I live in a boarding house-style apartment in Chapinero. I technically have roommates, but I don’t see some of them for days. Everybody stays in their own room. Only bathrooms and the kitchen are shared.
Everybody shares kitchenware. One guy had a blender. Unfortunately it was stolen. Somebody left the kitchen window cracked overnight. You can see our windows are barred, TWICE. In this shot you can see six window panes. But you can’t really see that behind each divider are metal bars. Then there’s another set of small, thin metal bars. So this window is double-barred. But that didn’t stop somebody from working the thin bars away to get a hand in, snatch the blender from the shelf, and take off.
He only got the bottom piece of the blender, which can be recycled for the motor. 5,000 – 10,000 pesos probably, or $2.50 – $5. We think it was a zorrero, the guys who roam the streets with big carts collecting recyclables.
I normally wouldn’t write about something so petty, but even I was surprised at this. That tiny hole, for such a low value item. The slightest error – leaving a window cracked open despite it being barred – and you get GOT in this country.
I’ve seen a slew of thievery recently. Check out The Theft of My Laptop in Medellin or The Theft of My Bicycle in Bogota. I’ll soon write about Thieves in Colombia.
Expat Chronicles 
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