Pedro

Well, I thought I had written about part one of this story back in December or January but I can't find the story. I'll have to just write it again, but if all this is repetitive, feel free to skip a ahead a few paragraphs. So way back when, I was living in the language school in Antigua and we had to move to a new building. Remember this? Well the school had hired a moving company and I had offered to help out. There was a TON of shit to move; hundreds of desks and tables, beds, dressers. It was rough. Anyway, while we were busting our humps, a dude off the street named Pedro offered to help out for the day for 50Q ($7). Luckily the teachers jumped on that and this dude did a ton of work to help out, definitely earned his (comparatively measly) money.

As we worked together though, I realized that this guy was kind of a jerk. While he was nice to me the whole time, as soon as we were alone he'd start talking smack about the other people helping (the teachers, who happened to be my friends). One of our teachers has Tourette's and Pedro started saying how they shouldn't hire people like that because it's bad for the image of the school, it makes it seem like the teachers are sickly. So while this dude was a big help, he was also a douche and I felt uncomfortable around him. Luckily we finished soon thereafter and he left with the other guys.

Fast forward a week later. I'm in my room at the new school, eating lunch, when suddenly someone yells up to tell me that someone is at the door for me. Bad news. I have no friends here, I know immediately who it must be. I walk downstairs and there's Pedro. "Hey! Let's go out and have something to eat!" I tell him that I'm sorry but I've already eaten. He asks me to go for a walk with him. I tell him that I have to get back to class, that my teacher is waiting. He tells me that it's no problem, he'll wait outside the school until my classes are done. Fuck. I don't want to go ANYWHERE with this dude, it has danger written all over it. I can't think of what to say (I know what I SHOULD say, but I'm a pansy and I hate being direct with people when I think it'll hurt their feelings). In a horribly stupid move to buy some more time, I tell him that I'm busy tonight, but he can come back tomorrow and we can go out for dinner. He agrees and leaves.

(Now I'm remembering why I didn't put this story up here, I'm thinking I was worried that my mom would end up having a stroke. Don't worry Mom, there's a happy ending.)

So I talk to my friends and my teacher about this and try to solicit help. Maybe I can get one of the students to have dinner with us, that'll drop the danger level down a few notches. Yeah, no one's signing up for that. My teacher gives me the same advice I would give anyone in the same situation: don't be stupid, you can't go with the crazy dude. Cancel. That's all good and great but sadly I don't have this dude's contact info, I can't call him. That means I have to wait for him to come back to the school and cancel in person. I can feel the stomach ulcers starting already.

I go through the whole next day DREADING the approach of 5p. I practice my speech, I stare at the front gate, I stare at the clock. Five comes and goes. No Pedro. 5:30, still no Pedro. By 7p I finally let my guard down and consider it a reprieve from Baby J. Of course that's the exact moment that the bell rings and there's Pedro. I walk out to Pedro and tell him as best I can in my very broken Spanish that sadly I cannot go out with him. (Luckily he's given me a very easy excuse being TWO HOURS late for our dinner date.) He says that he understands, no problem. Maybe we can meet up another day? Nope, sorry Pedro, I'm leaving tomorrow. Where, you ask? I'm not sure. Somewhere in Guatemala. Haven't really decided yet. Give me your email and I'll write you sometime if I'm ever in the area.

Before Pedro disappears into the night, he tells me the story that I had been waiting to hear. He needs food, he needs a place to stay. Then he adds a super creative twist and tells me that he dreams of being a donut vendor but he needs 5000Q to buy a special donut oven. He sure would be grateful if I could help him out. That's like $700!! Cheap as far as donut ovens go, sure, but still that's a lot of money to ask a complete stranger for! (I've since realized that as a general rule, people think that all Americans are just dripping money. Sadly, while I'm FAR wealthier than the folks here, I'm still pretty damn broke.) Anyways, I explain to Pedro that I cannot buy him an oven but I can help him find a place to stay for the night. I give him money for a hotel and he skedaddles off. He mentions on the way out that he lives in Chimaltenango and I should come look for him there one day. I make a mental note to never go to Chimaltenango and that's that.

Okay, that was all the back story. Here we go with today's adventures. So Chimaltenango may or may not look familiar to you, but that's the name of the local city here. While I don't go there frequently, I do go there from time to time to do my shopping and take kids to medical appointments. Every time I go I try to keep a look out for Pedro, but since there's several thousand people in Chimal, I've been fine.

Which brings us to today. You can no doubt see the obvious progression of this story, though it comes in a surprising form. This morning was Dia de Visitas here at NPH, a day when the families of the kids come to visit (I should clarify that by mentioning that not all the kids here are orphans. While this originally started as an orphanage, it has recently been evolving to more of a giant foster home. Many of the children here were placed by the State due to child abuse, neglect, etc. Some children eventually return to their families, most stay here. The parents can come and visit three to four times a year during our visitor days.) During the Visitor Days, all the volunteers have special jobs. Because of the history of abuse for many of the kids, its vital that they are never alone with their families; staff need to be present at all times. That's kind of hard to do with 350 kids, so we just corral them all onto the school playground and kind of form a human fence around them. We block off escape routes and make sure no adults pass those points; the kids are free to roam as they like.

So my job during Dia de Visitas is to stand on the driveway leading to the dorms and not let any parents get by. I do it with my most apologetic look possible and everyone seems to take it well. I make sure to smile and wave at everyone I see to further my image of a dopey American volunteer who's just doing his job. Well I see a dude walking over towards me, I smile and wave and realize its Pedro. SHIIIIIIIIIIIT. Why is he here?!?! He walks right over to me and asks me what I'm doing here. I tell him I'm a volunteer and ask what HE'S doing here. He's super shady about it and evades the subject. I ask him again since now I'm worried he just wandered in off the street. He tells me that he's actually an ex-Pequeno and that he grew up here. To validate his story he calls over an employee who immediately recognizes him and asks him about life. So now I'm on the hook for the next hour and a half, he sits and talks to me about how no one supports him in Guatemala and how he just needs people to take him seriously and give him a chance so he can start his own business. He apparently has moved on from the donut cart and now has an idea for a helicopter motor that runs on magnets. He hasn't built it yet, but he knows it will work and just needs money for a prototype. I remind him that I'm a volunteer and have zilch to give him. I suggest that he tries to contact some local charities to see if they can help him with starting a business but he didn't seem to be interested. Then I asked if he had considered working at NPH. He would be higher on the list for potential employees since he grew up here and knows what it's like, plus he would get free meals and lodging. He didn't seem to be very excited by that idea, so I'm officially considering my part in the life of Pedro to be done. I'm just hoping I don't start to get repeat visitations from him now :/

I feel like I should have a more dramatic ending for my story, but that's that. He ran off to get lunch and I proceeded to run away and lock myself in my room for the next hour. Let's hope that the guard at the front gate earns his keep now.