earth day festival, Belmopan, Belize, 1990. my brief stint as a knife sharpener. a week earlier i was at the guatemalan border packing my few possessions into a giant backpack, parting ways with my now ex-girlfriend (a mutually beneficial break-up...she wanted to go back to the states, i did not). she headed back in her camper van, i wanted to go east.
challenger knives
i wanted to walk/hitch-hike my way around guatemala, but the border guard would have nothing of it. the euro-kids breezed right thru, tipping the border guard was the trick but i was broke. so eventually i gave up and hitched a ride back west to the capitol, a harrowing but delicious ride in a speeding range rover. the driver stopped frequently at road side food stands, buying more tamales and warm guiness stout for the two of us. he howled with laughter every time i bit into a bone. i was having a hard time getting used to the only central american country (?) where cooks tuck whole chicken legs into their tamales.
i spent a week camped at the earth day festival on the outskirts of belmopan. by day two i was getting desperate for better food as i was scavenging discarded rice and beans from formerly meat laden platters. amazing smells from the rickety rotisserie chickens cooking over wood fires, self basting as one dripped onto the next. i watched the chicken lady grab a knife from a bucket and mechanically bone bird after bird. boom idea! my sharpening stone was in the bottom of my pack. (a ridiculous thing to be packing around central america, yes, but i was not about to leave my trusty stone with my ex). i asked the chicken lady if her knives needed sharpening. "of course my dear boy, but i'm afraid most are beyond your services" she said with a beautifully british sounding accent. i ate well for the rest of the week, going from stand to stand sharpening knives.
my Challenger knives will most likely never come into contact with the sharpening stone. they do require regular maintenance with the steel, as they are good the old high carbon variety. they hold a great edge and the grips fit the hand just so. i love my sabatier's but most of the time reach for the $25 Challenger.
i spent a week camped at the earth day festival on the outskirts of belmopan. by day two i was getting desperate for better food as i was scavenging discarded rice and beans from formerly meat laden platters. amazing smells from the rickety rotisserie chickens cooking over wood fires, self basting as one dripped onto the next. i watched the chicken lady grab a knife from a bucket and mechanically bone bird after bird. boom idea! my sharpening stone was in the bottom of my pack. (a ridiculous thing to be packing around central america, yes, but i was not about to leave my trusty stone with my ex). i asked the chicken lady if her knives needed sharpening. "of course my dear boy, but i'm afraid most are beyond your services" she said with a beautifully british sounding accent. i ate well for the rest of the week, going from stand to stand sharpening knives.
my Challenger knives will most likely never come into contact with the sharpening stone. they do require regular maintenance with the steel, as they are good the old high carbon variety. they hold a great edge and the grips fit the hand just so. i love my sabatier's but most of the time reach for the $25 Challenger.
RSS Feed
