Money

A piece of advice for anyone who's planning on shoving 160 US dollars inside their shoes, and on then hiking through mud and through small streams: don't do it. Today, a small misstep in a river crossing on the Salkantay hike ended up costing me much more than a pair of wet feet. Keeping money in your shoes may sound like a good idea, as a precaution against theft; but there are other ways to be robbed of money, apart from having it pulled out of your pocket.

Cusco is a city where you can book anything you want; and today, I had a fair bit of stuff to book. In fact, I did so much shopping around and booking today, that it took up most of my first day in Cusco. I booked a river rafting trip for tomorrow. I booked a month of Spanish lessons and homestay. And I confirmed my booking for the Salkantay hike next week.

Clearly, the lack of loose change is not something specific to Mexico, but rather, something that's widespread throughout the Latin world. Today, on my first day in South America, the no tengo cambio saga reached maddening heights of frustration, as a taxi driver refused to accept a 50-sole bill from me.

This morning was not only a hectic rush, but also a major pain in the behind. After a hurried breakfast, I power-walked from The Green Tortoise, down to my friend at Millenium Technical Services, who needed my hired laptop back today. MTS didn't open until 9:30am, and I had to be back at the Tortoise at 10am, to catch my shuttle to the airport, so that I could catch my plane to Vancouver, which was scheduled to fly out at 12:25pm. All went well in terms of timing: I made it to MTS; I gave the laptop back; and I made it back to the Tortoise in time to catch the shuttle. The only bad thing that came out of this morning's activities was a Wells Fargo cheque for USD$300.

This trick has to be even more widespread than the "almost free" lie, and it's even more aggravating. You go to the ATMs in Mexico, and you usually get a wad of 500-peso notes, sometimes with a few 200s thrown in. Then you try to use these notes to pay for something — dinner in a restaurant, for example. 9 times out of 10, they'll be rejected, with the excuse "no tengo cambio" (lit: "I haven't got change"). ¿No tiene cambio? Why the hell not!