Grand Travel

A taxi driver who usually picks passengers from the airport gave back a bag with 4,350 euros, documents and a passport to an Italian tourist who left it accidentally in his car.  Eduardo Rodriguez Ochoa, 34, works as a taxi driver for Peruvian Tours S.A. Last Wednesday he picked up Nicola Lugaresi from Jorge Chavez International Airport.Rodriguez drove Lugaresi to a hotel in the Miraflores district. On his way back to base, in the Callao port, the taxi driver found the bag under the copilot seat.The bag contained the money, documents and Lugaresi’s passport. Rodriguez reported the situation to taxi company manager, Ruben Velasquez.After reporting the situation to Peruvian Police Commander Eduardo Menacho, stationed at the Jorge Chávez International police station, Lugaresi went to pick up his bag around midnight. “I’m so thankful to all of you. I was so distracted due to my travel that I forgot the bag. I’m pretty sure that I wouldn’t have gotten my bag back somewhere else,” said an emotional Lugaresi after giving the taxi driver a hug, livinginperu reported.

“I never doubted giving back the bag to the Italian. I come from a very humble origin, but my family raised me with strong values, about what I should do and what I shouldn’t do,” said Rodríguez Ochoa to a local television news program.

Rodríguez Ochoa was awarded and recognized last Friday by Tourism Minister Eduardo Ferreyros who said the taxi driver’s story portrays exactly the objective of the recently launched campaign, “Cuando tratas bien al turista, tratas bien al Perú” (When you treat well a tourist, you treat well Peru), in order to sensitize Peruvians about the social and economic benefits of tourism.

 Source: andina.pe