 |
|
|
 Editorials | Opinions | November 2005 
The Bowl of Trust
 Randy Mees
I just came back from PV last night. Here is my experience:
On Saturday, I was strolling the Puerto Vallarta boardwalk near the pier. My friend stopped a Mexican woman trinket seller, and was negotiating a price of a necklace.
That's when my eyes spotted another trinket vendor, a Mexican man about 55 years with a tan befitting a person working outside everyday, who was walking the beach selling pottery bowls and plates that were roped to him... and one of these bowls, a blue bowl, just jumped out at me.
The bowl was handcrafted, with a clay color outside, and a deep aqua blue color inside, with delicate, intricate tan outlines of doves.
Now I have never bought trinkets in Mexico. Just didn't like any of them, until I saw this blue bowl. For some reason it attracted me, and I knew I had to have it.
"How much?" I asked.
"180 pesos" the man replied.
As we did the negotiation song and dance, he explained he made each bowl by hand, and painted it. His name was on the side of the bowl... "Innocencio".
We settled on 100 pesos ($10 US).
I only had a 500 pesos bill. "Do you have change?" I ask.
"No" the vendor replied as he reached for my bill, "but I go down the street... get change."
"Hold on" I said, not wanting to get jacked for 400 pesos, "You go get the change first, THEN come back and I'll give you my 500 pesos".
He lowered all of his bowls and pottery on the sand.
"No, I will get change", he said. "I leave my work with you." And with that, he quickly reached for my 500 pesos, lowered all of his unsold pottery in the sand, and ran down the beach, around the corner and out of sight where there were several curios and trinket carts.
After 5 minutes, my friend finished his purchase of his gift necklace. "Lets go", he said. "I'm hungry and I want a beer."
"I can't", I replied. "I'm waiting for my change".
"What change?" he asked.
I told him what I did.
Now it's been 10 minutes since "Innocencio" left to get change. He has not returned.
My friend starts laughing.
"Dude", he says, "what made you think this guy is coming back?"
I felt a pit in my stomach. "Well, he left his other bowls and stuff here. He wouldn't rip me off right?"
The other woman trinket seller overheard us. "He come back."
Her optimism made me feel better. But then she left. Now it's just me, my buddy, and Innocencio's unsold pottery. Strangely, there were no other beachside vendors around.
Two more minutes pass. No sign of Innocencio.
My friend is in tears, laughing.
"So you think because this guy left all of his other bowls and pottery with you, that he's gonna bring your change back?" he laughed.
"Look carefully at his leftovers", he replied, motioning at the vendor's unsold goods on the sand. "How much do you think they're worth?".
The pit in my stomach hit with full force, as I counted all the knicknacks the vendor left. It was worth, by my guess, around 400 pesos, or maybe even LESS.
My buddy continues, "And if you were the vendor, and you had the opportunity to just take a quick 400 pesos from a stupid gringo, and just leave all your unsold goods with him, wouldn't you do so? Sell it all, in one bold swoop?"
Oh god. He was making sense.
He's laughing harder. "So Einstein, how the heck are you gonna get all this pottery with you on the plane? Ha,ha... you got PLAYED by a beachside vendor!!!"
The vendor is still not back.
So now I'm sitting with all these bowls, feeling used, torn, angry, and... laughing. After exhibiting what I thought were clever negotiation skills for getting the price of the bowl down to 100 pesos, it seems that I've been played by this unassuming beachside vendor, who by now appears to be shrewder than Donald Trump.
"Take a picture with me and all my bowls on the sand", I tell my friend. In between laughs, he takes a picture of me.
"Hell, if these are my bowls, I'm gonna sell my bowls right now to other tourists", I joked. "He's not coming back."
But I was still angry and confused. So after a few more minutes, I decide to take action.
"Hey, watch my bowls", I tell my friend. "I'm gonna see if I can find him."
And with that I walked from the beach toward the curios carts, and rounded the corner... only to see 15 vendor guys dressed all in white, doing nothing. They ALL looked the same.
Just like that scene in Indiana Jones when he turns the corner and all those baskets and vendors look alike.
"Damn" I said.
But then I saw one man moving... slowly, towards the beach. He didn't see me until I called out to him.
"Cambio?" I yelled.
He looked up. It was him.
Innocencio walked up to me, reached into his breast pocket, and produced two 200 peso bills. My change.
"You change" he said. And he walked back on the sand towards his bowls.
Sheepishly, I caught up with him. "I thought you were not coming back, " I told him.
"Of course I come back" he replied. "My work to sell on beach".
He then grabbed all of his bowls off the sand, expertly balanced them on his body with his bowl ropes, and proceeded off down the boardwalk, continuing to sell his wares.
I looked at my buddy, who stopped laughing, and we just stood there. "Today..." I replied, "Today we witnessed the truth of human spirit, and that we are in the presence of something symbolic and meaningful."
"This bowl", I said lifting the bowl with my arms outstretched, "will forever be displayed in my kitchen. It will be now known as... The Bowl of Trust, symbolic of the meaning of goodwill and faith in fellow man!"
We laughed, left the beach, then got a couple of beers at a restaurant, were we toasted to the essense of human nature, and to the ultimate lessons of... The Bowl of Trust. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us