Conversation About Whorehouses Barely Understood
January 30th, 2010

Mérida -- A conversation about whorehouses was barely understood on Saturday, in the kitchen of the house where Nick resides, between Ramon, a man who occasionally stays in the house, and two other men, a local friend named Nicolás, and another who is apparently a lawyer.

The lawyer and Nicolás both grew up in Mérida, and Ramon grew up in Caracas, making his perspective on the existence of the whorehouse under discussion less valid than those of the other men.

The whorehouse was barely understood to have at times been a movie theatre as well, or perhaps to have been nominally a move theatre while in fact operating as a whorehouse.

The words ‘puta’ and ‘putaria’ were interpreted to signify that the conversation being had concerned whorehouses. 

Additionally the words ‘mierda’ and ‘coño’ were in heavy use. Their purpose was understood primarily to be essentially that of punctuation and emphasis.

The conversation was believed to have concerned at times the specific year in which the supposed movie theatre had operated in this capacity. The years 1975, 1974, and 1970 were debated has having potentially been the year of the building’s provision of said services.

The night began with the innocent eating of dinner, during which ‘Cuba Libres’ were offered, thereby commencing the conversation in question. 

Before arriving at the topic of the whorehouse, the conversation concerned the topics of Venezuelan politics, specifically the significance of the recent ‘disturbios’, as well as baseball, World Wars I and II, and other businesses which had operated in Mérida but no longer operated in the same capacity.

During the conversation, Nick contributed nodding, laughter, and a clear intention to understand the words being said. At times he was confronted for an opinion, and offered in broken spanish that he had none.

The volume, intensity, and subject matter of the conversation were seen to clearly reflect that of conversations had between members of his family when also under the influence of alcohol and Latin-American culture.

Reached for comment, Nick had not yet stopped laughing.