1

When I was in South America I used registered taxis (where there was such a thing) at bus stations and airports. When leaving a hostel I would use taxi drivers the hostel recommended. If no registered taxis available I would get in, tell the driver where I wanted to go, then take out my cell phone (with no local sim card in it) and pretend to call someone and in (my not very good) Spanish tell my imaginary friend I was in a taxi and the taxi number. I had not problems, but maybe I was lucky.

2

Beware not only of taxis but of the mustard trick as well.

20-August-2008 post:

Well, I never thought it would happen to me, as we were not particularly dressed as either tourists (hikers/backpackers), but at the corner of Avenida 9 de Julio and Avenida Santa Fe, my brand new wool blazer that I bought yesterday was just covered in a healthy dollop of fragrant hand lotion. Sure enough, as I had read on this forum last week before departing, a kind lady was there in an instant to point out the mounds of the stuff they covered my girlfriend and I with, and she had a handfull of Kleenex´s to help us wipe it off. I promptly screamed at her (in Russian for some odd reason...who knows, as I am not even Russian, but swearing in Russian sure sounds badass). They did not get anything, so we were lucky. Just thought I would share. Watch out for this trick...

21-January-2010 post:

Having read all the warnings about bird poo sprayings, imagine my surprise to become a victim. We were coming from the Metropolitan Cathedral walking to Florida Street. This is a block with 4 subway stairsets and no store fronts. As the material splattered on the wall, I knew the scam and chased away the short woman coming to "wipe". With her was a short Indian appearing man whom I also chased away. Unfortunately, we did not turn and run back to the Cathedral but continued walking to encounter a group of well dressed accomplices who threw 2 pesos notes on the ground. Someone of them forced a hand into DH's front pocket and removed his money. They were so concerned if we were all right--ha, ha. Some scam. This was a noon. Later in the day we returned to the area, which was, of course, empty of scammers. The building wall was splashed in MANY places, in addition to ours. I reported this to the police stationed on Florida Street but he could have cared less.

3

In Andean countries look for taxis with company information and tel number posted on the roof. Call them when possible to pick you up. If you flag down a taxi its better to do so outside of tourist areas.

In some situations you won´t have these options and have to take whichever taxi you find. Keep the majority of your money in a seperate bank account to minimise lose if you are kidnaped for your ATM card.

4

In Argentina using banks and ATMs means getting the official rate of exchange which is being robbed by the government in some way.

5

ah yes, the mustard trick. They tried this on me, but they used what looked and smelled like liquified human poo (as if they had done it into a blender). I had heard about the scam so just kept walking back to my hostel where I had to scrub my bag clean. Filthy thing to do, they are just animals wearing clothes.