I went out last night for the first time without someone of my family to accompany me. It was okay I guess. II enjoyed myself. Julieta, Gaston, Ramero, and Tomas went out and had a hard time trying to get into a club (Julieta didn't have ID, she lost hers a while back) so we said 'Fuck it' and went to a cyber in the neighborhood with good music, pool tables, and alcohol.

Tomas got pretty touchy feely with me and he didn't know that I'm in love with Andres. It's pretty much on a need to know basis. Julieta knows but she's a good friend of mine. So I tried to explain it to him in the best way I knew how in spanish (which is actually what I would have said in english if he spoke english).

"You know, right? You know that there's a boy and I really like him?" I said.

He ignored it and got closer to me.

"You know there's a boy. I love him, I'm sorry." I said again.

He went to the bathroom. I'm not sure what for. Maybe to throw up, possibly to cry. He wouldn't look at me for the rest of the night.

I got through the night without getting tipsy. Not Julieta, not Ramiro, and not Tomas. Gaston and I who are the lightest and smallest of the groups don't drink much to begin with anyway. We had two beers together and played pool. The sad thing is that we had two sober players against two tipsy players and we still lost.

The guy who ran the cyber with his friend (I'm sure that his friend is the finest thing I've seen nearly ever) played a few rounds of pool with us. He's cool with me. After a while day light was seen on the far east side of the city, so at around 6:00 am we all climbed into a taxi. This is where my story from an okay night turns into a shitty day.

I must have dropped my cell phone in the taxi, because when Julieta asked me to give her my cell phone for a second when Julieta, Gaston, and I got to my house, it wasn't in my pocket anymore. I freaked out a bit, and was really pissed at myself for loosing it.

This morning my sister and I texted messaged it and called it a few times. After a while, it was turned off, meaning somebody had it. Joli got a text message back saying 'I have your phone'. I was estastic. 'Who are you?' My sister messaged back. 'Me.' was the return response.

"He's playing with us...." My sister said. It was true...someone stole my cell phone after I had left it in the taxi, and they weren't going to give it back.

So we called my cell phone provider and canceled my plan. It didn't cost anything, but the fact that my cell phone is gone now and in US dollars I had 80 invested into it, I'm just pissed. So that guy who has it now can't do anything but turn it on and off. He can't resell it anywhere because he doesn't have a copy of the contract (a law here, I guess that you need the contract to prove it wasn't stolen) so the only choices he has are to return it to me or to throw it out. Maybe sell the battery.

Do you think if he know I was an exchange student...who I was and I why I had that phone in the first place, do you think he would have given it back? I called my parents on that phone. When I was homesick I would call Rini for words of encouragement. It's gone.

I'm scared to get a new phone because I don't want it to happen again. But do I really have a choice? Do I just learn to carry money on me, risk not being able to find a phone, or worse, risk being mugged because I flashed a peso or two (it happens here, man)? Once before I forgot money, and I had to beg people on the street. In a city of 2 million....it's dangerous in general anyway.

The amount it takes to buy a new cell phone is less than one months allowence I get from my parents in the USA. The choice is obvious: get a new cell phone and get a secure holder for my belt or something. I'm going shopping tomorrow. I guess I'll be taking another risk, but it's risker in the long run not having one at all.