My oldest son got mugged for the 3rd time this year.
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Gorilla Monsoon
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Our 11 year old son was robbed of his cellular last week at 7:15AM in the morning on his way to school by two 15 yr olds. There's a derelict house right by where he waits to catch the bus. There's approx. 30 people living there illegally. Most of them are pregnant Peruvian women. It's close to the corner of Guatemala y Carranza in Palermo Hollywood. A neighbour saw them run back into the house. Police turned up and did absolutely nothing. He was threatened with a knife and it all happened in about 20 seconds. Be safe!
michael1977
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Sorry to hear that! Hope your son is ok. Squares are hard places to be. I think it's a little bit dangerous for kids playing near squares. They are full of other kids (with knives and stuff) that would do anything to get money to buy crack.
Iznogud
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My kids do not hang around the park but their bus stop is right next to one. They only walk one an a half block to their home on their way back from school. Minimum exposure.
Twice they got mugged close to their school at lunch breaks.
Twice they got mugged close to their school at lunch breaks.
Well this seems pretty tame compared to the stories here but I will tell it. I was in Burger King near Santa Fe and Bulness to meet a friend for coffee. We had a couple little kids come in putting poems on the tables (like they do). I just paid no attention and kept talking as if they were not there.
Next we knew were a bunch of bigger kids running all over like rats, some heading up the stairs. My friend was frightened and was going to give them money. I was shocked but she said, "You don't have TV (I don't!!!) you need TV. They will kill you! They killed a 73 year old man because he wouldn't give them 60 pesos (something she saw on TV)." I just kept talking to her as if I didn't notice them but more were coming and she finally went and complained. They said the security guard was going to be there at 1:00. but I guess then the help decided to herd them out. One employee caught one of the boys as he started up the stairs and dragged him off the stairs and they started herding them out. Everyone was watching and there was some noise beside the door, but my friend was frightened and didn't want me to turn around and look so I didn't. But they got them out the door and a couple of employees stayed at the door.
I had to leave then and was a little afraid to go out the door but I did--and there was no sign of them. It was as if nothing had happened or they disappeared into the air or something. All these elderly people were just walking around and everything looked normal.
Next we knew were a bunch of bigger kids running all over like rats, some heading up the stairs. My friend was frightened and was going to give them money. I was shocked but she said, "You don't have TV (I don't!!!) you need TV. They will kill you! They killed a 73 year old man because he wouldn't give them 60 pesos (something she saw on TV)." I just kept talking to her as if I didn't notice them but more were coming and she finally went and complained. They said the security guard was going to be there at 1:00. but I guess then the help decided to herd them out. One employee caught one of the boys as he started up the stairs and dragged him off the stairs and they started herding them out. Everyone was watching and there was some noise beside the door, but my friend was frightened and didn't want me to turn around and look so I didn't. But they got them out the door and a couple of employees stayed at the door.
I had to leave then and was a little afraid to go out the door but I did--and there was no sign of them. It was as if nothing had happened or they disappeared into the air or something. All these elderly people were just walking around and everything looked normal.
GeorgeAus
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Gorilla Monsoon said:
I lived there for 4 months on Guatemala 5959 near El Horno Restaurant, Never had anything happen except one day I was walking home and saw Police raiding a house and 4 people detained. It looks like a really shady place at night. Take care of your children, the stories just keep coming and I am sure its only a matter of time I have an encounter with someone.
HettieinBA
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I am so sorry to hear of what happened to your son Iznogud and others who have posted similar stories. We have just moved to BA from a very safe city with very low crime. I'm struggling a little with how I can give my son the freedom he needs to grow and develop but not ever wanting to let him out of my sight!
I hope all our kids stay safe.
I hope all our kids stay safe.
Iznogud, my sympathies. It's heart-wracking to constantly wonder if today is going to be the day when your kid has had enough and maybe says something to one of the little punks and it becomes worse than just some material possessions taken.
My wife and I are constantly worried about her younger sister. We brought her here from Paraguay almost 5 years ago to go to school because of the school system in Paraguay being worse overall where she was from than here in BA.
She's been robbed three times, but not face-to-face. It was always a pickpocket on a bus which is obviously a lot less personal and only involves the loss of material goods, which can easily be overcome even if it's just to do without the items stolen. At least she still has her life.
She goes to school about 11 blocks from where we live. We used to let her take the bus herself, with me or my wife waiting for her at the bus stop in the mornings to make sure there were no problems.
We quit that when she'd been robbed the third time. Now, a friend of my sister-in-law's parents (they live a block away) and I have worked out a deal where we trade off every other week driving the kids to school in the mornings.
Mornings are the worst for school kids because there are SO MANY people traveling, cramming on to buses, providing many opportunities for thieves. There is obviously risk at other times as well, but we let her take the bus home in the afternoons (before rush hour starts) and so far she hasn't been robbed since we started driving her in the morning.
Except for my wife and her sister, all of my wife's other family members who lived here have been robbed at least once at gunpoint or knife point. My oldest brother-in-law has been robbed three times at gunpoint and once at knife point (they actually cut his skin around his ribs when they stuck him up).
They're grown-ups. Young, but adults nonetheless. They are hard-working and understand the risks in their daily lives.
But our princess, the 16 year old, is clueless as only many adolescents can be.
HettieInBA, I understand your worries completely. I have three kids in the States, two of whom are adults and one who is almost. They had the ability to live without the constant worry on our part as to whether it will be the last time we'll see them when they leave to go do something - often, as teenagers, driving themselves in one of our cars. of course there was still worry, but I understand now that the level of worry for kids between here and there are quantum levels of difference.
Here, the city can be so wild and the things that even teenagers are allowed to do by their parents creates a constant source of worry for us. We can't cloister her , after all, but we also can't let her do everything, all the time, that most of her friends are allowed to do. It's a very difficult balancing act laden with huge loads of worry.
I am allowing her tonight, for example, to go to a dance club for 16-21 year old kids, no alcohol served (and guards that make sure no one obviously drunk gets in), that starts at 12:00 midnight and ends at 6:00 am. This is quite normal here and absolutely blows my mind. No one, even kids, can start partying before midnight. They learn quickly, it seems to me, that partying is more important than studying, from their parents.
These places have hundreds, or thousands (depending on the place) of kids swarming around near traffic when the places let out, and to a lesser extent all night as kids wait to get in. The scene is out of some kind of movie about chaos as applied to human interaction. They have no freaking regard for anything that goes on around them.
Many of them are drunk (no matter what the guards who let them in do - some arive so damned drunk they are throwing up in line before they even get to the doors) and gathered in groups around the street waiting for rides or taxis, or just plain stampeding. I got caught in one, in Costeneras (club Mandarin at Punto Carasco), where a couple of kids started a fight down the road from the club and suddenly literally hundreds of kids were running, surrounding the cars waiting to pick kids up, running along Costenera, all trying to get close enough to see what was going on around them - even at 6:00 in the morning there's a decent amount of traffic on Costanera.
Most of the parents allow their kids to take TAXIs to and from the clubs which is absolutely insane, in my opinion, given some of the first-hand stories I've heard tell about taxi drivers in the wee hours of the morning here.
Tonight, I will be allowing one of her friend's parents to take the girls (they get there about 1:00 am) and I will be picking them up at 6:00 am. There is no way in hell that we will allow our girl to take the bus or especially not a taxi all the way across the city (in this case the club is at Cabildo and General Paz and I live near Santa Fe and Esmeralda).
One must go through pains to allow the kids to have some freedom, and yet not let them out of your sight to an extent as well. It's much more difficult being a parent in BA than it was where I come from and raised three kids, in Houston.
Teenagers in particular are aware, in an abstract way, of dangers present, but are for the most part clueless when it come to taking care of themselves, from what I've experienced both in the US and here. Most problems that could happen are very abstract and they simply don't believe that something bad can actually happen to THEM.
We've had our sister-in-law since she was 11 and I've been more and more worried as time goes on for her safety. It's actually one of the biggest factors that is causing me to think about leaving BA.
My wife and I are constantly worried about her younger sister. We brought her here from Paraguay almost 5 years ago to go to school because of the school system in Paraguay being worse overall where she was from than here in BA.
She's been robbed three times, but not face-to-face. It was always a pickpocket on a bus which is obviously a lot less personal and only involves the loss of material goods, which can easily be overcome even if it's just to do without the items stolen. At least she still has her life.
She goes to school about 11 blocks from where we live. We used to let her take the bus herself, with me or my wife waiting for her at the bus stop in the mornings to make sure there were no problems.
We quit that when she'd been robbed the third time. Now, a friend of my sister-in-law's parents (they live a block away) and I have worked out a deal where we trade off every other week driving the kids to school in the mornings.
Mornings are the worst for school kids because there are SO MANY people traveling, cramming on to buses, providing many opportunities for thieves. There is obviously risk at other times as well, but we let her take the bus home in the afternoons (before rush hour starts) and so far she hasn't been robbed since we started driving her in the morning.
Except for my wife and her sister, all of my wife's other family members who lived here have been robbed at least once at gunpoint or knife point. My oldest brother-in-law has been robbed three times at gunpoint and once at knife point (they actually cut his skin around his ribs when they stuck him up).
They're grown-ups. Young, but adults nonetheless. They are hard-working and understand the risks in their daily lives.
But our princess, the 16 year old, is clueless as only many adolescents can be.
HettieInBA, I understand your worries completely. I have three kids in the States, two of whom are adults and one who is almost. They had the ability to live without the constant worry on our part as to whether it will be the last time we'll see them when they leave to go do something - often, as teenagers, driving themselves in one of our cars. of course there was still worry, but I understand now that the level of worry for kids between here and there are quantum levels of difference.
Here, the city can be so wild and the things that even teenagers are allowed to do by their parents creates a constant source of worry for us. We can't cloister her , after all, but we also can't let her do everything, all the time, that most of her friends are allowed to do. It's a very difficult balancing act laden with huge loads of worry.
I am allowing her tonight, for example, to go to a dance club for 16-21 year old kids, no alcohol served (and guards that make sure no one obviously drunk gets in), that starts at 12:00 midnight and ends at 6:00 am. This is quite normal here and absolutely blows my mind. No one, even kids, can start partying before midnight. They learn quickly, it seems to me, that partying is more important than studying, from their parents.
These places have hundreds, or thousands (depending on the place) of kids swarming around near traffic when the places let out, and to a lesser extent all night as kids wait to get in. The scene is out of some kind of movie about chaos as applied to human interaction. They have no freaking regard for anything that goes on around them.
Many of them are drunk (no matter what the guards who let them in do - some arive so damned drunk they are throwing up in line before they even get to the doors) and gathered in groups around the street waiting for rides or taxis, or just plain stampeding. I got caught in one, in Costeneras (club Mandarin at Punto Carasco), where a couple of kids started a fight down the road from the club and suddenly literally hundreds of kids were running, surrounding the cars waiting to pick kids up, running along Costenera, all trying to get close enough to see what was going on around them - even at 6:00 in the morning there's a decent amount of traffic on Costanera.
Most of the parents allow their kids to take TAXIs to and from the clubs which is absolutely insane, in my opinion, given some of the first-hand stories I've heard tell about taxi drivers in the wee hours of the morning here.
Tonight, I will be allowing one of her friend's parents to take the girls (they get there about 1:00 am) and I will be picking them up at 6:00 am. There is no way in hell that we will allow our girl to take the bus or especially not a taxi all the way across the city (in this case the club is at Cabildo and General Paz and I live near Santa Fe and Esmeralda).
One must go through pains to allow the kids to have some freedom, and yet not let them out of your sight to an extent as well. It's much more difficult being a parent in BA than it was where I come from and raised three kids, in Houston.
Teenagers in particular are aware, in an abstract way, of dangers present, but are for the most part clueless when it come to taking care of themselves, from what I've experienced both in the US and here. Most problems that could happen are very abstract and they simply don't believe that something bad can actually happen to THEM.
We've had our sister-in-law since she was 11 and I've been more and more worried as time goes on for her safety. It's actually one of the biggest factors that is causing me to think about leaving BA.
Ceviche said:
Absolutely - that is our most probable destination.
The family is from a really backwards place about 100 kilometers south of Concepcion, one of the poorest areas in Paraguay. The school she went to had grades kindergarten through 8th grade in a two-room school that only about 5 years ago had a concrete floor.
The teachers are horrible - I remember about 5 years ago NASA put a lander on Mars and I was visiting the family with my wife. I took my sister-in-law into a small town nearby that had a locutorio and showed her the pictures the rover was returning. She was fascinated. About two weeks later, she told me her teacher at school was talking about environmental issues and mentioned that if worse came to worse we could move to Mars and live, it having air, water and plants. It was quite unbelievable, really, the ignorance in the area.
Since we were living here at the time, the only option for schooling for her was here.
We looked a couple of years ago at the possibility of moving to Asuncion and visited a number of private schools that looked a lot more serious and professional than the private schools we've found here, at least the affordable ones. Quite doable.
Also, people much more respectable and hard-working. Relatively easy to business.
Paraguayans are a little calmer when it comes to partying. When my sister-in-law visits home, she is invited to a number of parties - she's now the exotic, mysterious "woman" who is schooling in Buenos Aires, which to the people there is really something else. One of her parents or an older brother or sister always accompanies her and her younger sister (14 and drop dead gorgeous as well) to act as chaperones. The dances start at around 9:00 in the evening and end no later than 2:00 am.
Of course, the big city Asuncion is a little different, not quite as much of the chaperone thing, but the times of the parties are similar and everything is much more laid back.
I like it. Looks better and better every day.
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