by CLAIRE VARLEY
Traveling as a single gal has thrust a number of dilemmas my way, MM friends and I think we need to think this one through together. In the spirit of, you know, sisterhood and whatnot.
Time and time again I’ve found myself the recipient of freebies and discounts given on the simple fact that I am one of those lady things that men seem so fond of.
Here’s what I mean:
At Machu Picchu I got a free tour without employing a tour guide by letting one of the guards touch my lower arm (not upper, I have dignity) a couple of times and providing a vague response to his request that I come back and meet him later ‘by the ancient sundial’ which I suspect is code for ‘in the back of the staff lunch room’. (I didn’t go back; I’m not stupid. There is a time for getting free tours and a time for being sexually manhandled and I can tell the wheat from the chaff.)
In Lima I got a cheaper taxi fare after letting the driver take my picture with his phone because he collects pictures of ‘his friends’.
I’m just going to have to hope that he doesn’t masturbate to it.
I scored a free entry ticket into the Ollaytantambo ruins by chatting with a tour guide on the train and vaguely agreeing that I might email him to catch up when I’m in Cusco.
At the hostel in Machu Picchu I got free locker hire by chatting with the guy working there and seemingly implying I wanted to meet up with him later. This was unintentional. We were talking about how he was working a double shift and I asked what time he finished his shift. I meant so he could finally go home and get some sleep, not get some Claire, but I heard it as I said it and he looked kind of torn, like he couldn’t decide if he wanted sleep or my nookie, and he kind of found a middle ground by not charging me locker hire which to me is preferential over sex any day.