When I was there, violent gang members took over a tv news station in Guayaquil just to spread a message on TV. The anti-corruption presidential candidate was assassinated. The Mayor of Manta was assassinated after he said he wanted to add U.S. security to their ports and city. I was woken up at 2am to hear a man screaming bloody murder and watched a man get brutally mugged outside my top floor hotel room in Quito by 4 guys on two motorcycles. —-and that’s one of the safer countries in South America.
Locals have figured out already how to adapt. If this topic interests you, perhaps travel the world a little bit and bring some good ideas home.
3) Don’t underestimate the psychological impact a shotgun has. The sound it makes when you cock it sends fear down any man’s spine. The cocking of it is more important than the shot. As the deterrent is usually enough.
4) Consider growing some fruit trees. If things go bad, you have nice fruit. If things go great, you also have nice fruit. It’s socially acceptable and comes with plenty of plausible deniability. It’s great way to make friends with your neighbors (by giving them home-grown fruit).
Finally to repeat #1: the 5-foot something women in their [non-running shoes] are way more scared than most men will ever be. They’re the lowest hanging fruit. They have to pay a high tax to the homeless guy holding a hammer as they drive by him. You either pay nothing or 1/4th as much.
Even that left-leaning liberal country has a functioning currency, believe it or not. It’s just that in many cases prices have gone up and not so many afford all of the goods, services, and real estate anymore. They used the U.S. dollar there mostly.
Dont be afraid of your money suddenly not working one day. Instead, be afraid of your rent going up by 8% per year. That’s 2x in 9 years, 4x in 18 years, 8x in 27 years, 16x in 36 years. Meanwhile the guy with a mortgage, his payments went up by 0% for 30 years and then became $0 after 30 years. He also might have a bunch of fruit trees.
Strong property rights are the main distinction between Spanish-speaking and English-speaking countries and why the Spanish-speaking ones have so much strife. It’s a bit of a history lesson where the Spanish viewed its territories as colonies to loot while the English knew that strong property rights made safer communities and they were planning on living in them themselves.