Hitchhiking To Guatamala Part 17

American DJ

We exited the boat and found the peninsula already getting crowded and crazy even though it was only early afternoon. I ate a handful of the never-ending bag of spicy peanut mix just to have something besides beer and tequila in my stomach. We were handed glossy colorful flyers every few feet. It was easier to take them than to try and refuse. Windy considered bungie jumping. I talked him out of it.

“You just saw them give people all they could drink beers and then drop them in the ocean. Are you sure you want to rely on the safety standards here? Also, you’re jumping from a crane in what is basically a beach themed shopping mall. Wait until you get home and you can bungie off a beautiful bridge, and also, lastly, you’re broke.”

“Well, I certainly can’t argue with the last part but promise me you’ll let me do at least one stupid thing before we go home.”

“I let you walk around with your hair in braids.”

“Oh man, you are so jealous that your hair is too short.” he said, shaking his braids.

We decided that taking the bus back to our room for a night in with a few bottles of wine and the best feast we could put together from the corner market would be a better last night in town than braving the peninsula again. On our way to the bus stop we passed a pushing match heading toward a fist fight, and a shirtless man puking in an ice chest.

We walked past the restaurant from the night before and the server who had waited on us was standing at the door. “My friends, we are all full for the night.” he informed us as we approached. The restaurant was mostly empty.

“That’s okay. They prefer my cooking.” I answered.

At the end of the block Anna asked, “Was that for me? Is this why he was full?”

“No.” Windy answered quickly. “I think he didn’t like Americans. Everyone loves Germans.”

“You are very nice.” she answered. “I am pretty sure he does not like this German.”

“I think he’s jealous of Windy’s braids.” I said.

 “I think we got food poisoning there last night.” Anna shouted, hoping he’d hear her.

Once back at the hotel I spread out the food. We had sliced bread to pot avocado on. I was hoping for a baguette, but sliced sourdough was the best the corner store could offer. We had grapes and oranges and olives. I broke up a bar of dark chocolate I’d been saving for a special occasion. We opened two bottles of wine. A sickeningly sweet cabernet and a merlot. Anna had three airline sized bottles of tequila and four of gin. When we finished eating Lo and I settled into a game of backgammon. I was determined to win at least one game before the trip was done. It would not be this game. Anna and Windy opened another bottle of wine and went for a walk.

“I think they found somewhere to be alone.” Lo said.

“I’m glad. Otherwise, they’d be making us take walks.”

“Maybe that would be better, safer I mean. I don’t want to have to get them out of jail.”

“Oh I hope they’re not being dumb.”

“Anna is dumb. But she is better with you and Windy. I am glad we met you. I was ready to leave her in Merida. Come to Cuba with us. Come for three days. We will have a great time.”

“I told you, we’re out of money.”

“I have money. I will pay for you. It is worth it to me. Otherwise, Anna and I will drive each other crazy.”

“I didn’t realize you were so rich.” I said sarcastically.

“Well, I am.” She said, finishing off the merlot, and opening another bottle.

“Is that so?”

“Yes, it is.”

“And where do you come by this money?”

“My family owns a chocolate factory.” I waited for a laugh, or some sign that she was kidding.

“Holy shit, you’re a chocolate Princess?”

“Yes, I am a chocolate princess.”

“And Anna takes advantage of you having money?” I wondered why she didn’t just treat her friend, if money was no issue for her.

“Anna’s family has money too. They are very wealthy, but she is not speaking to them. She is very spoiled, so they have put a budget on her and she spends all her money right away, and then wants me to take care of her. I work at my family’s factory. I do marketing and I am going to school and I want to stay in good relationships with my family and not be like Anna.” I felt awkward and unsure how to respond. “She has burnt her bridges with them so now she thinks that my family is taking care of her. And we love her. My dad has known her since we were little kids together in school, yes, but they also want her to be responsible, to be a grown up, you know?” I nodded.

“So I just need to get through this trip and then me and Anna can work out our drama. Please come to Cuba. It’s very cheap to go there and I can pay for us for a few days.” It was very tempting. She beat me at Backgammon again as she waited for me to give an answer.

Windy and Anna came noisily back into the room, loud and quite drunk. “We are going to the party zone! I want to dance!” Anna announced.

“Come on, let’s go back to the peninsula. It’s our last night in Cancun and we should not spend it holed up in a hotel room.” Windy said, in the calm voice of someone trying to be persuasive.

“Let’s go!” Anna yelled.

I knew it was a bad idea to go to Cuba with the Germans. I really wanted to go to Cuba with the Germans. I was relieved for an excuse not to think about it and I got to my feet. “Okay, but Windy, we must wear our guayaberas.”

“No. We’ll look like tourists.”

“One, I didn’t see any tourists wearing guayaberas. Two, you have braids.”

We changed into our guayaberas. I wore mine open over my new Frog and Toad t-shirt. Windy took his t-shirt off and replaced it with one of his guayaberas. “Nice hickeys.” I whispered to him as we went out the door.

“Yeah, she’s a bit wild.”

As we passed the restaurant Anna yelled in the open door, “Don’t worry. We are not eating here at your stupid restaurant.”

“Save it for the Peninsula.” I suggested as we increased our speed to the bus stop. Anna produced more small bottles, several of which we emptied on the bus. By the time we reached our stop we were all feeling warm and ready for adventure.

We heard loud British house music coming from one of the clubs and headed toward the door where a doorman was guarding the door despite there being no line. It did look crowded and lively inside. “Can we go in?” Anna asked.

“The line starts here.” he answered.

“Aw, but we should not have to wait in line. We have the chocolate princess of Freiberg.” I said, and Lo curtsied.

“Yeah, okay.” he said, lifting the rope.

“I am from München.” she corrected me after we got inside. For the next hour we danced with abandon. Lo told Anna to put her little bottles back in the purse and bought us all a round of shots of something that burnt my throat pleasantly.

“I want to bungie.” Windy yelled above the thumping bass heavy music.

“Me too. Let's go bungie.” Anna yelled.

“Let’s dance a little more first. This is great!” I said, hoping they would forget about the bungie.

“American DJ!” someone nearby yelled. We realized the shout had come from the DJ booth. “I Danced to this DJ in Merida!” a Mexican woman yelled to the DJ currently making us dance. “He is a famous American DJ.”

The very muscular dark skinned Mexican man stepped back from his turntables and motioned for Windy to take over. “Oh, no, that’s okay. I’m good.” Windy said. The DJ motioned again.

“You have to do it dude.” I urged.

“I don’t have my records.”

“You’ve been recognizing his tunes all night. He obviously has stuff you’re familiar with.” Windy sheepishly stepped behind the turntables. The crowd let up a huge cheer, assuming something exciting was happening. Windy flipped through the records in a panic. “Ha!” He said, holding up a well-worn Elvis Presley album.

Meaning to listen to the record himself first, and find a good beat to put behind he accidentally switched off the music that had everyone dancing and started playing Elvis, just straight Elvis. “We’re caught in a trap. I can’t walk out. Because I love you too much baby.”

The crowd had abruptly stopped dancing and were swaying lightly while staring at Windy. The DJ did not look pleased. Windy was feverishly digging through crates of records. The drums kicked in. “Why can’t you see? What you’re doing to me. When you don’t believe a word I say.” Windy excitedly dropped a record out of a bright orange sleeve and started queuing something up. “We can’t go on together with suspicious minds. And we can’t build our dreams. On suspicious mi-i-inds” and then BOOM Windy dropped in a heavy irresistible drum and bass beat and the crowd, just on the edge of losing patience went crazy! The whole room was bouncing up and down including me and Lo and Anna. “American DJ!” Anna yelled. Lo and I yelled it back, laughing and soon all around the room people were yelling “American DJ!” The excitement in the room got to Windy and despite not having his own records he spent the next 30 minutes keeping the crowd up at an energy level I did not think could be sustained for that long. He passed the turntables back to the DJ, and the crowd gave him one final cheer. “American DJ!” as he joined us in the crowd.

“Bungie.” he said.

As we made our way to the door with strangers patting him on the back, shaking his hand, and high fiving him I said “I think you’ve figured out this whole making friends thing.”

“I guess so.” he replied with a shy smile on his face.

We got to the bungie jumping station and joined the line. Anna passed around more tiny bottles. “I’m gonna step out. I’m too drunk for this. I’m afraid I’ll puke or maybe die.” I said.

“I’m with him. Sorry, this is too much for me.” Lo said and we found a bench to sit and watch as our friends made their way up to a platform that was then raised to the top of a thin crane. It took a long time for them to jump. Finally, I saw Windy, recognizable from this distance only by his black guayabera. He screamed something incoherent as he flew headfirst toward the ground and then bounced back up, only to go back into freefall again. I felt sick to my stomach just watching. It was another several minutes as they lowered him down to a giant inflated pillow and undid the harness from his ankles. He rolled out of the pillow and made his way to me and Lo.

“Anna doesn’t want to jump, but they told her they can’t let her down any other way. They say it’s a safety thing. I asked her if she’d do it if I went first to show her it was okay, and she agreed but I don’t know if she’s gonna. They are insisting.”

“Anna can be pretty stubborn.” Lo said. “This should be interesting.”

We waited a few tense minutes and then we saw Anna’s bright yellow t-shirt as she plummeted from the platform. The bungie snapped her upward and then she started to vomit. Windy was snapping photos and he didn’t stop. The vomit arched out from her, just an amazing amount of vomit. Some of it fell on the inflatable pillow that moments later they were setting her down on. She was yelling in German at the men freeing her ankles from the harness.  We made our way to retrieve her from the very angry crew.

“I fucking told them. I told them I was too drunk to jump. I told them.” she yelled to us followed by more yelling in German. “Fuck you!” she said to the men trying to detach her from the bungie. “Fuck You!” she yelled up at the platform.

Once we had her safely back with us it was very hard not to laugh. “It is not funny. Fuck all of you.” She said. It was a warm night and so we walked to the beach and Anna and Lo waded into the ocean to clean Anna up.

“Oh my god, these pictures are going to be great.” Windy said to me as we waited on the beach.

“You’re a monster.” I replied.

We made our way back to the bus stop and waited. I felt wonderful and fully alive breathing the beach air as I sat on a bench with three friends that I felt very close to. On the bus Anna fell asleep with her head on Windy’s shoulder. We woke her up at our stop and we walked past the restaurant. “I want to eat.” Anna announced.

“They don’t want us here.” Lo told her. The waiter seated an older couple and then came back to the door.

“A table for four please.” Anna told him.

“I am sorry but we are closing now.” he replied coldly.

“You just fucking sat them. Seat us now please.” she insisted.

“I will not. Excuse me.” he walked away to tend to his tables. Anna took a seat at the table nearest the door. “I am going to eat.” she said.

“Anna, you’re very drunk. Let’s just go back to the room and we can eat fruit and bread and spicy peanut mix.” Windy tried to convince her.

“No. There is no reason we can not have dinner here.” she snapped back.

“Yes there is. You don’t have any money.” Lo said, walking out the door. Windy and I looked at each other, unsure what to do.

“Chips please, and wine!” Anna shouted to the waiter who was doing his best to ignore her. Not knowing what else to do, Windy and I left the restaurant to follow Lo back to the room. Windy stopped when we reached the corner.

“I’m gonna wait for her here. I don’t feel right leaving her alone.” he said.

“She’s fucking crazy.” I replied.

“She’s just drunk. I’ll make sure she gets back to the room. Here she is now.”

Anna walked past us in silence, her fists clenched. We followed her to the room. “We’re back!” she yelled, pushing the door open. “My American boys stayed with me. They did not desert me.”

Lo responded in German and a yelling match went on for a couple of minutes. “Okay, fuck you. I don’t need you.” Anna said suddenly switching to English and lowering her voice to an almost whisper. “I am leaving you.”

“You do need me, Anna. You are out of money. Please, just get some sleep and it will be better tomorrow.”

“Money! You think that you are better than me, that you own me because you have the money. Fuck you and your money, no, your daddy’s money. Fucking chocolate princess!”

“Thank you for giving her that one.” Lo said to me.

“Sorry.”

“You are a chocolate princess. You know what, I don’t even like chocolate!” Anna yelled before switching to German again. Windy and I sat on one bed and watched these two continue to argue in German and English. There were sad tears, and then more angry yelling, English and German, back and forth, on and on into morning. Sometime before dawn it grew quiet and Windy got into bed with Anna. I lay down with my back to the empty spot next to me on the bed.