One of Those Days, Pt. III - The Conclusion

This is the conclusion to One of those days parts 1 and 2. Read those first if you haven't already.
I wrote this on the night of Monday October 16:


I then showed everyone the tear in the screen and they too were convinced what had happened. The proprieter of the hotel gave us the runaround (the first thing I noticed when entering the room to drop off my stuff the day before was the sign which reads "La empresa no se hace responsible de objetos perdidos". You have one guess what that means. The people at the hotel had left the back window open (accidentally), making it possible for someone to come in and take my wallet (Drivers license, Sin card, health card, Visa, US$180.00, and others) and my black CD case along with my backups of the first three days of shooting. I now had a laptop with photos on it that were not backed up. That meant that if the laptop crashed (or say, was stolen), my work from the first three days would be toast. This is a scary thing for a photographer on the field.

My first order of business was getting these photos backed up on some sort of media. Robert only had a handful of CD's (not nearly enough for the 12 gigabytes I had accumulated so far). Tacuba doesn’t have anywhere to purchase DVD's. We decided to drive (based on information from the proprieter woman) 40 minutes to a town. We found the supermarket she was talking about, but they didn't carry DVD's. Time well wasted.

So here I am, 11:00pm, typing out this little entry. I'm backing up all I can on Robert's CD's and we'll head into that same town tomorrow when the stores are open. Unfortunately, we have four stories to cover tomorrow, which means a long, long day as it is. So tomorrow night I get to stay up and backup 5 discs worth of material (at about 40 minutes per disc to burn).

What surprises me as I sit here writing this, is how I feel about the whole situation. I've never been robbed before. Not only am I thankful that nothing else was taken (that is a major blessing to be sure), but I can't get bummed about this, even a little. If anything, it has made the day pretty exciting.

Most of all though, I feel like the luckiest guy in the world to even be here in the first place. Today we visited a family affected by HIV. The children are beautiful and I completely forgot about my own miniscule problems during the 3 hours we spent talking with them and playing with their kids (for me playing = taking photos). This afternoon, the stars aligned and I had some of the best shooting/lighting conditions so far on the trip, which got me so pumped. Plus, I talked with Julie, and she got a full time job for three months!

Being here has been so incredible. I absolutely love this work. It is difficult, and stressful, but it is the most rewarding work imaginable.

Tomorrow morning I am going to look out behind our little building and see whoever did this just took the cash and tossed the wallet. That would be sweet. Goodnight.

UPDATE:

Last week I heard from Febe who told me that the wallet had been dumped in front of the hotel, sans cash. I've already replaced just about everything, but at least it was returned and I don't have to stress out about identity theft.

One of Those Days, Pt. II

If you didn't read 'One of Those Days' yet, read it first. It is just below this post. Here is the continuation of a few of the adventures I had in El Salvador, I wrote this the night of October 16, 2006:

After dinner last night (Sunday October 15), I came into my room and was trying to de-mosquito it. I went into the bathroom for the first time and saw an open window (with a completely ripped screen). I thought nothing of it, as this place is pretty rustic. I just closed the window to keep the bugs out. I blankly noticed a bit of dirt on the shower floor. Again, you have to see this place.

During this two hour meeting on Monday morning I realized what had happened. During our 45-60 minute dinner up at the main building of the hotel (30 metres away), someone had slashed the screen, jumped into the bathroom, quickly grabbed my wallet and ran out the same way. I remarked at the fact that everything was in that room at that very time: my laptop, both my cameras, all my equipment and my ipod. This of course, was my latest theory, as we talked earlier about where the last time I remember having it was. The last time I actually used it was at the cafe, so I was wondering if I had been a dumbass and left it somewhere.

After the meeting I told my new theory to Robert and the others. They were naturally sceptical as I wasn't entirely sure if I even had my wallet at the hotel after our day away.

So we went off to our first story, a family who was a 1 hour (or so) trek away. We drove about 20-25 minutes through the mountain roads (no pavement, 4 wheel drive and holding on to something secure a must), then hiked 25 minutes through coffee plantations and over rivers [picture on the left was that very hike] on an equally treacherous mountainous landscape. We reached the family and did the story. This was a special family as they were affected by HIV. The woman had delivered a baby via c-section just two weeks before. We marvelled as we walked back to the trucks how she hiked these paths pregnant, and then newly cut after her delivery [Photo on the right].

Anyway, as I was packing up my gear to walk back, I started feeling pain; little sharp pains in different parts of my body. Then I saw them, little angry looking ants all over my shirt, arm, camera bag. I freaked out a wee bit. Balta and Robert helped brush me and my gear off, then we got on our way. I was still a little sore from all the bites.

The afternoon was really rushed. However, the lighting was beautiful and the setting was perfect. We got the story done in about an hour.

Anyway, we did our two stories for the day, and we came back to the hotel. I was getting my equipment ready to backup all the photos I had taken that day on the DVD's I had brought. I quickly looked around for the CD case in which I kept all 8 blank DVD's (one for each day of shooting) and the DVD's I brought for entertainment (Battlestar Galactica, Season 1). Everything was comfirmed. It was gone.

TO BE CONCLUDED

One of Those Days

Well, I arrived home from two weeks in El Salvador on Saturday night. I was thinking of posting on the road, but we thought we shouldn't (because there are people in this world who might take advantage of my absence by throwing a huge party in my home, and inviting too many).

It was a pretty grand adventure. Much more exciting and 'impactful' than I was expecting. I actually did a wee bit of writing on the trip, and will post it here in a series describing some aspects of life as a photographer on the field:

One of Those Days

I'm sitting in a rustic hotel room in Tacuba, El Salvador, watching the green status bar inch its way to the right on my memory card transferring it's billions 1's and 0's of data onto my laptop. It's late, about 10:30pm. It's warm, probably about 27 degrees, I'm finding it a bit of a battle keeping hydrated to tell you the truth. I'm pretty upbeat, which may be surprising after you hear what kind of day it has been. Today is Monday, October 16^th.

I woke up around 6:30am with the sun blinding my eyes. I am convinced that Tacuba, El Salvador is rooster Mecca. You know how cartoon roosters crow when the sun rises, well these buggers are jumping the gun by about 7 hours. Don't get me wrong, they do their job in the morning, but they are pretty anxious.

Anyway, I woke up and started getting ready for another day of shooting for World Vision Canada. I am here on a resource gathering trip with a journalist named Robert Vesleno. He and I get along marvously, which is fantastic. I got all my clothes and got ready to go for breakfast. My last item to add to my person was my wallet, which seemed a bit elusive, then even more elusive, then downright hiding on me. My adrenaline kicked up a notch and I started looking under beds, through my luggage and even in the bathroom. No luck.

I went outside to find Balta, a communications representative from World Vision El Salvador, and our driver for these two weeks. He had the key to the Mazda pickup which had become our beast of burden for the trip. I wanted to look in my spot in the back seat to see if It had somehow fallen out of my pocket. Nothing.

After a second go through of our room, and a crazed memory scan of where I last remember having it, I asked Robert for his international cell phone in order to cancel my Visa. I called Julie and told her I thought I may have been pickpocketed the day before at a city festival (it was our day off, and I had eaten some frog's legs, which taste exactly like...you guessed it, chicken). She of course showed her shock and surprise through a familiar 's' word that is her favourite for thoughtful expression. I concurred with her.

I talked with the other three of my companions: Robert, Balta, and Febe (pronounced Faybay, another communications expert from WV E.S. and our translator), and over breakfast (which of course included corn tortilla's, because EVERYTHING includes corn tortilla's, not that I don’t like corn tortilla's, but not three times a day for 9 days straight) we realized that I had it at a cafe/hotel we stopped at the day before on our way to our own hotel from the festival. We decided we would call once we got the ADP office.

ADP stands for Area Development Program, and World Vision Canada supports 4 of these (out of 18) in the whole country of El Salvador. Each ADP is in an area of the country which has the worst poverty rates. World Vision sets up an office in the area or municipality and starts supporting local people through child sponsorship, gift catalogue and other giving from supporting countries (like Canada).

So, this morning we were going to go to the ADP office's devotional time. The director of World Vision El Salvador (everybody's boss) just happens to be visiting this ADP the same time we are, so everyone was in good spirits for the worship and devotional time (none of which we understood in the least). After that was over, Febe called the cafe we visited the day before asking about my wallet. Nothing.

We then went into a meeting with the manager of the ADP itself to talk about the stories we would be covering. I have little to do with these meetings. They are more for Robert, who is covering the 'story' side of the 'stories', while I of course cover the photos. This meeting lasted like two hours. Me and Balta sat in the back helplessly wondering when we would get out to our two stories which we would be covering that day. Don't get me wrong, this time is important, just long for those who add nothing to it. It was during these two hours that it hit me: I knew exactly where my wallet was. To be more precise, I knew exactly how my wallet came not to be my wallet (or my money - $180 US dollars).

TO BE CONTINUED....
and don't worry.
I will be posting photos of the actual people.
I just have to go through them all to pick my favourites
(there are over 6000 photos to sift through).
Here is a small sample though

Apologies

Sorry for complaining on the last post. Everybody is just as busy, if not more busy than I am. So, Julie and I went away last weekend and I was making it an experimental photo experience. Here are some of the products of those experiments.

<-- A lighthouse on the very south end of the island.

Julie in the doorway nook of that same lighthouse-->

A sunset West Beach, looking out at Georgian Bay.

Posting for the rest of us

Ok. So I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment. Here is what is happening.

Julie and I had a very cool weekend. We stayed at a B & B on a native reserve on an island in Georgian Bay! It was interesting chatting with the lady who runs the B & B about native culture and current issues. We learned quite a bit, and got to go on a car ferry! We stayed in the Oriental Room

I am going to El Salvador with World Vision. This is a supreme opportunity for me, and it is pretty much number 1 on my priority list.

With that in my mind, I have a huge amount of work to do before I go. I want to

1. Finish up the wedding I did on September 9th, deliver that to the couple.
2. Complete several smaller jobs, including more work for Heritage Bible College and London
House Bed and Breakfast.
3. Freshen up my spanish that will make my job a lot easier in El Salvador.
4. Review/obsessively memorize all the material that World Vision has given me to prepare (ie, all the photos they need/want)
5. Prepare for and photograph a wedding this Saturday.
6. Complete an engagement session I did last week and give it to the couple.
7. Photograph and complete an engagement session i'm doing this Wednesday.
8. Find the time to continue my exercise regime (ie, I look sort of like a pear).
9. Blog about several things I've been hoping to blog about....such as (i'm not going to get to these until after I get back....sorry):
- Why I think Creationism is goofy
- A film about Jesus camps in the Midwest U.S.

Ok....so I'm hoping to get all this done lickity split.

Wish me luck! oops...I gotta go and get more work done....it's 10:18 on Sunday evening...and I have a lot of work to do before bed....