Robbers Hold up NatGeo Team at Nasca Hotel (and the place where you don’t want to book a room is…
( Enigmatic geoglyphs in the Nasca desert draw tens of thousands of tourists to southern Peru each year; photo c. RPP)Great timing, criminals in southern Peru.
First a Peruvian trucking company diverts 100 tons of UN rice for cold-spell victims to the black market in July. SUNAT seizes three truckloads (32 tons) of hijacked rice in Ica; the rest is still unaccounted for. The rice was intended for malnourished communities in the Puno area, where freezing temperatures have killed more than 433 people this winter.
Now armed robbers broke into a Nasca hotel early Friday morning and assaulted members of a National Geographic team filming a documentary on the Nasca lines, making off with three rooms of cameras, laptops and other equipment. This just after National Geographic Magazine published a destination guide to Lima in its September 2009 edition.
Way to say ‘thank you,’ people. (“Mucho grassy-ass” en el lenguaje de los ladrones.)
Peruvian news reports won’t I.D. the hotel, but sources on Twitter who are familiar with Nasca point to two rumored sites: Le Maison Suisse or Hostal Don Agucho.
A Peruvian travel company touts Le Maison Suisse as an elegant, three-star hotel:
The european architecture of the building surrounded by beautiful gardens, the dry and hot weather of the area makes La Maison Suisse Hotel an oasis in the Nazca dessert [sic] landscape.
If that Twitterer’s information is correct, that’s one hell of an oasis.
Another news hound on Twitter heard from his sources in Nasca that the lower-budget Hostal Don Agucho, near the Plaza de Armas, was the scene of the crime. In that version of events, the robbers registered as guests in the hotel the night prior to the robbery. (I wonder who tipped them off to the film crew’s presence in the hotel?)
News accounts of the robbery are sketchy and conflicting. Yesterday it was reported that the robbers had made off with $150,000 worth of equipment.
RPP reported today that the “delinquents” looted three rooms at gunpoint, out of 50 total that NatGeo was renting, and local police say that the stolen goods are valued at less than $150,000.
According to RPP, the son of the owner of the hotel entered the business at 4:30 a.m., where his mother told him, cryptically, that “all the rooms are taken.” This the son took to mean that she was being held at gunpoint, after which he left to call the police. Four police officers were called to the scene, which supposedly halted the robberty in progress. Strangely, the RPP story does not indicate whether the police saw or gave chase to the robbers.
Maybe the officers just held the doors open as they hauled out the loot.
The NatGeo team refused to make declarations to the police out of fear of reprisals from locals, says RPP. The filmmakers want to continue working on their film and have requested police protection during the remainder of their stay in the province of Ica.
Maybe they’re just on a tight schedule, but it doesn’t sound like the filmmakers have much faith in the police’s ability or willingness to catch the culprits, nor in the officers’ commitment to uphold the law.
Isn’t that a comforting thought for tourists heading to Nasca and Ica?
Barbara
I am an American writer who lived in Lima for seven years (2007-2014), where I covered Andean traditions, melting glaciers and daily life in the capital for Miami Herald, MSNBC and Huffington Post. I now live and work in northern Florida where I champion climate change advocacy and compassionate, affordable eldercare.
12 Comments
M. Isabel
This is just way too shameful. It’s making all of us Peruvians feel horrible. We’re so sorry.
Barb
Ugh. It’s so awful. Granted, NatGeo has insurance to cover such losses, but the gesture of attacking the filmmakers is so counter to Peru’s national interests.
Rachel
A few bad apples spoil the bunch making Peru appear to be shooting itself in the foot.
I’m guessing Peruvian authorities will have something to show (on television of course) in a couple of days due to the victims being from NGS.
If it were any other common day tourist(s), the authorities wouldn’t bother to blink an eye at such crimes.
I love Peru, but sadly one of the downsides of living and visiting there is the gross lack of law and order.
Jude
I hope the NatGeo robbery wasn’t an inside job. They’ve got a decent track record of employing locals and encouraging those who are trying to build careers in the film industry. A video editor friend worked as an assistant for them several times in the past and found it very helpful. (He wasn’t on the Nasca shoot so no scoop on what happened.) So it would be a real shame if someone took the short term gain of this robbery.
Having said that I find the theft of UN rice far more troubling. It’s one thing to rip off rich gringos, but far more saddening to think that someone feels justified in stealing from the neediest.
Barbara
I agree, Jude, that the rice theft is especially cruel.
Thanks for sharing the news about NatGeo’s practice of hiring locals. What a good policy — only, as you say, it could have drawbacks.
Someone on Twitter said that a friend of his, who has a business in Nasca, says that he heard that the robbers registered at the hotel the night before. Who tipped them off is anyone’s guess.
Daniel
How bad. They probably planned this before hand.
Hopefully, more severe sanctions will occur in crimes like this. Lately, police has been great at catching criminals
Anyways, robberies occur pretty much everywhere. including the US. And, speaking of law and order, many inner city areas in the US seem to lack of it.
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Geotacs
man that’s terrible
must be the work of some organized crime group
NatGeo losing equipment is ok – they won’t go hungry but the food for the hungry cold… that is just too much…
Olenka
This is a lie, my aunt (the owner of the hotel) told me that none of the crew members even saw the robbers! She told me that the robbers asked her to take them to the crew’s room but she took them to another room. She also told me that the only thing they were able to take were laptops and not their expensive equipment. And the part were it says that the robbers were staying at the hotel prior to the hold up isn’t true either.
I hate how some people exaggerate some things…
Barb
Olenka, your aunt is the owner of which hotel?
The information comes from RPP and various Peruvian news sources (see links in story), not just “some people.”
If you have a link to a more accurate news story, I would appreciate your posting it. I’m complaining myself in this blog post that the news reports are sketchy.
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Juan Carlos Arias
Consider these tips so nobody will take advantage of you:
Im a Peruvian and looking for tips for tourists I found a comment from a girl from Lima Peru and she make these important tips most tourists must follow:
NEVER EXCHANGE MONEY IN THE STREETS..NEVER… go to “casa de cambios” or exchange houses, they are easy to find anywhere in Peru… Please, listen to me,, there’s many tricks those people in the streets know how to cheat on you,,
ALWAYS “REGATEA(bargaining)” the price you are going to pay..it means try always to ask for the lowest price in anything you are going to buy or take,,..because you look foreigners, taxi drivers, street vendors and everyone else will try to make you pay more, double or even triple for the service or product u wanna get… say ” no, gracias, es muy caro.. yo solo pago (and then just say the half or 2/3rds price they are asking for) 3 soles or 2 soles..etc.
NEVER TRUST IN TAXI DRIVERS OR PEOPLE WHO WANTS TO HELP YOU FOR FREE….DO NOT LEAVE UR LUGGAGE OR BACKPACKS ALONE… it’s easy for them to take off and rob ur stuff..so be aware,,
IF UR BUDGET IS LOW,TOURS ARE WAY TOO EXPENSIVE FOR U.. there are some places u can visit without guides. YOU BETTER TAKE TOURS IN THE CITY U R VISITING,NOT IN LIMA BECAUSE IS MORE EXPENSIVE..For example, if you go to CUZCO,,as soon as you get there go to EL SOL avenue, and there is many travel agencies that have tours for convenient prices.. but not in CUZCO PLAZA, where is double price for the same tour..If u want to spend less money then follow these simple steps: arrive in Cuzco airport, take a taxi and pay no more than 5 soles to the taxi driver.. ask him (Por favor Lleveme a un hotel que no este tan cerca de la Plaza y que no sea caro, pero que cuente con todos los servicios)” Please take me to a hotel that is not expensive but that include all services ,nearby the city but not in Cuzco Plaza.” Then as soon as u get in the hotel unpack ur things, and take a taxi to the train station (just pay 3 soles) get a ticket for the bus to Aguas calientes and the train to macchupicchu. or if u want a guide tour,go to EL SOL avenue, u will find travel agencies over there ( actually if u go there then they will get the ticket to macchupicchu for u)Go to the front desk in your hotel and ask them if they can wake u up the next morning bacause u r going to take the train to macchupicchu..they all know at what time the train leaves,but make sure if u don’t have an alarm clock to let them know. TAKE SOME FRUITS OR LIGTH FOOD if u go to macchupicchu,,it’s more expensive to buy food in aguas calientes …the total trip is about 4 hours, buy some coca leaves or CARAMELOS DE MENTA for 0.50 centimos, just in case u feel dizzy, it will help you.
Although most people are very nice, never trust in any person you don’t know. Try to not using jewels or wallets/purses showing a lot of cash its very dangerous beware.