He said, “Now take me for example. I’m a homely guy…”

      Although, what he had just said was true, I was getting ready to protest his assertion, but before I could pump him up, he waved away my half-hearted attempt, “No, no, it’s true, it’s okay though—in the States I would have trouble getting laid, but down here I’m treated like a sex god, and not just by the hookers.

      That was a big motivator for me to live much of my time down here. Even the wealthier Mexicans like to score themselves a non-Mexican spouse. This is true much more for the women than the men however.”

      “Why is that?”

      He said, “The women here may be possessive, but they are also very domestic and traditional.

      They allow the man to rule the roost providing he doesn’t run around or at least make it too obvious that he is.

      American or non-Latin women are much more independent and more demanding of men than the Mexican men care to put up with.

      I asked him how the situation was set up for the girls that worked the clubs; how they made money.

      He said, “The most obvious method, is that they get five or ten dollars they charge customers for sex. Sometimes they get a percentage of the money from the tiny beers you buy them, and if they dance, they get to keep the tips. If a woman likes you and is hoping to snag you for a husband, then she will give you sex for free and will often buy you gifts.

      “I know a lot of guys that end up marrying their favorite hooker and many have been married for twenty years or more. It may sound stupid to some people, but the GI and the hooker both get what they want. The GI gets all the sex, attention and loyalty he wants with no headaches.

      Plus he gets a woman who has dreamed her whole life of having a family and kids she can take care of and not have to worry about how to feed them.”

      I asked, “What does she get?”

     My question seemed to surprise him, and he looked at me like a gifted teacher struggling with a dull student.

      “Just as I said, they get their dream. They get to leave a life of crushing poverty and the chances are, they get a man who will very likely be less chauvinistic than many of the men from their own country—and she will be able to quit hooking.

      Most of the women that are hooking are doing it purely for economic reasons to survive, unlike most of the women who prostitute themselves in the States.”