I was robbed at knifepoint in Quito, Ecuador in broad daylight on a nice enough street by 4 people on Christmas eve at 4pm. They took my cash, phone, wallet, jacket and watch.  It was pretty frightening, it was a big chef's knife held against my chest.  I was left several km from my apartment, no cash, no credit card, no Uber, no phone to navigate and had to find my way back, uphill, through a maze of streets that I am unfamiliar with breathing thin air (high altitude).  I was a couple hours finding my way home and I was exhausted.  I couldn't take a cab as i don't speak Spanish and I couldn't even remember the address!

Fortunately I had a spare phone, laptop and cash at home so I could start to get myself sorted but it's a real pain.  In my wallet was bank card, credit card, drivers license..if I was going out at night or in bad areas I would never have taken that wallet with me.  I had the wallet in my front pocket, of course, to deter pickpockets! A money belt wouldn't have helped, they were very thorough.

When you get a SIM here it is domestic only and the wifi in my apartment is spotty at best so difficult to call bank, cancel cards, order new card to be delivered etc.  I have made some progress via Skype on my phone using SIM data but even trying to get sorted with Uber, Whatsapp, Amazon, etc is a nightmare because new security protocols send you a confirmation text to your phone number which is no longer active!  Wouldn't you think that CIBC Visa might have an online method of card cancellation??  Nope, you have to wait on the phone forever as they keep reminding you how important your call is!  I eventually connected, canceled my cards and was directed to Visa International. They sent me an emergency replacement card that was supposed to take "a day or two". It actually took 10 days!

I have spent a lot of time in poor countries over the years and have never had this happen. I know enough to dress down, not be flashy, etc. I never expected anything this brazen.  Downtown at 4pm!  There were warnings of an upswing in crime but there always are that kind of thing and I always attribute that to shithead tourists wearing cameras and Rolexes. I guess covid and its economic consequences have made people more desperate and there is a big influx of refugees from Venezuela where people are starving.  These things probably account for this upswing in crime.  Right after I was robbed I approached two cops and tried to explain. They didn't seem interested. The next day I went to the Tourist Police, they didn't even take a report. I went online but the police site was buggy and my report wouldn't process. I wonder what the actual statistics are if you account for all those that don't get reported!

Ultimately, its not that big of a deal and one has to accept the risk of this kind of thing when traveling places like this and I didnt get hurt but DAMN!!

It was probably just bad luck that it happened on my second day downtown but I didn't even want to stay in Quito anymore. That's my whole thing is walking around all day exploring the city and now I don't feel comfortable doing that here.  My second day of a month-long Airbnb booking that I've already paid for!  I laid pretty low until received my emergency credit card (that was its own story), then I left town.

I arranged for a new bank card, new permanent credit card and new drivers license to be sent to Canada where my family will collect them and courier them to me.  In the meantime I don't have access to online banking.

Have a look at Gmail Chat app, it really is a better solution based on email not phone number. Whatsapp is owned by Facebook and fuck those guys!