I completely agree with hkwoody - we have spent time in Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru as well as several countries in Central America. We have never had any problem with crime and I felt safer in Quito, La Paz and Lima than at home (well, OK, I live in somewhat of a 'hood in Chicago, but still...). I have seen a few pickpocketings but the victims had the slightly lost, completely not paying attention look about them. Don't carry large sums of money, don't wear flashy clothes or jewelry and just be aware of your surroundings.
We did have a couple of run ins with government officials looking for a bribe- I'm fortunately fluent in Spanish and once they realized I was able to ask questions and really understand whatever silly thing they were accusing us of they left us alone. But my friends who aren't bilingual say a $10 or $20 always made whatever problem they were having go away. Also not so different from Chicago - ha ha.
La Paz and Quito are fabulous - don't miss them!
Reply to this If you are sensible and take precautions then you'll be absolutely fine! We spent 6 months in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, and Brazil and had nothing stolen!
We met lots of people that were robbed or mugged but, in almost every case, it could have been avoided by simply taking a taxi, not carrying a backpack/wallet/camera bag, and the like.
Also, the huge majority of people that we met who were robbed had it happen on a bus. Never, never, never put your daypack in the overhead rack on a bus or down by your feet! Keep it on your lap! It was amazing how many people put bags containing laptops and cameras in the overhead storage and then went to sleep!!
we almost skipped out Quito because people were telling us loads of horror stories! So glad we changed our minds at the last minute and went anyway, as we had a superb time there! A really good hostel was The Secret Garden in Quito, which is in the safer old town (safer than the Mariscal where a lot of backpackers stay) and has an amazing roof terrace.
We found Colombia very safe other than Bogota, where you do need to exercise real caution in the La Candelaria area - on our first night in S.A. two guys staying in our hostel were mugged at knife point one street away from the hostel!
Reply to this you guys dont know what you're talking about, I arrived empty handed and naked in the most dangerous part of Columbia back in 2011 after being mugged in Disneyland Florida. i quickly befriended the local cocaine farmer and his gang after showing him and his wife a funny video on youtube (baby monkey riding on a pig) they took me in, fed me and clothed me (also got shit loads of free cocaine haha). High off my face and skipped round the town, bottle of rum in hand and proceeded to start lots of fights, needless to say everyone was calm and quick to help calm me down. Later that week I ventured into the rainforest and stumbled across a tribe killing an english family. In exchange for some cocaine they spared my life and tings were good and we jammed under the stars for about a month (now been backpacking 7 years) and never met a friendlier place than Western Columbia so dont you guys go saying its dangerous when you dont even know it!
Reply to this I've been living in Quito for two years now and have had basically no problems. Personally I found Lima far worse! It depends on personal experience of course but I found Bolivia very easy and safe to travel in, Peru a bit dodgy in places and no problems in Colombia or Ecuador - just use your common sense.
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