$5.50 pesos please

Saturday, August 8th

I’m a gabacha. That’s the Mexican word for “white girl.” With that title comes many “benefits,” including usually being overcharged for the bus. The fare for the buss is $4.50 pesos, but I soon learned that bus drivers would try to take advantage of my foreignness and charge me $5 or $5.50. I didn’t catch on at first, because the bus drivers would feign a higher price by asking us “A donde va?,” or “where are you going?” as if it mattered where (no – it’s a flat rate). I started to catch on when no matter what my answer was, they seemed to always charge me more than that $4.50.

So I started to take action. I either gave the bus driver exact change, or if I gave him more, I held out my hand expectedly, waiting. It worked for the most part until this past weekend. Sophie and I got on a bus, and the bus driver told us $5.50 each. We proceeded to argue with him, but he refused to charge us the normal $4.50. We walked off the bus to wait for the next one.

Second bus, same thing. $5.50 please. Really wanting to hold up our principle, but wanting to go the center even more, we just paid. I spied on all the Mexicans coming on the bus as they paid, and none of them paid $5.50. Once again, we were jacked. All the meanwhile we’re trying to figure out a strategy to look more “Mexicana.” That includes not wearing sunglasses, wearing tighter jeans, and oh yeah, having a skin tanning treatment. Well the last is impossible for me. Shoutout to pale skin.

The bus ride back, again we’re charged $5.50. Ok, now we think something’s up. Could the fare have been raised??

At dinner that night, I made the conversation center around bus fares (riveting), and what do I find out that this weekend bus fares have been RAISED TO $5.50. Of course. Now instead of someone who stands up for her principles, I’m an American gabacha a-hole. Figures.