Drugs in Guatemala

Knowing the local language means you can fight with locals. I have found myself yelling at a lot of people lately. Antigua is a huge sludge of tourists from all over the world, and of course, many of the locals do not like them. This means many of the locals are very rude. I do not like rude people. I like it that I know Spanish because then I can tell them they are rude.

Mostly, my problem seems to be with kids on the street that want to sell you weed. They wait all over until some young-ish looking traveler comes up and tries to sell them weed. I know a lot of times this is a bad deal. I’ve had a lot of people tell me that these young tourists get sold grass that was cut off of the side of the road. That is, if the kid doesn't just run off with your money and you never seen anything in return. These people already must think I am stupid.

The other day Wade and I were walking down the street when a teenager started asking Wade if he wanted a shoe shine. Wade said no, and we continued walking. The dude, however, continued after us, asking if Wade wanted a shoe shine. Wade said no again. Then the kid asked if we wanted to buy weed.

Now this kid did not look like a wholesome character. He was dirty, his eyes were bloodshot and only half-way open, he was jittery, and looked to have some welty skin problems. I did not want to buy drugs from him, nor did I need a shoe shine from him. I think he has himself taken a few too many drugs, and I don’t think it was anything as innocent as some grass clippings.

After the kid had followed us half a block and harassed us over and over to get our money in some form I told him to leave us alone. He continued following and asking us for some service to get our money. I told him to go away.

Then he was getting mad. He wasn’t getting our money. Lots of street people know that if you yell enough at people they will get scared and give you money. Wade and I are not scared. I just got mad. He then started calling me an arsehole. Maybe I am an arsehole, but he was the one yelling at me and following me down the street. I was just walking and did not want to buy his drugs. He followed us for a couple more blocks yelling at us. I yelled at him back.

What is the best thing to do in this situation? I do not know. If someone is following me and bothering me isn’t it normal to tell them to go away? In Guatemalan culture this does not seem to be normal. When the rich upper-classes are harassed by the poor, they simply give them money like it is nothing, or they completely ignore them. I do not think that is normal. I am going to go on yelling at these people. I am not going to be yelled at by some druggy and not fight back. This is rude.