The fact that I'm getting old and not just older.
That wine in a glass tastes better than wine
in the stomach. That all matter is not only
streaming toward the edge of the universe
but that my tears are too, and not from the passing
of next of kin, or even from sad visions, but from
old movies seen too many times, and never more
upsetting than the last time, when the ghost,
for instance, had no face and only pointed.
The fact that you can never find good bacon,
you can never relax in the tub, you can never
have a dream that doesn't have at least one
ominous sign. That breath becomes heavier
than gold, time lighter than air, and striving
cumulonimbus. A house on a hill on a country
road with pale sky shimmering? Try to find one.
He´s just like me! I think, amazed despite the pain. He´s just a grownup boy, stuck in a body, stuck in a life. And his life isn´t working. It´s not working at all.
-(Kade) Brother´s K
He who strives to be of use in this world soon burdens the people with his own insufficiency. -Lao Tzu
They asked me where I was going... 8 blocks south.
I asked them where they were going... 4 blocks east.
They looked worried.
I asked if they wanted me to walk with them.
They said yes.
With our newly formed posse we gathered our courage and pressed pass the woman in the street. One of the campesinas (indigenous women from the countryside) picked up a massive branch that had fallen from the tree to use as a threatening stick, and the woman in the street got the picture. She sneered and kept her distance, but at the same time moved with us as we made our way down the street. It was really a weird sight to see. There´s me, walking along with two Bolivian women wearing boulder hats and carrying large satchels of goods they had been selling on the streets (and one with a big-ass stick), and a third woman trailing right alongside us screaming and cursing. Usually I don´t really find the amusement until later, but in this particular situation I couldn´t help but chuckle at the absurdity of it all. With 3 eyes on the woman following us, and 3 eyes on the ground in front of us (sidewalks in Cochabamba are pretty perilous) we pretended to have ourselves a somewhat normal conversation, almost as if we were friends out for a walk.
What do you do here?
I´m studying Spanish and looking for work.
**Son of a $@&%# put down that stick**
Oh how lovely, well your Spanish is very good (Bolivians love to lie about this).
Oh well thank you (rolling eyes).
Do you like Bolivia?
**You are a BLACK MAN, I´ll kill you!**
Yes very much, the people are very nice.
**Stop walking away, are you afraind?**
How much longer are you going to stay here?
A few more months (I love to lie about this seeing as I never know the answer)
Oh that´s nice. Do you know Virginia?
**I´m not afraid, I´m not afraid! This is MY street!**
Yes, it´s very nice, a lot of Bolivians live there.
Yes, one day we hope to move there as well.
**Don´t walk that way! Turn around! TURN AROUND!**
Eventually we made it the 4 blocks to their house and they thanked me for walking with them. As they made to enter through their gate they asked what I was going to do to get home and I shrugged my shoulders and said, ¨Don´t worry about me, I´m pretty sure I can run faster than she can.¨
I actually laughed out loud at my own joke, but both women just looked at me like I was somewhat crazy myself.
All in all it was a fantastic night. I´m really quite uneducated about the social services that the Bolivian government is able to provide for a woman who is suffering like that, but I hope and pray that she can find peace soon. I´m doing my best to consider my next steps should I bump into her again, but for now I´m just tickled to have had a somewhat generic conversation with two women who I normally would never have had the opportunity to converse with.
Life continues to amaze me.
That wine in a glass tastes better than wine
in the stomach. That all matter is not only
streaming toward the edge of the universe
but that my tears are too, and not from the passing
of next of kin, or even from sad visions, but from
old movies seen too many times, and never more
upsetting than the last time, when the ghost,
for instance, had no face and only pointed.
The fact that you can never find good bacon,
you can never relax in the tub, you can never
have a dream that doesn't have at least one
ominous sign. That breath becomes heavier
than gold, time lighter than air, and striving
cumulonimbus. A house on a hill on a country
road with pale sky shimmering? Try to find one.
He´s just like me! I think, amazed despite the pain. He´s just a grownup boy, stuck in a body, stuck in a life. And his life isn´t working. It´s not working at all.
-(Kade) Brother´s K
He who strives to be of use in this world soon burdens the people with his own insufficiency. -Lao Tzu
Two nights ago while I was walking home I came across a woman standing in the middle of the street yelling at anyone who came near. She had bandages on her arms and was carrying a canvas sack that sounded like it was full of empty wine bottles. It was only about 10:30 and there were still various groups of people on latenight strolls, but this particular street was almost barren thanks to this woman. As I approached the woman her eyes met mine and she shouted something at me that I couldn´t understand. I stood there with a mixture of perplexity and amusement as I considered my options for getting home. I could backtrack a couple of blocks and go around, I could press through with teeth bared, or I could just stand where I was and look somewhat naive. After some careful consideration I chose the third option.
There we were, two solitary gunmen facing each other in the streets, her with her bag of bottles, me with my grin of disarmament. As the seconds passed I noticed on the opposite sidewalk but still on my side of the street were two campesina women huddling in the shadows cast from the streetlight. I hadn´t seen them before but apparently they also needed to pass by this way and were unsure how to proceed. I made my way towards them and asked what was going on. After a quick discusion I learned that this woman was some kind of mental patient who occassionally roamed the streets at night. She had been known to be violent but was also quite scared of people who showed agression.They asked me where I was going... 8 blocks south.
I asked them where they were going... 4 blocks east.
They looked worried.
I asked if they wanted me to walk with them.
They said yes.
With our newly formed posse we gathered our courage and pressed pass the woman in the street. One of the campesinas (indigenous women from the countryside) picked up a massive branch that had fallen from the tree to use as a threatening stick, and the woman in the street got the picture. She sneered and kept her distance, but at the same time moved with us as we made our way down the street. It was really a weird sight to see. There´s me, walking along with two Bolivian women wearing boulder hats and carrying large satchels of goods they had been selling on the streets (and one with a big-ass stick), and a third woman trailing right alongside us screaming and cursing. Usually I don´t really find the amusement until later, but in this particular situation I couldn´t help but chuckle at the absurdity of it all. With 3 eyes on the woman following us, and 3 eyes on the ground in front of us (sidewalks in Cochabamba are pretty perilous) we pretended to have ourselves a somewhat normal conversation, almost as if we were friends out for a walk.
What do you do here?
I´m studying Spanish and looking for work.
**Son of a $@&%# put down that stick**
Oh how lovely, well your Spanish is very good (Bolivians love to lie about this).
Oh well thank you (rolling eyes).
Do you like Bolivia?
**You are a BLACK MAN, I´ll kill you!**
Yes very much, the people are very nice.
**Stop walking away, are you afraind?**
How much longer are you going to stay here?
A few more months (I love to lie about this seeing as I never know the answer)
Oh that´s nice. Do you know Virginia?
**I´m not afraid, I´m not afraid! This is MY street!**
Yes, it´s very nice, a lot of Bolivians live there.
Yes, one day we hope to move there as well.
**Don´t walk that way! Turn around! TURN AROUND!**
Eventually we made it the 4 blocks to their house and they thanked me for walking with them. As they made to enter through their gate they asked what I was going to do to get home and I shrugged my shoulders and said, ¨Don´t worry about me, I´m pretty sure I can run faster than she can.¨
I actually laughed out loud at my own joke, but both women just looked at me like I was somewhat crazy myself.
All in all it was a fantastic night. I´m really quite uneducated about the social services that the Bolivian government is able to provide for a woman who is suffering like that, but I hope and pray that she can find peace soon. I´m doing my best to consider my next steps should I bump into her again, but for now I´m just tickled to have had a somewhat generic conversation with two women who I normally would never have had the opportunity to converse with.
Life continues to amaze me.
Not sure what happened to the formatting on this one... hrmph.
ReplyDeletethis is pretty much the BEST story ever. i am very glad that you made it through unscathed and agree that it was an awesome opportunity to talk w/ some campesinas. and for real if they were scared i would have been too! those indigenous women are tough. lol :)
ReplyDeleteRyan,
ReplyDeleteI love this story. At first, I didn't realize that the quotation's with asterisks surrounding them denoted the words of the mental patient so I read it as if one woman asked you what you were doing there. You answered and then the other woman in kind yelled at the first to put down the stick. I had to re-read it a few times until I understood what was going on, but honestly that made it even more humorous. Hope you're well my friend!
Justin & Maggs
P.S. Maggs and I were talking the other day and confirmed with each other that the best time of our four months in Miami was the day or so that you were there!