During the 23 years I spent working for the BC Forest Service, we were provided pens and pencils to do our work. For many years, the ballpoint pen that was provided was a blue one with the words “Province of British Columbia” printed on its side. Even though I have been retired for 13 years, and the blue pens were discontinued long before that, I came across one the other day at home, and as a result, I immediately flashed back to the trip Joan and I took to Mexico in 1981.
We were exploring ruins in the ancient Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacán located 30 miles outside of Mexico City. After climbing to the top of some of the immense pyramids, we were wandering around in the huge plaza when I was approached by an old peasant-looking man. He motioned me over and in a secretive fashion pulled out of his pocket the Aztec-looking clay piece you can see in the photo. He wanted me to buy it. I was pretty sure it was one of the many fakes manufactured to sell to tourists. I shook my head and waved my hands to indicate that I didn’t want to buy it.
He was persistent and began to lower his price. I still refused. Then he pointed to the blue BC ballpoint I had in my pocket--he wanted to trade for the ballpoint pen. At this point I could no longer resist. I traded the ballpoint pen for the “ancient artifact”.
I am still surprised that he valued the pen enough to want to trade the small sculptured head for it, but that’s what he was eager to do. I know the head is a fake, but it has become one of my favorite souvenirs of our trip to Mexico.
If you have time, look at paintings at: www.davidmarchant.ca
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