Some Honorable Mentions

So, when discussing my travels, there were a few interesting details that I left out. One, that I saw a guy eating paint chips off of the boat that we were riding across the bay of Samana. So you combine him with the two old guys drinking out of their flasks and you have one heck of a morning! Two, when I was on crappy guagua number 3 (Nagua to Rio San Juan), I had an older lady sit next to me. I was watching a little boy of about 8 years old who was a "limpiabotes" which means that he cleans and shines peoples' shoes for a few pesos...it is a REALLY popular job among the little kids. Anyway, this woman starts going off about how she has three children and how they are "limpiabotes" also. She was literally beaming with pride about how they go down to Cabarete beach where there are lots of tourists, and clean shoes all day long. She was so excited because they bring all the money for her! She also went on about how nice the tourists are...they give her children clothes, food, necklaces....sometimes they take them to restaurants. The tourists are so nice, in fact, that her children are desperate to learn other languages so that they can casarse with one of the extranjeras and move with her to her beautiful, rich country. Now, aside from the fact that I would normally have lectured the woman on how important it is that her boys go to SCHOOL and STUDY so that they don't valorize a life of panderism, I think that my conversation with the woman sheds an interesting light on what we gringas represent for even the littlest muchachos here. We are foreign, which must mean that we are rich and bring gifts...and if they can just marry one of us then their dreams of living in Nueva York will come true!