stephenjubb

whoops spoke too soon, read here

https://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_p...s/cis_998.html

Burton

Wherever tourist dollars are an important source of revenue - you'll usually find official sites tend to gloss over problems and try to sweep things under the carpet. The link you dug up was very politically correct in understating everything. For example
How about: NINETY PERCENT of the cars on the road in Lima carry a detachable TAXI sign that can be used to informally earn extra money. In some cases thats by 'legitimate' taxi services. Sometimes (depending on the opportunities presented and the people involved) it can turn into a much more profitable robbery and potentially a **** and robbery scenerio.

There's an expression -everybody's happy as long as they get what they want. If you come across as an American tourist - anyone dealing with you is expecting to make easy money because 'all Americans are rich'.
Stick with recognized tourist organizations and you'll pay through the nose but still be safe. Try to make a go of things on your own you can still be OK as long as you're generous. Try to be cheap because you don't think they deserve any better and you could easily end up with a beating. Try resisting a **** or robbery and you'll likely end up dead.

But heck - I think there's places in the USA where those same rules apply too.

The other thing everyone needs to keep in mind is that only a small percentage of accidents and 'incidents' actually get reported, and only a small percentage of those actually make it to the newspaper or television. Thats true in Canada - its even more common in countries that have less developed communications networks.

EDIT: Come to think of it - this forum is a good example of 'politically correct'. How can tourists get accurate infiemation about potential dangers if key worda are being auto-censured? The real world is far less politically correct.