American Tourist Shot While Exchanging Dollars

[Tres3]

Minimum three copies of data (working copy on your computer qualifies as one) on two different kinds of media, one being off site. If you follow this you will never lose priceless data.

Another piece of advice is that when you travel, especially out of the country, leave a copy of ALL your drives somewhere safe in the USA. I bit the bullet and decided to trust cloud computing, so I now leave two copies in the USA, one someplace safe, and the other on the cloud. I have access to the cloud anywhere in the world where there is Internet access. I no longer carry an external hard drive, only my laptop and a thumb drive.

Tres3

[Daddy Rulz]

If I had priceless info on a computer disk of any type I think I might have also for example e-mailed that info to myself or else maybe perhaps just possibly not travel with it. I'm just sayin'. BTW also scan and e-mail yourself a copy of the declaration page of your passport and-or have it on a thumb drive. Saves a lot of problems if your passport gets lifted.

Minimum three copies of data (working copy on your computer qualifies as one) on two different kinds of media, one being off site. If you follow this you will never lose priceless data.

[Dickhead]

If I had priceless info on a computer disk of any type I think I might have also for example e-mailed that info to myself or else maybe perhaps just possibly not travel with it. I'm just sayin'. BTW also scan and e-mail yourself a copy of the declaration page of your passport and-or have it on a thumb drive. Saves a lot of problems if your passport gets lifted.

[Gandolf50]

I just want to share my experience since we're all on the same topic.

Once upon a time there were three little pigs. I was one of them. The three little pigs went out to several bars and had several of drinks. After a few hours the three little pigs ended up at a club. As usual, I failed to remember advices from Jackson's cheat sheet (dust off the house pigs) and advice given by one of you guys I forgot which one where it goes something like this "Usually the first ones to approach you inside a club are the bad ones. Quickly say "no thanks" and continue to look around.". Well as you guys can guess, I took the first chica who approached me home with me. I have to admit I was pretty drunk at that time thus making stupid decisions. Long story short, so I took her home and soon I passed out at home with her laying next to me.

By now you all should have already guessed what has happened. I wake up next morning, chica gone, along with my valuables. Wonderful. That night I lost around $2, 000+ USD worth of goods. The usual stuff people lose when bringing a stranger back home: smartphone, laptop, money, camera, etc. (she was very smart for taking all the chargers with her). At that time the rate was 1:6. 2pesos so about north of $12, 400+ worth of pesos. The end.

Surprisingly, the chica and I never negotiated or talked about her price the whole time. I was so naive to think that she is a regular girl (non-pro) just interested in me. It was also naive for me to think I can actually pick up a non-pro that easily.

I am also very very, extremely grateful for the fact that she did not take my passport, my credit cards, or any other I'd and only took other valuables. She also took my External Harddrive, but decided to leave it on my table. How sweet of her. The information / files on my external harddrive is worth way more than $2, 000, in fact it is priceless to me. Thank god!

Although I lost a lot of valuables that night, I wasn't really upset and was in fact happen. Why? Well because she also took my External Harddrive, but decided to leave it on my table. How sweet of her. The information / files on my external harddrive is worth way more than $2, 000, in fact it is priceless to me. Thank god!

Note to self: work harder in the future, so I can buy back the stuff I lost and most importantly learn from my lesson and act smarter.

I feel like I write a lot, somethings I feel like I should be a writer. Make write some stories.

You don't even have to be drunk! Every once in a while the papers run a series on what they call the "Black Widows" or some such nonsense. This usually happens in boliches though. You "think" you have struck gold! You have picked up a really hot babe and she is all over you and you are on the way back to your place! (of course you think its your idea!) The net morning you wake up feeling like shit and your place is ransacked! Destroyed! And that 50k in pesos (or what ever) you had hidden taped to the inside of your CD player is gone. Not to mention everything you own is now broken and destroyed. Some simple knock out drops or. Supposedly these crimes are very rarely reported because the guy is too embarrassed to make a complaint. Never happened to me but I know one person who it has happened to and have heard of several others.

[LateNightExcur]

I just want to share my experience since we're all on the same topic.

Once upon a time there were three little pigs. I was one of them. The three little pigs went out to several bars and had several of drinks. After a few hours the three little pigs ended up at a club. As usual, I failed to remember advices from Jackson's cheat sheet (dust off the house pigs) and advice given by one of you guys I forgot which one where it goes something like this "Usually the first ones to approach you inside a club are the bad ones. Quickly say "no thanks" and continue to look around.". Well as you guys can guess, I took the first chica who approached me home with me. I have to admit I was pretty drunk at that time thus making stupid decisions. Long story short, so I took her home and soon I passed out at home with her laying next to me.

By now you all should have already guessed what has happened. I wake up next morning, chica gone, along with my valuables. Wonderful. That night I lost around $2, 000+ USD worth of goods. The usual stuff people lose when bringing a stranger back home: smartphone, laptop, money, camera, etc. (she was very smart for taking all the chargers with her). At that time the rate was 1:6. 2pesos so about north of $12, 400+ worth of pesos. The end.

Surprisingly, the chica and I never negotiated or talked about her price the whole time. I was so naive to think that she is a regular girl (non-pro) just interested in me. It was also naive for me to think I can actually pick up a non-pro that easily.

I am also very very, extremely grateful for the fact that she did not take my passport, my credit cards, or any other I'd and only took other valuables. She also took my External Harddrive, but decided to leave it on my table. How sweet of her. The information / files on my external harddrive is worth way more than $2, 000, in fact it is priceless to me. Thank god!

Although I lost a lot of valuables that night, I wasn't really upset and was in fact happen. Why? Well because she also took my External Harddrive, but decided to leave it on my table. How sweet of her. The information / files on my external harddrive is worth way more than $2, 000, in fact it is priceless to me. Thank god!

Note to self: work harder in the future, so I can buy back the stuff I lost and most importantly learn from my lesson and act smarter.

I feel like I write a lot, somethings I feel like I should be a writer. Make write some stories.

[AllIWantIsLove]

<snip> Here in BsAs I've been pick-pocketed once on the subte <snip>

Davie,

Could you tell us more about this experience? I assume he / they distracted you somehow. Knowing how might help others avoid having their pocked picked.

Thanks, Bob

[DavieW]

15 of those 19 times were during my 2. 5 years in Iguazu / Misiones. Gangs come over the border from Brasil and Paraguay to rob the tourists and I look like a gringo.

I've never lost anything of great value because I'm not an idiot and don't wear an expensive watch or carry large sums of cash. The 3 times I had my house burgled I actually got quite a lot of the stuff back. At least the 2nd and 3rd times it was perpetrated by the cops, who subsequently offered me private 'paid protection'. The story of how I know it was the cops is actually quite amusing. Ask me about it at one of Jackson's BBQs one Friday evening.

Here in BsAs I've been pick-pocketed once on the subte and lost a small amount of cash. Another time I had my baseball cap snatched off my head. Luckily (touch wood!) I've never been the victim of violence, except for the time some punk kid punched me in the back of the head whilst walking home just to impress his girlfriend (didn't even try to rob me. Go figure). In fact during all those robberies I've only even been threatened with violence once and that was also on the subte, with my then 3 year old kid in my arms. They just told me to stay still whilst they emptied my pockets or they'd lay into me. That was the last time actually and was almost a year ago.

Why do I continue living here? Believe me, I'd have been out of here, never to return, about 4 years ago if I wasn't trapped! I've got a kid here and I want to see him grow up, so I put up with the crap, come onto forums to vent to like-minded expats occasionally, but mainly I work, keep my head down, spend as much time as I can with my kid and just get on with it.

[Dickhead]

Thinking about someone getting robbed 19 times but continuing to live in that place sort of reminds me of the blonde who read that 75% of all traffic accidents occur within half a mile of home.

She moved.

[Daddy Rulz]

"Each to their own (experience)" eh?

Talking as a guy who has been robbed 19 times in 5+ years in Argentina

I know you're smart enough to not walk around holding plastic bags of cash through Quilmes after midnight so where is this happening? I don't doubt you brother I've just never been robbed, or mugged here. I will admit though that Sol from Hook did steal my heart (or an organ a little lower) for a night one time.

[Dickhead]

I saw a lot more shit go down on Lavalle than I did on Florida. I can't imagine getting robbed 19 times in 5 years. I lived there just about 7 years and the only time I was successfully robbed was when somebody stole my padlock out of my backpack on the Subte, and left a little plastic figurine of a guy in a black and white striped jail uniform. I liked that figurine more than the lock anyway. A guy tried to steal my backpack in Retiro but was unsuccessful and I ended up with his jacket and a bunch of coins he dropped to try to distract me. On the red train one time I thought a guy was going to rob me while we were smoking pot between the cars and when he went for his jacket pocket I just pushed him off the train, which was going slow. Maybe I have just been lucky but I have been a lot of places and BA is not that dangerous. And yeah, I don't live there any more, and yeah, maybe it has gotten more dangerous but I was there six months ago and had no fear. I do follow the Daddy Rulz school of looking like you have nothing to steal (as well as actually having nothing to steal other than a few hundred pesos at any one time; I never carried more than 1500 pesos so that was my maximum loss) , but I also walked around drunk a lot. Places that I thought were a lot more dangerous than BA (in Argentina) include Santiago del Estero and Río Gallegos.

Out of all the chicas I ran through my apartments, nobody ever stole anything, which is pretty amazing.

[Wild Walleye]

The coin shop I elude to is roughly 30 meters from the McDonalds in the Recoleta Center on the corner of Junin and Vicente Lopez. Are you all suggesting that this is a high risk location? It is located almost exactly half way between Vicente Lopez and Las Heras across from the newly renovated mall. Is this a high risk location? It is in fact two doors down the street from Jackson's old rentall apartment building (1655 Junin). The door is always locked and you have to buzz at the door to enter, the shop keeper then meets you at the door, checks you out and then let's you in. Once in the shop if you ask for cambio you are escorted into the back room and proceed with your transaction. After you are done you are let out in the same manner. Maybe I am missing something here but having stayed on this block or very nearby for years now I never felt this was a high risk location. There almost always is cop on the corner near the macdonalds in the evening, if that is relevant, roughly 30 meters away. I understand that "shit happens", in the big city but I was totally unaware that this was such a high risk area. As the crow flies Newport is just on the other side of Vicente Lopez. Please advise as I am a tad surprised that you all would consider this location as high risk? I certainly have never felt that way as I walked the area from Newport to Madahos. Maybe I have missed something? Confused Toymann.

Ps. In fact, I think the recoleta police station is right around the corner on las heras, assuming that has any impact on risk?

I have been on that block many, many times, at all hours of the day and night. I wasn't exchanging currency, rather bodily fluids. There used to be two guards at the old parking lot exit, right across the street from the coin store. The police station is around the corner on Las Heras (I think it is on the same block, if not, then the next block). That McDoogies entrance is busy 24/7. The staff in the kiosko, next to the coin store, always seemed to me to be on the "look out."

[Silver Star]

"Each to their own (experience)" eh?

Talking as a guy who has been robbed 19 times in 5+ years in Argentina, and who has walked the full length of Florida at least 2-3 times every week for the last 3 years. From my perspective there isn't a safer place in Argentina. Never had a problem there, never seen any trouble there, never met anyone who's ever had a problem there and until this recent incident, never heard of anyone having a problem there.

Of course, that sets me up to get mugged when I go down there later!

Maybe because I deal a lot more with green tourists, who are more suspect to get hit on FL st? Maybe you have been ok, because you have been fitting in ok, and not doing anything stupid or exposing your self, keep up the good work.

[DavieW]

In my opinion, The risk vs reward ratio for visiting Florida ST is not worth it. It is not that great to see, with higher risk than the other areas, I habe gotten way too many bad reports, too many touts, etc. Getting a lot of bad Palermo reports too, but that is worth the risk to go to.

"Each to their own (experience)" eh?

Talking as a guy who has been robbed 19 times in 5+ years in Argentina, and who has walked the full length of Florida at least 2-3 times every week for the last 3 years. From my perspective there isn't a safer place in Argentina. Never had a problem there, never seen any trouble there, never met anyone who's ever had a problem there and until this recent incident, never heard of anyone having a problem there.

Of course, that sets me up to get mugged when I go down there later!

[Silver Star]

One reason to go there is because they tourists love to see the street. The same as La Boca, San telmo and many other attractions. Otherwise they might just as well stay home. The chance of being pickpocketed in any place is high. On Florida the chance of being shot is very low. The chance of being pickpocketed in Recoleta is not quite so high but the chance of being injured is much higher. Around the Alvear hotel it's quite bad. Guys on motorbikes snatch at watches, cameras or anything they can get their hands on as they can escape easy along Libertador or 9 de Julio to the South. The list of tourists injured by being thrown down in the middle of the road while trying to hang on to their possessions is quite high. Two months ago a Mexican tourist was killed when she was dragged under a bus while she tried to hang on to her handbag almost on the corner of Las Heras and Junin at about 9:30am.

Last year I'm not sure if it was an American Airline Pilot or United had his pocket picked at Ezeiza airport so pilots aren't much of a reference.

In my opinion, The risk vs reward ratio for visiting Florida ST is not worth it. It is not that great to see, with higher risk than the other areas, I habe gotten way too many bad reports, too many touts, etc. Getting a lot of bad Palermo reports too, but that is worth the risk to go to.

[Silver Star]

Where is the slum in Recoleta? It sure varies a lot but I have not found myself in an area which I would call a slum. But then I am sure there are areas of Recoleta which I have not yet seen.

Thanks, Bob

It is literally on the wrong side of the railroad tracks from Libertador AVE, the area is known as Villa 31.