La Ciudad

At noon I boarded a micro from Copan to Guatemala City so I could replace the shoes I left at the mountain school because hiking boots and flip flops leave no happy medium. And I look like either a murderer or a bro so something had to be done. Crossing the boarder was no biggie because I got the 1 day pass or something and didn't have to pay the bribe again. Upon arriving in the City 5 hours later I was struck by how much it sucks. It's dirty, polluted, jammed with insane traffic. I got dropped off at a gas station where I caught a cab to Zone 10 where my hostel was. The driver dropped me off (took my backpack out of the trunk) on the wrong street because he read the address wrong and sped away. No time for a gringo who insisted this was the wrong place! But It was only a block or so away and the neighborhood was posh so I didn't have to stab anyone or fend off and would be attaqueros. I dropped off my bag and headed to the giant american-style mall with a GAP and a Cinnabon, but on the way there I saw this european style market with granola, FRENCH BREAD, apples, and more granola and french bread. I bought a lot and felt lucky. At the mall I went to the sporty shoes floor and found an Adidas store. The only pair of Adidas shoes I'd ever had were Sambas in 7th grade which I had my mom buy me because they were in style and I wanted to be cool, despite the fact that I was no futballer. There were two guys working in the store and I tried to explain what I needed and settled for a shoe that would have sold for $40 at DSW, but I paid around $80 mainly because I was so damn sick of wearing hiking boots and flip flops and I didn't know that San Jose, CR would be a shoe shopper's paradiso. $40 of that was dumbass tax. One day we shall eliminate this tax as soon as we get those damn Liberals out of there!