Ownership. More like, slavery

Haha. Soon after my last post, a memo was passed around warning us that any negative writing about Whole Foods online could mean termination. I wonder if they came across this blog. 

I just had a team meeting where, yet again they crack down on us for various things. Part of the company's mission statement is supporting team member happiness and excellence. All I've ever been told is what I can't do. They say they support individuality, but you can't talk about religion, politics, or anything controversial. At the meeting we were also encouraged to tell on each other. That's a great way to promote camaraderie and solidarity. What happened to the idea of confronting your fellow worker when you see them doing something wrong. This place is run like a high school. I wish we were unionized, that way the workers would stick together and protect each other from the asshole management. 

What happened to this society. It reminds me more and more of 1984. We're the beetle-like drones that turn on each other and lay down for the company. No one questions Whole Foods, because it's "one of the best company's to work for." People criticize and fear communism, but do the things they hate, like snitching on your neighbor/co-worker. 

I just read an article that exposed Whole Foods for paying off a certifier to make one of their seafood products appear sea-turtle friendly. I wish I could find it so I could source it. I'll have to come back to that. I also have found products in the store that have artificial ingredients, like FD&C food coloring. We carry conventional corn, that is most likely GMO, because it's nearly imposible to find conventional corn that isn't. Hypocrites.

I may have said this before, but what gets to me the most is the cynicism. They tell us we have "ownership," but in reality it means the burden of working our asses off for barely a living wage, if that. I worked in businesses that gave their workers true ownership. It means autonomy, flexibility, responsibility, and a good wage and benefits. I can't do anything without a supervisors approval. We have security violations for everything. There is no room to take responsibility or have any autonomy. How about they let us do our jobs and if we fuck up, then we can take responsibility for fucking up. No, we get in trouble for just the possibility of maybe fucking up. Bullshit. 

We must have so much flexibility toward our job. We don't have set schedules, we have to take more hours during the holidays ( I'll come back to that one), and pretty much do whatever they want us to do on a whim, but if I make the smallest mistake, it's by the book, no slack. Let's say I switched shifts to accomodate them and came in late because of a misunderstanding. I get written up. The first or second day I was put on the register, I was off at the end of the night. Instead of cutting me slack for being new, I get written up, even though I was over on my register and of course they kept the money. I find all this very cynical, because they're telling me how much ownership I have and how much they help me in succeeding, but cut me down at every chance. I'm a reasonable person. I'll take responsibility for my mistakes and I understand that some mistakes deserve more serious consequences. This company, however, has made it a point to take any humanity out of the equation. They don't allow the supervisor or manager to make disciplinary decisions. Isn't that what managing is all about? Being able to weigh all the factors, including character and intention?  

A good manager/supervisor is a conduit between the company and the workers. They work for the best interest of both parties. Sometimes they have to fight for those under them, that they represent. That does not happen at all in Whole Foods. The supervisors/team leaders/managers are merely the henchmen or enforcers of the Company's will. This is one reason I don't think Whole foods will succeed. It's another paternalistic, hypocritical company that uses double-speak, fear, and clever marketing to make the workers think they have more than they actually have and be subservient. 

There is no such thing as a green product! There are products that are more harmful and others that are less harmful. The simple fact that it is mass produced, packaged, and has marketing behind it invalidates its "green" claim. Take food for example. Compare a potato you buy at a farmers market to a box of frozen fries, that says "Green, eco friendly packaging" or "Made from sustainably grown potatoes.(from Peru)"which one is the best choice? The one without a label at all.  One is straight from the ground and the other has passed many stages and through many hands. Whole Foods is just an empty marketing.

Charity

I have stand at a register, fake a smile, and pretend I am so interested in the assholes that shop at Whole Foods. Yes, some of the people that go there are cool, like anywhere else, but I don't want to be forced to engage every fucking customer. Most customers don't want to engage me either. In fact, a lot of them ignore me or give me a fake response. Good interactions are spontaneous and unforced. I have great conversations sometimes, but they happen on there own with people I can relate to. How am I supposed to relate to a woman with fake boobs, collagen lips, buying a People magazine and the latest exotic, weight-loss, super-food. 
"I like your tits, where's you get them? What reality shows do you watch?"
Fuck off.

I also believe the customer is usually wrong. The person working at whatever place is there 20 to 40 hours a week. It's their job. I'm sure there are well informed customers that know more, but they are not the norm and should not be the foundation of customer service. A customer tells me something completely idiotic or yells at me because we ran out of anal douches and I'm supposed to say, I'm sorry? 

I highly recommend the documentary, "I like Killing Flies." It's about a diner in New York that is run by a Soup-Nazish owner. He'll kick you out for breaking any rule, like asking for a table for 5. I believe that's how businesses should be run. Maybe not as extreme, but with the same philosophy of equality and balance. Pretend you're not at work, act accordingly. The owner/manager should always take the side of reality, not the customer's or the employee's. If the customer is an idiot, let them know they are wrong. None of this stupid comping shit for a whiny asshole. If a worker is being treated like shit, they should have the right to defend themselves, even kick that bastard out. Now, if the worker abuses this right, than they should have consequences too. It's so obvious and simple.

I remember going to businesses in Venezuela and refused service because my bill was too large and they had no change. Annoyed, I was told to get out. I appreciate that genuine interaction. Sure, it wasn't very business savvy and kind of dumb to keep so little change, but that's not the point. They didn't give me an empty fake smile, like I get here. How many times can a person say "hi, how are you today?" before their soul shrivels away? The customer should have the burden of proof. Prove to me, with sound, logical, facts and I'll agree.

I don't go shopping or even out to eat to have my asshole licked by some over-worked and miserable employee. I especially detest the one's that are all bubbly and over-eager to please me and their managers. Have you no fucking dignity.

I do the best I can to do a good job. I am reliable and fulfill my duties. I help a customer to the best of my abilities when treated respectfully.  Why should I act like an idiot as well? 

Consumer culture, that's why. Everyone is so desperate to bleed every last fucking penny out of every last person that they do anything to please the customer. One day we'll be getting free blowjobs with every purchase. It's pathetic. 

So on top of standing at a fucking register for 8 hours, my team-leader (how pseudo-non-hierarchical) wants, no, needs me to ask every customer to donate to put salad bars in schools. So now I have to ask for fucking charity as well? She wants us to win some stupid competition with other stores to raise the most money. "It'll raise moral." Raise moral, by doing something I detest, for something I don't even believe in? Right. 

I hate charity. It's a stupid cop-out and band-aid for a shitty system. How about using tax money to put good food in schools and kicking out private companies that sell junk food and advertise in public schools? We spend billions, if not trillions on war, greedy corporations, and corrupt politicians. Oh yes, capitalism is working so fucking well.

Let's fucking make as much useless crap as we can and sell it to each other Make it so we need to replace it for nice new model, so everyone knows we can afford to be up top date and in fashion. Then base our entire economy on it. Great idea. Those socialists and their ideas of working together for the greater good of society are such assholes. 

Whole Foods

It's been awhile, but I have the need to do a little writing. My life has been so creatively lacking. I just work , eat, and sleep for the most part. The work part is what's getting to me. I fucking hate my job. It's the most cynical company I've ever worked for. I hate corporate jobs no matter what, but this one is especially horrible. So, let's see if this comes back to me and I get fired. Any bet's?  I hear about people posting blogs, youtube videos, etc and getting canned for badmouthing their company. This one would be especially ironic because I work for Whole Foods Market. They have carefully shaped their image to convey a liberal, open, and compassionate image. Of course, I do understand the right of any employer to fire an employee for saying bad things about them. It can hurt the image of the company and ultimately the bottom line.
That's just the thing, Whole Foods is just like every other big company. A soulless enterprise in pursuit of money. We do live in a capitalist country and capital is what matters. Since Whole Foods has investors, it needs to make as much money as possible to keep them happy. When I was hired they said that their priorities were the customer, the workers, then the investor, in that order. I think that's bullshit and all my experiences point to it being the investors first and then the customer only because they buy stuff.
I believe that just like so many other "green" and "socially responsible" companies, Whole Foods is just selling an image. They are selling people a lifestyle. It's an easy, albeit expensive way to feel like you're doing the right thing. They are taking advantage of a marketing niche. They see us as a demographic on a chart. They fool the workers and possibly themselves into buying into this crap, in a kind of Orwellian double-think manner. It's so creepy how much I feel like I'm in 1984 at this job. The job sucks and we're constantly exposed to the hypocrisy and shallowness of this place, yet everyone acts or believes it's so great. I think it may have to o with the fact that where I am there isn't much better around. I live in a cultural void, where strip-malls, Walmarts, and money rules. I moved out of SF, by the way.

I'm having such a hard time organizing my thoughts here. I haven't written in so long and There is so much to say about this job. I waited too long.

Let me go back to my orientation. That was two days of eight hour reconditioning and brainwashing. Most of what we were told was of how great Whole Foods was or some really bad misinformation on health, ecology, and social responsibility. I used to work in a cooperative grocery store that sold organic, etc... products. I've spent years learning and trying to live in a responsible, unselfish manner. I can safely say I know about this "lifestyle" and the science behind it. I won't go into detail about all the shit that spewed for our trainer's mouth, but a few things did stand out.
One was they're anti-unioness. They always start with a disclaimer that they're not anti-union, then start bashing them. I can understand it's a matter of opinion, but the way they do it is so fucked up. They remind me of anti-(fill in the blank) propaganda, "The evils of marijuana" videos or Mccarthyism. "If you see a union representative don't sign anything. They are trying to take your soul. Just run the other way." I'm exaggerating just a tiny bit.
In my opinion unions are great. Even Whole Foods admits that they made some important accomplishments for workers rights. Then they continue to say that they are obsolete in this new age of enlightenment. Says who? Do they have social scientists working away at understanding labor history and the present state of the effectiveness of unions in an impartial way? I doubt it. I think it's mostly a buch of MBAs and a few lifers who managed to make it to the top. I wonder what the ratio is?
If you look at working conditions, pay and benefits over the years, you see that in fact that back when unions ruled, workers had it great. It's not their fault that slowly over the years companies have been ruthlessly fighting to get rid of them and as a consequence diminished they're effectiveness. Look at my job. I barely get payed a living wage as a cashier, when they used to make a decent living. My benifits are laughable. I'd have to pay $182 a month to pay my own medical bills. The deductible is so fucking large. Maybe if I was hospitalized and dying I'd save a little money. I get two ten minute breaks on the clock and one unpaid thirty minute lunch. That's shit. God forbid I forget to bring a lunch, because then I'd be taking up ten of those minutes in line and forget having the time to eat out. They say they want employee health and happiness, yet we don't even get enough time to partially digest our food. I wonder how long the corporate execs get for their luches. How long does Mr. Healthcare only for the rich Mackey for lunch. Sometimes I want to get a coffee for my ten minute break. By the time I actually sit down to enjoy it I only have five minutes. And Whole Foods tells me that I have it so much better without a union. Bull shit. It's also bullshit that they're not anti-union. I remember they fired a couple people in San Francisco for trying to unionize.

I have such an urge to continue, but I'll stop myself here for now. Let's see if they track me down and fire me. They tell me that it's such a great place to work because I'm free to be who I am and express my individuality, unless it has anything to do with politics, religion, or anything controversial. Well, I'm expressing myself. Let's see how much freedom of expression I really have.  That's one thing I never understood about America the Great. We have so much freedom, like the freedom of expression, except in our workplaces, schools, public places (unless you have a permit), etc. I guess I'm free to lose my job and starve. Damn, what a freedom.

Venezuela 'better at anti-narcotics without US'

Venezuela 'better at anti-narcotics without US'

Makes you wonder what the billions of dollars in Plan Colombia are really going to.

I had more pictures, but these assholes threatened me, so I had to erase them.

This time I kept a safe distance.

A more peaceful and positive crowd

This is a tiny crowd compared to what I saw in Caracas. Fuck the 3 million Chavistas that didn't vote. Cowards

I've been witness to a lot of events covered by the news. I've been to student opposition "protests," which were nothing but small gangs of morons that wanted to throw rocks and bottles. The cops were the ones to be harassed. I saw it. I've been to Chavista marches and saw Chavez speak, twice, not to mention the dozens of hours I've heard on TV. Everything I read online or saw on TV was lies. I listened to Chavez in person, so I know that his words were twisted. You can see all the great things that are happening because of Chavez. They never mention that. The economy is stronger, there is less crime, free medicine, real freedom, unlike back in the U.S. I know. I'm fucking here.
As for you dumbasses who are here and still don't believe it. I've talked to so many anti-chavistas. They talk so much crap. I check up on what they say. I go see things they tell me about. They are full of crap. They are so full of fear from news organizations that make Fox News look fair and balanced. I could tell you things that I've heard that would make you roll on the floor laughing. The simple truth is that they are afraid of losing their amassed wealth, most of it made by stealing land and opressing the poor. That Pipo guy I said was so nice is sitting on tons of stolen land if not from indigenous people, then his own family. The government protects private property, that is legitimate. No one can take your home no matter how much money you owe banks or the government. However, if you are sitting on tons of fucking land with no deed or without putting it to any use, than it shouldn't be yours.
A lot of my frustration comes from the sheer quantity of information I want to share with everyone. I could write a book about it. In the end no one really cares about Venezuela or will argue with dumb shit they hear on TV. Being human sucks. Bunch of dumb assholes. You're all fucking doomed to be slaves.
My plan. Take all you dumb, superficial, consumerist, selfish, uncaring assholes and put you on one side of the planet. Then take everyone else and put them on the other side and keep them seperated. I suggest We keep the Americas and either Africa or Asia. They can have the rest. Wait, the poor are 90% of the world. The asshole only get Europe, not including Eastern Europe.

Messege to Venezuelans

It came so close. It was a tense wait. Finally after one in the morning the news came. No won by 1.4%. 3 million Chavistas abstained and the opposition gained a few hundred thousand votes.
Now, the only thing I have to say to the people of this country is that you could have had something great, but you're too dumb to realize it.

bleh

should have taken the picture before I ate the food.

Parque nacional el resinga. mangrove lagoon

i can sit here, write and post photos or i can drink a beer and enjoy the weather, hmmm... tough one. i don't think anyone reads this anyway. sorry, blogs are stupid anyway. if i'm bored i'll update. send me emails people and i'll have motivation to write.

Uprising of Sausages and Hotdogs

The farm

So here's the rest. I can't wait to go back to the farm. Hopefully I can go back. Pipo promised me some quick motorcycle lessons and then I can ride around town to my heart's content. We'll see. That, and I want to eat guama so bad. It's a South American fruit that I've had a craving for the last 14 years. I will not leave until I have a guama.

I have so many thoughts pent up inside me right now. I would love to write more, but I get so lazy about it. It turns out being a short spurt of inane ramblings.
I'm still not done painting this apartment. In a week or to I'll be in Colombia, though. I'm nervous about taking my camera, so there might not be any pictures. Not that anyone really cares, but I like to pretend I have a loyal audience. That just made me laugh. I wonder why I even put this blog up. I hate blogs that aren't very interesting and I doubt I keep anyone enthralled with these pictures. I'm basically masturbating here. Maybe I'm just waiting for the moment a lot of crazy shit happens and so I can tell eveyone about it. I'm going about this all wrong. I think my intentions were to just have a travel diary that people could see and comment on if they felt like it.

Nuff said.

This is Pipo in his banana plantation. His farm is humongous. It shouldn't be hard to figure out his political opinions. He's still a very nice and generous person.

My aunt and I forget her name. She lives with Pipo's mom. She's 22 and a highschool teacher.

I took one of these home with me. We still have most of the bananas. Here they call them cambures. I also brought home a big nasty tick. That flower is huge.

Only a tiny fraction of his banana trees.

Another dog doing his thing. No one telling him what to do.

Making a new water trough for the cows.

One of the farmworkers houses on the property. The little kid lives on a hill with cows and horses and plants all around. not bad

This is the house with the little kid

Pipo's farm

I went to my mom's friend's farm in Chigüara. I got a lot f mostly crappy photos. It's too bright here and it was really hot that day. I was so hot I couldn't resist an invitation to a few beers on a roadside bar/produce stand. I was still taking Metronidasol for amoeabas, but I didn't care. Later, after four beers, Pipo called his doctor friend to ask about the contraindications of the mixture. To my luck, those pills are also given to alcoholics, so that they won't drink. The mixture gives you hives and a rash all over your body. Nothing happened though and I enjoyed a nice buzz during the drive home.  Pipo then stopped by a hamburger stand and invited me to one of the better burgers I've had. It was a good day.

I'll post a few photos at a time because I'm not in the mood to upload them all at once.

This sweet looking dog was all chained up. I was warned not to get close, but I don't think they knew what they were talking about. 

I scared the bulls away. The cows were much more confident. Stereotypes. 

They told me not to get close to this little piggy as well

I ignored them

He or she was very happy to have some company and gave me some great poses

Drying corn. Probably to make flour for arepas. I don't know

Coffee machine. It does something with coffee. I should know this. I'm a bad Colombian. Fucking stereotypes

The kitchen

The dog

The horses

and a calf

stomach pain and aggrevation

Had a tube stuck down my throat and it hurt. I tried to vomit but all I could do is choke. They gave me pills to get rid of some pest. The pills hurt. I hurt. People say things that make me hurt. I try to regurgitate the information that I have been force fed, but I just choke. I just hurt. A million miles from my dearest friends. I pace back and forth in my room, then I walk down the street and back. Nothing. Everyone speaks Spanish here. I only speak Spanish here. I don't know how to say anything anymore. I just want to stroll down the empty San Francisco streets at midnight and spew random misplaced words with my homie. It doesn't matter which ones I use because he understands. The worse things happen when you have no one and nobody loves you when you're all alone. The drugs I used to take tempered my pain and eased my miscommunication. My medication now only kills everything I have inside. My life consists of a path that takes me downtown to where I search for solace and only find parasitic infestation. I walk past beautiful human beings that belong to another way. I can only mimic their actions. I can't find the words to break through to their hearts. I love this land. Psychology sessions take place on street corners and the little telephone stands that are run by dark skinned girls who wait for the next caller. There are no head shrinkers waiting in their carefully decorated offices contemplating their leather chairs. Everything beyond the bus route into town stays far from my imagination. The Andes mountains cradle and detain me. They let the sunrise shine through their peaks only for the clouds to see and translate into colors for everyone below. The steep slopes gather the rain and deliver it brown and muddy to the streets below. It's a range that holds this continent up from all the blood that weighs it down. A man once traversed it to bring people of the same ancestors together. They rejoiced and shouted, "Viva Símon," then shot at him and chased him towards their old captors. Now there is a statue of him in every square. Another man follows his footsteps, over every peak and through every vally of this tremendous beast. His followers chear and rejoice, but for how long? Now I don't wait anymore. I just exist. I look towards another sunset to relieve this pain, but it's not pain anymore. It's just a hollowness that comes from too many miles that wisped away under my feet. It also comes from the hundreds of little changes I had to adapt to every time I came to a new land. There comes a point where you meet too many people. They all blend together and disappear, a single impenetrable jungle. It was wise for Bolívar to take to the mountains, where the sharp rock cuts through all that vegetation. He could think alone and dream for himself. Simón Bolívar died with severe stomach pains that came from deserting his well bread body. He no longer wanted to be an oligarch standing on the backs of his black and native ancestors. My pain comes from another place. My body left me for not keeping it nourished. My mind was selfish and wandered in dreams. There is no finish to what I'm saying. It just ends when I take my poison and kill my pests. I'm looking up toward the morning star to bring new beginnings.

Amoeba

So My aunt thinks I have Amoebas and the doctor thinks I might have gastritis. I think amoebic dysentery sounds way more exciting. Either way I get to have a camera "eased" down my throat to check out my stomach. I better at least get a picture or a t-shirt or something.

I went to the free Cuban clinic. That's not what it's called, but it was staffed by Cuban doctors. They get their own, much nicer, wing because the Venezuelan doctors don't treat them very nicely. One way the Venezuelans protest the Chavez government is to not show up to work. They go one vacation. People like my mom, who has a very serious, potentially life threatening heart condition, can´t see specialists because they're angry and their patients aren't a priority. Who knows.

It was interesting. There were people waiting in no particular line. I asked who was last to come and made sure I went in after them. It went pretty quick even though there was only one doctor in general medicine. I still had to hang out there for the whole day because my mom and my aunt had to wait forever to see the ophthalmologist because they had to see a few emergency cases before them. People waiting were so friendly and talkative, but that's just Venezuelans in general.

That was my day. No more beer. Not allowed. It's nice that people get free medical treatment. Less stress. I fucked up my credit because I didn't have medical insurance, like millions upon millions of United Statesians. It sucks. It really does. It lowers your quality of life. So much for those basic human rights.

More Merida

old school bedroom

A little bit of downtown and some words

This is downtown Merida, at least little bits of it. It takes so god-damn long to get all these pictures ready and then come down here to upload them. I'm very selective. I'll try t put more on Flickr. It's also a trek to go downtown. I have to really want to go. I can't remember what this is. It's a statue
One of the many modes of transportation. This is not for tall people. These are busetas or camioneticas. They range from vans like this one to bigger buses like the ones that they use for free shuttles back home, like the Presidio, UCSF, etc. They´re about 30 US cents. The cool thing is you get on and a lot of the times everyone says hi. You don´t pay until you get off. You have to yell out "PARADA." The drivers are so chill. They"ll wait for someone who's across the street, unlike Muni, as most of you probably know. They"ll also stop and talk to people they know, while people honk like crazy behind them. Lot's of motorcycles in Venezuela
One of those guys that stay completely still. These guys beet them all, not because they stay really still, but because it´s fucking hot and they have all that make-up.

I love busy streets. Most of them are like this.

Cops. Here they don't have as much power. I've never seen them mess with anyone or heard of it happening. There are like 5 different types of cops, what they all do I don´t know. It's the same deal with the military. You see soldiers a lot, but Chavez has made them a community entity, meaning they work with and are here for the community. The restructuring of the country is amazing. It's going to be very similar to Cuba, I think. All the political power is in the community. There are groups in every Pedregal, which is something between a city and a neighborhood whithin a city. These groups have meetings and decide on things that need to be done and then they're done. Eventually they will replace mayors. I'm not sure of all the detils, but as I learn, I'll try to explain it better.

I'm amazed at the difference in information between here and back home. I knew we didn´t hear much, but it's insane how much we don't know. The opposition here for example. There are quite a few of them. They are made up of the upper and some of the middle class. They are puny compared to the Chavistas. Not only that, they are dirty. Every couple of days I see the stuff they do. They spew the most negative, fear-inducing garbage on their TV channels (who says there's no freedome of expression here). They got caught bringing in two busloads of paramilitary troops from Colombia to try to kill Chavez. A US lawyer came here with a bunch of legal documents that show the U.S. government sent money and helped subversive operations that were sooooooooo illegal. More than a thousand people in a bank, a big company, and in the government who are in the opposition just got caught in a huge subversive conspiracy. All the stuff that goes wrong is usually sabotage.

From what I've seen and heard, this is the truth. Whether or not Chavez is going to help the country is another story, although I've never seen so much money, work, effort go into a country solely for the public good. I could list all the things, but it would take me days. Chavez has proved himself about 19 times in different elections and referendums. He is the most democratic leader in the world, he is hardly a dictator. On top of that, I've heard that this constitution is the only one in the world to specifically and with priority ensure everyones human rights. We have the bill of rights, but not only is it vague, it is incomplete and easily manipulated.

I don't know all the facts and I can't say I'm 100% sure about everything I've said, but it's hard to hide all the good you see around you here. The only bad things I´ve seen are from greedy people who truely don't care and actually despise the poor.

As Edgar Torres always says, I jugde a society by the way it treats it's poor, it's elderly, children and infirm. I'm sure I missquoted him, but you get the gist.

Melva's Birthday

On my aunt's birthday we took a short trip to Tabay. A small town about 7 km from Merida. This place was so tiny. It was a town square surrounded by three or four blocks then green mountains spotted with farmhouses. We found this really good Colombian restaurant run by a guy from Tolima, where they make the best tamales in the world. He just moved here a couple months ago. Sadly I got sick. I think it was the tamales or the hot sauce. I've been sick for the past two days. Oh well.

Some chicks that were in the pet shop

Some hardcore looking guy. I think he works on leather. I'm not sure, but this town is full of tough looking guys.

There'll be more photos to come. I used a lot of the Tabay photos to make my own postcards. If you're lucky I'll send you one. Send me your address in case I like you. Send it to my Myspace, email, or leave a messege here.

Lazy Ass

Poor dogs, it's so warm that all you see is dogs just lying around. Another strange thing is that in the small towns the dogs do what they want. People play with them and pet them, but they roam around on their own. Merida is bigger, so nobody aproaches dogs on the street, but they don' t mess with anyone. They sleep outside the shops and find scraps to eat.

A sign in Tabay for free puppies.

After an espresso shot. It's really nasty that they serve coffee to go in plastic cups

I've come across so many dogs that apear dead. It freaks me out.

He's spying on the situation. Maybe he just wants to pounce.

He's alway at the city square, La Plaza Bolívar. There's a square like this in every city and town with a statue of Simon Bolívar in the center. In bigger cities there are more than one.