Increasing crime in Manuel Antonio?

[KellyMcQ]

Hello all! My family and I just returned from yet another spectacular trip in Costa Rica. However, on our last night we had a very uncomfotable experience..our first out of our 4 times in CR this year. We were staying in Manuel Antonio this trip and one night while enjoying a nice, bon-fire with our newly made tico friends, some of whom taught us to surf earlier in the week, this woman comes running and screaming this odd scream down the hill towards the park and all of our new friends took off running to see what happened to her. After hearing she and her husband were held up at gun point and robbed by a legitimate taxi driver. We felt very anxious about the situation and decided to head on home, very nervous and scared because a taxi was going to be our form of transportation back. Two of our new friends set us up in another cab, all of us not saying a word and after the driver briefly speaking in his walkie-talkie he asked my husband if we understood spanish and my husband said yes, the driver then turned off his walkie talkie for the rest of the drive to our house maybe 10 minutes or so. The driver did know of the incident and even knew who the driver was, but they won’t tell on him for fear of retaliation. Once we turned onto the deserted, dirt road that takes another few minutes to get to our house, he drove so slowly at times he would even stop…much slower than any other cab driver we’ve had, it was a little creepy. When we pulled up to our house our gate was standing wide open, which it never had been before and there was no guardsman as there always was. We did make it fine it was just a lot of bizarre series of events that made us all highly uncomfortable. I talked to our house manager about it and she explained that there has been an increase in crime in the area, but wouldn’t elaborate. My husband and I are looking to purchase some land in the southern zone and we want to know it all…the good, the bad and the ugly! Is it not safe to travel via taxi anymore? Any advice anyone has for us to avoid such a situation is greatly appreciated! We noticed a lot more people in that area as opposed to last Thanksgiving, I suppose with that comes the increase in crime….too bad. 🙁 Cheers, Kelly

[sprite]

Seems this is a popular and frequent topic here, whether justified or not. All anyone might hope to get from these inquiries are anecdotal data. Highly personal experiences are not a good base on which to come up with an accurate assessment of crime for the country in general. Crime happens anywhere and anytime on the planet where people congregate.

My take on crime in CR is simple; if you are anywhere in an area where foreign money is present in a notable amount and you look and act like a crime victim, your odds of becoming one will increase a lot. Period. An acquaintance of mine walked the streets of Limon at two in the morning and nothing happened to him because he is a confident, tall and tough looking guy. I never feel threatened because I walk with a certain level of confidence. And I can do that because I rarely walk around with valuables on my person and I do not frequent bars, tourist places or big cities and I retire shortly after dark. :-}

Edited on Nov 28, 2007 11:03

Edited on Nov 28, 2007 11:04

[ssure]

I’ve spent time in Limon and in San Jose. I feel safer in San Jose as long as I’m not down in that high drug use area. Seems to me like there’s a lot of drugs all over downtown Limon.

A cab driver tried to hijack me and deliver me to his buddies waiting in an alley in San Jose one night a few years ago. He refused my requests to change direction and he was obviously coordinating with someone on the cab’s radio. He headed for the skid row area and turned into an alley. I realized what was happening and after no success telling him to back out of the alley, it got physical and he backed the cab out on to the street. It was really scary, and then later on I thought maybe he’d get the police to come to my hotel and try to charge me with squeezing his neck.

Now when I’m in San Jose I NEVER step into those old beat up red cabs and always get the hotel to hook me up. On one trip I hooked myself up with one of those guys who drives the Orange official airport cabs, and right now he’s my guy. I have his cell phone number and let him know when I’m in town. He makes sure he’s available and whenever possible he’ll come get me. Sometimes I book him for the whole day if I have a lot to do, and he’ll either show up in his cab (off the meter for a better price) or in his father’s car if it’s his day off. I pay him fairly well and everyone’s happy, and I feel safe. He helps me get things done, his English is really good and he’s a very safe driver too.

That scary cab ride gave me an idea. My daughter married a young Costa Rican man. I got them interested in doing a private tour guide business out of San Jose. So by Jan. they’ll be ready to go and I’ll just use them when I’m in town. With the big question mark around cab safety in C.R., sneaky car rental places and lack of road signs in Costa Rica, some North Americans sometimes feel stress about how they’re going to get around the city or the country.

I think there might be a good market for a more personal type of service. They’re going to offer a service where they pick up their clients at the airport, take them to their house in San Jose (if the client wants to save over the cost of a hotel), or take them to their hotel, and then do the driving for the duration of their trip for an agreed upon price in advance. Either on call, or dedicated. Or maybe a daily fee in some cases. So the clients will deal with the same person the whole time you’re there. If you travel, they take you there, translate for you if you need that, recommend places to eat, stay, good tours etc. Help you get the Costa Rican price (instead of the Gringo price!) whenever possible. If they are willing to really deliver on the service, I think they could make a go of it. Any suggestions or idea’s welcomed.

[rebaragon]

The taxi “situation” has been around for a while now and it’s great advice to become acquainted with someone in your area that is a taxi driver (or can become one for you) and to use them instead of just calling anyone to come to the house or taking a cab from the street. All of my friends do this in CR and I’ve always had different taxi drivers I call when in SJ, Heredia and even when I’m in Puerto Viejo and I need to get somewhere. Frankly, there are times that I would prefer to take a bus than to ride with a cab driver I don’t know by myself. I’ve had some pretty odd things happen to me with cab drivers from having them try to peddle something else (including black magic), drivers driving drunk, not wanting to turn on the maria (meter), try to be extra friendly,some that were just angry and/or strange, while others were trying to convince me to let other people join my cab ride–which you MUST NEVER do in San Jose (it is customary in La Zona Sur and other rural places, but not in the cities). In the last few years the link between taxi hold ups and rapes has risen, but most of the time it’s just plain having the wits scared out of you. Most of the cab drivers are hardworking people; unfortunately, some temporary drivers are more questionable and have made the CR population take notice–specially the women. When taking cabs late at night I always asked my college students not to take it alone, to please take the cab as a group and if you have a cell phone, call someone you know as soon as you get into the car and tell them the number of the car you’ve gotten into & taxi company it belongs to. To be fair, if I’m taking a cab late at night in New York City, I’m just as nervous and unfortunately, I don’t have taxi friends that I can call on so I try not to take those late taxi rides alone.

By the way, when traveling within Limon City, please be careful when walking around–that is a high crime area and late at night, it only gets worse (specially in Cieneguita); however, I have never had any trouble once you’re out of the city area. People usually get into trouble in the beach areas of because they haven’t used common sense or listened to all the bells & whistles that go off when something doesn’t feel right. Although sometimes, they were just the unfortunate ‘chosen ones’ by some ill meaning people. I wouldn’t recommend walking all by yourself anywhere in Limon at 2 am because no matter how big and brawny you may be, you can never be a match for a gun.

I have never heard of any problems with the airport taxis and I wouldn’t hesitate to take one from the airport to any CR destination. I also know the names & numbers of very reliable male and female drivers that will provide driver services to anywhere in CR if you should need it.

Ssure, there are a lot of people that still get lost getting around SJ and Central Valley area even after many years there and this would be an interesting market for your children to start up that type of business. But remember that taxis are licensed and regulated in CR and the ones that have done everything under the law tend not to care (understatement) for those that are “piratas” not legal taxis which I’m sure your son-in-law is aware of and tour businesses are also regulated. Best of luck and Pura Vida!

[Minuit]

ssure, I think you have one interesting idea. My mom is visiting in January, and they want to spend a couple of days in San José. I personally try to avoid going to the city when I can avoid it, and I could be interested to use your daughter’s service instead of going myswelf. where can I reach you ?
Thanx Jo

[ssure]

Hi Jo:

I’m not sure if they’ll have the permits and the “Tourismo” sticker for the back of their van by Jan., but they’re hoping to be good-to-go by then. My email is ssure38@hotmail.com I’d be glad to pass along your request. They’ll be able to tell you if they think they’ll be ready to go in time. The system for getting legal takes forever in C.R., it seems. So I wouldn’t count on them unless they already have it approved.

Thank you

[Author]

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