The Ghettos of Babylon

The cities of Fallujah and Tal Afar are locked down. Each resident has an city identity card, complete with fingerprints, retina scan and extensive identification. There are checkpoints on the borders of the city and special permission is needed to go to any other city. Ghettos are closed, militarized cities while freedom sings underground in the oil fields of Iraq.

A US soldier told me that six months before the invasion of Iraq in April 2003, he was in Kuwait preparing and training how to most effectively protect oil fields. The oil fields in Iraq are kept safe while Iraqi civilians are shut up and locked down in urban cages.

Blackwater

Blackwater Security -- The Pentagon is running out of soldiers and has been forced to hire paid mercenaries it calls "security consultants". A major Pentagon contract is held by Blackwater USA out of Moyock, North Carolina. Blackwater Security Consulting, a company of Blackwater USA, has been hired to guard Iraqi oil wells against attack by insurgents.

Thousands of former soldiers and police officers from the US, Britain, Australia, South Africa and elsewhere are being paid up to $1,500 a day (many times a soldiers’ wage) to protect Western dignitaries, oil company executives and construction firm bosses in Iraq. Private security firms are also employing veterans of anti-insurgency conflicts in Colombia and Algeria, former soldiers who fought in the Russian government’s war in Chechnya and Chilean mercenaries trained during the brutal dictatorship of General Pinochet.

Tico Tico

costa rica, september - december 2004
I lived in the Sabanilla area with three Ecuadorian biologists, a Peruvian anthropologist and their cat Mani. We lived in a small house a short walk from the bus stop in the Sabanilla Park, near a major grocery store called Mas por Menos. I would often swing by Mas por Menos on my way home to pick up bananas. Many times we would all have dinner together at home. Daniel (my "hermanito") worked at the internet cafe near our house and I would often visit him after my work. I had no cell phone, nor did any of my roomates. There was just an old South American cell phone, named "Martin Martinez el inutil" (Martin Martinez the useless) who would often ring and rarely function properly.

In the period that I was working the most, I would leave early each morning, take the bus to San José center and then walk to the glamorous Korean school I taught at in the Zapote area. Not glamorous, but very grandiose compared to its surroundings. A Nicaraguan man worked there doing everything from gardening to building fences. He was an ex-Sandinista. We had some interesting conversations, away from the ears of the homeowners. The Korean mom would cook spicy kimchee and teach math during the day. I arrived at 8am and was there until 3pm, sometimes a bit later if a random music, basketball, singing or capoeira class went over time. Each class ran 50 minutes long. At any given time I would have one or all of the three korean boys upstairs: Vini, Wuny or Kony. They were rambunctous, brilliant and often impossible.

Following that gig, I would walk to my other job. Though a mere 30 minute walk, it always required me to put on a completely different thinking cap. I went from entertaining ten year olds to culturally enriching the lives of local adult Costa Ricans. I proudly corrupted both in an eye-opening, loving way. The language school I taught at was right in the center of San José, across the street from a corner cafe which served "gallo pinto" (mixed rice and beans) and had a board listing the mariachi bands available to rent for a party that night. Many men in sombreros hung out all night long. From my classroom on the fourth floor, we would occasionally glance at them. I taught conversational english classes, very liberal and personalized, every night of the week and Saturday morning from 8am-noon. In the Saturday class I had 9 students and we would often look out the window at the mountains, churches and sun.

After work I would hop on the bus, which I caught two blocks from work, and ride it home to the Sabanilla. I would nearly always get a seat, and often met some interesting people. For a few weeks I was dating a filmmaker named Santiago. In that period, I would come home on the bus, then call him on the pay phone in front of the Mas por Menos supermarket. He would either meet me there, or I would go to his place. He shared a tiny apartment with a Colombian woman and another guy. They had no refrigerator. In his little bedroom he had a colchon (matress) and a big old IBM computer where he would type his scripts. While we were dating, at one point, he completely ran out of money. We were on the bus and I gave him 1,000 colones for that day, about 3 US$. He soon repaid me after he got paid for his cameraman work.

We all slept on thin matresses on the floor, washed out clothes by hand and once even spent 6 hours together at home cooking chapatis (Indian pita bread)! None of us carried a cell phone around. We shared that one (Marvin Martinez) amongst the four of us and had no telephone at home. The dining room table was a door Daniel and Maria Jose found on the street. Once Daniel built stilts in the backyard, where there was a giant orange tree.

Fiorella, my Peruvian roomate took me to see two fascinating Peruvian films, "Coraje" and "Pantaleon y los Visitadores". I was very conscious of not spending money on unneccesary items. In fact, I would try not to spend more than 1,000 colones a day (appx. $3). When I was working two jobs, it was more difficult to keep within budget because I would get hungry walking from one job to the other. At first, the Korean mom would include me in the lunches she cooked. Delicious, filling and healthy korean meals. However, at one point she tried to charge me for the lunch. I told her I would just bring my own, and would stay up in the classroom while they ate together. It was an amazing relief to have some peace and quiet for 50 minutes. Often I would prepare lessons. Other times I would eat the candy I had brought to pacify my students. The candy was key and worked like a charm except for when it turned them into hyperactive monsters.

On one occasion, Kony, the youngest, at 9 years old, refused to listen. He just wanted to go outside and kill bugs for Science class all day long. I refused. He forced me to hold him down physically for 50 minutes! He learned. What a wanker!

The bus to work cost 120 colones, as did the bus back from work. There were no monthly or annual passes available. There is no metro or tram in San José, just buses. Some cars, mostly buses. On special ocassions I would take the bus to visit my cousins in Escazu, across town from where I lived. They moved to San José one year ago from Caracas, Venezuela. They have integrated quite well, their dog Droopy too. I hung out with my cousin Vanessa a few times at her university, which was in the western part of town near where I lived. She went to U Latina. Once her and her Uruguayan boyfriend Gato took me to the nearby volcano: Irazu. We got McDonalds breakfast on route. It was a two hours drive to the crater, which was a light pastel green color inside. Vanessa and I played hopskotch there. Then we went to a restaurant right along the return route and left a message on the wall. Everyone does, it's famous for the messages all over.

Cockaroaches are everywhere in San Jose. I would often see them scurrying around in my room. My roomates were not frightened at all. Maria Jose told me that cigarettes are a cockaroaches worst enemy. In fact, we called them "matacucarachas" and I would smoke one of her Marlboro Reds each night before going to bed. It helped me relax, even though she assured me that they were not interested in climbing on me, just in finding something to eat.

International Love

Starburst candies are sweet, individually wrapped fruit chews. An American cultural heritage. The recently appointed US Ambassador to the UN, Mr. John Bolton recently declared the Starburst Factory in Hackettstown, New Jersey an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Never before have the people of the world experienced such an adorable, affordable melange of soybean oil, absorbic acids, gelatin, and real fruit juice. At a recent press conference in spunky Trenton, Bolton stated "Masterfoods has created an addictive toy candy to pacify young poor kids around the world! We must celebrate our great USA and our capacity to produce crap and profit from it. Spreading international love and globalizing marketplaces from Somalia to Soweto is our masterplan. Keep up the good work Masterfoods USA!"

Mr. Bolton was not available for commentary afterwards though he was spotted hours later crying in a local Dunkin Donuts due to sugar deficiency, a condition often found in lackadaisical politicians.