Hi,
Man, I could care less about getting killed. Shit, if I'm dead, they can
*have* my camera gear. It's getting robbed that I don't like......
:)
Interesting philosophy...:)))
Yet I've never had a single problem over there regarding theft, nor in
Lima where I lived (and in both cities I _did_ bring my Oly gear to some
of the parts where people are likely to get their belongings stolen).
Sure, they'd rather shoot you than rob you.
On a serious note: If you walk into the wrong neighbourhood (I'm speaking
about the really bad shanty towns/slumps here), that would probably happen
to you within some 10 seconds or so. One of the saddest things about that is
that the culprit then would be likely to be about equally old as the amount
of seconds indicated above (nice standards of life, eh?). Indeed, these
slumps are extremely dangerous, especially if you don't look native (and I
can assure you I very much look like a "Gringo"). Fortunately for us, these
slumps can be spotted from miles away, so one actually needs to make an
effort to wind up there. I guess not many people are _that_ stupid, but then
again, who knows what a naive person may do. Normally when in the
not-so-rough parts of town matters aren't that bad, at times things happen
like muggings or people's pockets getting picked, but people being plainly
killed tends to be another story (at nighttime this is a bit more likely to
happen though). Then again, I guess all of the above applies to the gettoes
of DC too, or am I wrong here?
I think a good solid monopod would make an excellent club, eh?
You could try it, but I doubt it'll be very succesful against guns...:/
Anyway: again I repeat myself in stating that fortunately enough situations
like these do not happen a lot. I think it's far more likely that your bag
will get grabbed or that you'll get run over by a car when not taking care,
than that someone actually kills you ((Latin American) slumps may form an
exception here). I normally tend to take the necessary care when visiting
places I don't know well, and that tends to keep me out of trouble.
Fortunately, in Italy matters are not quite as rough as in the slumps of
Latin American metropoles, so it's not likely at all one will get killed.
Most of the theft that happens over there is kids running off with your bag
and/or picking your pockets. What do you lose in such a situation? Some
gear. As annoying as that may be, things like that are typically (at least
partially) covered by your travel insurance, so even though a nuisance, it's
an experience that shouldn't be too traumatising either (at least, in most
of the cases it shouldn't be)...
Bottomline: don't stay out of Italy, nor leave your camera at home, out of
fear of it getting stolen alone.
Cheers!
Olafo
_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|