Numerous readers have sent Cotacachi crime concerns which we share here.
I often get notes like this …usually from people who have never been to Ecuador. Galyle has one point correct for sure. I have been a salesmen going on 41 years and always considered it a privilege to sell things I truly love and live myself…like Cotacachi Ecuador.
Really the village does not need selling. Cotacachi sells itself. All I have to do is tell the truth…so I sometimes get comments like this.
We’ll review more comments on Cotacachi crime in a moment…but one thing that is not a crime in Cotacachi or Ecuador is the great quality and cost of food. I just returned from Oregon and spent some time on the coast. Dungeness crab was $28 a pound…smoked salmon $19 a pound. That seems like a crime to me!
The wonderful lakes around Cotacachi means we have great fish. This is Lake San Pablo.
Here is a high Andean lake above Cotacachi.
and the trout they catch there.
Back to crime…let’s read what some people who live in Ecuador say about crime.
Hello Gary, Here’s a New York Times article you may have seen about an Ecuadorian man who was beaten and stabbed to death in New York. He was basically killed for sport…a hate crime.
Personally, I’ve been a crime victim a few times in Ecuador. During my six years there, I lived and traveled among the general population in a large city. I used the public transit system, the local markets, the bus stations… In this situation, you’re bound to be unlucky sooner or later.
But even in the worst of areas, I never worried for my safety. All I lost was money–or replaceable items–and I never carried any more than was necessary. I didn’t (and still don’t) worry that I’ll be killed or beaten for fun, or because I’m the wrong color or nationality.
I agree with Lee. When you talk to people who have lived in Cotacachi or most parts of Ecuador…they’ll agree…petty theft is a problem from which you must protect…but hate crimes basically do not exist and violent crimes are rare. Another reader who was a visitor to Ecuador wrote this note.
Hey Gary, first time in Ecuador, flew down from Quito to Guayaquil, heard how dangerous it was everywhere, been walking the streets day and night. I wear a $15,000 gold watch. Today, I rented car, drove to Montanita. Tomorrow, I am driving north, along the beach coast, then back to Guayaquil for a few days then over to Peru. I´m from Mobile. We have several shootings, stabbings, hit and runs a week, along with other crime. The bottom line is that most crime comes from just being at the wrong place at the wrong time. One of my next trips is Caracas, murder capital of the world…and yes, I am alone and over 60. I will be in the Dominican Republic for Christmas and New Years, surfing with my kids. Bobby. The only thing I suggest is it is better to burn out, than rust out.
I urge more caution than Bobby takes but could not agree more with his philosophy of enjoying life and embracing the incredible riches we have in today’s society instead of wasting away worrying about what bad could happen. Life is too short!
Back to fish. Merri and I love to accompany our chef, Santiago, to the Thursday fish market in Ibarra. I can buy about 20 pounds of crab for the same price as one pound in Oregon and it is really fresh! One of our favorite jobs is helping the chef!
We also love watching the fishermen at work when we are on Ecuador’s sea. Here is our last Coastal real estate tour watching the fishing on the Chone Estuary at Bahia.
but they are pretty low tech!
Just canoes and poles…no gas surcharge here.
The fishermen who fish outside our hotel in San Clemente are even more low tech…no boat!
We took our last group for a sea food meal in Manta.
Where this most expensive dish on the menu…a full lobster meal was $12.
My grilled fish was $6. That was no crime!
Which brings us back to Cotacachi crime.
Gary, As you now I have traveled to Ecuador and the Cotacachi area many times over the last several years; nine times I think. I have always felt safe even during the evening walking about Cotacachi and have never felt threatened there or in Quito or the coastal areas. I always try to be aware of my surroundings and the level of cautions I may consider appropriate as I would anywhere in the world I am traveling, for example, in Quito I usually put my wallet in my front pocket. However, reading the accounts of crime in the area lately, and I appreciate your alert, I felt a little concerned as a North American. In the interest of thoroughness on this topic my alarm is that the message is we are being targeted. This may be obvious. As anywhere the perceived affluent are vulnerable. In this culture we stand out and In this sense we present opportunity and perhaps in the perpetrators mind fair game. I would only say that a common sense realistic awareness of taking precautions in unfamiliar areas in an unfamiliar culture is important. I think that you and Merri provide a real service with up to date information for safe travel and areas to live and lodge in Ecuador. Your tours also provide an excellent environment for safe guided travel.
Since I have had so little trouble with any sort of crime in Ecuador what I tend to recall are the simple unexpected kindnesses which I have encountered. One time while shopping at the Otavalo indigenous market unknowingly I dropped a small package only to turn around to see a little indigenous child running up to me tugging at my sleeve with a smile and handing it to me. Another time at the bank in Cotacachi I was trying to cash a $100 bill – can be difficult as many know due to the fear of counterfeiting from Columbia. There at the bank after waiting in line for an hour only to be refused change due to that I did not have an account or permanent address they said; I left in exasperation. Unknown to me a young woman was observing and having empathy for my plight had withdrawn an extra 5 twenty dollar bills from her account and rushing down the street to find me offered them to me in exchange for the 100 dollar bill. “De Nada” she said.
Here is another note from a gringo who is resident in Ecuador.
Gary, I would like to add the following on crime in general in Ecuador. I have spent the past 9 years living in the Mariscal neighborhood of Quito, 6 months each year. Many consider this a likely neighborhood to encounter crime in Ecuador since there is much tourism, thus many opportunities to rob people who actually have money or valuables on them. I walk the streets until about 10 PM.
Ecuadorians are gentle peoples: They are not Cali, Caracas or Miami. The indigenous peoples who inhabit the provinces north of Quito are among the most stable, economically affluent, and culturally integral of any class of people in Ecuador. Crime is minimal as it is in most small towns in the USA.
Crime in Ecuador tends to be petty thievery, taking a backpack or purse from a cafe, stealing “things” which are left in the open unguarded. Ecuadorians are not a “gun culture” as exists in the United States. It is beyond their imagination that a person would rob and kill another for a pair of tennis shoes. It is further beyond their imagination that a young person would mass kill his classmates at school, and that the state would continue to allow unlimited access to hand guns and semi automatic weapons.The crime of Ecuador is based more on poverty, although there exists a cultural flaw in many people committing petty theft even when they do not need an item. These events are rarely associated with violence to people.
I’m a street smart kid (63) who grew up in Chicago’s south side and I know that Miami, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Washington DC, New Orleans, and just about every major and “medium size ” US city is far more dangerous that most any city or neighborhood of the largest cities of Ecuador. Only 2 cities of Ecuador have any significant crime, Guayaquil and Quito, and then only selective neighborhoods. Almost all the people I know who have been robbed (6 or 7) in Quito have been men walking home drunk late at night oblivious to using their normal street senses.
Gary, if you do a follow up, feel free to include my comments.
I agree that the Mariscal neighborhood of Quito is one of the riskier areas due to tourism…and that it is not the nature of Ecuadorians to be violent. We love the people here…the great scenery…the wonderful food…the low prices…the colors like these ice cream vendors in Bahia serving our last coastal real estate tour.
Plus we love the warm weather.
This is the final point. I was in a West Jefferson barber shop today and read the local paper. This is as small town USA as you can get. Nine people were on the front page…all arrested for dealing drugs…cocaine…heroine…meths. Then Merri saw a real live mountain lion run across our field. Then we visited our neighbor who showed us photos of five bears roaming the neighborhood. I feel totally safe here and would not hesitate for a moment to invite people to come up (just watch the ice on the road).
So I can live in complete safety here…even though there is crime…in this.
Or go to Cotacachi and San Clemente where the crime may be about the same…more or less…but in this.
at about a fourth or fifth the price.
Hi Merri: I just wanted to drop you a note and let you know how much myself and all of our “extended family” enjoyed the course that you, Gary, and all of your competent staff put on earlier this month. I am really just getting my feet back on the ground and I think that we are finally there.
Gary was awesome as we expected and gave me as really a beginning investor many insights and new ideas to think about. I am speaking for myself, Charles, Jose as well as Rebecca and Betty who joined us after the Galapagos Islands. You showed me that you are an expert planner and really went out of your way to accommodate us especially when we had people coming in at different times.
Francisco stood out as well. Of course, “our man” Steve the excellent tour guide and all around helpful person. Last and not least was Ray who also handled so much on the fly and did it well.
Merri and I hope to serve you in Ecuador this sunny winter.