Tarquins Tall Tales...Episode 6

[Tarkers]

Getting a little fed-up with getting ripped off here in Mexico. Got into the bus station here at 5am.....very quiet, I was the only one to get off the Monterrey overnight bus...... 5 taxis outside plus a ticket seller....... that I recognised from a previous argument.

I tell him I want Motel Hacienda, he starts burbling,..................... I point to the huge Tourist Map pinned to the wall..... clearly marked as the last property North in Zone D, 53 pesos (£2.50) on the Tariff Sheet.......then he starts the same **** he did last time.......... "No, no, no....more Dinero" with the taxi drivers all grinning,.......... I point to the map again and give him 55 pesos and he prints the ticket........but he won't give me my 2 pesos change...... plus he is still burbling on, "Mas Dinero, 5 more (=60)" and keeps waving away the map and sticking his hand out.

Well then I remembered him from last time where I wouldn't give him the extra 5 pesos and he said I had to pay the extra to the driver.......... Obviously I didn't, I just walked off at the hotel door and told him to fetch the police......this was about a month ago.

So now they won't even let me in the taxi plus they've got 55 pesos of mine.

Then I lost it........... 17 hours traveling and 3 hours sleep....... plus I need a beer.....I started getting angry shouting "you robbing thieving bleeder....give me my fooking money back".....snatched the 55 back off him....so he snatched his ticket back and I start walking off thinking "any minute now the police will get called"

......got about 300 yards....dead quiet, dark.....headlights coming towards me and I'm thinking "here we go Beechie....a night in the cells for you my boy...... with Pancho the serial bum-bandit"

.....a taxi pulls up and asks me if I need a ride.....I tell him Motel Hacienda, how much.....40 pesos......result!!!

......so in the end I saved 20 pesos (which is 2 cans Cerveza)...............I think I might start kicking off more often.

[Chris Website URL Visit Site 𝕏 fmcj10 Instagram fmcj10]

It always helps to complain (when in the right).

Interesting tale, which I very much enjoy reading Tarkers. Don't let those two cans pass you by! I can see Super attempting to complain in order to gain cheaper beer in the near future.

[Elite_pie]

Bloody hell tarquin, you should think yourself lucky - as soon as a taxi driver engages first gear over here the meter says £2.50.  By the time he's changed into second it's gone up to £3.00!

[Piethagoram 𝕏 @piethagoram]

Taxi tales...Lima Peru... exit area of Lima airport can be best described as a cage. Taxi drivers touting for business and I couldnt find the car booked for me by the hotel. So I went back inside and paid a bit extra for an airport car. Conversing with the guy in Spanish, he said dont worry when we go through red lights. If we stop at red lights, likelihood of being robbed at gunpoint. So an interesting 20 minute drive through the dark streets of Lima to a hotel surrounded by barbed wire walls. Had an early flight next day so arranged for same guy to bring e back to airport. Get to airport to check in for flight to Cuzco, to find airline ticket not valid. Dont worry sir, its happened many times before, we give you preprinted letter for you to take back to your travel agent saying we only accept tickets issued by American Airlines only. so had to pay about 100 dollars for the flight. I could have gone to the Aero Continente desk, but that airline had a not so good reputation ( must have been true, as I believe, allegedly american insurance companies subsequently withdrew their insurance so they couldnt fly). So just paid 100 bucks and an american girl turns up on spec...same flight USD 70? I asked why her flight was cheaper? Well sir, you had a reservation already? Yes maybe reservation with an invalid ticket! Such is life in latin america

[Tarkers]

4 hours ago, Piethagoram said:

Taxi tales...Lima Peru... exit area of Lima airport can be best described as a cage. Taxi drivers touting for business and I couldnt find the car booked for me by the hotel. So I went back inside and paid a bit extra for an airport car. Conversing with the guy in Spanish, he said dont worry when we go through red lights. If we stop at red lights, likelihood of being robbed at gunpoint. So an interesting 20 minute drive through the dark streets of Lima to a hotel surrounded by barbed wire walls. Had an early flight next day so arranged for same guy to bring e back to airport. Get to airport to check in for flight to Cuzco, to find airline ticket not valid. Dont worry sir, its happened many times before, we give you preprinted letter for you to take back to your travel agent saying we only accept tickets issued by American Airlines only. so had to pay about 100 dollars for the flight. I could have gone to the Aero Continente desk, but that airline had a not so good reputation ( must have been true, as I believe, allegedly american insurance companies subsequently withdrew their insurance so they couldnt fly). So just paid 100 bucks and an american girl turns up on spec...same flight USD 70? I asked why her flight was cheaper? Well sir, you had a reservation already? Yes maybe reservation with an invalid ticket! Such is life in latin america

Love it....I have to say I love the complete random nature of events out here....I have figured it out, there aren't any proper rules!!!!....for a guy like me, that tells HMRC.UK to sod off, it is heaven.....now I have to figure out the Belize border guys in a few weeks time.

If not.....the next installment of Tarkers Tales will be courtesy of a prison barge on the Hondo river!!

[Piethagoram 𝕏 @piethagoram]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/14/world/americas/founder-of-perus-aerocontinente-is-accused-of-building-airline-on-drugs.html?_r=0

For those that are interested, an interesting read about Aero Continente

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Zevallos

[DangerousSausage]

Taxi drivers certainly know how to take advantage when you don't look local. Me and the missus had problems getting a taxi in Istanbul, as many of them only stop for tourists. They know they can't take the mick with locals (or people who look local).

@tarquinbeech why don't you write your tall tales in the blog section of the site? That way they all stay in the same place and don't disappear down the forum, and people see new blogs as soon as they log in. Just an idea

[Tarkers]

1 hour ago, DangerousSausage said:

Taxi drivers certainly know how to take advantage when you don't look local. Me and the missus had problems getting a taxi in Istanbul, as many of them only stop for tourists. They know they can't take the mick with locals (or people who look local).

@tarquinbeech why don't you write your tall tales in the blog section of the site? That way they all stay in the same place and don't disappear down the forum, and people see new blogs as soon as they log in. Just an idea

I think there were a few reasons for me babbling along on the main forum, instead of a blog.

Firstly, it seemed a bit pretentious of me starting a blog..."look at me etc....my life is important".......I am more of a pub guy "You'll never guess what happened to me yesterday....get your pint, and listen to this".....some people move to the opposite side of the bar obviously, hahahaha

Secondly, at my age it's difficult to remember where I've left the bottle-opener, let alone trying to make some kind of order out of my personal blog-space!

Thirdly, as an exile from another site, I was used to everything being on one page, the O/T stuff mixed in with Footie items. It somehow looked "busier", some stuff stayed on the main page for days, some stuff disappeared pretty quickly. I like my desk being messy...it is somehow comforting?

When I joined this site, I thought I might contribute more, as PON does get a bit quiet at times. Being in Mexico, I don't get to ML.....so I try to find interesting things to post....plus it keeps me sane!! I understand that I might irritate a few of the Footie Purists....but I guess they could just ignore my posts?

Lastly, I have given up trying to count the number of times that I have woken up from an inebriated condition, wishing my post from the night before WOULD disappear!!..........."Oh no Tarkers, not the dodgy story about the strip-bar in Kowloon....you idiot"