Undaunted By Robbery in Latin America

As we walked from the movie theater to the mall, my friend and I decided to cut through the alley. As soon as we made the hard right into the passageway, I knew we had made a mistake.

From either direction a taller and stronger male was sauntering toward us. When I should have bolted, I overrode the adrenaline surge by telling myself to stop being so paranoid.

That was just before they forced us against the wall and demanded all of our money. I gave them the $20 bill in my wallet, all my loose change, and it was over.

No weapons. No gratuitous punch in the face or stomach. Just a quick and painless transaction. We’re bigger than you and you’re in a place where there’s no help—checkmate.

That was the only time I was ever robbed. I was about 16 and it happened at the Roosevelt Field Mall in Long Island, New York. It was strange to have been robbed in a place that seemed so safe and familiar.

Since then I’ve made countless forays into New York City, spent time in Costa Rica and Mexico, and have taken hours long chicken bus rides in Guatemala. I’ve never been robbed or have had anything stolen from me in any of these places.

But I know that it’s always a possibility, especially in Latin America. I hedge my bets by hiding money and credit cards in my shoes, carrying a photocopy of my passport, and stashing any extra cash or credit cards in a hiding place in my hotel.

Today, Ayngelina–the woman behind the wonderfully named Bacon Is Magic blog–described how she was robbed recently in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. The three men who robbed her and her friend had a knife. But she said it was pretty clear they just wanted some money from tourists.

Fortunately, it ended soon after she handed over her camera and the few dollars she had. It turns out there were seven other people staying at her hostel who had experienced the same thing.

Another blogger–Libby in Ecuador–shares how a man tried to grab her camera from her last week in Quito.

As I was looking up into the viewfinder, he came up behind me and yanked my camera out of my hands. He didn’t get very far, though, because the strap was wrapped around my wrist. Instead, the camera just kind of slingshot-ed out of his hand and hit me directly in the face. Ouch.

Her assailant ran away after she began yelling at him in English.

Neither Ayngelina nor Libby said they were particularly scared by their experience. After it was over, Ayngelina returned to her hostel and slept soundly. Libby said she wasn’t scarred at all by the attempted robbery. For her it was just another reminder not to stray too far from the pack.

In a op-ed piece last year entitled “Cum Laude in Evading Bandits“, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristoff explained why college students shouldn’t let the possibility of being victimized deter them from visiting the developing world.  He says:

The risks are minimal compared with the wonders of spending time in a small village. So take a gap year, or volunteer in a village or a slum. And even if everything goes wrong and you are robbed and catch malaria, shrug it off — those are precisely the kinds of authentic interactions with local cultures that, in retrospect, enrich a journey and life itself.

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