Within ten hours of arriving in Las Terranes, on the Northern part of the Dominican Republic, we were robbed. No one knew we were there as we hadn't left the villa yet and we arrived early in the morning in total darkness. This clearly was an inside job. The villa was a fortress. Someone waited for us to leave, knew when the security guard was to come on duty and knew the only weakness to the house: a door on the second floor didn't have a double lock while every other window and door did.
The thieves climbed a 10 foot stonewall, climbed over 2 feet of barbed wire, climbed down. Then climbed the house to the 2nd floor balcony and unscrewed the door handle and lock and then proceeded to rob us — stealing very specific stuff from money, lenses, cameras, iphones, ipods and laptops to dental floss and mascara. About 20 grand in total. They were kind enough to leave our kids' diapers. And our passports which were hidden under the diapers. Good hiding spot I guess.
Not only were we angry, edgy and scared but we were suspicious of everyone for the rest of the vacation. We couldn't help but suspect the manager, the pool guy, the housecleaner, the guy at the corner market, the taxi driver, the guard, the 5 year old girl living next door...
And the police were totally unhelpful. They took our information and list of things stolen 3 times over 2 days and still got it wrong on the police report. They were just having fun — the lead detective actually made a deputy take his picture holding my one year old. He thought he was a funny kid. The villa manager hinted that the police were getting their cut. Other Americans vacationing for years in the area said this happens all the time — the thieves rob you blind on the first day when your guard is down.
So I was painfully left with the gear on my back: one 7D (my back up camera), one basic 50 mm lens, and one battery with barely any life left so I needed to take pictures sparingly as the thieves stole my batteries and chargers too. This little battery life became precious. I'd turn the camera on, quickly guess the exposure, take two shots, then shut the camera off. It lasted though. The battery went dead in the airport on our trip home.
This part of the Dominican Republic truly is paradise and worth visiting—just be sure to stay where there are guards day and night or stay at a resort. Don't rent a house! Especially one of these (click here). They had other terrible break-ins before ours. I guess we should have asked.
Here are a few shots from the week:
Here are a few shots from the week:
Posts
Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry!! I'm glad you all got home safely.
ReplyDeletethank you! down the road, we won't remember what was stolen—we'll just remember how much fun our kids had. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry I'm "breaking into" your post - I followed the link from the flickr.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to say that I'm sorry it happened to you!
It definitely takes away from the vacation and leaves a bad feeling about the country.
Thank God you guys are healthy and came back home. And I'm glad that regardless of what they did to you..you still had some fun and brought some good pictures back home.
It's strange — I'd love to return to the Dominican Republic someday because it's beautiful and the people are friendly and welcoming (most of them anyway). But yes, we'd be much more careful. We're very lucky we weren't in the house when they broke in.
ReplyDeleteThank you Anastasia!