Belize - "moonbystep"... an unbelievable story of a 19 year old girl

A story, a tale, or just a travelers life? You decide for yourself:

I met a person, the name I will not give away cause I still don't know how much truth is in the story, what kind of trouble she is in right now and if it is alright to tell this... but i will tell you the story, like I heard it yesterday night, first hand... from the traveler who experienced it...!?!

She is a 19 year old girl from Guatemala, growing up in a fairly wealthy family, reaciving a good education and learning english, as well as learning selfdefence and martial arts over the past 10 years. Why do I tell you this? well it is part of the story you are about to dive into.
With the age of 17 she left her house and fled to the middle of Guatemala, where her Grandparents had an old coffee farm of 30 hectars. The farm hasn't been used for ages so she was able live there on her own without anybody around...without anybody knowing. She left because she got sick of everybody having expectations of her and wanting her to become someone... she obviously didn't want to be. So she left to live with nature, concentrating on herself.
On the farmland she built her own little shed and lived there for 5 month. Having a raw food died and a water spring kept her alive, but occasional visits to the town to beg for vegetables made her survive.
After that time she decided she wanted to get to know the world.. so as soon as she turned 18, she went travelling, because before she wasn't allowed to leave the country. Without a real backpack, without money and without shoes she started her journey... hitchhiking central america...as a young woman... already impressive to me. While she was talking I looked down at her and realized that she is still not wearing shoes and the only luggage she had was a little military waterbottle bag - she was given by the military when they gave her a ride.
So after this introduction about herself, I told her that she is the first one I met who traveled the way I do... but a lot more crazy... which totally surprised me was that she was a young 19 year old girl...! I asked her if she is afraid sometimes? cause that is the question I usually get but she answered: "usually not... there is nothing to worry about... it will all solve itself", she says...! "Once I had to convince a guy to let me out of the car by showing him my big knife and telling him that I have nothing to loose" she continued smiling "but he understood pretty fast that he had crossed the line, cause I really had nothing to loose..." she said mysteriously. She followed "Even in prison, it was alright, there is a little fear, but your insticts of surviving are a lot more sensible in this time too"

So she was in Prison?!? I asked her about that part and thats when the story began:

Panama, about 6 month ago.
Lets call her Sandra (just to make it easier).
So sandra just returned from a sailing trip to the galapagos Islands. She had met an english couple in Panama who had offered her to go with them. But because the season was wrong, the current went against them and they didn't reach the galapagos, and finally returned to panama. But Sandras idea was to go to the Galapagos and then to cross the pazifik to Australia, Indonesia and so forth...So this didn't work out for her. When they returned to panama, they anchored at an Island in front of panama and got to know another Sailor with his 9 year old son and his dog on a nice 40 foot catamaran.

They hang out together and she found out that this is about to be his trip soon as well, he only needs to return to panama to get some things on the boat done, and will then be able to do the pazific crossing, but he also would need two more people. For Sandra that was more than perfect because she had already two people in mind, her boyfriend from england and his friend, both willing to do the pazific crossing, willing to buy a ticket right away to start the projet.
Sandra got on his boat and they went back to Panama. It took about a month to get all the problems sorted out and then they fixed a date to start the travel. Sandra told her boyfriend and the friend the dates and they got a flightticket to be there on time.
But it would never come to that journey.

3 nights before takeoff, the french catamaran skipper comes home drunk, saying he is not able to go. He didn't really want to tell why but while he is talking, the marina police shows up and wants to see the papers of the boat and their passports. They were looking for a specific person and a robbed Catamaran!!! Sandra gave her passport to the police and the french guy gave his papers plus boat papers. Thats when Sandra realized that something is wrong with that frenchguy. The Papers he gave to the police were different papers and a different name that she was introduced to!! He had more than just one set of papers!

She got suspicious and wanted to leave after the police left. Telling him that, he said, "there is no time for leaving" and that she has to go with him. Pointing her in the direction of the dingi (Beiboot).... to make the argument stronger he pulls out a gun! 

She graped all her stuff and he packed a bag for himself. Sandra got on the Dingi with the frenchmans son and dog. It was the beginning of the night and Sandra thought they would go to the mainland, to the marina.
But she thought wrong! He turned the boat in the direction of leaving .. on the open sea. She protested but the gun in his hand was more convincing and shut her mouth! they went 45 minutes out on the open sea, Sandra remembered. After this time they arrived at a boat anchored out on the open sea. The frenchman forced the son, the dog and her on the boat and left her their, while he returned to mainland to "sort out some things".
Sandra totally frightend looked all over the boat to find a phone, or other things that she could use for an escape.. but there were no... only a crying 9 year old boy and a throwing up dog! After further searching she found a satelite telephone with out charge. She pluged it to the engine and got the engine going, to charge some of the batterie.
Then she fell asleep. The boat was parked outside the bay right in the highway of big cargoships and this sound of big engines woke her up... reminding her that all this was not a nightmare but absolute reality.
She turned on the satelite telephone and was able to perform an emergency call! Her emergency call was her boyfriend in England begging for help because she was not able to think clearly anymore. I asked her why she didn't call the police? she answered that the number of her boyfriend came up immidiatelly and she also thought that at least she knew that he would instantly help her and oranize a rescue etc. She though the police might not believe her, or maybe she is also in trouble because she is on a stolen boat or so... well so her boyfriend told her to take the boat and manouver it out of the cargoship highway and back into the marina... He would take care of the rest.
She told the nine year old boy to climb on the sail and look for the mainland... because it was out of sight. The boy could see the skyscrapers of Panama city and so she steered in that direction to return to mainland. Sailing with the couple to Galapagos taught her how to manouver a boat under machine power.
Arriving in the marina, Sandra manovered the boat into the boat gasstation, because that is the only place where you can manover into easily, for all other manovers like parking it she had no skills. Then she thought of telling the gas guys about what happened but realized that she is maybe on a stolen boat, or other charges would be pressed on her because of the french guy... and the Gas guys not believing her... well she said: I just wanted to get out and as far as possible.
But the gasstations are fenced so she stole a little dingi that was tied there to get to another place at the marina. The boy and the dog she took with her. Getting out of the marina that way she send the boy and the dog to a friends house of the frenchman, knowing that they would take care of them. The only thing she wanted to do is leave the country. She got hold of her boyfriend. He told her to get out of Panama and go to Costa Rica because he had bought her a ticket leaving San Jose, Costa Rica the next day!
So she made her way to the bus station buying a ticket for the bus. They told her that the next bus would leave in 5 hours. So she went to a nearby hostel to wait. At this point she was totally paranoid and thought everybody was looking for her, and the police looking for her, for stealing a dingi, another boat, maybe kidnapping a child etc. So she went to the hostel to be around backpackers which are harmless and waited. After 4 hours, suddenly the lights went out in the hostel. 

Sandra decided to grap her stuff and walk to the bus to get a good spot because it was only one hour waiting time left. But the Hostel owner send all the people outside, as a saftey issue cause he couln't garantuee that anything gets stolen if the people run around in the dark. When she tried to get to her stuff... she got grabbed from behind... from the police!
With the police... was the frenchguy... pointing on her!
The police cuffed her and send her to the police station, without questioning and without listening to her!
She had to wait 5 days at the police station just for the police to look at her file and see what charges where pressed against her. Until the fith day she still didn't know what was going on and what she was charged for! In this time she had to wait in a cell with other criminals for 5 days and 4 nights...! she said that was the most unhuman situation she was ever into. Men and Women in the same cells... no observating officers and a lot of scared, humiliated, dangerous or puzzled people. The food came in a bucket... and the water in another one.
Her boyfriend looking for her all over Panama. After 5 days, and about 60 calls he had figured out what happened when he was searching for her, because she missed the flight. So he traced back her steps until the hostel! Thats how he found out about the police. He called and pressured to bring this story to international media, being a newspaper writer (he made it up). Thats why the police men looked at her file... usually the order of the file is depending on who pays the most money. People not having money are usually heard the last... or not at all! yes this is the pain of a corrupte country. So after this 5 days she finally found out what was held up against her. The frenchguy said she had stolen, a GPS, a laptop, a satelite phone and some hempstring for necklesses from his boat! Sandra said: the gps was not existing as well as the laptop. The satelite phone still was there when she left. The problem was the little hempstring with the necklesses.
Well Sandra has always some string and necklesses with her to sell them on the street. She is an artezano and does this to earn money! So when they returned to the hostel to look through her stuff, they found the string and asked for the other stuff finding her guilty.. or if she already had sold the laptop and the GPS, to buy for the bus ticket?
To clarify this she was sent to prison to wait until this case could be presented to a judge! so she got sent to prison! Womens prison in Panama!!! a young girl, without shoes... what a fucked up system...
When she arrived they gave her a foam spoon and a foam cup. She entered prison which was almost self run by the prisoners and the first thing that happened was, 4 women coming up to her, pressuring her to give them her cup and spoon! she didn't know what to do and gave it to them!

But what did that mean?... she found out when they served food. Again it was a two bucket system, but this time only the people with a cup and the spoon were allowed to eat and drink. So Sandra wasn't allowed to eat or drink...! She drank the water from the showers and begged officers for some bread. She said that the officers don't let anyone die so when you are in starving hunger... they give you some bread!
Sandra explained to me that in these prisons there are at least 50 percent inocent like she was. They would get inprisoned until further questioning, but again there is a big pile of files... so some are not heard for a long while...

She said that these poor people are nice but most of them turn crazy after a while. Nobody knows how long they have to wait and not even know what they had done ...and some had waited already years just to have a first hearing at court! usually people would get crazy or turn to drugs to make the pain of this hell and violence of prison easier to handle because they can't understand what is going on.

Sandra had the selfconfidence of 10 years background of martial arts so in this time she was at least not hurt or molested by anybody, eventhough she didn't want to tell me how many people she had to fight in prison or how often she had to use her skills. She then said that she met three venezualian girls, working as prostetuts in Panama being 17 years old only... and these three were taking care of each other! watching each others back. Sandra joint them.
Well after another 5 days in prison: she didn't really shower cause thats when all the "accidents" happen, she didn't really eat or drink, and she had to sleep sitting on the floor because she didn't want to lay down on the dicusting floor... and if you remember: Sandra is walking barefoot... since more then 2 years now!
After this time, her boyfriend from england had organized an attorney and paid money to court just to quicken the judical system ;-/
Her hearing was on the fifth day of prison, and on the tenth day after getting caught by the police! She still didn't really know what was going on!
Now here comes the twist in the story: Meanwhile the frenchguy was in even more trouble. They found out that the catamaran was stolen and the papers were fake. That he had more than one identity and that he had tried to flee as well. So his pressed charges against Sandra were a lot weaker now, and her side of the story was being listened to as well!

Well she got free after two more days of waiting in prison and I guess more money for the judical branch! The same day she set herself into a bus leaving for gautemala... back home to her family!

I was amazed by this story. I am sure I can't tell it like her, when she was telling it. I literally sucked up every part of the story...!

i'm still being confused if this can actually happen and if so... I want back to my mommie!!!

truth or lie... you decide for yourself... but definetly an entertaining story!