NO GRACIAS! explain to me

My general rule of thumb is to assume that anyone who approaches me speaking English is looking for money. Using the words amigo or friend make it almost certain, and if they resist efforts to speak Spanish back to them, then I pretty much don't trust them at all. Asking where someone is from is generally a dead giveaway that the person is looking for something besides a sincere chat. This has been my experience in both Mexico & Cuba. On my last trip over Christmas, I was asked where I was from so many times that I damn near wanted to turn around and tell the people to get lost whenever I heard those words. My friend, however, engaged all these people in conversations, invited them to sit down and have a beer with with us, and so on, and my general rule of thumb didn't fail me. Eventually they pull out some trinket or offer to provide some sort of service. The worst offender during my vacation in Cuba was getting an under the table commission off the drinks we were being overcharged for, but sometimes its worth it, even if as a fairly savvy traveller I have a pretty good sense of when those sorts of things are going on. But I digress....

If you want to have a genuine conversation with people visiting your town, I would suggest starting your conversations with them the same way you would with other people from your area - a joke, interesting observation, the weather or whatever is normal for you. But if you approach them sounding like a sales person ("Hey, where you from, amigo?" it wouldn't be surprising for them to ignore you.