I would like to respond to the thread where people are once again discussing the "Crime Problem here in Ecuador" and also disputing Crowdpub's warnings about crime here. So here we go again, another treatise on CRIME in Ecuador. I will relate a few things. First off, the topic is so personally relative. I mean, if you've been nailed a few times, you are most likely to say "YEAH, there is some crime in Ecuador!"--or if you have just gotten here, still in the baby-step stage, everything looking like Roses, haven't been nailed, feeling free and easy, everything seems to be flowing along, you are more apt to say "NO CRIME HERE!--Don't see a thing!" "Nobody's bothered me!"
Well I have a few most recent tales to share and I will preceed this with something that I said before:
Everything that Ecuador is being blamed for, is ACCELERATING; in other words--getting worse! I have no statistic to back this up, but since I've known the country, in the early, mid-'70s--I don't know how many times the population has doubled...
I have been having some serious dental work done, 3 operations on my jawbone, infection, bone implants, bridges chisled out of my mouth, more infection, a tooth so bad under one bridge--the main tooth holding the bridge, was pulled yesterday, lots of antibiotics, lots of drugs, soft bones, possibly implants will not work, etc., etc., etc. I tried to get a head transplant but that hasn't gotten here to Ecuador yet! In other words I feel like sh!t! BUT I do have an excellent Dentist in Ibarra, and Mary recently contacted me about that dentist in Ibarra and I would have to say that he is VERY good.....I have known him for many, many years, long before the Gringo Exodus. Back to my original point...
So my dentist is an hour there and an hour back and I've been making quite a few trips and my Indigenous worker is driving me. Now this guy is an "Indian's Indian"--first language, Quechua, 3rd grade education, can't read or write too well but the guy can invent and build and do anything at all, with us for many, many years, he lives in the heart of the Indigenous community. So, we've had quite a bit of "chatting time." He is in his late 30s, and is very much on the pulse of the Indian community in the extended area.
When I first came here, I thought the Indians were as pristine and pure as freshly fallen organic snow, and for the most part, they are, and have been, for my 30+ year tenure, except for a couple of "bad apples"---who nailed us very badly a few years ago, fueled of course by 3 thieving Latin Lawyers, and a 'fingerless' latin judge.... So I asked my Indian employee, why all the "new" indian crime here as of late? I have also heard from my taxi driver friends who take indian boys up to Lago San Pablo (to other Indians) to buy base to smoke (crack).....lots of pot smoking which is the least of the evils, Indian gangs, not quite the Zetas---but getting wrose and bigger! My Indian worker told me that, "the Indians are Modernizing!"--that is, they are learning about crime from TV, they are subject to more influences, they want more all across the board, and they are robbing and stealing much more--they know what is going on in Colombia! Too many stories abound these days. Rich Indians have been kidnapped here for ransoms....I can say that Otavalo, because I know the whole town on a personal basis is MUCH MORE crime-laden than before with a tremendous rapid acceleration in the last 2-3 years. Police are of little help and they will "bleed" you if you think that you may be able to obtain 'justice' in these matters. My Bolivian friend (Indian), has lived in Ecuador for 15 years, nationalized, just opened up a shop in Otavalo, on Calle Bolivar a few blocks from the famous market, hired some local Indians to run the shop, and he was just cleaned out, just 3 weeks ago, of 67 beautiful Alpaca pieces, thousands and thousands of dollars to produce.....Do you wish to have more first-hand stories? The "local FBI" (OID) wanted so much money, he was not able to seek recourse.
My husband just called me. He went down to Otavalo's Saturday Animal market this morning, like he always does, with some guests staying up here on the mountain, and bought a little baby piglet. We have a 14 year old work-horse car, not pretty, but it was broken into, all doors destroyed a window broken, and they actually tried to steal the whole car! He parks in the same place, in front of the house of some old people we know for years. Thank God they didn't take the car as Frank arrived just as they were breaking another window, thieves go running, locals yelling at them, NO cops around....SO then he puts the baby piglet in the car and drives to the Supermarket here in Otavalo, AQUI supermarket--actually across from the police station, goes in to buy a few things, the group of thieves must have followed him, and they got in the car AGAIN, in just a matter of 15 minutes and stole the baby piglet. NOW these people were not locals, I can tell, as my husband is very well-known and respected here, even by some of the local thieves I think! People pour into Otavalo on Saturdays because it is a world-famous market, huge, etc. In my opinion, they were probably people from a couple of hours up north, Carchi, near the Colombian border......just my opinion.
3-4 months ago, I parked my little Chevy Luv pickup truck for barely 20 minutes on a major street here in Otavalo on a weekday to go do some chores. You ALWAYS take the radio/CD plate with you, I did. Someone tried to break into my car, and I didn't have the bar on as I was coming right back. Obviously they could not get in, in such a short amt. of time, but they destroyed the door lock, and when I have time, I have to have the whole thing replaced. I think my husband has alot to replace! About a year ago, my spare tired was taken while parked on an Otavalo street, they cut the locked chain that was holding it under the car.
This would have NEVER happened even a few years ago. I can list about a couple dozen more stories as of LATE---I live here for a long time. I was in the hotel biz for 20 years--do you remember the post I made one night when I was waiting up for guests to arrive so I made a few posts?.....They got pickpocketed on the bus from Quito, right here at Otavalo's bus terminal as they were getting off the bus, etc., etc. ---it made me so sad.
MANY robberies that I had to listen to from the hotel guests. I am sorry to relate to you that I truly believe home invasions are on the rise also. Apparently there had been some bad indians who were working on the houses in the many gated communities in Cotacachi, they got in with some WORSE people, and with the knowledge of knowing how the houses were laid out, and where the valuables were, I would say, conservatively about 30-35 houses have been cleaned out in the last 6 months or so in the Cotacachi area..... Gringos know who the people are, little can be actually done with the police without "proof."
NOBODY TALKS ABOUT THESE THINGS for many reasons. Shame being one, no recourse, why make yourself look like a victim, no one wants to admit that they have been victims, etc.
I am saying one thing--this crime thing is GETTING WORSE here. I know that all of you regular posters like to SPAR. That is good, ---"I think this---and you think that", etc. and sometimes a subject is just an excuse to send out some EGO messages, etc. I know that Hector has been a tiny bit at odds with Nicholas Crowder, calling him negative in his reporting about crime, when I and others who live here, think Nicholas to be a beacon in the night.
Well, I live here for 30 years and if I had the time I would prepare a very long report--and to hell with written-down statistics, I'm not discounting them, but nothing like good ol' first-hand knowledge!.....I am seeing it, I am living it, I am hearing about it. And what I am talking about can cover the Quito area, the Imbabura Province, etc., etc. Now I don't know about down Cuenca way, and I don't know what is going on on the coast right now, nor the Vilcabamba area, concerning crime in this little third world burg of a country.
Think about technology, it's accelerating very fast, development in every way, heinous crime is also accelerating all over the planet as well. The Noble Savage, the Indian, proud descendent of Atahualpa, way before the Inca, is subject to the darkness that rivals for the light in these very difficult days. Not to mention the good ol' thieves, they are MASTERS at their art! There used to be the "School of the Seven Bells" in Colombia--a world-reknowned "pick-pocketing" school......and that was 35 years ago! Yes, the colombians are extremely talented, but it doesn't take a Colombian to get you anymore. Ask some local Ecuadorians why there have been SO many disappeared gringos in the Banos area? No one speaks about that. I have been 'noticing' that for about 25 years now. I can give you perhaps 3 cases in just the last couple of years....would have to go back into my saved archives of news articles, etc.
That is my comment on these things. So that is why I always put my steering wheel bar on my steering wheel and I told my husband today he had better start to use the one that he has. I now will think about getting a gun. My watchman has a carbine but now it is "illegal" to buy bullets or whatever the big ammunition is called, in the hardward store. WHAT A JOKE. They very easily could follow my husband or myself up here to this 40 acre mountain and kill us in a minute, Indians or not! Just how fast could the community come to defend us? The Indians in the community have no guns.... It takes a second to kill someone, and if cased out properly, little time to clean the places out. We have ALREADY been cattle-rustled about 7 years ago, 5 beautiful high class horses, gone. We did have a "break in" in the early years, luckily, sneakily, and no one was hurt, just a pretty good amt. of valuables were taken and THAT was an INSIDE JOB, as many of these robberies are, whether 3-4 people removed, most are inside jobs. Now I think I shall look for a gun, and try to buy some "black market" ammo for the shotgun, for the Indian family that live here with us, at the opening entrance, so he can fire off a couple of shots when and if the thieves finally find us. Pepper Gas is good for the street, but you won't defend yourself against 7-8 evil thieves all with guns pointed at you--inside your house at night!
IT IS GETTING WORSE, PERIOD.
Until the safe little ILLUSION of the quaint little cheap Ecuador BUBBLE gets a pin-hole in it, or downright bursts, you will use this subject to vent, perhaps, other "real" concerns.
I will say----This is not about Nicholas Crowder, or what he writes. Why don't some of you people read other forums. But there is the good old adage, 'what you don't know, won't hurt you' and that is very much human nature. A few years back there was a home invasion around the Cumbaya and Tumbaco area where an American Couple have lived for years and years, I knew them. They are in their 70s. She NEVER thought it would happen. It did. I cried for her, she lost everything, her engagement and wedding ring of years ago, among many things. And Carol.....in our area, and there are more, and I can tell you first hand what I have heard from many people.
I do not post to SCARE anyone, but this is too heavy a subject to be used as a tennis ball, going back and forth just to facilitate someone's ego-opinion. Call me negative, say I have a 'bad attitude'--but I am pragmatic and I speak of what I see!
As things here become more expensive as they do almost on a daily basis, and as the country does not invite industry or factories to give our young people, Indian and Mestizos, jobs, and as the world accelerates, as Jimmy Cliff once sang, in The Harder They Come, The Harder They Fall----"I want my piece of the pie too"---so will crime accelerate, and the Colombians are astute teachers, and they are close by. However, I do feel bad for 'generally' blaming the poor Colombians as they are victims as well, and are basically such GOOD people, AND there are the thieves too! Many, many colombian 'refugees' living here--I speak to them on a daily basis.
So, that is my honest take on things down here in the Real Ecuador. Sure, in the gated communities and in gringo covens and in a double bolted high-rise apartment, and in police-controlled (sort of) ex pat areas, well, your chances are lower, but please, folks do not fool yourself!
Ecuador
Living in Ecuador Guide
Ecuador Forum
Contribute
Best Places to Live in Ecuador
Healthcare in Ecuador
Moving to Ecuador Guide
Pros & Cons of Living in Ecuador
10 Tips for Living in Ecuador