To Sergio: There are several reasons for my not feeling safe in Ecuador lately. Remember, we have not retired yet and are not living there, but I have been there twice for five weeks each trip and do not like what I have seen and heard.
First, in Feb., 2009, I attended a Spanish Emmersion school in Cuenca. The individual student coordinator, my conversational Spanish instructor and the mother of my homestay family warned me that I might get mugged. The warnings, respectively, were against 1) walking around in broad daylight within the colonial district and tourist center, even on crowded streets; 2) wandering outsider the colonial district even in daylight and; 3) venturing outside after dark. I felt like a prisoner inside my homestay house every night. In this sad state, I watched a lot of television. A frequent subject on the news was the rise in crime and the inability of the judicial system to take effective action because of over-crowding in the prison system. While in Cuenca at a well-attended outdoor art show, I witnessed a robbery.
On our second trip to Ecuador last summer we stayed in La Floresta, Quito, a neighborhood recommended for its safety by Lonely Planet (2007). The owner of our hostel said we should not go out after dark because there had been muggings nearby recently. Again, a prisoner! He called a cab for us because he knew and trusted that particular driver. From Quito we went to Otavalo and Vilcabamba where we had no problems, neither did we hear of any crimes. However in Loja on our way back to Quito, we went out to dinner and afterward the waiter said he would go outside to hail us a cab (presumably because is felt it would be unsafe for us on the street after dark).
I recently received an email from Nicholas Crowder, author of Culture Shock! Ecuador. Here is and excerpt:
"Thanks for the note and the information. I am glad you found the book helpful. I write a lot about personal safety for travelers and sometimes that scares people. However, while most of us won't have something bad happen to us we need to be prepared and the more knowledge you
have about a destination the greater your odds of being safe or knowing what to do. I practice this no matter where I am at.
I am a very big fan of Ecuador and encourage people to go. But, I try to report incidents that are public knowledge so they will be safe. The government sites in my opinion really don't do a very good job at reporting incidents. Recently a vice conul at the consulate was a victim a a kidnap express. This was reported in a local newspaper. There was a young U.S. citizen recently murdered in Manta. There was very little publicized about it. It is suspected that it involved a real estate deal. I think those are things anyone should know about. Ask almost any Ecuadorian you meet and bring up security and they will tell you it is one of the worst times in recent history. I interview hundreds and have a wide range of contacts. Possibly there are people not happy with the truth sometimes because it may hurt a business."
Why the recent rise in crime? There were over a million Ecuadorians living and working in NY City before the recession. Many Ecuadorians living in the US lost their jobs during the recession. Another news story I frequently saw while I was there discussed how to help reassimilate the returning, jobless compatriots back into Ecuadorian society. Some of them were resorting to crime to survive. In addition, President Raphael Correa had recently changed immigration laws, allowing Colombians into the country without any documents! This, my Spanish teacher explained, was an invitation to Colombian outlaws to escape justice by coming to Ecuador. That situation, last I heard, was being corrected.
I cannot speak for IL but perhaps they are a little behind the times or maybe the last sentence in Nicholas Crowder's email applies to them also. I hope this helps.
Cheers,
Ahhemm..
First, in Feb., 2009, I attended a Spanish Emmersion school in Cuenca. The individual student coordinator, my conversational Spanish instructor and the mother of my homestay family warned me that I might get mugged. The warnings, respectively, were against 1) walking around in broad daylight within the colonial district and tourist center, even on crowded streets; 2) wandering outsider the colonial district even in daylight and; 3) venturing outside after dark. I felt like a prisoner inside my homestay house every night. In this sad state, I watched a lot of television. A frequent subject on the news was the rise in crime and the inability of the judicial system to take effective action because of over-crowding in the prison system. While in Cuenca at a well-attended outdoor art show, I witnessed a robbery.
On our second trip to Ecuador last summer we stayed in La Floresta, Quito, a neighborhood recommended for its safety by Lonely Planet (2007). The owner of our hostel said we should not go out after dark because there had been muggings nearby recently. Again, a prisoner! He called a cab for us because he knew and trusted that particular driver. From Quito we went to Otavalo and Vilcabamba where we had no problems, neither did we hear of any crimes. However in Loja on our way back to Quito, we went out to dinner and afterward the waiter said he would go outside to hail us a cab (presumably because is felt it would be unsafe for us on the street after dark).
I recently received an email from Nicholas Crowder, author of Culture Shock! Ecuador. Here is and excerpt:
"Thanks for the note and the information. I am glad you found the book helpful. I write a lot about personal safety for travelers and sometimes that scares people. However, while most of us won't have something bad happen to us we need to be prepared and the more knowledge you
have about a destination the greater your odds of being safe or knowing what to do. I practice this no matter where I am at.
I am a very big fan of Ecuador and encourage people to go. But, I try to report incidents that are public knowledge so they will be safe. The government sites in my opinion really don't do a very good job at reporting incidents. Recently a vice conul at the consulate was a victim a a kidnap express. This was reported in a local newspaper. There was a young U.S. citizen recently murdered in Manta. There was very little publicized about it. It is suspected that it involved a real estate deal. I think those are things anyone should know about. Ask almost any Ecuadorian you meet and bring up security and they will tell you it is one of the worst times in recent history. I interview hundreds and have a wide range of contacts. Possibly there are people not happy with the truth sometimes because it may hurt a business."
Why the recent rise in crime? There were over a million Ecuadorians living and working in NY City before the recession. Many Ecuadorians living in the US lost their jobs during the recession. Another news story I frequently saw while I was there discussed how to help reassimilate the returning, jobless compatriots back into Ecuadorian society. Some of them were resorting to crime to survive. In addition, President Raphael Correa had recently changed immigration laws, allowing Colombians into the country without any documents! This, my Spanish teacher explained, was an invitation to Colombian outlaws to escape justice by coming to Ecuador. That situation, last I heard, was being corrected.
I cannot speak for IL but perhaps they are a little behind the times or maybe the last sentence in Nicholas Crowder's email applies to them also. I hope this helps.
Cheers,
Ahhemm..
