American man trains dog to bite John Oliver (Nicaragua)



Dan & John Oliver (Granada, Nicaragua)

 On a warm January afternoon in Nicaragua, I slipped into my white shirt, blue jeans, and slippers then headed onto a strip of colorful buildings consisting of rustic looking restaurants built around court yards and 4 star hotels. I had gathered, earlier that day when I visited the strip for breakfast was that the businesses are owned by foreigners and wealthy Nicaraguans. The proprietors catered to tourist: serving up some of the best mojitos and pancakes I ate in Central America thus far.

One of the most notable characters, my travel mate Dan and I met that day was John Oliver. After breakfast John came up to me and introduced himself as an artist. He showed me some painted tiles and a small canvas painting, some water colors, brushes, and then asked for a donation of $2 USD to purchase some more tiles. I gave him $1 and tried to hurry him along because I did not want to be bothered.

I've become so crafty at (not) dealing with street vendors and panhandlers in others countries that I can sometimes repel them form a mile away. Approximately 10% of the time when I am overseas, I don't want be or asked for money, so I derived tips and tricks to repel them. Take for example: I sometimes give away candy, gum instead or a mean face and closed off body language which leads to them leaving me alone.

Don't let any world traveller tell that they are 100% ‘Good Samaritan,’ and that they care about every "native" they encounter; therefore, they are always diplomatic with vendors, panhandlers, and proprietors. I have met many of my fellow travellers form as far as Israel to New Zealand and many of us who reside in "first world" countries go to the "3rd world" with our fancy iPods, cameras, Euros, dollars, cameras, and romanticize the notion of what it is to be a native. We pat the street children on the head, give them a dollar, share our food with the homeless, smile at pretty ladies, and then return to our countries feeling like humanitarians.  Many of us rarely bring anything (presents, service, goods, knowledge etc...) but instead like colonialist we go there to extract i.e. exotic photographs, money, goods, new experiences, food, sex toruism, clothing, drink, and art.

Moreover, even philanthropist from first world countries who dedicate their lives to building a better world must understand that we bring our prejudiced historical, political, social, and gendered perspectives to interpret the lives of "the natives." I use the word native being fully aware that the term itself is politically charged. Some of us are so horrible at it, that we examine the culture we are visiting in explicit orientalist fashion.

Anyways, that evening when I returned to a one of the restaurants for drinks, this one in particular was owned by a young American business man who paraded the property with his friendly looking terrier. As sat in a comfortable wooden chair with my feet up and drinking; John Oliver came up and sat on the curb directly in front of me.

J.O. "Yo dread where you from?"

Ade: "I live in the U.S." where are you from? [Asking because he was the first black person I saw in Nicaragua]

J.O: "I am from the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua."

John then takes out some of his art work, without warning the business owner's faithful terrier rushed at John and bit him on the left arm. Shocked, john jumped to his feet. I looked at John and asked him "are you ok!?" He did not respond. Hey your dog just bit him," I said to the American business owner, yes I saw...he always come to the restaurant begging customers.

A bit confused, I turned back to John and asked again:

Are you ok?!? "Yes," he replied. "Look at my leg," John raised his pant leg a bit, exposing a large scar on his left ankle. "He trained the dog to bite me, look what it did to my ankle."