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May it never happen to you
By Tom Findley
Living in Peru has its ups and downs. Let me tell you about a “down” in hopes that my sad tale might help someone avoid a similar incident. Just a few weeks ago, Lucia, my son Daniel, and I were returning from Santa Maria Beach on a Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. We got to Lucia's place in Surco and I stopped to drop her off. As she exited the passenger's side and my son got out of the back seat to join me up front, two guys suddenly appeared, one at the drivers door and one at the passengers door. They had pistols aimed squarely at my head and were yelling “baja, baja!” Apparently I did not move fast enough because the one in the passengers side hit me on the back of the head with his gun.
As I got out of the vehicle, the one nearest me began shouting asking me what my title or position was. Fearing a kidnapping I kept saying “turista, turista.” He then told me to give him my wallet and cell phone which I did. The two then jumped into my (new) Toyota RAV4 and sped away. Fortunately for us, no one was hurt and within a few days we were pretty much back to normal.
Let me offer some observations of things I would have done differently now that I have 20-20 hindsight. First, we never saw the guys coming so I wish we had been just a little more diligent in looking at our surroundings when we stopped at the building. Second, today I could not tell you what the guys looked like. I can give you a good description of the pistol one had in my face but that's it. I wish I had looked for some distinguishing feature so that I could just maybe identify someone when the police showed us pictures of suspects. Third, and most importantly, if you have a car that is fairly new, get a GPS installed. I had planned to get one but had not done so at the time of the robbery, to my regret. A GPS would be invaluable in case of a kidnapping, in my opinion. Fourth, the police told us that the vehicles of choice for armed thieves are new 4x4's and that Toyota is far and away the number one target with Nissan second. The robberies are almost always random and they just look for a likely target before striking. I will not be getting another Toyota 4x4. Fifth, when you give the “denuncia” at the police station, include everything that is lost with the vehicle, including SOAT documents, personal effects, etc. Also, keep legalized copies of all your vehicle documents at your house. You will be asked to provide copies of all vehicle documents to your insurance company and you will have to run around getting them from the various agencies. Finally, don't think about resisting if you are a victim of armed theft. They have guns and not much to lose.
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