The coming darkness of winter, grief for my black cat Spook (who died of liver failure last week), and the barbarity of the Taliban shooting a 14-year-old Pakistani girl have been weighing me down. Halloween’s playful excess feels like a wonderful reprieve. So I’m consciously turning away from gloom and back toward the lightness of being silly. In that spirit, here are some highlights from Halloweens present and past:
1. Helping a friend plan her Binder Full of Women costume this year
2. Our neighbor’s yard full of ghouls
3. Remembering when the nuns of my Catholic grade school required us to dress up as saints for the school party—I was St. Helen by day and a Fairy Princess by night
4. A friend’s Halloween wedding reception with guest appearances by Queen Elizabeth I, a live wedding cakes and a three-legged man
5. My youngest son as a New York lawyer (his idea of scary)
6. My oldest as a polar bear during the 1991 Halloween blizzard. At 2 ½ years old, he thought getting candy from three houses was great.
7. And there’s always eating a Reese’s cup (the big kind), a Kit-Kat bar and some peanut M&Ms.
Dressing up and eating candy—what could be better?
What happened with the binder full of women costume?
Theresa Eisele
Thanks for sharing your human range of Halloween emotions. In full agreement with Pat Exarhos, I can’t completely imagine the “binder” without a photo. Enjoy the tricks and treats!
Pat Exarhos
We do all need some levity right now so thanks for making me laugh. Please post the “binder full of women” costume – would love to see it.
I wake up to the cluck, cluck of chickens. The patio door is open to the outside and their fussing is distinct. I feel safe enough to leave the door ajar each night and let the breeze waft in off of Lake Atitlan. I can’t explain why or how it feels safe … but it does. It is the same knowing as when I know that something isn’t safe.
Soon Jody is frying fresh eggs from these same chickens and Antonio is urging Crystel to catch one. She does. Antonio finds enjoyment in Crystel doing what he himself won’t do.
After breakfast we meet our guide Sam who by the end of the day will feel like family.
Because of our experience with Sam, Jody and I know we will always request a guide when visiting Lake Atitlan. Sam is knowledgeable and bilingual, but even more than that, he knows how to relate to two nine-year-olds. He becomes their companion. For Antonio and Crystel, it is the slow melding of being around another Guatemalan. Antonio and
Sam
Crystel can think, when I am older maybe I will be a little like him.
Being around a person of the same ethnic origin, someone who they like, allows Antonio and Crystel to intuit that being Guatemalan is a good thing. This is something Jody and I can’t give them. All the words that we have can’t compare to spending time with others of their own culture.
Los Elementos dock being worked on
Antonio and Crystel are around many Hispanics in Minnesota and the Spanish dual language school that they attend in Richfield. They never have to feel alone or at odds with their skin tone. Still, there is a difference in being in your birth country and knowing that everyone you see is Guatemalan and not Mexican, El Salvadoran, Peruvian, Ecuadorian, or a mix of the former.
In the days to come Jody and I will witness our children’s growing sense of pride in their ethnicity.
Antonio at home in his kayak
Sam helps us carry our kayaks down to the water. Los Elementos Adventure Center has kayaks that fit the children. All of us are happy that we can each have our own. This is the first time I have ever seen Antonio and Crystel navigate on the water under their own power. They don’t have any hesitancy jumping into their kayaks and pushing off.
Included in our lodging at Los Elementos is access to the kayaks during our stay. Jody, Antonio, and Crystel will take them out again. I am content to sit and look at the volcanos from the patio, but I also know that I am missing out on that special feeling of being in the water surrounded by vast outcroppings.
Lunch
After our morning we head off to San Pedro la Laguna in a launch for a horse ride. Once we arrive at San Pedro,we decide that we are hungry. Sam assures us that the restaurant Shanti Shanti is open even though it is still early. This sets the tone for our day. We don’t have set times that we have to be any place. Horseback riding will come but not quite yet.
Having Sam with us makes Jody and me more adventurous in choosing our lunch and more inclined to say ‘yes’ to milk shakes and other drinks.
Lake Atitlan and Mayan Indian Nose out our window
When our family traveled to Guatemala in 2010 we didn’t try a lot of things because we didn’t want to become ill. In 2003 when we had brought Antonio and Crystel home we all got terribly sick with a gastrointestinal bug. Not the homecoming any of us wanted.
Sam, Jody and I order curry, Antonio orders his regular staple of pasta with just butter and Crystel hasa cheese quesadilla.
Our view from the restaurant looks right out over Lake Atitlan and Indian Nose, a unique mountain formation that resembles the face of a Mayan Indian in repose.
Choosing handicrafts to bring home. See woman’s head dress. Crystel will soon be wearing one.
A Mayan woman and her son approach us while we are waiting for lunch. She is from San Antonio la Laguna but comes to San Pedro every day to sell her handicrafts.It is nice to be able to ask Sam if her asking price is good and to have his help in negotiating.
In 2010 when we traveled to Guatemala, Antonio and Crystel hated when I did any bargaining. Especially, if it was children with whom I was haggling. Even though I explained to them that that is the way it was. “Just give them the money,” they insisted. Now, I wanted to poke them and say, See?
Crystel’s new head piece.
Sam let us know that negotiating also puts him in an uncomfortable spot because he understands that the woman is trying to make a living and yet he knows what a good price would be.
San Antonio is named after Saint Antonio, Sam says. We smile at Antonio. He lets us know that he wants San Antonio to be a destination on our next trip to Guatemala.
San Pedro la Laguna
San Antonio is known for their hair ribbons. The Mayan woman demonstrates how to put a ribbon on Crystel. It seems fairly complex and we ask if we can video her doing it.
We aren’t planning on buying handicrafts but it feels good to do so. It seems as if the money will go directly to her and her family.
Making our way to the horses
Lee Beal had told us in the morning that we could have Sam go horseback riding with us or we could go alone. We opted for Sam to join us especially, when we found out that he had never been on a horse before.
Horseback riding seems like the thing to do in Guatemala. It has become one of our must-dothings.
An interesting trek to the horses
We took a horse ride in 2010 and it was a remarkable way to see a village. You go slowly, you are up high, you can observe your surroundings, and there is excitement involved because you don’t know what your horse is going to do. Invariably, at some point in your trek the horse will start trotting, which leads to uncontrollable, scared,excited laughing.
Getting to the horses in itself is an adventure in San Pedro. We were led down narrow paths, past people working in small plots, and in-between buildings. Finally when we arrive it’s like the farm moved to the city.
Added to the excitement is an occasional BOOM. San Pedro is celebrating their Festival of San Pedro with fireworks, carnival, and games.
After our horse ride we stopped for lunch again. There are many Spanish language schools in San Pedro, so we stopped at a restaurant frequented by students. Jody and I had very good nachos with fresh tomatoes.
Before taking a Tuk Tuk to the dock, which Saint Antonio was all for, we walked through the main part of the village where the carnival was set up.
Riding horses in Guatemala. The thing to do!
Sam called Lee and told him that our first weaving class would need to be delayed by one day. We weren’t quite ready to leave San Pedro.
Recently, my sister and I had good lunch at the Bad Waitress Diner, but it cost us close to $250. The turkey wrap I ordered had fresh avocado and a tasty sauce. Margo’s Eggs Benedict had a great rosemary hollandaise. What left a bad taste in my mouth was the $232.79 towing charge we paid for participating in the Caravelle Chinese and Vietnamese Restaurant’s parking lot scam.
As we pulled into the parking lot the Caravelle shares (sort of) with the Pancho Villa Mexican Restaurant, we saw a tow truck trying to negotiate the turn from the parking lot into the alley. We idly wondered if the car it was towing had died. We should have thought a little harder about that, but we were busy yakking. Margo lives in Ohio and we were enjoying one of her rare visits to the Twin Cities.
We noticed the sign near our spot that said, “Pancho Villa parking after 3 p.m.” and thought, It’s only 11:45. We’re good to 3:00 and we won’t be here that long. We should have noticed the guy posted next to a light pole across the street from the parking lot.
We ate our lunch, talked about our respective children, and speculated and laughed about the young women and young men at the sidewalk tables outside our window. (Was that guy checking out the woman with the short skirt? Did she just flip her skirt like that so he could?) All in all, a good lunch.
Until we walked half a block back to the parking and discovered my car was gone. Huh? It should be right here. Didn’t we park it here? It was TOWED?!? But by whom? Pancho Villa? We went inside and found the hostess. She explained that they always ask their patrons where they’ve parked, because five minutes after someone parks in the lot next to Pancho Villa, the Caravelle calls for a tow truck. The whole lot is Caravelle’s until 3:00 p.m. Oh. Clearly, we’d misunderstood the signs. $&%#!! We thanked the helpful hostess and left.
I felt so stupid. Angry, too. How could I have misunderstood the sign so thoroughly? And where was the sign saying we’d be towed? We found it on the opposite side of the lot, by the Caravelle. As I wrote down the phone number for Cedar Towing a guy stood nearby, repeatedly hawking and spitting, to the point where I wanted to turn to him and say Mom-like, “Knock it off!!” Still dazed, it never occurred to me that he might be trying to get our attention or possibly signal someone else, like the guy leaning on the pole across the street.
We walked back to the Bad Waitress to ask for a phone book (neither of us has a smart-enough phone, so we couldn’t look it up). Once there, we explained what happened. The manager seemed unsurprised and unfazed. She didn’t have a phone book, but she did have the phone number for a taxi service. We copied the number and went outside to call and wait.
When we called Rainbow Taxi, the dispatcher said something like, “Oh yeah, the Bad Waitress. I know where that is. We’re over there a lot.” Duh. Finally, it clicked. Caravelle may be the masters of the towing scam, but the Bad Waitress and Rainbow Taxi are complicit, or at very least, well aware of it.
Earlier, I’d felt stupid and frustrated—Why wasn’t I street-smart enough to think about the possibility of being towed? What a dope! But after talking to Rainbow Taxi, I was furious and determined not to give another dime to this racket. Fortunately, we spotted a taxi driving by and decided there were enough taxis in the area and we could hail a cab on our own. We crossed the street to catch a cab headed the right way. Blowing off Rainbow Taxi was a tiny revenge, but it felt good. Half a block down was the guy next to the pole, still scouting for the Caravelle, while his partner (the spitter) loitered in the lot to see where parkers actually went.
The cabbie who picked us up had a Greek accent and chatted with Margo. I was too crabby to talk. During the ride to Cedar Towing, we stopped at a light, and a person with a disability crossed in front of us on a scooter. The cabbie remarked, “That’s fine on a day like today, but these people on scooters go out in the winter, too. Then they get stuck in the snow and I have to get out and help them get across the street.” Here was a genuinely nice man. He wasn’t trying to scam us. I relaxed a little.
At the towing company, the woman told me the cost was $232.79. How is a half hour’s work worth $232.79?!? But I decided to keep my mouth shut until after I had my car. I asked to see the car before I paid, and the clerk made sure I knew it was a big hassle for her. Her manner implied that it was unreasonable of me to think they might have damaged the car in the process of towing it. Yeah, right.
The guy she called to escort me to the car was less sophisticated. When I asked him how they towed it, he said they took it on a flatbed. OK, so far. SUVs shouldn’t be towed with just a hook. They need to be towed on a flatbed. I inspected the car carefully and found fresh scratches on the hood (you knew that was coming, didn’t you?) I called the guy over and asked what might have caused that. He tried to say maybe the scratches were already there, but I cut him off saying, “No, I just had the car washed several days ago and dried it myself, so I know those scratches are new.” He acknowledged that when he was looking for the VIN number, something might have scratched the hood.
Inside, I asked the clerk what Cedar Towing planned to do about the scratches. She said I could call her boss, but he was on vacation right now. Of course he is, and he probably will be for the rest of my natural life. So I paid, but as I left I said, “Great scam you and the Caravelle have going.” Of course she blustered back, “It’s not a scam. There’s a big sign.” I laughed at her. She said in parting, “You’re entitled to your opinion.”
Yes, I am.
Margo took photos of the scratches with her phone (for all the good it will do) and we left.
So of the three restaurants we dealt with that day, I’m recommending Pancho Villa, because I’m pretty sure they aren’t in on the towing scam. But, just to be safe, you’d better plan to walk over there.
What a story! Seems like you should send to your newspaper and post on Yelp or a similar site.
Johanna
Sorry that you got scammed. But this was my favorite of your blog entries. You were so angry and feisty! You made a very good story out of a very bad experience.
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When I feel world-weary, I actively try to turn away from the world’s troubles and focus on the many good things in my life. In addition to my family and friends, here are some things I enjoyed this past year—art, books, nature. Sorry, no raindrops on roses! When I saw this painting I wanted to…
3 responses to “Boo!”
What happened with the binder full of women costume?
Thanks for sharing your human range of Halloween emotions. In full agreement with Pat Exarhos, I can’t completely imagine the “binder” without a photo. Enjoy the tricks and treats!
We do all need some levity right now so thanks for making me laugh. Please post the “binder full of women” costume – would love to see it.