The lock in this picture is 400 years old and, for its day , it probably did a good job. Today such a lock would be easy to break. Times have changed. The rules for staying safe in a new country have changed . But I bet even back then being aware of your surroundings, being conscious of who is near you , traveling with a friend and acting confident and as if you belonged in the area were all good practices.
Security in A Big City
ATM crime happens in the US and in all the South American countries we visited, But here the twist is that the random victim is kidnapped and driven to different ATMs to withdraw money. I guess there are no daily limits. A friend told us of a guy walking in front of the Japanese embassy to the most popular steak place in town for dinner and as he passed two guys casually talking in front of a car, they threw him in the back seat and then drove him to different ATMs to get his money. Moral of the story: don't carry an ATM card.
The other scary thing here, although prevalent in all the countries we visited, was the presence of scopolamine - one of the date rape drug. Primarily a drug used for crime by men on women in the US, here it is used by women on men to render them unconscious and steal their money. Our security advisor told a large group to take the supermodel test : "If you are in a bar and a supermodel or two start paying a lot of attention to you, ask yourself if supermodels paid attention to you in the States. If this was not the case back then, it may ne time to leave. The drug not only renders the victim unconscious but takes away all memory of the last 12 hours. Guys wake up in their apartments to find money, valuables, computers etc long gone. However, it is not only guys at bars who fall victim. The drug comes in an aerosol spray and when a person , man or woman get into an illegal taxi , the driver sprays them with it and takes their valuables. They wake up with no money and no memory. Illegal cabs are yellow just like the real thing but often do not have ID numbers on the side.
As the sergeant in Hills Street Blues used to say "You be careful out there
We did not let fear of crime stop us from exploring the city but we were cautious.
We shopped but kept our eyes open.
We visited well known restaurants.
We visited iconic restaurants.
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