I'm an American wanting to move to Ecuador, is it even safe?

Ecuador is an awesome country. I would say it's one of the best places to raise a child, well, education and cultural factors may vary depending of your socioeconomic level, of course. I won't lie, there is a lot of crime in the city, but then again there's a lot of crime everywhere and I believe it's significantly less than in big cities like NY. In the capital city of Quito at least, there are tons of bilingual schools and most are usually searching for teachers who are native English speakers since the contracts only last for a couple of years. The pay's not great, sure, but the living expenses are remarkably lower than in the US and other countries so it's not that much of a problem. I live in Ecuador and go to a private High School where most of the teachers are from the US and from what I've e been able to observe they look really happy and well off and more often than not, they renew their contracts. That's just how happy they are with the job.