snake oil

as i was taking the non-direct bus through guatemala (the one that was supposed to be in at 7:30 but then as we were pulling into flores, the direct bus passed us and beat us in around 10:30 p.m. yeah that one) there are always lil vendors either at a bus stop that walk through your bus vending then get off or they yell at you by the windows or you may even pick someone up on the way and then tell you about their product and sell their goods and then get off a few minutes later. well on the bus up towards flores before it got ridiculously packed at around rio dulce we had a snake oil sales man come on. he had a very old pop up human body book that he explained how his special tea cured many things helped the brain, heart and boundless other things. he basically said all the things these pyramid schemes can't publicly say in the us but you hear stories about the special acai fruit from brazil can cure. luckily he left me alone he must of felt the "i don't believe in your snake oil cure" expression on my face. i almost felt i was in utah again amongst taitian noni, xango, and whatever other ones are out there.

so as to my surprise, i arrived to my parents home i found a snake oil product. of course they paid a ridiculous amount for AND my father was taking his 2nd dose for the day in a shot glass. little did i know they're into shot glasses and should have bought him a central american shot glass instead of a t-shirt. my mom even got my grandpa a case and was embarrassed when my grandpa told another older gent at church how his daughter got him some snake oil. see even my gpa knows the truth. so i'm interested to see if this helps the arthritis and whatever else it's supposed to cure. i'll be keeping a special watch on them while i'm here for a week to make sure they don't replace all that they own with products only purchased through quixtar, melaleuca, or nu skin. wish me luck!

(no offense to those working in the said agencies above... unless you've sold your souls to them.)