Good Life Advice: Bargain First, Ride Second

I spent a day in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon last weekend exploring ruins of Baalbek, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baalbek.
Afterwards, I was accosted by a horde of exuberant (aka pushy/obnoxious) merchants strategically placed outside the gates so to force exiting tourists through a "buy from me" gauntlet (which included Hezbollah fundraisers). I escaped unscathed and with my money nearly intact (note: one purchase made, a very worthy exception - email me to find out). However, I soon found one of my friends who had been less lucky.

He'd been lured over to the camels, dressed up like a Islamic militant, placed on a camel and then taken on a ride - both literally and figuratively.

After the ride he asked "how much?" The camel owner replied with what was probably the biggest number he could think of on the fly: "100,000 Lebanonese pounds." That would be 66.67 US and, basically, a million dollars to him. I think that Ruben could have purchased the camel for that amount. Unfortunately for Ruben, I was out of pounds and all he had was a US $50 bill - which they saw when he made mistake of opening his wallet in front of them.

After 10 minutes of hard bargaining and a final "give me more change or else I will walk and give you nothing" ultimatum, Ruben finally bargained them down to $25 (still a total rip off).

Take away lessons? (1) "good price for you, my American friend" is better translated as "good price for ME, my American friend" (although Ruben has some great pictures that make him look like he's ready to join the Hezbollah which, ultimately, may actually be worth $67) and (2) said "good prices" are best set before riding the walkway to the temple doors and back.

Larger life lessons hidden there somewhere, I'm sure.