In Cuenca giving and receiving kickbacks seems to be a way of life. Although this is prevalent among those who work in politics here, that is hardly anything new. What we are talking about is how much this permeates all aspects of society from the street vender that climbs on the bus to pitch his wares to the person who tries to shake your hand at an ex-pat event in order to pass you on to a Real Estate agent for a referral fee.
KICKBACKS IN ACTION:
One day I went to see a lawyer who had been recommended to me by a repeat customer of mine. He had never met this lawyer himself but had been referred to her by somebody else. I went to see her based on the hope that she knew what she was doing. Part of my reasoning was that since she did not speak any English yet was still being referred by ex-pats so she must have been really good.
She must have asked me at least five times who referred me to her. All I could tell her was that the person who referred me to her had never met her and that I could not remember how he told me he had heard about her. It seemed very important to her to find out how I heard about her and I was about to find out why.
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