Be Vigilant

When we first accepted the post to Ecuador, we were told how wonderful of a place it was. Our conversations with our employers weren't entirely sugar coated though. We were made well aware of potential for crime here. Ecuador is an economically less developed country and as a result, there is a lot of poverty and as with most of the world; with poverty comes risk for crime.

We wanted to make sure we were aware of all potential risks and crime statistics so we did some research. What we heard from our bosses matched up with the stuff we found out on our own. Crime is a huge problem in Ecuador but it is usually nonviolent crime. The US State Department rates Ecuador "critical" in terms of crime and residential safety. Theft is a big problem; as is armed robbery. If you hand over your things, everything usually works out alright without anyone getting injured.

We have found in our time here that if you are smart and vigilant, things will usually work out alright. Avoid alleys and sparsely populated areas whenever possible. Try to avoid traveling alone. Don't carry more valuables than absolutely necessary. Don't wear visible jewelry. Pay attention to your surroundings. If you follow those guidelines, you are probably in good shape.

Since we got here in August, I have had someone attempt to pick my pocket at a culture festival. I luckily had nothing in it, and also felt it and slapped his hand away as he scurried away in the crowd. We have had friends who were robbed at knife point on the beach as well as friends who had phones stolen from their pockets at parties. This is just a part of life here, but if you are careful and vigilant, it usually works out alright. Shannon and I have been very fortunate to have avoided many of these scary situations.

I did however...have a close call last night. I think it was mentioned earlier in this blog that once a month the ladies get together at someone's house for "Ladies Wine Night." That was last night. It also happened to coincide with our Thursday Embassy basketball game. The guys decided that after basketball, while the ladies were drinking wine and hanging out, we would get some pizza and watch some sports at a friends' house.

Something that should be stated about our friends' house is that it is in probably the nicest part of Quito. His house overlooks the park and is on one of the safest residential streets in the city. Well, we were on our way to his house and as we were pulling onto his street, we decided to go to the tienda a block away to pick up some drinks. Normally, we would have parked the car at his place and walked but we just got done playing basketball for three hours so the drive seemed wise. While we were paying, we were delayed by about 5 minutes because the cashier had no change.

As we pulled up to his house after leaving the tienda, our friend Andrew and another friend Rudy ran outside. They told us what we had missed by no more than 30 seconds.

Rudy had parked his car on the well lit, nice neighborhood street to go to Andrew's house. While Andrew was checking out the window to see if we had arrived, he saw a nice car pull up alongside Rudy's car and there were two people inside of his car! Andrew started banging on his second story apartment window to get their attention to scare them away and one of the guys breaking into the car got out of the car, and while standing on the street took out a gun and pointed it at Andrew in the window. Andrew dropped to the floor to duck and stayed on the ground for about a minute.

When he got up in front of a different window he peeked out and saw them pulling away AS we were pulling up in our cars from the tienda. They both ran outside, explained the story, and examined the damage.

They had an air compressor of some sort that was used to blow out the passenger side key hole. They then opened the car door, tore open the dash, and stole the car's computer. The car was dead. The computer is a $5,000 part. When someone asked why they would steal that Rudy explained that this had happened before.

Apparently this is a big crime racket in Quito. A group of thieves will steal the computer and sell it to the black market in the shady side of town. When you go from shop to shop and realize that the part would have to be imported at a much higher markup, you eventually go to the black market and ask the part dealer for a part that matches what you had stolen. They inevitably have the same exact one that was stolen from inside of your own car and make you pay for it at a shady meeting spot at a shady meeting time. They frequently take pictures of your registration so they can look up your residential information and threaten to hurt you or your family if you go to the cops or come to the meeting with any other people. This apparently happens frequently. It is quite literally taking car parts for hostage.

Now Rudy has a $5,000 part to buy and a choice to make. Deal with these criminals again or import a new part and hope it doesn't happen to him a third time.

I want to clarify that I do not feel unsafe living here. If you take precautions and do your best to minimize potential opportunities where you are vulnerable, it is a great place to live. Rather than giving the false impression that this place is unsafe, I want to stress how important it is to be vigilant while you are in Ecuador. If you do that, it is a great place to live.