Anyone notice the earthquake count has gone up? They aren’t as frequent up here as where I was living during training but the other morning we had quite the shake. It’s been a while (a month!)and I’ve got plenty of material to update the blog with, especially about my travels and I promise more soon but here’s a little for now.
Last week my business took me to Huehuetenango, on a mission to buy seeds because they cost less there. Huehuetenango is the capital of the department of…Huehuetenango. The department has some of the tallest mountains in the country, the Cuchumantanes range. My site is located in the eastern edge of the mountain range which extends into western Quiché. Anyways, for some reason I had it in my mind that Huehue (“way-way”) sat on relatively flat terrain with a gigantic wall of mountains looming in the background. In this way it resembles Denver. And while the later is true the former certainly is not. Huehue is as hilly a city as I’ve ever visited; kind of like San Francisco. There you go, it’s a cross between Denver and San Fran, only a lot smaller. The trip to Huehue was very short but I was able to grab lunch with my good buddy Frank whose site is located 20 minutes from the city and that was a pleasure.
I suppose the highlight of the trip was on the way back I was waiting to catch the last bus to Nebaj from Sacapulas when I was propositioned. Standing there on the side of the road waiting for the bus to arrive a group of whoreishly (?) dressed women sitting nearby tore me apart yelling their offers to me. I just shook my head, gave a laugh to amuse them, wore a grin and focused on the road. They were nice enough to promise me a “buen precio” and the whole thing was fairly flattering although I guess it’s just business to them. This was the second time I’ve been propositioned in my life. The first was in Costa Rica where prostitution is legal. I remember trying to watch the UNC-Duke game in a sleazy ex-pat bar crawling with prostitutes (it was the only place that showed college basketball) when a woman took a seat next to me. I kindly turned her down and made an apologetic expression to who I thought was her Madame standing on the other side of the bar. I felt bad turning her down because it must feel even more degrading to be rejected on top of selling your body. Maybe that’s not the case. It’s a conscious decision she’s made and who am I to judge her profession? I mean at least due to the legality there aren’t any pimps. Still it’s a sad (if not awkward) encounter. Maybe I’ve seen too many movies with the “hooker with a heart of gold” theme in them:
Pretty Woman,
Trading Places,
Lonesome Dove,
Taxi Driver,
L.A. Confidential,
Risky Business,
Leaving Las Vegas, and
Les Misérables. It’s a theme I always find moving.
Anyways it’s not exactly a pleasant topic to discuss but the whole thing is just an interesting experience that one may run into traveling abroad (or in counties in Nevada with populations less than 100,000). It’s something that makes you stop and think and it’s definitely worth a thought or two so I felt like mentioning it.
