Getting Around Town

Living in a new city and exploring has been a blast so far. There is so much to do and see. The challenge however, is in doing the exploring without a car. We’ve been getting around by walking, hitching rides with friends, and getting around in taxis. It’s pretty reasonable when it comes to the price. It’s almost a completely different animal in terms of cost. In the states, the average cab ride for about five minutes will cost about $5-7. Here, a five minute ride costs about $1.80. It’s been more than reasonable.

Getting a cab is pretty simple, even in a big city like Quito. They spot foreigners and pick them up with a quickness. Apparently, it’s a cultural norm to not tip very much on anything. Foreigners are usually picked up more frequently than locals because they have a tendency to tip a bit more. Cab drivers see people like Shannon and I and they see dollar signs.

It’s not that simple though. The taxi drivers have developed a sneaky system. After picking up the people they determine might be foreigners, they completely “forget” to turn on the meter. When you go three blocks without noticing the meter, your fare is all of the sudden assessed a “gringo tax” and your rate will be about $6. I call this the “Oops, I forgot?”

It’s basically your job to remind them to turn on the meter and if they don’t you have to negotiate a price before the driver puts the car in drive. It’s a constant game of cat and mouse.

If you don’t ask the rate ahead of time, they will either give you a bloated price or they will wait  like a silent cobra to sniff out if you’re a local or not. When you pull up to your location, a person who is living in Ecuador will automatically hand them the proper amount without having to ask. If you ask how much, they will know that they’ve got you and will make up whatever price they think they can get away with. I call this “Going Fishing.”

There are some other moves they have as well. My personal favorite is the one where they say their meter is broken. To prove this, they put their index finger about an inch or so away from the on button and pretend to push it, never getting closer than an inch. They look at you and shrug and say it won’t work. Again, they don’t even touch the button, but “Sorry Gringos, it doesn’t work…you’ll have to trust me on how much this is supposed to cost.” It took a few times for us to catch on but we’re on to that now. This is called the “What Can I Do?”

Another classic move that was by far the most impressive I’ve seen is the hidden meter trick .They will pick a person up and put their meter in the glove box. On a recent trip to a restaurant, Shannon and I got into a cab and assumed that they were pulling a “Going Fishing” which is pretty common. We hand them how much it’s supposed to cost without asking how much, and we’re good to go. Well…we were wrong. We got to our destination and I handed him $2. The driver smiled with a sly Grinch-like grin and flipped down the sun visor where he had his meter on and running, apparently long before we got into the cab because it was more than three times what it should have been. I hassled him a bit and told him he knew it was on and he was trying to screw us and he just smiled and held out his hand. I have to admit, he got us on that one.

As we catch on to their tricks and learn to counter them, they come up with more. It’s always an adventure here, even going from point A to point B. Perhaps soon, we will get a car and be done with that mess. In the meantime all we can do is have fun with it and stay on our toes.