(Sex)ico

I’ve debated whether to tell this story.  Oh, it’s a good tale, with laughs, and tears, and shakes of heads. And I decided I will tell it -as is.

There is a sad side of the world of the poor.  We all know it exists too. The internal struggle with how far one will go to get ahead.  Or to survive.

In 2011, I was standing outside the stunningly beautiful Catederal de Grenada in Nicaragua.  The priests were saying Mass as the poor gathered outside the front doors.  Marci and I chatted with an American dentist and his family doing mission work amongst the poor.  A woman holding an infant, in the photo below, pulled me slightly away from the group of Amiricans, and bluntly offered to give me sex for money. I was stunned and embarrassed. I am sure I flushed as I tried to be gentle and firm in my ‘no’.  Because she had been scarred badly in fire and thinking I found her undesirable, she was embarrassed too.

So very sad.

Marci and I have since seen and learned more about the illicit sex trade in poor countries. Both Mexico City and Nicaragua have posters (in English) trying to persuade Americans not to seek children for sex. 

And here we are in Cabo, Mexico.  During Spring Break.  So yes, there are beautiful girls in small bikinis everywhere.  

Sooooo...

Two years ago I came here with my son, Josh. We would walk into town each night for dinner.  And it was a little weird.  Almost every block, sometimes multiple times in a block, girls (always heavily made up and dressed all in black) leaned out of store fronts and asked if we wanted a massage.  Now, having a Mexican in Cabo ask you to buy something is as normal as seafood tacos. But, I really DID want a massage.  So I stopped.

The girl said it was $30 for an hour massage.  But I was stressed- thinking more like a 90 minute stone massage.  When I asked her how much that would be she seemed confused.  She acted like I was talking in code.  She asked the other girls in the shop - and they seemed to settle on the theory that I wanted two therapists.  I left confused.

Josh came to me a few hours later (after some Reddit research) and explained that $30 got you in the door - but there was a great deal more for sale. These shops are all located in the tourist district - where cruise ships dump their American and Canadian passengers.

Yes, I was embarrassed.  I suppose the fact that the shop had a velvet couch in the front window should have been a clue...

Now I just ignore or wave as I walk quickly by.

But it is sad to me that there is a desperation to all of this.  Girls willing, or needy enough, to sell themselves. And men desperate enough to succumb to such a meaningless act.

Like I said before, so very sad.