I should preface this by saying that I have only been in Quito
for a couple months and am no means an expert on safety here – these are just some
of my anecdotal stories and things that I’ve heard about and experienced in my
time here so far. I am hoping this
doesn’t change anyone’s travel plans or scare anyone away from coming here.
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| View from the upper part of our garage gate/fortress |
Where to begin…well, the safety issues and concerns started
early before we even moved here. People
forwarded us emails from the embassy about foreigners being targeted in
robberies involving scopolamine, a hallucinogenic drug that causes the victim
to feel very sedate and when under the influence they can be coerced to do
pretty much anything including showing the robber around the house and giving
them all their valuables. The victim
usually wakes up afterward and has to piece together what happened. The scariest part is that the drug simply has
to be blown into the victim’s face, in one case it was on the robber’s map as
they asked the victim for help with directions.
So there’s not a ton you can do to prevent it except refuse to accept
anything anyone is trying to give to you.
Watch for people trying to distract you with something on the street but
other than that I’m not sure what else – short of someone inventing a
scopolamine detector device that can be worn on your person.
Okay, so being drugged with scopolamine was the first big
thing that I remember being freaked out about.
Next was the general pickpocketings.
We read story after story online about people being pickpocketed in Quito and all over Ecuador. There was one story about a woman who walked
with a cane who was wearing a gold chain and they stole her chain from her
neck! She fought back with her cane and
eventually got it back! After reading all these stories I remember second
guessing my decision to go – did I really want to put myself into such an
unsafe environment? I’m so safe in
Denver, I can leave my purse on the back of my chair, I can accidentally leave
my garage door open and the door unlocked to the house and have no issues
(okay, there was the mountain bike incident right before I moved out but they
still didn’t come in the unlocked house).
Anyway, I was nervous that I would be completely locked inside our apartment here.
So now that we’re here I can see how it really is and hear
about everyone’s experiences with safety in Quito.
We’ve heard stories about corrupt ATM machines where they steal your
account number and PIN and proceed to empty out your account. And then there’s the petty robberies – pretty
much everyone I know has one or more stories about themselves or people they
know being pickpocketed. One moment they
have their camera, phone, money, and the next moment it’s gone. I’ve heard about backpacks being slashed and
all the robber got was a soccer ball, someone else had their phone and camera
stolen on the same night, someone else had hundreds of dollars in his left
pocket along with a macbook pro in a briefcase held in his left hand, and his
wooden hostel key chain in his right pocket and what did they steal? Yep, his wooden key chain because it had the
shape of a wallet. Lucky for him. And that was in the touristy area where we
visit at least once a week. (Knock on
wood) Sung and I have been okay in this respect. We rarely carry our cell phones and only
carry as much money as we think we’re going to need for that trip. We only carry our credit card or ATM card if
we know we’re going to buy something using it or stop at the ATM. And ATM trips are also carefully planned and
we go home immediately after we get our money.
If we do carry anything with us we are super vigilant on the
Ecovia, the bus, in markets, anywhere in Centro Historico. I am so vigilant that sometimes it is
exhausting constantly walking around being so aware of everyone around you,
looking over your shoulder, pressing my hand against my pocket at all
times. There is no down time when you
are out of the house and you have any money on you. This past Saturday we were in Centro
Historico and we stopped to eat and when we went to leave I realized my zip
pocket on my jacket was open and it was the pocket where I had my money. I started to have a heart attack when I
remembered that I had switched pockets after paying for our food. The energy expenditure thinking about safety,
changing my plans around it, worrying about it, this is probably the hardest
part about living in Quito. And being blonde haired and blue eyed I am no
doubt the biggest target out there.
And then there’s physical safety overall. I think this might be a larger hazard than
pickpocketing. In the US when there is
work being done there is careful thought into how to block off the area so that
pedestrians, bikers, cars, everyone can stay safe. Here that is definitely NOT the case. There are huge gaping holes in the middle of
the sidewalk that if you aren’t watching for you could just trip right
into. And then there are the wires
hanging down, the ankle breaking sidewalks that are at an angle, cobbled, and
some with ceramic tile that is super slippery when wet! And Latinas love their high heels and walk
through all of this unscathed – this completely amazes me! I am here in my sneakers trying not to twist
my ankle and I’m watching them in their 4” heels in front of me – wow. Oh and I can’t forget to mention the hundreds
of stairs everywhere that are generally not level, have lots of holes, and are
of varying heights (read: lots of tripping and ankle twisting possibilities not
to mention trying to huff and puff your way up hundreds of them with 20 pounds
of groceries, in the rain). Ah, but I
digress. Safety, back to safety. The houses near where we live are all
fortressed with high walls and above the walls there are several parallel wires
that are flowing with electricity. In
fact you can hear the periodic spark of the electricity as you pass by
(comforting, very comforting). And then
if that wasn’t enough there are large shards of glass with only the sharpest of
points sticking directly upward out of the ledge at the top of the wall. Needless to say the old people here don’t sit
on their front porches all day and watch the world go by. In fact any exposure from the house to the
outside world is carefully fortressed with metal bars so that thieves can’t
just smash them and get in. Even some
stores you can’t get in unless you ring a bell and then they have to buzz you
to get in. If you’re too unsavory
looking I imagine that you don’t get granted access. Each block here has its own security guard
who stands watch all day (and sometimes all night) to make sure the residents
and businesses are safe. Somehow for me,
the more guards the more scared I feel overall.
I’m always glad when it’s the weekend and our guard isn’t there – he
actually kind of creeps me out a little bit.
Maybe it’s because of all the weird security guard stalkers I’ve had
over the years. I am a creepy security
guard magnet apparently.
Just found out that the apartment next door was robbed this
morning at 11:00 AM. Somehow their gate
was left unlocked and the robbers got in.
This is despite the fact that our block has a guard who I know was there
this morning. And this robbery took
place while I was playing the ‘flag down the gas guy’ game where every time I
hear a horn I sprint as quickly as I can outside and try to flag down the gas
guy with the goal of getting a full gas canister. It’s exhausting and took most of the
day. Anyway, I can’t believe I didn’t
notice anything. Now I’m really wishing
I hadn’t forgotten to pack my Valentine’s present from Sung – runner’s mace – so
I would be ready for these robbers. I
also need to figure out the number for the police and set it to a speed dial in
my phone.
I haven’t even touched on the safety of walking
overall. This can be highly dangerous,
and I’m not kidding! Just crossing the
least trafficked road you can think of can result in being run over by a quiet
moped or a mountain biker flying down a hill at top speed. And then there’s the intersections with lots
of cars – these require Frogger like skills that must be honed over time. When I’m trying to cross a street I generally
find an Ecuadorian who is trying to do the same thing and try to cross when
they cross, and even then sometimes it seems too dangerous and I wait until
there are less cars. The other day Sung
and I were crossing when we had a chirping crosswalk sign (meaning – go) and
this lady tried to mow Sung down in her SUV!
He had to run to avoid being hit at the very last second. Cars have the right of way here, not
pedestrians. Drivers use their cars like
weapons and the pedestrians are the targets.
Sung has a book that describes all kinds of hikes around Ecuador. So a couple weeks ago when our maid arrived I
decided I would try one of the hikes on my own.
I took the Ecovia until it ends at La Marín, a major transportation
hub. At that point I had to find a bus
that had a couple specific words on it (along with about 20 other words that I
had to read as they were breezing past).
I finally manage to get on the right bus and an hour bus ride later I
arrive at the cross street where the ‘hike’ was supposed to begin. Of course it was an urban start – I was
walking up into the hills from town and so I was passing all the locals. At first it was no big deal but then after a
while I started to get more and more strange looks. And the book had terrible directions on how
to get to the trail so I kept back tracking and trying new roads to the trail. I finally found the right road and I hear a
few people calling after me in somewhat nervous/serious voices: “Senorita,
senorita” – so I walk back down to where they were and they start speaking
quickly to me, something about something that happened to a couple people over
the weekend. But I couldn’t understand
what – so I clarified – and it sounded like they were robbed while they were
hiking. They were telling me that I
shouldn’t go up by myself, that it was too dangerous. So I heeded their advice and turned around,
disappointed. But I’m sure they’re
right, and I need to be smart about it.
Frustrating because I’m home during the weekdays when everyone else is
working and I feel kind of trapped. I
spend my time studying but I don’t have the option of going to a coffee shop to
study – it’s too much of a risk to carry my laptop anywhere, and if I’m in a
coffee shop with the laptop out then robbers know I have it and when I leave
I’ll be a huge target. So most of the
time I end up staying home. I know once
I do move back to the States I’ll never take my safety for granted again.
