Surviving a Mugging Attempt in Quito
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The Rose-Tinted Spectacles of Travel
Instagram curates a perfectionist image of travel. A mugging or violent crime won’t be shared on there.
Wonderful sunsets, amazing cocktails, awesome adventures. Smiles all round, and not a single downside to be seen.
Whilst that’s true almost all of the time, it hides the less flattering aspects of life on the road. From 30 hours on a ropey bus, to constantly being hit by sneaky hidden charges, and multiple scam attempts. Life abroad does not always go as smoothly as social media will have you believe.
But sometimes, you will encounter situations far worse than a little discomfort.
And so begins the story of my lucky escape from a mugging attempt in Ecuador.
This is a real story that happened in July 2022, and similar events are not entirely common amongst fellow long term “adventure” travellers.
Although with a few basic safety precautions, these situations should be avoidable. So please don’t be scared off visiting certain places just because I was careless and walked into a trap.
Although I will say that Ecuador isn’t very safe these days, outside of the Galapagos Islands.
The Warning
I arrived on a short flight from Bogotá to Quito and immediately got a taxi to my hostel, which arrived just in time for sunset.
As soon as I checked in, staff gave me a hostel tour, and one of the first things they covered was safety.
“Do not go out on your own at this time. It’s very dangerous”. I was told.
We were stood on the balcony and I pointed to a shop just a 20 second walk from the hostel. “Even to there?” I said.
Without hesitation, the lady told me yes. It’s too dangerous to go out alone even with the sun only beginning to set and to a shop literally across the road.
She continued, “never get your phone out on the streets here at any time of day”.
If locals give you safety tips, you listen. Ignore them at your peril.
I’ve met many people in Latin America with stories of muggings and crime. All of them stemmed from the victim failing to follow basic safety advice.
Little did I know, my own story was about to begin due to a similar lapse of concentration.
The Bus Journey
It had been a great day. I had been to Quito’s iconic Mitad del Mundo monument and it was by far the highlight of Ecuador so far.
The bus approached my stop.
But it never stopped. It went onwards for several more minutes before dropping me off in unfamiliar territory.
Worse still, the place I suddenly found myself seemed very dodgy. The bus stop was directly next to a shady marketplace.
I wanted to get my phone out to check Google Maps. But it felt too risky in this spot. So I walked onwards.
Hands were over my pockets.
In hindsight it felt like I was making it obvious I had something to hide.
An Attempted Mugging
After several minutes I had put some distance between myself and the marketplace. I was out on the main road and it seemed quiet.
I turned around, and saw no one. At this point it seemed safe to reach my phone.
Oh no. What a terrible idea.
As soon as I took it out my pocket, a hand snatched it out of mine.
Before I knew it, there were two thieves stood in front of me, one with my phone in his hand. Both in their early-to-mid teens.
There was no fear, which may seem strange in this situation. The adrenaline kicked in instantly and it felt more like a wild ride on a rollercoaster rather than a potentially life-threatening situation.
After all, anyone attempting to pull off a mugging in Latin America is likely to carry weapons, and many of these bandits aren’t afraid to use them.
For some reason they paused. This gave me just enough time to counterattack.
I quickly swiped forward and grabbed my phone back, confused as to why the thieves hadn’t scarpered instantly upon receiving their trophy.
Perhaps they wanted my wallet too?
As soon as I grabbed the phone, a loud voice started shouting from behind me.
It turns out there weren’t two of them. There were three.
The older brother, seemingly in his early twenties stood behind me. And he wasn’t happy to see me fighting back.
He shouted in fluent fast-paced Spanish, far too advanced for me to understand what he was saying. I may have recognised “Hola amigo, quieres una cerveza?” But it was pretty clear this chap wasn’t here to be my friend.
I was trapped. Two thieves stood in front and one behind. The wall on my right prevented escape.
Flight wasn’t an option, only fight was left on the table.
Of course, giving up everything was also a choice, but with the adrenaline surging and my judgement clouded, this didn’t cross my mind.
The Escape
I kicked out at the one who took my phone. I kicked him several times and this was just enough to break a hole in the circle.
Without hesitation I ran back in the direction from which I came. Unfortunately my sprint times weren’t being recorded at this point, but I probably broke a couple of Usain Bolt’s records somewhere in the process.
A crowd of locals were waiting by a bus stop.
“LOS LADRONES TOMAN MI CELULAR” I shouted, in broken Spanish. “The thieves took my cellphone” in English.
Either my pronunciation was pretty poor, or this sort of activity has become normalised in Quito.
Every single person stood still, statuesque, completely unphased by what was occurring right before their eyes.
I continued to run and saw an opportunity to cross the road. Then a quick glance over my shoulder was needed.
If traffic halted my progress, the thieves could catch up. Having left them with nothing but a good kicking, they probably wouldn’t be stopping me to apologise.
I turned around.
Nothing.
Fortunately I was alone again. I made it halfway across the road as cars came in the other direction.
This gave ample opportunity to turn around and work out where my adversaries were.
The answer was nowhere to be seen.
After crossing the road I hurried in the general direction I was meant to be heading in.
And finally made it back to familiar territory.
The next step was to do what anyone would do after surviving a mugging attempt.
I went straight past the hostel and found a KFC a few minutes up the road. Fried chicken is the perfect antidote after a rocky day on the road.
It was soon time to head back to the hostel for a much-needed couple of beers before planning the escape from Quito the following day.
Lessons Learnt After the Mugging Attempt
Around 18 hours, two beers and a surprisingly good sleep later, and the adrenaline finally subsided.
And only then did I realise the potential severity of the situation.
Fear stories of violent crime in Latin America are often exaggerated to make it seem like a dangerous place (spoiler: it isn’t, it’s the best place on earth). However that doesn’t mean it’s a haven of safety like Singapore or South Korea either.
Even leading travel blogger Nomadic Matt shared stories of being stabbed in Colombia. Again, this problem was caused from a lapse in concentration and momentarily letting his guard down. You shouldn’t have issues if you stick to basic safety precautions.
On another day, these guys could easily have pulled a weapon on me. And I wouldn’t be sharing this story right now. Mugging attempts aren’t the norm, but there is certainly a heightened risk in Quito.
All this happened because I didn’t pay attention when the lady at my hostel said to keep my phone hidden in the streets at all times.
A valuable lesson had been learnt.
Locals know best.
Since then, I have only used my phone in riskier cities after going into a cafe or shop to get off the streets.
Learn from my errors and you should be fine.
Sometimes you just can’t let your guard down for even just a second.
Stubbornness nearly cost me big time : https://www.nomadicbackpacker.com/british-backpacker-attacked-in-cape-town.html
i am much more careful now.