New Students, New Story, Same Old Bull

Last weekend, another student arrived in my dorm. She was in her 60s and an Ausie. We saw each other exactly twice during the week, as the hours we kept were pretty much opposite one another. One night she heard me coming in as she was getting up (around 3am). A few more students arrived Friday, a married couple (American woman, Scottish guy) and someone else from Vancouver whom I still haven´t seen.

Lest anyone think that I exaggerate about the drug culture here, one of the bars got raided by police from Guatemala City last weekend during a full moon party. From what I gather, 20 arrests of customers were made, and the owner of the bar was also taken into custody. Such a hit to the local economy was it that one of the places that I frequent was left empty the following night. I thought the whole thing was pretty funny, as a bunch of people got what they deserved. My commi teacher was pretty happy to be rid of them too.

Midweek, I had another encounter of the third kind with a Dutchman who owns a restaurant down here. He told me to "open my eyes" to how rotten the world is, and the fact that, because the Mayan calender ends then, "something's going to happen, I don't know what" in 2012. I found it rather amusing to get a lecture about "opening my eyes" to someone who moved to a town in the middle of nowhere and had just finished talking to someone else about his latest mushroom trip. He wants me to come back on Dec. 22, 2012 so that he can gloat about whatever happens and how he predicted it, but I didn't believe him. I offered to place a wager on it. I'd come back for that date. If he was right, I'd pay for my trip. If he was right, he would do so. So confident was he that he offered to buy me a beer if nothing happened instead.