Theft on a bus in Costa Rica

Hello from Costa Rica! I hope writing about this will get it out my system. It’s traumatized me more than I thought it would. I also hope it will reach a lot of eyes and serve as a warning to other travelers and such out there in the world. 

This is probably going to be long winded because it’s been brewing. Prepping for this trip, I came across a lot of warnings about crime in Guatemala which was going to be my first leg. I found myself feeling super anxious. A lot of the experiences of Crimes from my life in South Africa, where I’m from, came to the forefront. I didn’t like that as this is supposed to be a happy time where. Thinking happy thoughts and jumping up and down for joy. Maybe I’ll tell you about Guatemala on a different blog. Last night, I flew from there to Costa Rica and landed at 11pm. There’s a story about being at the airport, Taxi drivers & Uber for another time. 

I was up for another hour or so in bed going through posts about other travelers about their experience at Terminal 7-10, downtown San Jose, Costa Rica. They’re not good. Stories about how men dressed formally with name tags will approach you as  you enter the bus terminus, ask where you’re going, then tell you you just missed the bus. They’ll offer you a ride to catch up with the bus, pretending to call the driver. Once you get into their car, they lock the doors and drive wherever the fuck they want, drop you in the middle of nowhere and charge you for that long drive to hell. Now, you’re stranded and  have just been robbed. Etc. I had my guard up and didn’t even believe the bus guy when he told me what the fare from San Jose to La Fortuna was, due to these stories. He made it worse by telling someone else a different rate. And staring at me wherever I stood, while we waited for the bus. Even when I got on and was paying (at this point I had confirmed with someone who purchased a ticket online that the fare the guy told me was correct. I think he was fucking with my head when he told people I was talking two different prices), he came to the window and talked to the driver. Of course, this was in Spanish. I just felt his attention on me in an aggressive way. 

I found a seat by the back and happened to seat opposite a nice, modelesque guy. He’s friendly, so we chatted some. Bus vies. We’re going 4ish hours away. I got comfortable after telling a lady i was behind in line, hell no, I’m not putting my bag under the bus. It’s only a backpack but it’s stuffed as it’s my only luggage. 2 or so hours down the windy line, a group of people come aboard. I’m assessing everyone around me, my ears are perked up! I’m trying to figure out, are they a family? Are they together? Do they have ill intent? They seat in the same spot. I must’ve been one of the last folks with an empty seat next to me as my backpack was sat next to me all along. I look at this guy who is forward as if he works here, telling people where to seat etc. dude! Like! We’ve been at this for hours already. You’re new here! But ok. He points at my backpack. I’m thinking, he must be telling someone there’s an empty seat there, so I move it to my lap. Nothing happens. I set it back down. Bus is moving. He points at it again. I asked if he wants to sit, he nods yes. I place my bag on my lap again. I didn’t get a feeling duded was trying to sit but he was giving off hair at the back of your neck type vibes. I push my handbag as close to the window that I was sitting by as possible and slide the zipper from his side to the window side. I could feel the corner his eyes on me the entire time.can you say Cold War? 

There was a younger guy in the group that come on with this man but I still couldn’t figure if everyone was connected. Man signals to younger guy to pass him a backpack that was on the top rack. That unnerves me because I don’t remember them having bags when they came on. I’m half paying attention to this. Not long after, he nudged the younger guy again and signals for ANOTHER backpack  like whoa! This definitely doesn’t make any sense now! How could he be sitting with two smaller backpacks that look like they could fit into each other? This is not the same person’s luggage! I see him with Conner of my eye feeling up the bag  at this point, I’m in and out of sleep! I’d gone to sleep after 2am and woke up around 5-6am. I’m sleeping but my backpack handles are wrapped around my arms. 

The man even slept at some point. If you wanna call it that! I think he wanted people to let their guard down. Maybe an hour after they got on, bus stops for the only restroom break. I had read about this but wanted to make sure that was the correct location. I was nervous about taking out phone near these folks (or anyone for that matter). I sneak it out a bit but feel his eyes on what I’m doing. He doesn’t move as people are getting off. Nor did I! He then randomly gets up and he and his friend walk out. I feel like I don’t remember him struggling with two bags as he was walking out. You see, the thing is! I’m registering what is happening but am not necessarily watching this guy. I’m just keeping an eye on me vs him. They leave. I ask my hot friend if this is the break, I’d checked and saw it was the location on my phone but just wanted to make sure. He didn’t know, we asked others and they said yeah driver said we have 5 minutes (I had read about 15-20 but ok)  I run to a paid restroom that had no toilet paper! Pro tip! Always have your own even if it’s a bunch of napkins! Back from the bathroom and from buying some friend chicken (not part of my elimination / carnivore {story for another day} but a man’s gotta eat). OMG! To think I actually left my backpack in there when I went to the restroom. Thank goodness it was still there when I got back! I shudder…

There’s a Caucasian dude who’s anxiously pacing up and down with a backpack identical to the second one that was passed on to the guy who sat next to me by his younger friend. My heart immediately knows what’s up! I ask hot guy what happened? He says the guy is missing his cellphone that was in that backpack. I’m thinking, sht! They took it! I tell hot guy what I think happened. Hot G interrupts me by filling in the gaps. He says he didn’t trust those guys the moment they got on. The way their eyes were moving was suspicious. That’s when I realized I wasn’t going crazy. We share what we saw happen and Hot G calls white guy and tells him who took his phone. White G is so devastated, just pacing non stop looking everywhere for his phone. It was hard to witness. He immediately went out the bus to look for these guys. I’m like, dude! They’re gone! I was just worried he doesn’t miss the bus and end up stranded there with a backpack that is missing a phone and end up being even more vulnerable. He was so focused on getting his phone back in that moment. I wish I didn’t know exactly how he felt, having been a victim of multiple crimes of all sorts myself. It was rough! 

White G tells the driver who apparently couldn’t give two flying rats asses. Hot Guy (I promise I’m not a perve but let’s just continue calling him this for convenience) talked to the driver about is right after and driver tells him there is a camera on the bus, tapes of which will be released to police after a report has been filed. Hot G explains to White G  white G looked for that phone until we got to our destination in La Fortuna, and looked like he was still in shock even when we arrived. I know exactly the feeling! It’s his work phone. A lot of people do the digital nomad thing nowadays. Work digitally, while traveling. He was probably going to enjoy his life while part working here. He said everything is on that phone. I was just so happy that’s all they took. It could’ve been the whole bag! 

Poor guy things that when he put his bag down after the bus stopped for restroom break, the guys must’ve taken the phone then because they were on either side of him and were like, go go! Telling him to get off. Maybe that is when it happened but I asked him if his bag was on the rack at any point. He said yes. I said ok because they grabbed your bag then and had it with them for quite a while was the bus was moving. For him to have been so oblivious for all that is sad and I don’t blame or judge him. They are the ones who stole from him. So what if the guy wasn’t super alert? It happens to the best of us. 

Upon disembarking, I told a German lady I had talked to at the 7-10 terminal while we were waiting for the bus what happened. White G was only seating a few seats behind her. She had no idea! I think there’s going to be someone else who will get home and realize something was taken from their backpack! Unless the thieves put their own backpack there so that it is not suspicious when they grab one … or two down. I doubt it though. 

Please! Keep your stuff to yourself and be as alert as you can! Like I said, I wasn’t perfect in this scenario because I did worse and left my whole bag behind when either. Pray for us out here in these streets! 

I’m on insta and X as @BabalwaBrook 

My YouTube is Babalwa Brook as well. 

Write me back and share your stories or more importantly your safety tips! Sorry for any typos

Pura Vida!

Life Update from the California Desert

 Hey, everybody! I hope you're great wherever you are! I believe it's Palm Sunday today, so Cheers to those who honor it!

I just wanted to touch base and give you a summary of what life's been like since you last heard from me. I'm going to be short because I logged on to plan a trip and give my eyes a break from the iphone screen. One of the reasons I don't post on the blog much is because my computer doesn't wanna coorperate and I haven't gotten around to replacing it or getting it fixed. There's a long list of things that I have been giving my attention to. The other reason is that, I do have other forms of journaling that are filling in the gap of blogging. It was, after all a thing that I was mainly doing for myself. One can't, however help but feel a way about how you're getting thousands of views and hardly any comments. Sidebar: I get more views when I don't blog than when I do. Imagine that! It's like with my eBay stores. If I'm out of town and not listing any fresh items, I make more sales than when I am slaving away.What's that word again? Algorithm? (My stores, if you care: MyBrook, TruckerBrook and TheLovelyBrook all on eBay)

I've been living in the same place for more than three years now. One of my longest runs (pardon the pun) in my life. I have to say, the stability feels great. Have I considered moving for one reason or another? You bet! Part of why I haven't is because I am challenging myself. LEt's see what'll happen if I apply my energy to other aspects of life other than packing a bag and change of address. I recently had to update my Driver license. Boy, did it feel nice to have my current address on there. I also just got my own AAA membership. Those of you who follow me on socials may have seen the post. What makes this such a big deal is that my wasband (get it?) had me on his for a while. Even after we split up, he still had me on, so that was some form of a benefit / hold on me. I remember him once telling me that he would always take care of me until the day he died, I am the love of his life, even his current girlfriend knows that. Before you get teary eyed and think that this is some twisted form of a romantic story, No, it's not! Pathological lies and other forms of manipulationship. I remember wanting to find out from AAA if I could use the old membership to start mine, and thus be able to upgrade to the premium. This is how it works: If you have never had AAA, you have to start from the bottom level, have it for a certain amount of time without making any tow claims and then can you upgrade. If you recently had a premium membership, you can start from that membership. When I called to enquire, I gave them my old membership number which now belongs to someone else, no prizes for guessing. All of these are things that keep one attached to the past, no matter how much you believe you have moved on. This is why it's such a big deal that I now have my own basic membership that I will work my way up all on my own, like the independent btch that I am. Where my badass btches at? 

Another proud situation, is the fact that I earn my entire living from my eBay stores. I work everyday, even when I am on vacation. But I also give myself plenty of rest when I feel necessary, and vacation more often than I ever have. The fact that I have been able to lead a decent lifestyle, no roommates, no partner who walks around, swinging his manhood, implying that he's taking care of me, no boss, no unnecessary random drug tests (never done drugs all my life), no threats of getting kicked out, being fired, being dumped, deported, you name it, feels like a dream. So much to be thankful for! I hope that if you're in a situation where the above or any semblance thereof is taking place, know that there is life on the other side.Be gentle with yourself and grant yourself the grace you would offer anyone else in your shoes, but stay focused on the end goal: happiness /  contentment. It comes in all shapes and forms. So, don't compare. Know what yours looks like and keep inching closer and closer to that. Compare and despair, as they say.

While on the subject of finances, I have made way more, spent way less, but haven't necessarily been happy. My priority right now, is peace. More money would be nice but I am doing the best I can to sustain myself within the confides of the peaceful bounds. There are a lot of things I could do to make way more but I love being able to book a hotel room in the wee hours of the morning, throw a couple of outfits into a suitcase, take a shower and drive to as Vegas (4 hours away) and stay there for a few nights, without feeling like I owe anybody an planation or excuse. This year alone, I went to Vegas and Laughlin, (both 4 hours away) in January, Vegas in February, and am planning my next trip now for probably April, unless, I feel super antsy  during this last week of March, then I will head somewhere before April. 

I take a lot of pictures still, but don't post half as many on social media. It's not a priority in my life right now. Being in the moment, taking it in, making mental memories with whoever I am wish are top priority. I still have pictures from my time in South Africa two trips ago that I never got around to posting. The memories are fresh on my mind. I was home, (South Africa) last November - December 2023 and took plenty of pictures then. All in my devices. So I didn't get 2 likes from those photos and hundreds of views in my stories with a couples of reactions? I'm thankful that my family was in a position to take time away from their busy schedules and host me, entertain me, cook for me, YUM! They're all great cooks. And LOL with me. Thankful for traveling mercies and for all the nice people I come across during all my trips. 

I've been reading books and listening to audio versions as well. These are things I enjoy that I wasn't able to make room for in my life because of how much clutter was in my head before. As I have slowly but surely been decluttering, I am finding myself having space to enJOY being me! Do I have moments? Heck yeah! I am working on that aspect of my life as well. We'll talk more about that some other time, or not at all, who knows? 

We did the gofundme fund raiser for buying electricity tokens for folks in my home town in south Africa for Christmas. The funds are still there! I moved them to South AFrica and my sister is helping me find recipients, I won't get into the details of why three months later, we're still on this, but the donors are kept up to date. Thanks to all of them.

I didn't plan what I wrote about and there may be other things I probably could've touched on, but I'm done for now. Let's see if AAA has any great deals for my next trip! Love and happiness to you all! 

Tell me what's going on in your own life below, or whatever you feel like sharing. Cheers!

The Great Manifestation story!

I just came back from an impromptu vacation to Vegas. While there, I promised everyone on my social @BabalwaBrook, a great manifestation story. It’s a bit long, so I thought it beat to post it here on the blog instead and just share the link. 

Here goes it! People were fighting over items in a thrift store I was in. I went afterwards to see what, if anything, I could find. The cashiers half jokingly laughed at my “finds” and told me I got sht stuff; I need to get in there with everybody else when stuff first comes out. I told them that I don’t like to come from a place of desperation. “I really just wanna manifest things at this point in my  life. I want them to come to me!”, I said  (wow! That’s a lot of punctuation!” 

Soon as I said that, a lady I’d interacted with earlier interrupted us to hand me a pair of shoes I really wanted. She had already picked them for herself but “didn’t like how they fit.” I thanked her so much in utter disbelieve, turned around and told one of the cashiers; “like this!” This is how I wanna get stuff! See? I just manifested this!” I explained to her how the lady knew to being the shoes to me. When it was time to go, the cashier and I thanked each other for the chat. She told me she learned something new, manifestation. That melted my heart. 

I get back to where I was staying, here’s an excerpt to a text that gave me goosebumps and moist eyeballs: I have a ton of stuff I’m getting rid of from reselling that doesn’t fit my store aesthetic, do you want to go through everything before I donate it to the thrift store? Some things are new with tags! Let me know!” Come on! And this stuff is free! Spoiler alert! The person just left my place, they dropped off a gigantic box from Home Depot full of clothes and shoes! 

Later that evening, my host knocks on my door. “Hey, Brook! I have this vintage dress that I wanted to give you for your online store!” It’s a gorgeous multilayer dress that she never wore. Honestly, I need to try to fit into it. I’d like to have something of hers, she’s older and it’s important to me.

Thank you for taking the time. I hope that you will find some inspiration to ask for what you want, “trust the process” and to believe, in any important area of your life. 

I’d like to hear your stories our thoughts, leave me a comment or message me on socials @BabalwaBrook

I also have a YouTube under my name BabalwaBrook

My new store is https://www.ebay.com/usr/mybrook

Love and light!

Survival of the fittest Truck Driver

 

The Semi-Handsome guy we shall name, Trevor. Cool people. I think he and I worked the same shift or something. Oh, wait! Not really! He told me he never got a day off. The older gentleman who took me for a ride along on day 1 also told me the same thing. Everyone was overworked. Hopefully, they weren't underpaid. Right? On behalf of United States Postal Service workers; you're welcome, America! One Night, I did my deliveries: This is how most of my Mail Routes looked - 

Working me to the Bone!

 How's summer / winter treating everybody? It's 102 in the California Desert right now (40Celcius) and I don't have air conditioner on. Story for another day. Where were we? The Pacific Northwest, i.e. Washington State, delivering Easter mail. I was driving between Washington State and Idaho. Idaho is known for potatoes and Washington for Apples (I'm not 100% sure, but I refuse to Google this right now). The driver we woke up from his truck one midnight and I got paired up. He was leaving. They wanted me to take over his route. I had a nice time sitting in the passenger seat while he did all the work. We talked about everything under the sun. I love hearing stories of people who are in really long relationships and are still in love. They were in the process of buying their forever home, it was an overall beautiful story. I feel bad we woke him up that night because they put him in a nicer hotel than mine.

Here's the food I stuck in the plain Luggage compartment. Press Play

Mail Delivery | Team No Sleep

  So, my new boss is hot! i.e. handsome and tall. California guy lookswise. Not necessarily my type, just saying! It was around 11pm that I first met him. He had asked me to go to work even though I had just had an entire day of traveling across a couple of states. I tried to reason with him but he told me that they really needed me. Someone had just quit. I don't know if it's quitting or AWOLing if it's at the time of your shift. I was adamant that I was in no condition to drive that night from how tired I was. One thing about truck driving,

Trucks, Plains and Automobiles. California to Washington, Via Arizona

Here’s a story I haven’t told on the blog. Press play then send hugs

I talked to my landlady about my new venture ahead. I was sad to be leaving so soon. I had already taken a liking to my new housemates, i.e. landlord and his wife. She told me I was welcome back anytime, I may have shed a tear. She gave me gift, lots of gifts and a suitcase to put them in.See this video for what exactly I got! Tom, the landlord wasn't home, so I was going to miss him, or he was going to miss me! It's also all systems go with my pre-prepared meals for the week ahead. We're taking it with me to Washington! If you think I'm going to throw away good enough food, you'd better think again, my friend. You know what happened when I was uhm expelled. I took that food along with me to two different homes. And I didn't even know where I was going to end up! Why wouldn't I fly across two states with freshly prepared meals to a hotel that I know will have a refrigerator? I know this because I called in advance and asked. 

I committed to working the Washington for minimum of a month. The deal was that I was going to be put in a hotel but there would be times where I would have to spend the night in the truck. What that meant was that I had to also pack as though I was going to live in the truck full time. That's a different kind of animal to staying in a residence and traveling to work daily. All that AND I had cooked food to take with me as well! Man! Also, I like to prepare my own meals, what's gonna happen when I'm out there? I don't want to have to buy fast food. these were all real concerns I didn't have that much time to entertain but had to. By the way, my car wasn't going to be able to stay at Tom's (my landlord) because I had told them I was moving out.

My Path to Financial Freedom

Press Play!

The Above video is follow up to previous blog.

Why do I think I told you this, but I find no trace of it on these pages? A couple of years ago, a really great gal I know from doing background work, offered the services of her husband to me. I took her number and let her know that I would reach out when I was ready. You know, because beggars / choosers? Just kidding, she had just offered because, apparently her husband is very good with personal finance stuff and loves to help people. It did seem too good to be true. I was living with my lovely then husband, Calvin at the time. All my energy was going towards survival but I never forgot the offer. A Few years later, I am now working as a trucker, I'd saved a decent amount of money for buying a house. We were in the middle of a pandemic, I was sitting with what I considered a ton of money. Opportunity cost anybody? My head was spinning, and my hands itching.

Honey, we're going to Washington!

 The guy from downstairs I mentioned on the previous blog? He should have not looked me in the eye after what he did or didn't do upstairs! I found the toilet seat closed. Never trust a closed toilet seat! I have brothers and I have lived with men. Just because someone closes the toilet seat, doesn't mean they're such a gentleman, they must've picked it up before they used the toilet. Also, ladies, and some of you gents, who sit on the toilet; just because the toilet seat isn't wet, doesn't mean it's clean. I know guys who will wipe their pee with tissue after wetting the seat. I sometimes prefer them leaving it all the way up. But that's also a false sense of security because, they probably put it up AFTER using it. I know! I have more issues than Vogue! Back to the (t)issue at hand: I don't take my own advice by flushing before I lift the toilet lid. And that was not a good move! That fcking Air BnB guest had had a number two and didn't bother to flush! Who are you leaving this movement for, Sir? What theeee phuckkkk? I was so mad! And pressed. Instinctively, I flushed as soon as I saw it. I wanted it to disappear, sht! ( no pun intended sht). Afterwards, I went to the landlady equipped with my translator. I told her what had happened.

Welcome to The Shit Show!

Alright, let's go straight to the shit show first job with the temp agency!  I had to drive one hour to the hotel where they park bobtails. Bobtails are just the tractor / head part of the tractor/trailer. I was to leave my car there, take a tractor where I was to pick up a trailer in another location. I logged on into their in truck computer device. I punched in destination where I was picking up trailer and drove... around... in circles. I had the destination in my cellphone maps as well for backup. As someone who wasn't familiar with the area, I didn't want to take a chance in that residential area and end up with a bridge on top of my trailer. That's the reason for my patience in driving around in circles. It got to the point where I contacted the manager and asked him what was up with the truck computer. He told me those don't work for directions, to use my cellphone. Well, thanks for telling me that beforehand! And it's my cellphone, will I be remunerated for its use? In 200 ft, stay on the left lane; said the GPS lady as I was stuck in the middle lane during rush hour traffic in Southern California. There was no way I was going to be able to squeeze in. Definitely not in a truck.I made it to the first USPS (United States Postal Services) location.