Day 11 - Trouble In Paradise

Peter…Uggh!

Most of our group is awesome. We all get along really well and have had a lot of good laughs together. Most are younger people looking to travel the world. We have been experiencing a lot of different things down here together and have really bonded. This is with the exception on one person…Peter. You may remember him from a previous blog entry where I had mentioned he had a dream that he was Whitney Houston. I don't know what that means.

His son, Martin, is awesome. He is a 16 year old boy who is out to see the world and have some good times. He had originally planned a trip with his mother to Peru, when his dad wanted to also plan a trip and they decided to join us on this one (the parents are divorced). So along comes Peter to join us. He is about 50 years old, 5'10", and has a nice pot belly and graying hair. Since we arrived 12 days ago, he has worn the same shirt every day. I was not going to blog negatively about anybody on the trip, but his behavior is worth talking about…

About a week ago, I made the comment to Haley that Peter was looking to find a woman of the night. From the start, he developed this habit of getting smashed drunk and wandering off alone at night. Haley thought that was absurd and quickly dismissed the idea. Then one night when we were in Grenada, Andrew and Amy went out late at night to get some drinks at a local bar. After a while they saw Peter enter the bar and were about to say hi to him when a younger, cute blonde walks in behind him. They proceed to a booth where Peter is kissing her on the arm and being very friendly.

The next night, we had dinner around 7:00 at a bar across the street from our hotel. Drinking heavily, Peter became friendly with all the females on the trip. He kissed Clair's foot when she was showing everyone her new shoes. He grabbed Erin's butt when he was asking how her day went (she was sure to tell him very clearly that was not appropriate). He was stroking Michelle's arm when she walked by, when she very deliberately removed that hand and placed it on the table. Peter was completely sauced by 7:30, when he walked off (without paying his tab) into the streets. We didn't see him until the next day when we saw him with the largest hickey I have ever seen on his neck. Peter had a good time apparently. Our entire group is very upset that he (or anybody) would act this way, but ESPECIALLY in front of your 16 year old son. He is such a wanker!

A little later on the day of the hickey, Haley and I were coming down from the hotel room to meet some friends on our way to the swimming pool at a neighboring hotel. Peter then accosted me on the steps to tell me there was an emergency and that I needed to find Gemma to let her know. I told him I didn't know where she was and he then insisted that I help him out and come look at the problem first hand. My interest was piqued and I followed him to the hallway outside his room. Apparently, he had flushed some toilet paper down the crapper (though we have been advised again and again that we can't or the toilet would back up) and it had totally backed up into his room. Luckily, Martin had left his stuff on the bed, but Peter had left it on the ground and his bags were covered in crap (literally). It was pretty nasty, but I was left thinking about Elves and the Justice of the Unicorns (King of the Hill). When we later asked Martin about it, he just laughed and laughed and laughed. It is obvious that Martin feels some animosity towards his father, which is both sad and understandable.

Then yesterday, while we were traveling to Comayagua (today is 7/9/2006) we ran into some more problems. We all had chose to use local transportation as described in our trip itinerary instead of paying an extra $15 each for a private van. This had ticked Peter off slightly, but he seem to understand that is what we had signed up for and some people wanted to get the experience and save some money. So after a van ride, a border crossing, a chicken bus, and another van we arrived at what was the nicest hotel of the trip so far (though it was in the most dangerous city, so we didn't really leave it except for dinner and a quick run to the supermarket). At dinner, our guide gave us the option again of hiring a private van (in fact, they have kind of been pushing private vans on us for a lot of the trip because Michelle (the tour leader in training that is learning the ropes from Gemma) has a strong preference for them). Peter was all for the van, but after a very good experience that day on local transportation, we didn't want to cough up an extra $10 each. At this point, Peter went over the edge. He really wants a private van and argued the entire night with both the guides and members of our group. He feels that we are getting ripped off on the tour because he paid $650 for the 2-week trip (he's only going halfway) and figures that the trip only costs GAP $300-$400 per person. He kept telling the guides they should cough up the money and pay for the van themselves. We tried to tell him that the rest of us really value the guides and all the arranging of travel and hotels they do for us. We wouldn't have any idea what we were doing without them and are very grateful for their knowledge of the countries and activities to do while in them. He's just really messed up and the whole group (sadly, including his son) is annoyed with him. Enough of that-it is off my chest now.