The bus driver in Peru who saved me $40 with a handshake

I was in Cusco trying to book a ticket to a small town outside the tourist route, and every agency wanted like $50 for a direct ride. This old bus driver sitting on a crate near the market waved me over and asked where I was going in broken English. He scribbled the price on a napkin: $10 for the same trip, and he'd drop me right at my hostel door. I figured it was a scam, but he just laughed and said "trust me, gringo" in Spanish. We drove 3 hours on dirt roads, he stopped so I could take pictures of some llamas, and even shared his mate tea with me. No receipt, no ticket, just a handshake and a guy who clearly knew the backroads better than any company. Has anyone else found that the real locals give way better deals than the official tourist offices?

3 comments

3 Comments

anthony_jenkins6128d ago

Found the same thing in Morocco. Some guy with a beat-up van offered me a ride to the desert for half what the travel agencies wanted. He ended up taking me to his cousin's restaurant for free food and showed me a hidden canyon. Just a handshake and a smile.

rosed3220d ago

That handshake still means more than a contract sometimes.

cameron_chen28d ago

What about the safety side though? It's awesome it worked out, but that kind of trust can go bad real fast. I feel like we're lucky for every one story like this.