Triphap - Funny Travel Stories and Travel Horror Stories

Travelers are in the habit of shopping for souvenirs to bring home as tokens of the places that they have visited and the new and exotic cultures and customs they have encountered along the way. The word souvenir comes, in fact, from the French who use it as a verb to describe the act of remembrance or recollection. But sometimes souvenir buying transgresses the line of fairness and becomes a transaction based on greedy opportunism and exploitation. In my opinion travelers should avoid that kind of exchange at any cost – especially when dealing with people who have, throughout history, been treated unfairly by interloping outsiders.

One of the best and most informative stories about this phenomenon came from the Southwestern United States, where a Navajo fellow I knew lived and worked not far from Window Rock, Arizona. Window Rock is famous for its authentic handmade Navajo jewelry made of gorgeous turquoise.

I’m not a Native American myself, and I wanted to be careful to treat the Navajo and their culture with the utmost respect. So I asked him to give me some practical advice to help me avoid making a potentially embarrassing or offending faux pas while traveling through the region and interacting with the Navajo, who call themselves Dine’ – meaning Navajo People.

“Well I was home one Saturday,” he answered, “and I had just finished changing the water and the rocks in my child’s aquarium. So I was out in the front yard finishing up when these tourists came rolling by in their minivan. They saw me standing there in front of this large mound of gleaming fish tank rocks and they stopped, introduced themselves, and began to compliment me on the beauty of those colorful stones.”

Of course the tourists thought the pebbles were turquoise, and the price of genuine turquoise stones starts at around a dollar per carat and can go up to as much as $250 per carat.

“They took me for a sucker,” he said, “and asked me if I’d consider selling them those stones for five dollars a handful. Thinking they had ripped me off, they loaded up those nasty old fish tank rocks and took them home to show their friends what a great deal that had gotten at Window Rock.”

He looked at me and laughed. “So my advice to you and to other tourists visiting Native American communities is simple. Don’t ever pay five dollars a cup for discarded aquarium rocks.”