Iquitos is a Peruvian city in the Amazon, close to Leticia in Colombia. Just as batshit crazy, maybe even moreso. The biggest city in the world without a road leading to it.

There's an English guy with a mangled hand who prowls the main square. He asks you for money, to get back to his mother, supposedly. His story is so good, and he's so well spoken, that he fools many people.

The night before, I just learned about his shtick in the youth hostel. He's just a bum looking for money. The hand deformity is congential, it did not come from an accident.

I was embarassed to admit this to him as I departed. But the rhetorical power of the crippled beggar was such that I almost felt bad not giving him something.

There's no way that them not being able to provide for themselves doesn't violate the conditions of their visa.
The solution is simple:

All those hippies in Candelaria stay in Musicology hostel

Quote: (04-11-2017 06:47 PM)Kona Wrote:  

I was in jail once.

If any of you guys are currently in Bogota and can send me photographic evidence of western beg packers begging for money in la Candelaria, I'll pay some goons to go down there and rough them up. I'll make sure that they take a video of it and I'll upload it on here. I'm bored as fuck in a work camp and don't mind paying for this entertainment, PM me.

I'm glad I have not seen this in Manila during my stay. Seriously, these people are the definition of privileged. Most of us are or at least have been to third world countries and get a glimpse of what a true struggle is really like. After walking around some parts of Manila, I would cut off my right arm before giving a beg packer any kind of funding. Seriously, I'm a 23-year old dude with no job that budgeted my trip right through savings and would never go as low as this when there are people truly in need. I don't even give to the kids begging here because of the cartel situation.

I don't even care that it might be hurting our image as much as I care that these beg packers are really truly hypocrites of the purpose of their travel. They say they want to go and understand the culture but they're only insulting the culture they're surrounded by begging on the streets for what 95% of people including myself would consider a luxury.

Traveling isn't cheap, but it's far from expensive if you plan and budget it right.

I've been very much involved in this scene for a good part of my homeless vagrant period.
Should I put up the link for the datasheet?
Also yeah, begging can be quite profitable, ask the Gypsies!

Quote: (04-11-2017 11:41 PM)scotian Wrote:  

If any of you guys are currently in Bogota and can send me photographic evidence of western beg packers begging for money in la Candelaria, I'll pay some goons to go down there and rough them up. I'll make sure that they take a video of it and I'll upload it on here. I'm bored as fuck in a work camp and don't mind paying for this entertainment, PM me.

If they can't find them an Argentine or Spaniard hippie with dreadlocks would suffice.

Here's a loose datasheet of sorts about being a homeless vagrant, plenty of interlapping with crusties, rainbow types and thrill seekers:
thread-53642...pid1215753

Later on if I can I'll try breaking down basics specifically on begging

Quote: (04-11-2017 09:15 AM)bacon Wrote:  

I see this regularly in Bangkok. These beg packers have such gall and a complete lack of shame. Its always a few hundred feet from them you might see the local beggars, who could be a man crawling with no legs along the dirty sidewalk, a blind man singing with a change jar around his neck, or another man sitting on the road with his face burned off whose hands are stubs.

That dude with burned off face makes so much money it's unbelievable. I observed him for 10 minutes and he made more than 400 bath in that short moment. 20 bath bills were just rolling in.

http://nypost.com/2015/11/11/this-bum-bo...nhandling/

In the West there are sometimes the so-called beggar millionaires who make good buck by smart begging.

This kind of activity is just a form of con and actually one could call this some kind of work, since they have to put in the hours.

There was this one famous NYC beggar who made literally millions, but he put in a tremendous amount of work - 10 hours daily, 7 days a week.

The begging of 1st world-citizens in the 3rd world is different.
It is tantamount to a 200 pound overweight woman standing in row with truly undernourished hungry Sudanese when aid rations are being distributed.

I never give money to beggars. Those guys with burnt faces or missing arms/legs are disfigured like that for the sole purpose of begging. They are usually controlled by a "pimp" who collects most of the cash.

I give to people who play flute just because I like the sound. I will also give if I see some homeless people digging in the trash for food. Except for that I don't give.

I only give money (and generously) to female beggars at night that run the "scantily clad" begging game. It pays off. They're invariably so grateful they provide all sorts of sexual favours for me, often no farther away from their begging spots than the nearest dark alley, although I attribute a large portion of that to my immense levels of game.

Some weeks I give generously four or five nights consecutively. It seems like the Christian thing to do.

Quote: (04-12-2017 02:08 AM)Pointer Wrote:  

I never give money to beggars. Those guys with burnt faces or missing arms/legs are disfigured like that for the sole purpose of begging. They are usually controlled by a "pimp" who collects most of the cash.

\n
That's honorable. I'm sure that 50 cents means more to you than it does the guy that intentionally burned his face off or hacked off his hand just to scam your 50 cents.

Quote: (04-12-2017 12:40 PM)BrewDog Wrote:  

That's honorable. I'm sure that 50 cents means more to you than it does the guy that intentionally burned his face off or hacked off his hand just to scam your 50 cents.

7 billion people man, too many 50 cents for every loser out there.

Quote: (04-12-2017 01:42 AM)Zelcorpion Wrote:  



http://nypost.com/2015/11/11/this-bum-bo...nhandling/

In the West there are sometimes the so-called beggar millionaires who make good buck by smart begging.

This kind of activity is just a form of con and actually one could call this some kind of work, since they have to put in the hours.

There was this one famous NYC beggar who made literally millions, but he put in a tremendous amount of work - 10 hours daily, 7 days a week.

The begging of 1st world-citizens in the 3rd world is different.
It is tantamount to a 200 pound overweight woman standing in row with truly undernourished hungry Sudanese when aid rations are being distributed.

The beggars that use dogs as props make so much.

These morons would make for a good source of kidneys and other organs for the local population.

Quote: (04-11-2017 06:47 PM)Kona Wrote:  

If any of you have ever been to Waikiki beach, you probably have seen this guy:


He was out there when I was 15, but his reign ended about two years ago.

Now, I swear up and down but no one believed me, I saw him walking just fine when I was in jail once. He was in there for trespassing. A guard told me he could see just fine.

Well, he actually panhandled enough to buy himself a cheap condo in Waikiki. One night, about two years ago, the floor he lived on caught fire in the middle of the night, and he had to flee without his costume. Hes not blind at all. People recognized him and called the news. He disappeared.

Remember, the saddest looking ones might not actually be in as bad of shape as you think.

Aloha!

Reminded me of this

Quote: (04-11-2017 09:15 AM)bacon Wrote:  

This guy is a known beggar superstar, wife drives him around in Mercedes. You can see him in 3 different places in a day if you're lucky.

Quote: (04-12-2017 01:28 PM)Steve McQueen Wrote:  

Quote: (04-11-2017 06:47 PM)Kona Wrote:  

If any of you have ever been to Waikiki beach, you probably have seen this guy:


He was out there when I was 15, but his reign ended about two years ago.

Now, I swear up and down but no one believed me, I saw him walking just fine when I was in jail once. He was in there for trespassing. A guard told me he could see just fine.

Well, he actually panhandled enough to buy himself a cheap condo in Waikiki. One night, about two years ago, the floor he lived on caught fire in the middle of the night, and he had to flee without his costume. Hes not blind at all. People recognized him and called the news. He disappeared.

Remember, the saddest looking ones might not actually be in as bad of shape as you think.

Aloha!

Reminded me of this

A bit off-topic, but I didn't even know The Athlete's Foot still even existed. It's huge in Mexico, and for some reason, North Carolina, but other than that, most of the stores have closed. Definitely a smarter move for a beggar to wear an Athlete's Foot hat than a Foot Locker hat.

It's a safe bet that 90% of the American beg packers voted for Bernie Sanders last year. I wonder if American socialists will declare backpacking a "right" which has to be funded by everyone else.

I experienced something similar in Vang Vieng this week (small party town in Laos for backpackers). Was out drinking in a bar then a random girl comes up to me asking if I want to share a burger. She wanted to share a burger so she could pay 50%. If you can't afford a 2$ burger it's time to get the fuck home..

In all seriousness, you could call these hippies scum, but you could also put equal (if not greater) blame on the people actually giving them money. Who are the ones giving them money? If it's locals, then they should be condemned for helping foreigners rather than their own kind. If it's other backpackers giving them money, it's more acceptable, but still disrespectful because these countries are allowing tourists into their countries to stimulate their own economies, not to give money to other tourists (which although may or may not end up in the pockets of the local economy anyway)
.

Quote: (04-13-2017 01:32 AM)Hyyish Wrote:  

I experienced something similar in Vang Vieng this week (small party town in Laos for backpackers). Was out drinking in a bar then a random girl comes up to me asking if I want to share a burger. She wanted to share a burger so she could pay 50%. If you can't afford a 2$ burger it's time to get the fuck home..

Bro, that girl was hitting on you.