Friday, May 9, 2014

I'm going to need to find a new trick.

As I was walking through a not-so-touristy area a older man said "Good afternoon" to me. I responded, "Good afternoon" which he took as his cue to try to offer me a pin of the Indian flag. ("A welcome gift for you, miss! Hold out your hand.") Well, this ain't my first rodeo and I know there is no such thing as a "gift" from a tout and so, having now correctly identified this guy as a hawker and not the elderly gentleman I had initially mistaken him for, I switched into my protective mode and spoke to him brusquely in Spanish as I brushed by.

And do you know with this fellow did then? He spoke back to me in Spanish! Flawlessly. He then proceeded to follow me for a few minutes waiving his gift around and commanding me, in Spanish, to open my hand and take the "welcome present", for a small fee.

Holy crap. I'm gonna need to brush up my brush-off game.

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