how do you solve a problem like maria, how do you catch a cloud and pin it down? ....how do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?
so i started buying silver coins last year. nothing fancy, just good silver bullion. pretty good holder of wealth, that shiny metal is. ask my nephew.
people were so fascinated with the idea and feel of a silver dollar that i began carrying around a silver dollar in my wallet. constitutional money as a friend described it.
fastforward to today, i'm now part of elite group of superheroes who carry around a silver coin in their wallets. our motto: wherever there is sobriety, we drown it. (any member w/o his/her silver dollar buys a round of drinks.) so i carry a silver coin in my wallet.
last july, when i was in canada, i bought a gold coin there as a souvenir. after buying it, i thought that i should buy a gold coin whenever i went outside the states. well, in peru, i thought about buying peruvian gold, but i didn't look very hard (canada mints the 1oz gold "maple leaf" and i wasn't sure that peru minted anything in gold, besides, i wasn't sure i wanted to buy another souvenir gold coin so soon). so when i saw merchants selling silver coins along with their other merchandise, i thought that a silver coin would be a great substitute to gold.
on my last day at cusco, just outside of my hotel, i was waiting for my ride to the airport when a diminutive peruvian woman, dark skin, shaped like a diamond (rhombus for u nerds) - small on top, small on bottom and wide in the middle, equal on all sides - walked up to me and asked me if i wanted to buy some coins. she showed me some uncirculated coins, but none of them were silver. in her hand tho, was a roll of silver coins that she was also selling. 50 Soles per coin. (2.87 soles to the dollar). i tried to haggle her down, but she wouldn't budge. i pulled out my silver coin and tapped my coin against one of hers to see if they made the same sound. they did. i offer her a trade. my silver for your silver, but she won't take it unless i throw in 10soles and even with that offer, she says "well, i'm really trying to sell these coins."
now, i don't know the first thing about peruvian silver coins. one usually likes to know how much silver one is buying before a purchase is made. but i'm on vacation, so eff it. i'm low on the local currency (soles) and that's all she'll take. i tell her that i want to buy some, but i don't have cash. meanwhile some other tourist starts asking her all these questions about the same coins we were discussing. the other tourist spoke spanish, so she started talking with him, trying to close a sale. i respect that.
i went off to go kill a hour. i ended up getting cash out for my cab ride, and hopeully, to buy some silver coins. oh, i also bought some sweet bracelets. i shopped around for the same silver coins, but i didn't want to give my soles to a store, i wanted to give it to a street vendor, especially that old lady.
i go back to where i met her, outside my hotel, and i ran into a girl i met the other day touring around cusco. she was waiting for her ride to the airport as well. we kicked it outside of my hotel (her hotel was just around the corner and her pick up time was 1/2 hour after mine.). i told her about the coins and the old lady. she kept an eye out as we chatted as did i. she also asked the local merchant if he knew who or where she was. he was like "oh, that old bag? she's always around here, but never when you need her!" always the case.
so about 1/2 after playin 'donde esta waldo' i get a tap on my right elbow, i turn around and i see the old lady! out of nowhere, she found me! through my friend/translator, i told the old lady that i was happy to buy 2 coins from her, and that i had been looking for her for the past 20minutes! she was REALLY happy to hear that. she was so embarrassed about the attention - you could tell by the way she laughed, slumped against the wall and covered her face as she laughed - cuz as soon as i saw her, i turned to my friend and said "this is the woman i was talking about!" my friend - irina - ran into the store to tell the clerk that the coin lady appeared - out of nowhere! that REALLY embarrassed the old lady.
long story short, the old lady sold me the two silver coins, and i thought we were done. then she asked me if i still wanted to trade my silver coin for hers - w/o me adding 10soles. i said SURE!. to top it off, she gave me another silver coin. she said that the coin i gave her was good luck and said the same about the coin she gave me. that maria, what a character.
