Nov 8
I was at the kite festival in Santiago on the day of the dead and found one other thing that reminded me of home- the graffiti in a bathroom. It was in English. “Black Metal” it said. Not only do vandals here have a bent towards the English language, but a bent towards the musical genre of my youth. Great. I did get a positive surprise in Santiago. I asked the people at the lunch place to hold the cebollas (onions) in a dish I couldn’t translate and decided to gamble on. What I got back looked like it was filled with inseparable little red slices of onion. I get unwanted onions about half the time in the states as well. So I dug in, only to find that they weren’t bits of onion, they were bits of bacon. It isn’t too often you get such positive food surprises.
I was at the kite festival in Santiago on the day of the dead and found one other thing that reminded me of home- the graffiti in a bathroom. It was in English. “Black Metal” it said. Not only do vandals here have a bent towards the English language, but a bent towards the musical genre of my youth. Great. I did get a positive surprise in Santiago. I asked the people at the lunch place to hold the cebollas (onions) in a dish I couldn’t translate and decided to gamble on. What I got back looked like it was filled with inseparable little red slices of onion. I get unwanted onions about half the time in the states as well. So I dug in, only to find that they weren’t bits of onion, they were bits of bacon. It isn’t too often you get such positive food surprises.
On the bus ride back I talked to a German woman who was working with local kids in the 0-4 age range that had been taken from their homes by social services. Many of them had been malnourished by 13-14 year old mothers who did not have sufficient means or maturity to care for a kid while persuing whatever it is teenage girls pursue here. The woman expected many of them would never develop to a level of self sufficiency. I actually found myself second guessing the wisdom of putting one’s volunteer effort there. It will be that many more people to be taken care of by a state with incredibly limited resources. I found myself thinking “With so many kids that need help here, wouldn’t the country be better off if she went through the orphanages for some kids with potential and worked to develop them so that the next generation of Guatemalans have that much more local, raw talent for business and politics?” How can you second guess someone who works with malnourished children? Leave it to me I suppose.
This sign was on the mens room of a local club. I suppose when you have lots of tourists who have given their last brain cell to one of your cervesas, you have an excuse for being over obvious with your labels.
I think that even the most drunk tourista can find the international symbol for the ladies room, a long line.
ReplyDeleteI often wonder about the foster system. Seems like you'd have an easier time finding and monitoring 5 or 6 caring professionals to run an orphanage than keeping track of 100 sets of foster parents. Or make adoption easier.
ReplyDeleteWhat was the sign on the ladies room?
I suspect that is true, but there is also a negative critical mass phenomena that happens at halfway houses when you get lots of people with emotional or psychological together. Perhaps foster care helps avoid that.
ReplyDelete