Robbery
The Scottish guy suggested we go for a beer, so we walked around looking for a restaurant or bar. The particular area of Panama City we are in is called San Felipe, and is not the nicest part of town, in fact, you might say it's the worst part of town. But hey, the hotel is $5 a day.
We walked into one of a grimiest bars I've seen in my life, and I won't even comment of the condidtion of the washroom facilities. The patrons were mostly men in their 40s or so, very friendly, impoverished and drunk. It wasn't yet dark and what harm would there be in having only one beer here.
Several beers later, it was dark and Alex, my Scottish friend, disapeared.
A man who's facial hair was actually shaved into a peace sign called me over to him, and told me not to go outside because there were "bad" people there.
Just then two police officers walked into the bar and I talked to them. They offered to escort me home.
The next morning Alex came to my door and told me he had been robbed by six people on the way back to the Hotel. Unfortunately he had everything on him, passport, airline ticket, travelers cheques, address book, and lost it all. ouch.
He didn't remember leaving the bar, and said that it is very unlike him to leave alone (especially in a bad district). He did remember being robbed, and didn't struggle at all, whch again he said is very unusual for him.
I suspect that he was drugged. I met an American military police investgator here who said that rohipnal is commonly used by the thieves, and other "bad" people.
The travellers cheques were American Express and even though he also lost the numbers they were replaced very quickly, the Brittish embassy also sorted things out quite efficiently, but I might suggest avoiding Continental Airlines. They seemed to see this as an opportunity to make more money. Thier position was that they sold him a ticket, not a seat on an airplane. The computer said he had a seat booked on a certain day, and there was no question about his identity, but unfortunatly he lost the peice of paper, and this was going to cost him.
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