connections

Who remembers this golden oldie?

One day my friend wanted a local massage. Mr. Cab Driver (yes that is a cool song by Lenny Kravitz, that I attempted to learn on guitar, ha!)  took us to a place where the ladies were dressed in white button up blouses and red plaid mini skirts, similar to the Britney Spears video. The girls were applying their make-up, and didn't really speak English. They managed to tell us that they did "happy massages for mens."

So we left, and went to a spa place. While my friend got her spa on, I talked to the taxi man I'll now refer to as N, from his nickname. N told me about his former life in Cali. He was raised by a single mom, and he was very good at hand ball. He got a good job, but hung out with the wrong people. He dropped out of high school, and joined a gang. He started smoking weed, and it lead to meth.




 He has since turned his life around. I could tell it was tough. He keeps his gang tattoos covered because his kindergarten daughter asks him questions. He told me that the kids in Acapulco, who work as baggers in the grocery stores only make tips. They have to maintain good credit and grades. They get special awards or bonuses like vacations or trips to swim with the dolphins. He thought that when he lived in America, it seemed like the good kids didn't have many incentives, or weren't really rewarded for their good behavior.


When I mentioned my former work at the high school, he asked me if  I knew the movie "Dangerous Minds."
I told him the Dangerous Minds theme song "Gangsta's Paradise" was sampled from a Stevie Wonder song "Pastime Paradise" that was on Stevie's album Songs in The Key of Life.  He was fascinated by my iPod, but didn't want me to play the song. He'd rather talk instead. He and his daughter had participated in the Turtle Conservation Program. Where they release the turtles back into the sea. The turtle was so small in her hands, and he told it's okay, nothing bad is going to happen to it.

Turtle Release image taken from internet

Acapulco Turtle Release Eco Tour photo from internet

turtle release image from the net

Here's a local place N took my friend to eat. 

This is agua de Jamaica. It is tea made from hibiscus flowers. It tastes like cran-raspberry juice. N says he drinks it all the time because it is good for the body. I looked it up, and it contains vitamin C and other medicinal qualities.

I told N I have worked with so many different ages of kids that I can usually guess their age within a year. He said how old do you think that girl who works there is? I said 15. Then I asked her, and she said 16. He said he thought she was older.

This was supposed to show the guy who cleaned the car's windshield in traffic for dinero (money).

N took us to el mercado, the flea market, where we looked around. They also had the black market with items for sale also. I just looked, but didn't buy. I was offended when I thought one lady asked if I was pregnant. How is that even possible? I don't think she really did though. Even on the TV shows that spoke English they had Spanish subtitles at the bottom. Later on when we were watching television in our room. I saw that the word pregunte or pregunta means question, (oops!).

At el mercado,  the flea market 

more pretties

Can you say Quinceanera dresses?

One driver joked about this sculpture saying they aren't wearing any clothes!