There is a saying that I love. I think it´s been ascribed to Bob Dylan: Money does´t talk. It screams. Yesterday I was walking through the Zona Rosa in Bogota when two very sweet looking and nicely dressed little old ladies approached me. One of them, smiling, first asked me if I speak Spanish. I said yes, I do. Then she explained to me that she and her companion had just spent more than they had expected at the pharmacy and if I could please give them a few thousnd pesos (before you asphyxiate from shock dear reader I should explain to you that one Canadian dollar equals more or less just less than two thousand pesos. Bizarre, eh?). Now those of you who know me well will be agreed that I tend to be quite generous. You also know me well enough that I can smell a bullshit story from ten kilometres or more. Anyway, I could tell from her polished delivery that she was likely a pro (though I do know that I could be wrong). With utmost courtesy I explained to her that I am travelling on a very strict budget and I really cannot spare anything. She did not look happy.
This is a very common refrain for travellers. It is commonly and silently presumed that if you can afford to travel then you are obviously filthy stinking rich. If you are as obviously Caucasian as I am then you are really going to be a target. This also brings to mind my conversation the other day with the proprietor of the establishment where I am staying. She could not imagine someone travelling without their own phone and responded with surprise (though muted) when I explained that I´m really on a low income.
In the Globe and Mail a couple of years ago I read an article that said that anyone earning less than $44,000 a year cannot afford to travel anywhere, not even for a week. So then, naturally the common assumption is going to be that if you can travel you can pay whatever price is expected. I have lived much of my life exploding popular assumptions (it´s a hobby!). But I have had to accept trade offs and sacrifices for these goals.
The dance of money is something very intense and delicate. The owners of a hotel have their costs and expenditures, salaries to pay, and are under enormous pressure to deliver an acceptable product to the tourist. Understandably they will also want to maintain a decent profit margin. The tourist on the other hand, especially if you´re a cheapskate on a budget like me, is always seeking bang for his buck. Negotiations are tricky and endless. Especially if you are visiting a poor country.
But money can also be a very helpful lubricant. For expample even though I was overcharged by a cabdriver (to cut him slack, he was a staff cab driver for the Holiday Inn. I was stuck in the pouring rain again without an umbrella so I wandered into the local Holiday Inn where I asked staff to call me a safe taxi. He offered me one of their own drivers.) Still, the young driver disclosed to me that he works a fourteen hour day, beginning at 4 am and it was already 4:30 so he´d already been at it for twelve and a half hours.) I tipped him generously.
Yesterday in a second hand book store I made a modest purchase. The young lady working there and I got into a conversation about learning languages and she disclosed to me her desire to improve her English. I was able to offer her some contact information about resources in Bogota. Had I not spent money on a book we would never have had this conversation. As I expect to be a frequent flyer in this bookstore (the prices are super cheap) I expect to retun a few times, check how she is doing with her language efforts and perhaps even develop a friendship and learn from her more about this fascinating city.
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