Recently I posted a piece entitled it was ten cities I will never return Rio was the first and always will be and there’s a reason. I have been going back and forth on whether to publicize this because it is something I never thought would happen to me. And introduced me to the reality when it comes to travel safety and danger stand side by side and an amazing experience can be something you never thought possible, at least that it was I thought.
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It was my last night in Rio after five long days in the one city in seventeen years I never once felt safe in. I decided to go out for one last night, I would never be back and my flight the next day in the late afternoon so a few beers wouldn’t hurt me. About twenty-five, thirty minutes into I was approached by this beautiful Brazilian who spoke no English and I no Portuguese but we both knew what we wanted and that should have been my first red flag, being in a nightclub only forty minutes and I was already going back to my hotel but all I saw was a beautiful Brazilian.
Red flag number two, once we’re back in my hotel they want to put their belongings in the safe which I found odd, it was just the two of us but I oblige because all I saw was a beautiful Brazilian and without my knowledge they were memorizing the combination to the safe And the red flag that should’ve said for me to get the hell out of my hotel room when the person took our beers into the bathroom and mine was filled with the drug Ketamine, we get into bed and that is all I remember.
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It was exactly 2:36 PM when I awoke only to find every thing of value I own gone. The safe was open with just my wallet with my credit cards still in it and my passport, the beautiful Brazilian had robbed me. I immediately ran down to the front desk and asked if they had security cameras and I knew it was a long shot. If there was one positive out of this was the Rio Police who couldn’t be more helpful. They asked if I wanted to fill out a police report but that was pointless as was leaving that day. Most likely you were given a drug called ‘Ketamine’ – it is an anaesthetic agent used to anaesthetise children and is used very rarely in extremely specific conditions in adults. And for anyone that has had a medical procedure it’s seconds until you are sleeping and it can take hours to wake up.
This would be the first time I heard the phrase ‘date____’. It something on the rise when a person is given a drug more often than not than through alcohol and while Ketamine takes effect immediately, the other drugs take longer but the end result is always the same, a person lying unconscious being robbed, physically and sexually assaulted and in some cases a life has been taken. The fact is Mr. Foster you got off easy, a computer, camera and money can all be replaced. I thanked the officer and went to the hotel and packed, and left Rio and as the plane sped down the runway and we took off I breathed a sighe of relief knowing I will never return.
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Once I had arrived in Santiago I sat and thought what could’ve/should’ve have I done differently and the fact is absolutely nothing. And I write this and you read it there are multitudes of people around this world it is happening too. But you can’t blame yourself, you didn’t make a mistake. A person doesn’t tell you their intentions and you don’t tell them yours. We all have wants, needs and desire’s no matter where we are in the world and we are all vulnerable because when it comes to travel pleasure and pain stand side by side because have very little over what will happen. Safe travels everybody.