Well I cant say that I have much of an excuse for not blogging so often.
I know of all the good reasons for writing. T'would be easy to blame Tribe.net in its many dysfunctions, but...
One thing that has been coming up again and again in my growth and reevaluation of things, is something so basic, so simple and perhaps so odd to me, is simply, clothes, my attachment to them and having to reassess my attitudes about them.
Here in Guatemala (although I was in Costa Rica, that is another story) clothes can be found in the market for sometimes 10 cents, I am not talking about handwoven colourful Guatemalan fabrics, but end of the road, North American capitalist systems cast away clothes.
Some American (and Canadian) church groups in their large-heartedness and large sizes, think to themselves, "Why wouldnt it be charitable to send these winter clothes and extra large shoes to the little brown tropical people in the south." "It would give me a chance to clear out my middle class North American closet".
So on it goes, in a grand container, perhaps from Vancouver's and Seattle's very ports.
What the generous and simple folks up north havent thought of, is the that those clothes will be sold to raise money for various endeavors, charitable or otherwise.
Clothing the country? Or undermining domestic economies...?
Where I come in is; visiting various local markets where the block loads of clothes are pushed out into large bargain booths, unsorted, piled and cheap.
Some for as little as 10 cents.
Great stuff, some designer and some new, some from consolidators, shoes too!
So much in sizes (and fashions)"the little folk" would never be able to wear.
Funny to see so many hobbit people wearing retro "Pioneer Gowns".
Ah' reevaluating...
When I was a boy, I dont feel like I was given many clothes. More that I had a favorite shirt, or only one pair of pants, and wore them until they ripped and fell off.
Certainly not many pairs of shoes.
This attitude extended into adulthood, with little extra cash for middle class prices (I had internalized my adolescent attitude of dislike of shopping, perhaps from fear of not looking like I knew what I was doing) and I hadnt discovered the joys of thrift stores. Although I would say, its not that joyful with shitty Value Village prices. At 10$ a shirt, I am still not going to buy many, but at 10 cents!?
So one can play "costumes" with many different outfits, and shopping (swimming and digging through great mounds of clothes) is half the fun.
Still this situation has left me a bit stunned, one can buy new clothes, cheaper than the cost of a washing service. It baffles me!
And the used shoe stores here are pretty amusing, all the extra large shoes come here to rest, or be bought by the odd foreigners. (I can be pretty odd).
And so I would wear clothes and shoes I never thought to wear before, try on the many guises and personalities of humanity- mix and match.
It is quite amazing to try on different shoes for different purposes, something I had never done before.
Slip into others clothes, try to walk a mile in their shoes.
Playing the fashion explorer... although it may sound like I have turned into a girly man, I am still seldom out of Basic functional clothes.
Also, tropical countries dont lend themselves to wearing a lot of clothes -less is more.
So now as a traveler, I need to learn how to get rid of things, since I can only carry so much.
L
