Lazybones and the Milliondollar Taxi Ride Scare

We had found a great hostal called Lazybones which had a lengthy courtyard with a huge mural, pool table, kitchen and a pool. Given the undying humidity the pool was a welcome site. Our first room was on the top floor of what felt like a barn like structure. It was a large room which shared a wall (if you can call it that) with the men's dorm. It is always interesting to me whether people know that everyone can hear their conversation and they just don't care - or are they oblivious? Either way it provided some entertainment for us as the guys were pretty interesting when they got home from the bar that night.

Our second night in town we were out in search of a good mojito (which we found at the Bigfoot Hostal - yummy) and we met some folks in the bar. First a couple that had had a typical encounter in a US airport where the airline refused to let him bring his surfboard. Normally its a hefty charge but during certain times some airlines flatly refuse. Frustrating but nothing in comparison to the next story. This young couple had fallen victim to the Milliondollar Taxi Ride - or for them $1100. In search of a cheaper cab from one bus station to the next out of Managua they headed out of the station and were lead up the road by a "helpful" person in search of a cheaper cab. When things felt strange and they were about to turn back, a local woman they had met on the bus offered to share a ride. Sounds innocent enough - wrong. She was in on the scam. They got into the cab and in no time 2 more guys got in the back, squishing them in. Then the knife came out - from the friendly local woman! A few punches made contact - just to show they were serious and then they were taken from ATM to ATM to withdraw funds until the card did not work anymore. Luckily the robbers had a tiny bit of conscious and they gave the couple back their passports, their backpacks with their clothes and gave then bus fare before they left them on the side of the road. Frightening for sure! The couple were amazingly calm and upbeat when we met them just a couple days after the incident. They said in retrospect something didn't feel right from the beginning but they didn't listen to their instincts. Moral of the story - pay full taxi fare from an authorized cab (ends up costing an extra $5 or $10) and try to fill cab with people you really know. If you do fall victim - give up your possessions - after all they are just possessions. Unfortunately we have heard that this similar scam is occurring in Bolivia and other parts of Latin America. We will hope our luck holds out and we don't have any run-ins with the local ladrons (robbers).