Into the Wild Wild West....
Trip Start
Dec 11, 2008
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75
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Trip End
Dec 11, 2009
Pedernales, Ecuador
Saturday, July 25, 2009
We stopped for lunch and I dont know if its my lack of understanding of Spanish or general math skills of the people here. We asked how much for the empanadas and she told us (we are pretty sure) $1.50 for the big ones (as big as a hamburger) and $0.75 for the small (half the size). So we had, between us, four big empanadas and two juices. When I asked for bill, she tells me its $1.60 and I ask her if she's sure and if she counted all the empanadas and she insists yes. This happens a lot, I am trying to understand what the deal is...are they too shy to ask for the money? Are they not able to do addition? Are they scared of us ? Yeah right...
lunch stop
. if anyone has a cultural clue about this, please fill me in....this seems to happen here and no where else....we leave a big tip in any case...We drove through the afternoon and ended up, at nightfall on Saturday night, in the wild west town of Pedernales. Pedernales is a fishing town, about of about 10-15K people. It has a big bus station and lots of outdoor restaurants and bars. And hardly any police but a nice vibe and orderly but wild at the same time. Anything goes here - all kinds of services, goods, and other welcome and otherwise unexpected solicitations were made to us as we walked through town. We had a fantastic grilled trout dinner with soup and watermelon juice for $3.00 each (no question on the math).
The hotel we stayed in was nice, except that when we first went to ask the price we were told by a young woman there - $40 for the room ($20 each - they always tell the price per person). I said it was too expensive, turned around and got back on the bike and the owner of the hotel came running out telling me it was only $15 for the both of us. Again, confusion on the pricing....but Im getting used to it....
