d is for deception.

One thing that I cannot stand is being ripped off. I found that in South America they love to rip off tourists, particularly Americans. They think that we are too stupid to know any differently, especially when you don’t speak Spanish. There were MANY examples of this on my trip. In Trujillo, Peru they have these suckers that they call maracuya. We call them passion fruit. Many small vendors carry these suckers and we visited them often. The suckers typically cost fifty centavos which is half of a sole. Towards the end of the trip I was on a mission to find as many of these suckers as I could so that I could bring them home. I made the mistake of buying from a vendor in the town square. I picked up the suckers before I asked the price, assuming they were the standard fifty centavos. After I had my goods I tried paying the standard fifty centavos and the woman decided that she would charge me one sole for each sucker. I was too tired to argue but I was upset that the woman had the audacity to overcharge me.

Taxi drivers are also guilty of this. In Peru the cabs don’t have meters and you negotiate the price before you leave. We were grossly overcharged on our way to the beach and were not informed until later. When we arrived at the beach we set out to rent wet suits, boards, and a lesson. We agreed to pay thirty soles and when we went to pay we were charged thirty three.

Again, in Argentina at a tango show a photographer took pictures of our tables and before we left we all received a copy in a nice folder. We all assumed they were free. On our way he informed us they were fifty pesos each. A lot of us purchased them because we had already claimed them as our own. 

The most upsetting overcharging took place at a meat restaurant in Argentina. They lured our group in with promises of free items. Not only did we not receive the items, when we went to pay they decided to charge us an extra seventeen pesos per person! It was a ruthless marketing tactic. When we inquired as to the reason for the charge they explained it was for sitting at the table and they had to do the laundry for the tables. No one else in the restaurant received such a charge. We were extremely angry and the rest of the trip we always asked about hidden charges before we sat or ate the “complimentary bread.”