fred mertz said:
I´ve never been robbed physically in the over 6 years that I´ve lived here, but the number of times that I´ve been ripped off could fill a book.
haha! Yes, in my house, we call this lovingly the gringo tax....as in, "honey can you pick that up for me because otherwise they will charge me the gringo tax?" I think I've told this story on the forum but my old roommate from France went to rent an apartment and had an Argentine friend double check and recheck the posted price of 600 pesos for the room before the visit since she had experience the bait and switch prices. But when she got there and found out she was French, the landlord went on and on about how he loved French people, then said: "Oh 600 pesos, no no no, the price is 600 DOLLARS. It's not such a big deal if you earn in dollars, but if you start earning in pesos, it's a real problem. She earns little over 1400 pesos per month!
We are certainly more welcome now, but the remnants of the Bush years still have their effect. My boyfriend describes it as this, part Bush and part wider dissemination of information of US relations with the continent through the internet...but that before the Bush years, people had a much higher respect of the US, wanted to go and visit there more...Now, well, the opinion dropped like a rock.