Abby, Zoë and Enzo

Firstly, EVERYONE IS SAFE AND OK.

Yesterday afternoon, close to 5 PM, on our walk back from the Tambau area where we enjoyed some Tapioca for dinner. We got our camera stolen at gun point. This happened one block from the McDonalds we walked past so many times before on Av. Gen Édson Ramalho and Av. Sen. Ruy Carneiro. Some guy passed us on a motorcycle while we were walking along Ramalho toward home, he turned the corner onto R. Augusto Belmont, left his bike running, and ran the 25 feet or so in front of us all, and held a gun at me, and said something. Not sure what he said, but he grabbed my camera and ripped the strap from my wrist and took back off on his bike. The whole thing lasting less than one minute at the most.  There were people on the street at a little local bar about 25 feet in front of us, with two workers outside, who saw this take place. The bar owner came out and took Laura and the girls inside, Laura was still in shock and crying. They called the police.  The bar owner took us into his house and gave the girls crackers and juice. They were very hospitable and regretted this happening. They seemed to be in shock as well. They used their cell phones to call other English speakers to make sure we understood what they were saying, and were very nice. The family drove us home the 4 blocks around 6:30 or so, after waiting more than an hour for the police to show up, no one showed up.  We thanked them for everything. They said we should file a police report at the tourist police office in the morning.

No more photos until we figure out a camera solution. :(