March 13, 2009 Tuks Tuks and Chicken Boats

There’s this one chicken boat driver who keeps trying to rip us off. I’m going to catch a picture of him and if any of you ever come out here, be mean to this guy. The other day we were completely low on money, we just had enough to get back to San Marcos with the 50Q in our pocket to return to Pana when we had more money in our bank accounts (the only ATM machines are in Pana and San Pedro, and the San Pedro ones run out sometimes). And this mean boat captain was trying to charge us 150Q! A public boat ride from Pana to San Marcos is 25Q each, and a private ride is twice that. So he was ripping us off big time! But we needed to get home and finally he said if we share the boat with a few other people, he’d bring us to San Marcos for 75Q. Still a jacked up price – and then this motherfucker filled his boat up anyway! I’m sure he’s just racist, or thinks that anyone with an accent has money – but COME ON! We’re good nice people and we aren’t rich. And then! This morning we took his boat back to Pana and I handed him 60Q (it’s 50Q for both of us) and he just waved me along like I don’t get any change! But we stood there and Sal told him, no, give us 10Q back and he finally did. What a JERK!
There’s another boat and the guy who takes the money and ties the rope to the dock (I’m sure there’s a title for such a person, skipper? maybe?) is awesome. This boat has speakers in the back and they play reggae music (reminded us both of Joe!). I only know this guy from his big, shiny sunglasses and brilliant fucking smile. We caught his boat to San Pedro (the party town) and he asked us (in English) where we’re from. As soon as we said California he started in with, “Oh, I’ve got some purple haze, granddaddy purps, all indoor grown, buds no seeds” the whole spiel. We explained that we’re taking a break from smoking for now, but I’m glad he remembers us (he even gave us 10Q off a ride from Pana earlier this week).
Something about the way we look must make people think we want to buy marijuana, though. Because we keep getting offers, and it seems like everyone thinks we must be headed to San Pedro (San Pedro has everything, not just pot). Even our landlady has offered to sell us some herb, she said, “Oh, this isn’t really a good place to take a break, there’s some great stuff around.” But what’s a few weeks after living in California for three years with a medical card for two of those years? I’m still hesitant as to whether the local buds could possibly come close to the quality we had in California.
The boats are all pretty standard, painted blue and white mostly, with hard metal benches. I like the way you get sprayed in the face when they drive fast, though. It’s refreshing. In the afternoon the winds pick up and the water gets all choppy (that, they say, is when the monster of Lago Atitlan is luring boats into the middle of the lake to eat them!) and the boat rides are really quite fun. We took a private boat back one night, with just the two of us and a captain and it was really choppy. Weeeeee!
Tuk tuks are the other form of transportation. Supposedly you could take a Tuk tuk from San Marcos to San Pedro but it must take forever, whereas the boat takes only 15 minutes. Other than that, it’s 5Q a person to get around in a Tuk Tuk. It comes in handy when you don’t really know where you’re going. Because the Tuk tuk drivers know where everything is.
Tuk tuks are all decked out too. The other day we were in one with a radio and it had a big Tom (of Tom & Jerry) sticker. Sadly (to me, at least) most of the decorations on the Tuk tuks consist of crying Jesus stickers and other more depressing images of Christianity (why always so depressing, Jesus, why? it makes me want to get some Buddy Christ memorabilia a’la “Dogma”). But they’re all fun. Here in San Marcos we took one up the hill to our front door and it was covered in rock and roll stickers! A big Nirvana sticker on the front, KISS, Slipknot, you name it, this kid loves rock and roll. Yeah, most of the Tuk tuks are driven by teenage boys, some older men, no women.
Women here mostly seem to work in shops or bodegas, but not much else. I never see women driving or doing other more laborious jobs. Ah, patriarchal societies. Whatcha gunna do? The young girls seem okay; I have faith that it’ll be all right. Maybe the headstrong women all move away to the cities, that’s all. There are tons of women tourists here, though. I see them around all the time all on their own. Sisters, doing it for themselves.