Tattoo for the Holidays

Nothing says the holidays like a brand spanking new tattoo. I’m really not into tattoos that much but like many young men forced into the military my friends dared me to get one while in Juarez, Mexico. We were stationed at the Ft. Bliss, Texas military base at the time and spent many, if not most available weekends in Juarez across the border. I think the border crossing fee was 2 cents at the time. Ah, good times!

Anyway, I woke up with a rather colorful griffin on my upper arm. I think there were beer and drinks involved. At first, I was aghast at doing such a silly thing at a time when I wasn’t clearly thinking and thankfully, I have matured since. So it was not that bad since I could have awoken with a six foot serpent twining around my body in various colors.

Anyway, over the decades the colors faded, the skin stretched out and people began to ask what it was. Since many did not even know what a griffin was, it became a constant long and boring explanation. So I decided to finally do something about it. I could have had it removed but that is more expensive than getting a tattoo and I like to think I have a little rebel left in me in my waning years.

Several people had spoken of the tattoo parlor between the BDF and BAC bank on Calle Atravesada. So like a virgin lamb to the sacrifice I entered and met a young man busily doing a tattoo. At that time I remembered the weeks of pain and scabbing of the old tattoo. Not to be deterred I asked him for an appointment and he set me up for the following Wednesday at 8:00.

I spent an hour scouring the Internet for a good tattoo design. My choices were narrowed down to dragons, celtic symbols or one of the Chinese characters meaning luck, fortune or something. I lingered over some other ideas like Amy’s name, a barbed wire band or something just to irk other people but a tattoo is permanent and even if I’m in my waning years I don’t want to see a bad decision in the bathroom mirror every morning. And it had to be crystal clear as to what it was. A major criteria was that I did not want a large tattoo but large enough to cover the old tattoo. And it had to be in black – no colors. I chose the double dragon like the photo attached to this article.

At 8:00 on Wednesday I arrived at the tattoo parlor and the young man arrived a bit later.  I had brought a printed copy of the design in the size I thought was appropriate. He traced around the design and pressed it against my arm to get a basic outline then made several suggestions such as making it slightly larger, add plumes to the dragon wings and alter the dragon heads so they did not look so much like horse heads. Good, this guy knew what he was doing! I admit at first I was a bit concerned getting a tattoo in Nicaragua imagining someone using a modified sewing machine with dirty needles dipped in pastel exterior house paints. He was quite professional and there were a lot of various liquids used of which I have no idea what for.

The tattoo took about two hours and felt somewhat like small bee stings but continuously for the time period. After a while you get used to it and I actually nodded off a few times. Probably because I am not a spring chicken he kept asking me if I was OK. To save your pride you are then tempted to shrug off his concerns and tell him to have the dragon continue across your chest. Thankfully, these thoughts passed quickly.

There was no blood, no scab and only a feeling somewhat like sunburn that lasted several days. Cost was $16 which is much higher than the locals paid but I was very happy with it. I forgot to wear a t-shirt that night and we now have the tattoo design on our sheets and pillowcase. Not sure what I was thinking. I should buy some muscle shirts and parade around showing my new tattoo but I think I will just keep it hidden like my old tattoo.

As long as I don’t find out that the double dragon is a symbol for some Granada gang I should be fine. And everyone knows exactly what the tattoo is.

Darrell Bushnell

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