I'll get to the wallet in a few minutes. Since we still hadn't heard from the girl that sold us the batteries we so badly need for our boat, I decided to head to the offices of the shipper and see if they could help find them. I grabbed the 0830 shuttle to the ferry and then a taxi to the shipping office. Instead of it being in Davao, it was way around the north side of the harbor. I walked into Solid Shipping and a young man immediately jumped up to help me. I explained my problem--I bought six batteries from a company in Manila and they were shipping them via his company to Davao. He asked to see the "Way Bill" for the shipment. I explained that the "Way Bill" I'd gotten said I had purchased a golf cart, not six batteries. He then asked who it was being shipped to. I showed him the address on a pad I was carrying. Now we are getting somewhere(I thought) He took the pad and started going through a big stack of "Way Bills". Nope, not there. On to the next pile. As a side bar to this story, everywhere I looked, there were people typing, yes, that's right, typing out forms on typewriters all over the office--at least 50 of them. God forbid they enter this century and use a computer to keep track of things. Anyway, by the third stack, he finally found a shipment for "SV Zephyr". Now we are on a roll!!! He needed proof that I was from "SV Zephyr". OK, how do you prove you own a boat. I had none of our boat papers. OH, that's right--I'm wearing a SV Zephyr tee shirt. I turned around and he could see the logo on the back of the shirt--SV ZEPHYR!!! Ok we are getting there. "OK, I need to see some ID"was the next thing to be asked. I pulled out my Pohnpei drivers license. He looked at it and asked if I had my passport("I'm just trying to get my batteries, not some government secrets). I pulled out my expired Colorado drivers license(big hole in the corner). Well that seemed to satisfy him. He wrote down the numbers on each and said "$638 pesos please". My freight bill to get the batteries from Manila to Davao was just over $14.00US!!! I didn't blink. I just pulled out my wallet(yes, I still had it ) and paid the man. He directed me to "door one", back in the main storage area. With some more help, I found the big box holding our six new batteries. Of course, I had no way to get them back to the marina but I pulled out my phone and called Tracy and she made the arrangement so we will get them tomorrow.

I thanked everyone and took off in search of a bus back to town. Got one that would take me to the ferry dock where I grabbed a second that would take me to one of the malls. Traffic was a nightmare and it took us over an hour to get to the mall. Grabbed a quick lunch at McDonalds and did just a bit of shopping at the market at the mall. Had to rush so I could make it to the ferry to get the 1330 shuttle back to the marina. Here is where the story gets bad. As I sat on the bus, a man beside me showed me a place on the window ledge where someone had spit(either from out bus or one that might have passed us). As I sat next to the guy that had told me about the spit, he started moving around looking under and behind the seat we were sitting on. Shortly, he left the bus. Now here is where being OCD(obsessive, compulsive disorder) pays off. As I normally do, I reach back and tap my wallet. I may do it 2 or 3 times in an average bus or taxi ride. I reached back and "Hey--where is my wallet"! It was gone! I am now royally F--ked!!! In it was my drivers licenses, and debit cards and a bunch of pesos as I had marina bills etc to pay plus other important cards. The woman that was sitting at the back of the bus near the door(the bus has two long plank seats that run along side the windows) said the man tha thad left a minute or so ago must have taken it. She called out to the driver and he pulled over immediately. He spoke very little english so the woman at the back of the bus clued him in as to what had happened. The decision was made to drop me off at the Police Station. While it wasn't a nice clean station, it was full of Police that were caring about my problem. They gave me a bunch of forms to fill out so it could be put in the "system". As I was just finishing the last form, in comes the bus driver with my wallet. He'd pulled over after I got out and found it under the seat. I opened the wallet to give the guy a $1,000 peso bill( I had a bunch). I pulled out a $200 peso bill. That was the biggest one left in my wallet. The thief had taken all my big bills and left me with about $1,000 pesos($23.00US). At this point I didn't really care. I'd already texted Tracy about what had happened and now had to let her know that while we were a bit poorer, we at least had my wallet back. The bus driver stayed around to make sure all was well. I didn't bother to let the Police know that I was out about 12,000 pesos. I had my wallet and ID's back! The driver then gave me a ride to the ferry so I could make the 1330 shuttle back to the marina.
So, in the period of one day, I'd found my batteries and lost and found my wallet(less a bunch of $)
Tomorrow, it's back to the shipping company at 0830 to get our new batteries. We are in the home stretch.