Davin is a good friend of mine. We share very similar tastes in music, had the pleasure of working together for a few years, and have had a good time travelling with each other a few times. He has been to Guatemala and Central America on a few occasions over the past decade and when he heard I was going, he sent me an email of things I need to do while i'm here. Throughout my journey, on slow days, I will try to cross said things off his list and report about them here. By the way, Davin is probably the funniest person I know who doesn't care if anyone else thinks he's funny. Which, in my mind, makes him all the more hilarious.
Back to the list. The first thing on my list was to try to buy a chicken. And yes... that's a live chicken. So I figure, why not? I had a few hours to kill this afternoon, so I went to the local market to try to buy a new pet. My Spanish is really pretty basic, mind you, which is where it gets funny, of course.
First of all, you need to understand that the markets here are not like any market in the U.S. They are dirty, chaotic, crowded, uncomfortable, pushy... basically, everything that mainstream America has come to despise (while shopping for sanitary items). You can buy anything at the markets here: DVD's (of the movie that comes out next week), towels, toiletries, kitchen appilanes, porno magazines, tacos, clothes, jewelry, vegetables, fireworks, more tacos, meat, and anything you could possibly think of. There are many stalls that sell similar things and they are all sectioned off together, much like you might expect. That is to say, you have 20 butcher stalls in the same area, next to 40 vegetable stalls, next to 100 porno stalls and so on and so forth. Somehow I found my way to the butcher section, and tried to find a live chicken. Before you get your hopes up, let me kill the suspense and let everyone know that I came nowhere close to buying a live chicken. Not only that, but i'm pretty sure that the guy I talked to at the butcher stand thought that I wanted to eat a dog or cat. Which was totally my fault, due to my poor Spanish skills. The conversation started out well enough, but when the butcher tried to sell me a whole chicken, ready to roast in the oven, somehow the conversation turned to cats and dogs. Again, this was completely my fault! When he thought I wanted a whole chicken, I tried to make him understand that I wanted a LIVE chicken, with feathers and everything. Only, I don't know the word for feathers, so, in my panic at not being understood, I said something to the extent of me wanting a chicken for a pet, sort of like a cat or dog. Only, I don't know the word for pet, which is where (i'm pretty sure) that he thought I wanted to eat a cat or dog because he told me that he only sold chickens in his stall. Regardless, something got lost in translation, and I pretty much ran away, totally embarrased by the situation.
But, I swear to you that, someday soon, I will get a picture of me and my chicken. I'm still not sure what I might do with it once I get one, but I feel very determined. I know I keep promising pictures, but I swear that more will come, I was just too embarresed to get a picture this time. When victory comes, you will be the first to see my chicken! But, just so you know, i'm not gonna name it because I don't want to get too attatched. I'll probably just give it to a local, or something.
In conclusion, everyone who reads this blog will be kept up to date when i'm foolish enough to knock another one of Davin's things off the list. So, you got that going for you, which is nice...
