Friday

Disaster strikes. We started the day calmly enough with grocery shopping and banking. On the way back from the bank we stopped at a fruit stand to by sandia, pina y tamate all fresh from the field.

Mum wanted to take a picture of Lincoln and Deanna buying produce at the stand, so she took her camera out of her purse and tried to line up a good shot. Unfortunately it seemed that everywhere she went there were two women blocking her way. She finally got her picture, but as we were walking back to the car, she realized that her wallet, passport and change purse were all gone from her purse.

She raised the alarm right away, and pointed out the women and their car, which was pulling away as she spoke. I would like to say we dived into the car and took off at high speed, but what really happened is that we fumbled around for a few seconds, with me unlocking the car door with the key from outside, while Rob helpfully locked it again from the inside, decided Lincoln should drive anyway, shifted seats, and THEN took off at high speeds.

In fairness to the little Yaris, it tried its level best, topping out at 145 kph but was no match for the RAV4 which contained the miserable little theives. We kept them in sight for quite a few kilometres, dodging in and out of traffic, but a bus stopped on the road and a number of vehicles coming the other way gave it an opportunity to get ahead, and eventually we lost them.

Lincoln, I must say, has missed his calling. He should have been James Bond. Very few people would have been able to follow that car and keep up as long as he did.

"Well!" says Mum, "Now I know what it's like to be in a high speed chase!"

So the rest of the day was filled to capacity with a visit to the police station, and far too much time on the phone with various credit card companies trying to get things cancelled.

The final tally? All of her credit cards, all of her debit cards, her drivers licence, health card and passport, and just short of $200.

A phone call to foreign affairs in Canada and we now know that we should be able to get documents from the Canadian Embassy tomorrow that will allow us to get home on time.

We ended the day nicely with a BBQ, a walk on the beach, and swimming at Geoff's pool in the rain.