So, is it safe where you live?

Well, let's consider a few things first.  I live on an island of 6,000 people.  I've ended up in the wrong part of town in Costa Rica.  I've driven through Newark, New Jersey at night.  I've been looking over my shoulder since the age of seven when "Unsolved Mysteries" became my fixation.  I have been well-versed on women's safety by mothers, friends, educators.  So, it is safe or dangerous here---it's all relative.  Anywhere can be dangerous and anywhere can be safe depending on the situation you're in and the people who are or aren't around you.

In general, I would actually say that Galapagos is safer than a lot of places considering everyone knows everyone, and if you do commit a crime there are only so many places to run and hide.  Being a gringa, I am immediately a more obvious target because with my stunning good looks (I could be the recipient of the Ugliest Woman Alive Award and still probably get a few whistles because of my blonde hair) and the exotic skin (either modestly pasty or slightly sunburned) that I am probably not familiar with the area and clearly a naive tourist with money (Ha!  Fooled them!)  So, that does make one a little more of a target and a little more alert.

However, there is also the knowledge that if a gringa gets assaulted or god-forbid murdered, it's probably going to be a lot more publicized than if it is one of the locals.  When the tourism dollars put money on the table, you do NOT want the international media reporting the bad business or the Department of State putting a travel warning on your country so by university policy study abroad programs are canceled.  It's just not wise, and these gringos sure run a bigger risk then they are worth sometimes.

So, do things get stolen?  Yes.  Have people gotten attacked?  Yes.  Is it safer than USA?  I don't know.  It is, like everywhere else in this world, just a place where good people and bad people come together and everyone is trying to come out a winner.  Sometimes you win, sometimes you don't; live goes on---well, for those of us lucky enough to survive this shitshow we call life.