yep true points, good video. a few times now i noticed that some market sellers are just not good at math and adding up wrong which actually worked out better in my favor! well if they only asked for $5 instead of $6 for a bunch of fruit that's fine by me... sometimes the sellers won't show you the scale and upsell a bit more than you wanted... but those are small issues and the price and quality of fruit here are very good.
Yeah, I generally give the market sellers the benefit of the doubt. I'm sure there are some 'bad apples', but in my experience the generosity of other sellers makes up for it - especially once you start building rapport with one or two main sellers and the yapas start flowing a bit more.
Every Thursday Sunrise Cafe has an absolutely delicious steak and eggs for $6.50!! I try to go weekly. I get a kilo of beautiful strawberries from a young man on the NW corner of Las Americas and Ordonez Lasso for only $3. I also usually get a $!1 box of incense from the man next to him. Nice guys. I also get a yapa for the berries.
We do not live in Cuenca but I possibly will be staying there for medical purposes for upwards of 2 months so it was interesting to hear what you had to say. We live have lived in a smaller city about 45 minutes west of Mindo and far as we know have not had the experience of being Gringo'd but did notice when we were in Quito that some would try. Know your prices and do not be afraid to negotiate, if you feel it is unfair move on because there are always other options and sometimes better ones. Example 1: In our small city we pay $1.40 for a pack of cigarettes, when we were in Quito with our Ecuadorian friend he bought a pack for $2.00, the next time we were in Quito without him my husband had run out of cigarettes and I walked up to the street vendor and asked for the brand and went to give him $2.00, he said no it is $3.00. I simply said I am willing to pay $2.00 and know the average price is normally $1.40. Example 2: When going to the Platforma Sur in Quito there is a hotel that we stay at across the street that normally we pay $25.00 a night for a 1-person room and $30.00 for a 2-person room but the last time we went there was another person that we had not seen before working and he was saying it was $45.00 for the 2-person room. I told our friend to tell him that I was only willing to pay $30.00 and the man refused stating that he did not have the right to change the prices because he did not own the place. I said to our friend that was driving that we will just go to another hotel, my husband in the back panicking that we were cutting our noses off. The man came out of the hotel and dropped the price to $40.00, I said no, $30.00 no more because that is what we pay and the sign is posted in the lobby, and he finally agreed. Lily walked in that we love and she greeted us with open arms, later I told her what had happened and she did not look happy about it.
Thanks for sharing. We can certainly relate to those examples. Well done for having a conversation with the business owner - it's there reputation on the line so providing feedback on their shady staff is important.
I live in Colorado. We have a similar tax for Texans. Its called an Annoyance Tax.
Lol. There is an argument to be made about gringos annoying locals too.
yep true points, good video.
a few times now i noticed that some market sellers are just not good at math and adding up wrong which actually worked out better in my favor!
well if they only asked for $5 instead of $6 for a bunch of fruit that's fine by me... sometimes the sellers won't show you the scale and upsell a bit more than you wanted... but those are small issues and the price and quality of fruit here are very good.
Yeah, I generally give the market sellers the benefit of the doubt. I'm sure there are some 'bad apples', but in my experience the generosity of other sellers makes up for it - especially once you start building rapport with one or two main sellers and the yapas start flowing a bit more.
Every Thursday Sunrise Cafe has an absolutely delicious steak and eggs for $6.50!! I try to go weekly. I get a kilo of beautiful strawberries from a young man on the NW corner of Las Americas and Ordonez Lasso for only $3. I also usually get a $!1 box of incense from the man next to him. Nice guys. I also get a yapa for the berries.
Excellent Larry. Finding these little treasures is part of the fun!
En Europa es igual, pagas mas en otras ciudades si no eres de ahi. Pagamos impuestos por los dias que estas de vacaciones, kiss❤
Good video. Helpful
Thanks for the kind words.
We do not live in Cuenca but I possibly will be staying there for medical purposes for upwards of 2 months so it was interesting to hear what you had to say.
We live have lived in a smaller city about 45 minutes west of Mindo and far as we know have not had the experience of being Gringo'd but did notice when we were in Quito that some would try.
Know your prices and do not be afraid to negotiate, if you feel it is unfair move on because there are always other options and sometimes better ones.
Example 1: In our small city we pay $1.40 for a pack of cigarettes, when we were in Quito with our Ecuadorian friend he bought a pack for $2.00, the next time we were in Quito without him my husband had run out of cigarettes and I walked up to the street vendor and asked for the brand and went to give him $2.00, he said no it is $3.00. I simply said I am willing to pay $2.00 and know the average price is normally $1.40.
Example 2: When going to the Platforma Sur in Quito there is a hotel that we stay at across the street that normally we pay $25.00 a night for a 1-person room and $30.00 for a 2-person room but the last time we went there was another person that we had not seen before working and he was saying it was $45.00 for the 2-person room.
I told our friend to tell him that I was only willing to pay $30.00 and the man refused stating that he did not have the right to change the prices because he did not own the place.
I said to our friend that was driving that we will just go to another hotel, my husband in the back panicking that we were cutting our noses off.
The man came out of the hotel and dropped the price to $40.00, I said no, $30.00 no more because that is what we pay and the sign is posted in the lobby, and he finally agreed.
Lily walked in that we love and she greeted us with open arms, later I told her what had happened and she did not look happy about it.
Thanks for sharing. We can certainly relate to those examples. Well done for having a conversation with the business owner - it's there reputation on the line so providing feedback on their shady staff is important.
Did the cigarette vendor accept the $2 you offered?
I suppose it's fitting for foreigners to pay a tax for all the BS locals have to put up with.😅
They do put up with a lot and handle it with grace - perhaps much more than we deserve sometimes.
Its called skin tax
So, black americans or asian people will not get gringoed?
And white people from Ecuador, do they pay more?...