Today is Memorial Day back in the States, and since I work for a US-based company, I have the day off. Mom has been dying to show me Playa Chilleno ever since her and Dad ‘discovered’ it last October. Last October was the first time we had a car down in Cabo but I didn’t get to go because I had to rush back because of Lola (RIP Loly Pot Pie). And since I love a good beach, we decided to make it a beach day.
I’m pretty impressed with our ability to see ingredients in the fridge and come up with a tasty lunch on the fly – mom made egg salad and we only needed to stop at the grocery store for some food things to complete our lunch: Mexican Coca Cola (beach staple!), chips, and rolls for sandwiches. We also needed to get pesos so we could fill up the gas tank before heading to the airport tomorrow. Here’s where things started to get unsettling but I didn’t quite know why until later in the day.
There’s 2 ATMs in the supermarket and the first one I tried wouldn’t read my card. Hmmm, ok. I’ll try the next one. Insert card and excited that I don’t have to translate ATM prompts since I could choose my language. Not realizing that choosing English and having all the currency display in USD, I thought to myself, that was too easy. And right on cue, the machine spits out $100 USD in twenty dollar bills. Grrrr, I just paid $15 in ATM fees for money not in the right currency. That’s OK, I’ll take the hit and head to the bank for a money exchange – losing out again on another fee to change the money into pesos. And then the teller asks me for my passport to perform the transaction. Grrrr again because I didn’t bring my passport to the beach. It’s ok, I thought. The universe is saying it’s not going to work out exactly how I intended but that’s OK. Boy was I wrong!
I don’t know if you know this, but Baja operates by accepting both pesos (local currency) and American dollars. Places like gas stations and money exchange houses will give you much less than the current exchange rate. For example, $1 is ~18 pesos today. But the gas station will give you 16 pesos. This is important information so pay attention: ALWAYS USE PESOS TO PAY FOR GAS!!
Unable to actually get pesos (despite 2 failed attempts), we headed to the beach for some fun in the sun. I figured I was meant to just suck it up and pay for gas with American dollars. Playa Chilleno was beautiful and we were able to get into the water and enjoy swimming. Sufficiently sunned-out we headed back to the condo and decided to stop on the way to finally get that gas tank filled up.
We find a Pemex gas station just after the fancy Palmilla resort and pull up to the pump. At this point, I have never interacted with gas station attendants before but you aren’t allowed to pump your own gas – something I wish would change everywhere. And after some warnings from dad like “make sure they zero out the dial or they’ll try to cheat you,” I was uncomfortable with this part of driving. It reminded me of the first time I pumped gas for myself when I was 16 and left the change because I didn’t know you have to go back inside and get it. I always wondered how my parents got so good at estimating how much gas they needed. So all those insecurities flooded back.
I relied on Mom’s fluency to make sure we didn’t get cheated and to do all of the talking for us. So the time comes to pay and he tells me the amount in pesos: 414. Quickly looking up the exchange rate calculation, I figure it’s about $23 USD and hand him a $5 and a $20 bill. And I look away or down or am just so tired from too much sun that he’s asking me something. I’m confused, I don’t understand and he’s holding a $5 and a $1 and asking me stuff. The asshole even made some pathetic attempts at acting and being confused himself. Did I give him the wrong bill?! He clearly saw my wallet full of those damn $20 bills from the ATM. Oh, I’m so sorry, I say and hand him another $20. The whole time I’m thinking/feeling/sensing that something didn’t add up but if I could barely muster out how to get gas, surely there’s no way I could accuse him of stealing from me. But he did. And I got swindled. How can I be so sure? Well I looked in my money purse and all I had left was 3 twenty dollar bills, when I should have had 4. Remember, I went straight from the ATM to the beach and didn’t spend a dime.
I got home, mad at myself for being taken advantage of, mad at my mom for not watching more closely (next time I’m handing her the money and she can deal with it) and furious at this stranger for stealing from me. I was beyond pissed. I cursed him, his family, his kids but stopped at his dog. Times are tough for some and I probably would have spent that money on stupid stuff anyway, but seriously dude. Not cool. Even a seasoned traveler like me can and has been taken advantage of (this is why I hate Portugal) but I think to myself, they’ll get theirs. That, or the curse this Baja Bruja inflicts will take care of it. Just be a decent human being. But, I still love Mexico!
There She Goes... 