La Basilica del Voto Nacional from Secret Garden's 5th floor terrace.

We enjoyed a wonderful afternoon walking around Quito’s old city and took many photos as the late afternoon sun came out casting a warm light on crowds in scenic plazas.  The last photo in my camera was of two robbers coming to assault us.  We had been warned of a recent increase in crime here since President Correa eliminated jail time for thefts under $600.  We became suspicious of the two guys following us on steps up to the El Panecillo overlook and I thought we were safe when we let them pass us.  I did not know that two more accomplices were below us.  I started to struggle with them until they brandished flimsy-looking foot-long knives, more for show than stabbing.  I then let them have my decoy wallet with $15 and an expired credit card.  After they ran off I realized they also took my camera with a thousand photos on it.  So I chased after them offering to buy back the camera with a $100 bill hidden in my hat.  I returned to Julie, who lost $40, thankful that we survived unhurt.  We contacted the police and spent two hours driving around and filing a report with Tourism Security.  All the while I worried we’d miss Happy Hour & veggie pizza back at the Secret Garden hostel.  (Photos taken with my old camera that I gave to Julie, left back in our room’s safe.)

We enjoyed pizza & wine with the scene of the crime behind us.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 14th, 2009 at 20:19 and is filed under Photo Op. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.