| Funny Money
We were tired on our feet roaming the streets of Barcelona, disappointed that the car rental place was closed (typical). We decided to make our way back to our pension by Metro and headed towards the nearest station. We'd overshot by a street and while Gregg referenced the map, a young clean-cut guy accosted us. He seemed to be saying that he was a tourist and could help. (Did he need help or want it?) We were confused but less than he, so we decided he was asking for directions. He mentioned a street name. Gregg found it on the map and gestured to the "lost tourist" that he only needed to go straight and would run into the street. The lost tourist kept asking in broken English "Left or right? Left or right?", to which Gregg answered "Both". I watched this little skit continue three more times as they danced around the map, until finally the lost tourist blurted out the name of a place where his friend was waiting for him. Looking at the map again, a diagonal street behind us would lead him directly to his destination. He thanked Gregg, looked like he was about to walk away, then sprang back in Gregg's face. "Where you from? How long you here?" I wanted to ask him where he was from, as his English wasn't affected with the familiar French or German tourist's accent. Before I had a chance, he reached into his pocket and whipped out a wad of bills, some US one dollar bills and some pesetas. He kept pushing the money into Gregg's chest saying yes, he had money. Gregg politely backed up replying, "Great, and we have money too."
Suddenly we were five standing on the street corner. Two cops (?) showed up, one flashed his badge. I barely caught a glimpse of it, but they claimed to be some municipal body that protected tourists. They checked out the lost tourist's wad of bills and wanted to see our money too. Gregg showed him the pesetas in his pocket. Apparently, they suspected us of changing counterfeit US dollars and insisted that we show our "other money". I told them we had no more money, to which they replied "Do you want to go to the police station?" Why would we want to go to the police station when we had no more money and weren't changing it in the first place? Finally, the cops realized we didn't know the guy and began walking away. Meanwhile, the lost tourist took off down the street to meet his "friend", leaving us standing on the street corner, looking for the Metro station we missed. |
SPAIN
