Job Discussion Forums

[john_n_carolina]

.....BBC is reporting 9 British tourists tied up at gunpoint during dinner at the Mindo, Ecuador hostal.

no one was injured, but passports, jewelry, wedding rings, cash, credit cards, etc were taken.

if i'm not mistaken, i remember hearing of other incidents in that area in the past...

this isn't a Beware of Country warning, just a note for new ESL teachers coming to Ecuador. because, this news often never makes it to El Comercio. below is the article:
http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/travel/news/article3540999.ece

Britons robbed at gunpoint in Ecuador
Masked gang armed with guns and machetes tie up, rob and terrorise nine Britons in an Andean village
Mindo Gardens Lodge
Steve Keenan

Nine Britons were held at gunpoint and robbed in a terrifying 45-minute ordeal on the first night of a trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands.

Armed with guns, knives and machetes, a masked gang burst in on the group as they sat down for dinner in their hotel in a small village on Monday night.

The gang tied up the nine Britons, two Canadians and a Greek in the party, and held knives to their throats and guns to the temples in a 45-minute ordeal. The guests were stripped of rings, passports, bags and cameras before the gang took their room keys.

But one of the staff at the Mindo Gardens Lodge managed to escape and the gang fled before ransacking the rooms. The armed robbers got away with an estimated US$20,000 worth of possessions and cash in the attack in El Mindo, 84km outside the capital, Quito.

[Justin Trullinger]

Not a beware of country warning, but rather a beware in country warning- which is sensible and appreciated. Mindo is not the tranquil town I first saw five years ago- it's grown, both in size, and economy, and as a result, in it's potential to attract crime.

Contrast to 2003, when I stayed several times in a small hostel with no locks on any doors. No problems.

THat said, I also spent a lovely weekend in Mindo a couple of months ago, and may again next week. As it's grown, the restaurants have certainly improved, and services like internet and international phone service are welcome additions.

I still wouldn't say Mindo is dangerous- but more so than it was, which is worrying. I have to admit, though- "9 people were robbed of $20000 worth of money and possesions" also makes me pause. In a country with an average monthly income of around $300, these people were carrying the equivalent in goods and cash of more than $2000 each. I'm not saying that they deserve to be robbed; just that this is not overly streetwise.

I've been in and around Latin America for almost 5 years- never had a major crime problem, though a few minor ones. Maybe being, and looking, broke most of the time is a blessing?

Be careful out there.

Justin

[ajarnlilly]

When I saw the headline I thought "...and nobody got robbed at gunpoint in Britain today?"

This incident in Ecuador is mainly news because it is unusual. It probably wouldn't make the news in Britain or the US, and if it did, only because there was a large group of foreign victims.

-Lilly

[Guy Courchesne]

[john_n_carolina]

[john_n_carolina]

...i believe passports go for about $3000-5000 on the black market. (that's from one of my military officer friends who works throughout L.America)

[Justin Trullinger]

Hmmm-

I guess that my comments are unjustified, if passports were included in the $20000, and considered to be worth $3000 or more. But I doubt it a bit- if for no other reason because I assume that all had passports, and that would put the number up quite a bit.

Also, if I was hard up for cash, where would I sell my passport? (I can report it stolen, after all...) THis is what makes me cagey about information that is hard to source or prove. Who would buy a blackmarket passport for that much, and why? Remember, this isn't the day of the Jackal. If I report my passport stolen, it goes into the computer as such. Not all border checks are computerized, but all US border checks are. I just don't see the use of a stolen passport, to most people. (I'm sure there's a way; in the high levels of government services, espionage, or terrorism, they could certainly work out something to do with a stolen passport. But I wouldn't know where to find such people to sell a passport to, and neither would a masked man in Mindo.)

I'll repeat- I appreciate you posting this, John, as it reminds people to be careful, cautious, and sensible in Ecuador. And I have to say: I have met a lot of people who walked away saying "Ecuador is REALLY dangerous." Many of them wouldn't necessarily have found it that way if they had used a little more simple caution and common sense. THat said, though- I know a lot of people who have been robbed in Ecuador, and the organisation I work for got held up at gunpoint several months ago. Scary. And a friend of mine is the US lives down the road from the site of a recent school shooting. And a crazy man once attacked me with a tire iron in Camberwell, London. It's a mad world. I'm not saying Ecuador is a paradise of safety, but it isn't too much better or worse than the world at large. Be careful, but don't let it ruin your day on the days that it doesn't happen would be my advice.



Best,
Justin


Best,
justin

[ajarnlilly]

Justin said "...but it isn't too much better or worse than the world at large"...

I completely agree and was trying to make that point in my post, which was misunderstood by johninmaine.

I'm no troll and don't appreciate being called one. Unlike john, I do not take my attitude & (mis)information from the US military, which I am intimately familiar with. A new passport costs less than $200, so to value it at some unsupportable "black market value" of $3-4000 is itself a "far-flung, senseless, speculative statement."

Yes, we all, teachers and tourists, need to be careful...anywhere we go, to not flash our wealth about.

[nineisone]

I may have misread parts of this discussion, but while a U.S. passport costs less than 200$ for a U.S. resident, it's value can be tenfold to a non-citizen thief. I would imagine this applies to passports of other first world nations and the EU. I recall reading stories on AM Costa Rica and the local SJ rag website about the incidence of many robberies of sunburned tourists where cameras and other electronic goods were left untouched while passports and other dipolomatic papers were stolen. Don't know if it is accurate, but it gave me food for thought.

I can't really add anything insightful about violence and crime in L.A. other than the obvious: people in desperate situations attempt desperate acts, and not always for the right reasons. Robin Hood no existe.

Certainly, the U.S. is culpable in so much of what is wrong in the region, but students of history will realize that its actions are pretty much consistent with past empires. China, India, or whomever the mantle will be passed to next, is doomed to repeat the same errors within their own cultural context.

[naturegirl321]

somehting like thatcould happen in any country.

[john_n_carolina]

....i'm a little short on time again these days, so i don't have time to do a full dissertation on this subject. when you get into topics like these, you really can't generalize. but, one aspect of living in L.America compared to the First World or Europe is that your probability of being the "target" or victim of whatever crime is alot higher.

Lilly, i would like you to take a look at the 2003-2005 homicide chart for NY below. here you will see that my memory did not fail me. 24% of homicides were "stranger" victims. but, 60% of homicides are black, and only 9% white. so, what's 9% of 24%?? just a little more than 2%. therefore, (if you are white) you're chances of being a "stranger" vicitim of homicide are about 2%.
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/04/28/nyregion/20060428_HOMICIDE_CHART.html

all of this is a bit futile to discuss, because most of L.America is really a Third World area filled with poverty, crime, low wages, and no future.

however, to me and most of my companeros, the minute we step out of L.America and into Canada, US, Denmark, Sweden....we're no longer the "target".

[john_n_carolina]

...as for the passports, nineisone, i have heard of these same stories...have friends in CR.

and, i'll back up my claim that an EU passport, Canadian, UK, etc are worth $3000-$5000 on the black market.

i don't know why, how, for what reason, or for whom, ...but, that's coming from reliable sources...

one of them, the US Embassy in Quito. i had my passport stolen 1 day before my flight.

also, i was sitting at a bar one night in a small coastal town (not to be named) and the bartender offered me $5000 on the spot for my passport. he was serious, and as the night went on and more and more Bacardi was finished, i hastily made an excuse and told him i was out of cigarettes and had to go to the tienda.

i half-staggered half-ran home, switched hotels, and took the 5AM bus out of there the next morning....

[john_n_carolina]

[john_n_carolina]

...well, i did find one story...it's from 2005 and i remember reading it. guess where it is? L.America

Peru: Tourists Robbed on the Inca Trail
By Larry Habegger | Permalink | No Comments | November 21st, 2005 | Trackback
A group of 13 tourists was robbed on the Inca Trail when camping near the town of Ollantaytambo Nov. 14. Bandits beat and tied their 26 porters before midnight, then entered their tents to steal cash and valuables. None of the tourists were injured and the porters were treated for cuts and bruises. Thousands of hikers make the four-day trek every year without incident, but a police presence on the trail has vanished because the government agency responsible for the trail?s maintenance stopped

[Guy Courchesne]