.  I never did find out what happened.  The driver said, “This is a dangerous country.”  And I seconded the motion. 

It has been three years since I was in Colombia.  And the big change I noticed was that the Colombian solders were armed with Uzi’s patrolling inside the major shopping centers.  I was amazed because one would think that a submachine gun in a crowed store was not a good idea.  I hope the Uzi’s were set to single shot not full auto.  I really was not surprised because here and in Russia armed guards watch over the ATM machines with short barrel shot guns, which can do major damage to innocent bystanders.  Like wise a lot of gated communities in Latin American and European countries have hired security guards carrying short barrel shotguns.  Another thing I noticed, this time, was that the police were carrying semi-automatic pistols.  During my last trip the police were carrying six shot double action revolvers.  I surmised that they were seriously out-gunned by the drug dealers and other bad guys.