Life sometimes writes scripts worthy of a movie. Three years ago, a man from El Puerto named Jovino lost his wallet in Miami just before boarding a Caribbean cruise. The item contained about 200 euros and bank cards, as well as US dollars. After an unsuccessful search, he had to resign himself to considering it lost and canceling his cards, as his ship was departing the next morning.
While enjoying the first day on the cruise, Jovino received persistent calls from an unknown number. Upon answering, he found himself speaking to a national police officer, currently stationed in San Fernando, but who at the time was working at the Spanish Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It turned out that the wallet had been found in Miami by the embassy's chancellor, who was also on vacation and about to start a different cruise.
“"The only option was for the chancellor to keep the wallet and wait for his return to the embassy, where he would give it to the police officer, who resides in Chiclana, so that when he returned home on his next leave, he could deliver it to its owner."
Given the impossibility of the chancellor and Jovino coinciding on their Caribbean itineraries, the officer devised a plan: the chancellor would safeguard the wallet until his return to the embassy. There, he would hand it over to the police officer, who would bring it to Spain during his leave to return it to its rightful owner. After traveling approximately 20,000 kilometers, the wallet finally returned to the province of Cádiz.
The reunion took place in La Barrosa, where the officer handed the wallet back to Jovino, who recovered all its contents intact. As a token of gratitude, Jovino gifted two bottles of Pedro Ximénez, one for the officer and one for the chancellor. This unusual event not only ended with the recovery of the lost item but also forged a lasting friendship between the protagonists and their families, who remain in contact to this day.
The traveling wallet, after its journey through the United States, passed through the Bahamas, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Turkey before returning to the province of Cádiz. The story highlights the tenacity and good intentions of the national police officer, who facilitated the connection between two strangers.
