I meet the ugly woman in the "parque".

I will never forget the site of this woman.   She begged for a living.  She sat everyday in the corner by  the "farmacia."  She picked and groomed  her long witch-like hair grayed and crusty.  Her face  twisted and contorted by the flesh that lay haphazardly where her face had once  once been.  Her filthy arm protruded awkwardly from her twisted torso.  She had a cast on her arm that crawled with vermin.

I saw this woman and bile rose in my throat.  That a person could live like this.  The heat was stifling, yet she just sat there with her pathetic arm outstretched and her cup waiting for for a few quetzales.

One day I saw her walking toward me.  I heard her murmuring to herself, "No, salgan mis hermanas y mi mama." 

She said it over and over as if someone were listening.  I went to a friend and asked about the woman.  She told me that when the woman was six years old, she lived with her mother and sisters in a large dumpster.  There was a fire, and only the little girl was pulled to safety.  She still screams those words:  "Don't leave my sisters and my mother!"

She also told me that the government cares for the old woman by giving her food, shelter and medical care.  In return, she begs and gives her earnings to the government.  I will never forget her.  She lives in Antiqua near Guatemala City and sits across from the "parque"!

Yes, I gave her lots of quetzalas.