Here in Montevideo I don’t run a car, and to get about I have put in a few miles on buses and taxis; they’re usually good, only very occasionally shitty.  Most of the time though, the driver won’t lift a finger to help anyone  beyond arm’s reach of the car, unless you’re struggling with an obvious mobility aid  like stick or sporting an arm in sling.  At such times I’ve found they will go out of their normal way by parking right close up to the gate and even put grocery or other bags just inside said front gate as I’ve unlocked it.  Otherwise its pay the fare, get your stuff out ASAP and they pull off as soon as the door’s shut.

Turning into our street this morning, we passed a man walking along with a small hand cart – there are a couple of regulars who come through the neighbourhood to pick up bottles and other useful recyclables from the rubbish bin area down on the corner of the block, though I hadn’t seen this man before.  By the time I was exiting the taxi a few yards up the street from our gate, this man had drawn level on the other side of the street, and was loudly demanding pesos in a fairly hostile manner.  With my key in my hand I walked briskly to the gate and let myself in, then turned around and waved as the taxi driver wave out of his window and drove off, so he had waited to make sure I was safely inside, as I just felt he might have.  I had tipped him but now wished it had been a few pesos more!  I had flagged him on the street and taken no note of the company, car #  or his name  – and most Montevideo taxis are now white and reflective yellow like this one.    The man with the cart had moved on realising someone was literally watching my back.   Requests for money aren’t frequent, but for such moments I usually have a few pesos in my pockets or the outside area of my handbag, normally a shoulder bag worn diagonally, as I had this morning.