sábado, 10 de enero de 2009

catorce cortas

Che Guevara ends every entry in his Bolivian diary with the altitude at the time of writing.

* * *

A young man, mouth gaping open, stares at a Rambo movie, wearing a hat with the iconic image of Che Guevara emblazoned on front and the New Era logo on back, resembling a (United States of) American flag.

* * *

A fat gringo in a Speedo lies passed out and sprawled out on the beach, getting sunburns on his sunburns. His friend comes and nudges him with his foot, and then takes a photo of him with his camera phone.

* * *

An Asian tourist bends over to take a photo of some flowers. Checking out her posterior, Ullo tries to get her attention, commenting “¡China! ¡Estás tirando fotos de flores!”

* * *

The wannabe tigueres who loiter outside of the school point out a muchacha that they say is enamorada with me. Her t-shirt reads “I love you, loveaholic.”

* * *

Golgotha overlooks Puerto Plata, with a cell phone tower built alongside the cross. Beneath lies a tomb housing a gift shop.

* * *

Seed boxes are piled in the corner of the room. All the labeling is in English. They’re genetically modified and imported from Israel.

* * *

Two Haitians work together to till a field. Each wears hand-me-down work clothes, including baseball caps bearing the names of opposing candidates in the last Dominican presidential election.

* * *

A convoy of jipetas comes into the campo, carrying local political figures here for a holiday pig roast. They come bearing gifts for the children, toy jipetas and pistolas.

* * *

The ice cream man here drives a motorcycle, not a truck, and plays merengue, not circus music. The milk truck also announces its presence with festive merengue played at full blast, though the driver is a little more gruff and surly, likely because he works 365 days per year. I often take volas to the pueblo with him.

* * *

The guy who I always see at the bus stop in Imbert says he learned English in Alaska, where he went to middle school and high school. He later got in some trouble, sent to jail, and then deported.

* * *

During a household interview, when asked what she does during the day, one of the abuelas responds, “¡Fumo!”, “I smoke!” as she lights up her pipe.

* * *

Every morning Chulo trains his fighting cock, running laps in a 5-foot radius circle with another cock in his arms, as his pugilist in training follows, pumping its bald legs, leg feathers having been plucked making them look ready for purchase at the supermarket. Chulo’s cock gets killed within minutes during its first fight on Christmas Eve. As per tradition, Chulo will not eat his own fallen fighter.

* * *

Altitude = 100m

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