Some Destinations Really ARE Dangerous
December 30th, 2008 Posted in Destination reports, GeneralThose of us who travel a lot tend to pooh-pooh the question non-travelers seem to ask the most: “Is it safe there?”
“There” is usually anywhere outside the country where they currently live. The fear of the unknown is very strong. The murders and armed robberies one neighborhood over on the local nightly news are somehow less scary than the potential of being pickpocketed on a distant shore.
There are some travel destinations, however, where the danger is very real. The only way to find out for sure is to do your homework and get the whole picture. Do a little digging around and you’ll find that most of Mexico, for instance, is as safe as your home town. The border cities, however, are full-on gangland war zones. Picture the worst parts of Detroit, but with Spanish graffiti and better guns. The city of Tijuana fired its police chief in early December after 38 people were murdered in one weekend. Police officers just returned to work after some retraining time and deeper background checks. The death toll for the year has passed 800.
You’ve got to admire the honesty and cajones of the outgoing chief Alberto Capella though, who had this to say: “This war will continue so long as drugs are illegal and command high prices in the United States. Legalize the drugs, then the Americans can get high and we can live in peace.” (In the meantime, if you’re snorting coke you’re automatically a player in this drama. May I suggest B.C. bud instead? No turf wars in Canada.)
When the violence is not so over the top, the best information often comes from honest locals. I was reminded of this a few weeks ago when talking with one of my Peru trekking partners and his daughter, who were from Sao Paulo, Brazil.
“I don’t wear a watch and I never carry more than a little bit of cash,” said the father. “Sao Paulo is a good place to do business, but not a very nice city otherwise. I have been robbed four times at gunpoint. It is a scary feeling when a man is holding a gun to your head and his hands are shaking, his eyes glazed. You want to give him what you have as quickly as possible because you think the gun could go off by accident the way his hand is shaking.”
I had heard plenty of bad things about the city before, but when a local gives you this kind of graphic description, you know the reputation is for real. The funny thing is, one sentence ended this conversation. In unison, he and his daughter said, “Rio is worse!”
4 Responses to “Some Destinations Really ARE Dangerous”
By Alison Stein Wellner on Dec 30, 2008
Great post, Tim, and it caught my eye as it’s a subject I’m working on/thinking about now too.
It’s obviously true that there are places that are more risky than others in absolute terms, but as I browse around the State Department’s country profiles (enough to strike fear in anyone’s heart) it strikes me that the advice for staying safe almost anywhere but an active war zone is largely the same, country to country. Don’t go to bad areas, especially not after dark, leave the diamonds at home, don’t flash around money, electronics, passports.
On a partially informed/partially gut-hunch level, it seems to me that the things that are most likely to get you at home– car accidents, acute injuries, illness –are also likely to get you on the road.
Anyway, that’s what I tell my mother.
On the other hand: the murder rate per 100,000 population is 18.9 in Ecuador (most in the world, says Economist Pocket World in Figures) 13.6 in Swaziland, 13.1 in Mongolia. It’s less than 6 in the United States (and a great deal of these are drug-related, so not being involved in drugs helps your odds of not getting murdered). I’m not saying that people shouldn’t travel to those countries, of course, but, as you say, the increased risk is real.
By jean on Dec 31, 2008
Think the danger of elsewhere is as much as at home. People feel more insure because of the unknown. So quite agree that doing some homework and listen to what locals way about their place. That is very helpful.
http://www.OurExplorer.com
local guides, local wisdom
By Nathan Shipley on Jan 1, 2009
Interesting entry, Tim. I’m one of the pooh-poohers. As an additional note to your post, I’d add the following: I think the “honest locals” are quite often “paranoid locals.”
After traveling for more than four months around South America (two of those months in Peru, and most of the rest of the time in Colombia), I found local opinion of how “dangerous” a city / region / country is was always overblown. It’s something I always ask locals: “What is place X like?” They often tell me it’s dangerous and not to go there. For example, I was promised I wouldn’t even leave with the clothes on my back if I walked to a particular street market in central Lima, but ended up being just fine. Unfounded Peruvian descriptions of Colombia sounded like a war zone. “Never hail a taxi on the street there. Always call. You’ll get kidnapped. Narcos everywhere. Don’t talk to people.” etc. Same thing happened in Poland about areas within Krakow.
I notice that locals of higher socio-economic status tended to be more cautionary and worried about the perils of a particular place than those who might not be as well off. Put simply, the rich people are more scared.
I also suspect that people might be more cuationary because I’m a tourist to begin with. I don’t know the turf like they would, so they err on the side of “Don’t go, you idiot! You should see what the nightly news said about that place!” It’s understandable, albeit a little frustrating.
For me, the most interesting stuff happens when you go where you’re not “supposed” to. I really do believe that one can travel through some pretty rough areas as long as they keep their head about them, aren’t flashy, and aren’t unaware or stupid about it.
I obviously don’t want a gun in my face and some places have more crime than others, but I just think warnings like those given by your Brazilian friends should be taken with a grain of salt. They are able to swing a trip to Peru, after all.
By tim on Jan 2, 2009
Nathan—true, the rich people may be more scared, but when even the poor people warn you away from a neighborhood or town near where they themselves live, you know it’s trouble. There are places in my own city I wouldn’t dream of going after dark and the only people who are living there by choice are the drug dealers.
Total paranoia is illogical, but a little justified paranoia can be healthy. The stats and news reports on Rio, for instance, back up everything I’ve heard and I have yet to meet someone who has lived there any length of time that hasn’t directly experienced or witnessed violent crime. I don’t believe being robbed four times at gunpoint requires “a grain of salt.” The Brazilian guy I mentioned has lived in other cities (including in the U.S.) without incident and he’s not flashy. Some places require extra caution.