I have told this story to friends before. When I recall this story with an ounce of pride, I always come out as the hero, equipped with street smarts and travel intuition. Then I referred to the actual journal entry.

Friday after Spanish school Christian waited for me on the front steps. He and I would meet up with friends for lunch before heading to Otavalo.

As we boarded the bus at the terminal we had our first experience with a theft scam. No one was on the bus except for a man at the back quietly reading the news, so we were in no hurry, yet as Coleen and I boarded the bus we were being scurried down the aisle by two men who seemed to have followed us onto the bus. One noticed Coleen had brushed up against something and they both were eager to help her. Little did we know this turned out to be the old Ice Cream trick. One helped her take her backpack off while the other conveniently pulled out a Kleenex. I stood by the bus seats confused at the commotion. Coleen noticed her bag being kicked to the back of the bus where the third member of their team sat quite aware of his task in this scam. She started angrily inquiring about where her bag was going. Luckily, she caught onto what was happening. To me, most of it was a blur as it happened so quickly. Next thing I knew Coleen was shooing them off of the bus. This is where I clued in. As Coleen snatched her bag from the guy at the back, they all hurried off and I grabbed a long, wallet-like case from one of the mans hands. He snatched it back. It wasnt Coleens after all. I was actually stealing the thiefs wallet!