The Hairy Elite

Today I had my final dentist appointment in Guatemala, in which Mr. Ex-Vice President Luis Flores Asturias did the “build up” for the crown I’ll have done when I’m back in the U.S. I’d actually like to have it done here because it’d be cheaper, but because there is a lab procedure, the amount of time I plan to be in GC again is insufficient. Francisco, the root-canal specialist (endodontista), who did my root canal almost two weeks ago and then did the permanent filling yesterday, became a friend of mine and told me all about how the Flores Asturiases, as one of the elite families of Guatemala, can trace their roots back to the original Spaniards. And as Dr. Flores Asturias had his hands in my mouth, I recalled a conversation I’d had with my teacher and friend Lucky months ago. Her parents were both born in Guatemala, she considers herself 100% guatemalteca, but three out of four of her grandparents are from Italy. It pains her that her sole ancestor from Latin America, one of her grandmothers, is from Mexico. And Lucky told me that when a child is born in her family, the other grandmother would come to look at the baby and be satisfied if she could tell that the baby would be hairy. I don’t know how you can tell this about a baby, but this is what she wanted to see, because hairiness is an attribute of European ancestry while a lack of body hair is an attribute of the indigenous. So while Flores Asturias had his hands in my mouth, and I was looking at his arms, I knew that if Enki were there she would make her usual pronouncement for men like him, that he is “like a monkey.” His arms and his chest are extremely hairy, the only place there is a marked lack of hair is on top of his head, thus giving him the look of the ruling class.