When Miguel turned 20, he began to realize that this was not the kind of life he wanted to live; this was not what he wanted for the future. He already had the experience of how they lived in that environment, and it was a pretty ugly experience, although sometimes fun. He realized that several of the women had died at an early age, others had disappeared, while others had children and had to take care of their offspring without a father, but what hurt him the most was seeing the older women. They had nowhere to live, because they had spent their entire lives in that environment, and what they did was wash the clothes of the young sex workers. They went from here to there, and it was quite a difficult life for them, and they couldn’t find a way out, especially at that age.

In short, Miguel began to analyze all that, and as the days and weeks passed, one of many, he had picked up a newspaper, and in the newspaper he had read an advertisement that was from the Pan American University, and there it also listed the different careers that they offered. Miguel decided to take one of the careers, administration and accounting. The reason that he did that was because he was embarrassed to have reached the age he was and to start going to official schools again. He felt there was no place for him there, place in the sense that due to the life and experiences he had, he wouldn’t have felt comfortable among those youths. Anyway, he wrote a letter to the university asking for information, and they answered him and gave him the prices and the different plans of how he could pay. Miguel decided to pay the total fees for the program in cash. He went to the telegraph, which was the means to transfer money from one place to the other. Sometime later, he received a package full of books and a schedule explaining how often he had to take an exam, and apart from that they had sent him the exam sheets.

He opened the package he had received and began to read, took one of the books and realized that there were many words that he did not understand, so he decided to go to a bookstore and bought a dictionary in Spanish, another in English and another in English and Spanish. That would help him to better understand the words he did not comprehend. The place where Miguel lived, opposite there was a small restaurant where they served breakfast, lunch, and dinner where he would place his order and they would deliver it to his doorstep. So that also helped him, since he didn’t have to go far to look for something to eat. The other thing, Miguel decided to stop working, since he had enough money to support himself for several years without having to continue working in a company. That’s how Miguel began to study. What he consumed a lot was coffee in order for him to stay awake so that he dedicated himself fully to his studies. When he felt a little tired from studying so much, he would go to the Red Zone to visit his friends. Nevertheless, he didn’t visit as frequently as he did before, for it was no longer the life he wanted to continue living, nor was it part of his future. So, Miguel began to study, day and night. Sometimes, he wanted to talk to someone about what he was learning, but he had no friends to talk to or to ask a question.

It was at that time that he decided to visit his former employer, Antonio Valladares, a man who was from Mérida, Yucatán. He was a good person, and every Saturday he had private meetings. So, one night Miguel decided to attend the private meeting. He was welcome, for they knew him very well. He took a seat and waited for an opportunity to express his thoughts. Yes, the opportunity came; he asked his questions; they gave him advice by explaining to him the doubts that he had, and that’s how from time to time he would visit that place when he needed some help with his studies. At first it was not so easy, since he had already gotten used to the nightlife; that was his world and suddenly, separating from that world was not so easy, it was difficult for him. However, he had to impose willpower to make changes. It was quite difficult, and many times he had to read the same paragraph on x subject over and over until he was able to understand the content. It was not easy for him; he had to burn his eyelashes, as they say. He had to spend many sleepless nights; it wasn’t just like that, but he was able to achieve his goals.

Another issue that Miguel had noticed was that several of the artists, that is, the dancers, singers, had an opportunity to go, or there were persons who were looking for new faces, new talents, and that’s how many of them got the opportunity to be presented in several TV programs where they had the privilege to present to the public their artistic abilities. Thereafter, they became famous, nationally, as well as internationally, including the dancer Miguel had met for the first time at Rio Rita. There were also other male singers who also had that opportunity, although they weren’t many, a few who had something new to show their national and international clientele. I mean, they had certain talents. There were also a few who were lucky that some man, financially well off, as they say, rich, took them out of that environment and married them and took them to live a better, a happy life. Obviously, not all of them were that lucky, but there were several of them who met x person and that person fell in love with them and took them away. This life is full of surprises, but it’s good for those who could have had the opportunity to get out of that life to a better life where they didn’t have to be in that rather ugly environment. Anyway, you can’t say that everything about that kind of life is joyful. That is how Miguel had learnt to pretend to be very happy, while he was suffering internally the same as those who were living in that ambience.

(To Be Continued)
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March 19, 2023
Finca Solana
Corozal Town