Kim Meets the Russian Police. Or Whoever Comes to Collect Large Sums of Money from People Who Shouldn't Have It. Like Us.

No, I'm not trying to be funny. This is a true story. Yesterday, Kim needed to change some money, so our tour guide Olga said she knew a place with really good exchange rates.

I'll say.

Kim traded $600 USD and walked out with a stash of cash as thick as the Holy Bible. But being it was is rubles and she hadn't traded money yet nor had the faintest idea of the exchange rate, she didn't know anything was up. Plus, there was a dodgy-looking man standing a little too close, so she and Olga made a quick exit after getting the cash.

So we all get back to the hotel and start dividing up the money. And I'm like, “Holy crap that's a lot of money” -- because I had exchanged $400 the day before at the airport and my wad was nowhere near as big. I had gotten a little over 10,000 rubles for $400 and they had gotten something like 150,000 for $600. So the first thought was that I had gotten seriously ripped off when I exchanged. Then we got a calculator, did the math, checked the receipt and realised the exchange lady had mistaken the $600 to be exhanged for $6000. So Kim walked in with $600 and walked out with over $5000/150,000 rubles.

Then we got worried, because Kim had left her passport at the hotel that day so Olga changed the money on her passport under her name. And we didn't have her phone number, so we couldn't call her to tell her what had happened. It was evening, so we decided to put the cash in the safe in our room and would tell her in the morning when she met us for our tour and we would go straighten it out/give the money back.

We went out to dinner and then drinks, rolling back into the hotel around 12:30am. Once in the room, Kim and Margot get a call from reception saying that Olga is on the phone and that there is  a “situation.” They wouldn't put the call through to the room, they said Kim had to come down to reception to talk to her. So Kim goes down, gets on the phone and Olga tells her “the police” had come to her house looking for the money. The girl who traded it was there too, saying she had been working for 24 hours and “made a terrible mistake.” Kim told her she had the money and that we realised what had happened too late in the day, didn't have her number and were planning on giving it back in the morning once we saw her. Olga told her the police were coming to our hotel to get the money. Then, a large man standing next to Kim at the reception desk leans over and says “We're here.” Think that sort of scared the crap out of Kim. They had been waiting for us at the hotel and had been listening to her conversation on the phone with Olga the whole time, I guess not wanting  to blow his cover in the event Kim was planning to bolt with the cash (which again, for the record, she/we were NOT...we are honest good girls). The same exchange girl was there with him, very apologetic (poor thing, if she had already worked a 24 hour day, she must really have been exhausted at that point!) So Kim went up with a hotel escort, got the money and handed it over. (Being the smart woman she is, she also made them sign a handwritten  document that she made a copy of saying they had received the money from her.) They then went off with the money into the night. Certainly not something anyone  wants to repeat, but you can be certain we have had a crash course in counting our rubles and know well the ratio to the dollar. I think Kim's adrenaline also got a run for its money. Breakfast conversation this morning was very exciting. :)