Crime in Ecuador – Little Bitty Living

Three more weeks here! I’m trying not to “wish my life away” but I confess Im anxious to start my New Real Life in Albania in September.

Look at the goodies I got at the mercado, all for $4.60! I also got a whole pork tenderloin for $3, ground round for $2.50 a pound and Dodie and I shared a whole beef tenderloin that was $4.50 a lb…$10.50 each for the whole big chunk of filet mignon! I already had some and there’s enough left for at least 4 thick filets. Yum!

Zucchini, 2 bell peppers, 6# tomatoes, carrots, broccoli and cabbage!

The internet connection in my room was out for over a week. Boy I didn’t realize how much I use it! I was able to get a wifi signal from one of the other rooms though, called the Sirena Room. It’s really cute!

The shower is on the other side of La Sirena!

I tried to call British Airways about the horrible flight change they assigned me. Like other airlines, BA has been having so many problems with cancelled flights, thousands of pieces of luggage piled up at Heathrow, etc. It’s kind of funny, their automated phone response is pretty much “Go away and don’t bother us right now”! The change is for the return leg of my round trip ticket so I just accepted the new flights on line, but I should be able to get a refund for trading a 4 hour layover in London for a 16 hour layover. I’ll see what I can do once I get to the airport.

There’s some kind of horrible bug that’s biting me (but apparently no one else!) It looks exactly like black fly bites, and they do have them here. I’m getting huge bright red welts with a white center that itch intensely for two days. Ugh!

Oh my gosh! Breaking news! There was an armed robbery that just took place less than 1/2 block from here, at the beach entrance! It was caught on our next door neighbor’s security camera. Two guys on a motorcycle pulled up to a guy sitting in a parked car, one jumped off with a gun, jerked open the car door and apparently took the driver’s keys and money, jumped back on the motorcycle and took off! The victim started running up the street chasing after the robbers. It’s crazy that this just happened right HERE!

I know a lot of you are wondering why I don’t just stay in Ecuador. It would make sense in a lot of ways…I already have friends here, I know where to shop and kinda know my way around, and do speak some rudimentary Spanish.

Well I’ve been avoiding the elephant in the room…. it’s become very dangerous to live here. Sadly, Venezuelan drug gangs have moved in and apparently bribed the high ranking police to do nothing about their activities. There are now lots of rapes, robberies and other violent crimes being committed at gunpoint. A lot of it is in the capital city of Guayaquil, but it’s also here. In Ecuador, only the police and criminals have guns.

And it’s not just gossip or vague rumors, it’s happening to people I actually know! One of the teen girls who lives here during the week was robbed at gunpoint for her cellphone, right here on our own little beach. And last week, an expat’s adult daughter was on the main street going past the beach in Salinas when a gang member opened fire on a rival across the road, and she actually felt the bullet whiz past her head. In broad daylight!

I had envisioned myself taking long walks on the beach every day but now I’m afraid to go, except on the weekends when there are families there. I’m pretty sad about that. When I lived here before, I rode the bus nearly everywhere but now it’s not safe; I have to take taxis. I feel especially vulnerable….if you were a thug, which would you choose, an Ecuadorian who might make $350 a month, or a well-dressed skinny old gringa?? I may as well paint a bull’s-eye on my back! At least that’s how I feel, anyway.

I guess this kind of thing is becoming more and more common all over Latin America.

So that’s why I’m still planning to go to Albania. It’s cheaper than Ecuador and very very safe. There are no bars on the windows; that oughta tell you something! The expats in my Facebook groups all agree that they feel perfectly safe walking around at any time of the day. I guess there is some unwanted male attention at times but I really doubt that will be a problem for me, unless someone has a Grandma fixation!