In fact, the roots of the gringo-tax issue run so deep that you can dig all the way down to the most complex grammatical constructs in the Spanish language itself and find them. This makes more sense when you consider the cultural underpinnings. The attitude is to make a buck today, even if it means forfeiting hundreds of potential dollars in the future. Particularly puzzling to gringos is that locals often try to take advantage of potentially steady or at least repeat customers. Suddenly, the Robin Hood complex surfaces. Locals see gringos - and even Ecuadorians returning from living overseas - as rich, and themselves as poor, at least by comparison. Parallel to these perceptions are jealousy and envy.
Shopping at the local tienda can be a challenge. A seller sees a chance to make a few extra bucks - and takes it. This is no different anywhere in the world. Other times, the answer it is simply part of the economy of opportunity. A local believes (from the inevitable “ugly American” stories he or she hears, especially in a city like Cuenca with an expat population that’s exploded over the past half-decade) that gringos disrespect the local culture, so why not disrespect the gringo in return? Sometimes, it can be explained by xenophobia. Would you feel ripped off and pissed off? Would you want revenge? Would you want to warn everyone you meet about the store, salesperson, and incident? If so, let’s see if you feel the same way after the following discussion. Consider what you’d think if you found out that you’d just been grossly overcharged for something. Here’s an exercise that might indicate how well you’ll make the transition from home boy or girl to stranger in a strange land. How should you feel about it? What do you do about it? Everyone has stories like the above and, as we say, from everywhere in the world. The vet accompanied the dog owner to another farmacia, where they bought the 120 pills for $20.
Shocked, she reported the price to the vet, who told her that many pharmacies give non-Ecuadorians the highest-priced medications. At the farmacia, she was quoted $292 for 120 tablets. A veterinarian prescribed an anti-fungal medication for an expat’s pet Schnauzer. The most egregious case of gringo pricing we’ve heard about lately occurred at a farmacia. The shoe shiner told Deke the extra was for the wax. The going rate is 80¢ for Ecuadorians and $1 for foreigners. When it came time to pay, the shoe shiner asked for $3.50! This was a huge gouge. The shoe shiner asked if he wanted wax ( cera) and Deke said sure. When our friend came back to pay, the price had gone up to $80 a month, “for electricity,” although the office had a single bare bulb hanging from the ceiling.ĭeke once agreed to a shoe shine outside the Terminal Terrestre (the long-distance bus station) without asking the price. The landlord said the rent was $70 a month. Sylavan’s friend, recently arrived from Colorado, was looking for office space. (Sylvan lived for a few years in Thailand and says the gringo, or foreigner tax, is much higher there than in Ecuador.) When Sylvan protested that the price had gone up $10, the owner denied it. From the time it took Sylvan to pick up the box and take it to the counter, the price changed to $35. The owner, who spoke perfect English after living in the States for decades, said the price was $25. For example, Sylvan Hardy was shopping in a reputable computer store for a wireless keyboard and mouse. The difference is usually small but not always.Īnother manifestation of gringo pricing is the curious way in which prices seem to change almost automatically (always higher) when they’re quoted a second time. If you shop with an Ecuadorian, you’ll usually pay a lower price. When you shop by yourself, you’ll pay one price. Gringo pricing is also common at the fruit and vegetable mercados. You won’t find that in the chain supermarkets and departments stores were items are stickered and the prices computerized. Some of the most common opportunities for gringo pricing are in small shops and stores where the prices of goods aren’t marked and the proprietor has an opportunity to size up the customer before determining a final price. We use the term only as a convenient “handle” that most expats understand and can relate to. To be fair, what we refer to as gringo pricing can be applied to almost any naïve shopper or buyer of services anywhere in the world. If you’re an expat, you’ll hear about it and probably experience it (even if you don’t realize it) not long after you arrive. Vendors in Cuenca’s mercados often charge gringos a little more.Įcuador is no exception.
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