I really want to have a post about a 'typical day' here in my Nueva Suyapa life...but as I tried to piece together an outline, I realized no two days are the same. I mean, there are routines and things that happen pretty much in the same manner every day...the shower routine at my house, meal routine 3 times a day, the walking to work routine, the staring at the gringa and cat-calling routine...
But really, each day there are new adventures, experiences you never could have expected. I've taken on the philosophy of always going along for the ride. If someone invites me to go do something, whether it be a simple errand, a trip 'abajo' (down the hill to the city) or even a walk to the corner pulperia (store)--I just go! Ok, partly because I usually am looking for something to break up the time in the office (!) but also because I am certain it will undoubtedly be a good story...at minimum, a good way to get to know people.
Example: There is a lady who sells newspapers in the colonia every day. She usually stops by the office to chat, and she knows the 3 people who will always buy the daily issue. This woman has been very pregnant ever since I got here...they assure me she's worked like this before, and she will be selling papers until the day she has the baby. So my coworker put together a baby gift for her, as the woman is pretty poor and she doesn't really have any clothes for the baby. Oh, another cultural moment--someone buys a gift and you are told how much to contribute so that its covered...not asked, just told to give 50 Lempiras. awesome.
So, then one day the woman (oh, another cultural thing, we don't know her name! she's just the woman who sells newspapers) doesn't show up. This means we must go find her house and give her the gift. But wait- no one knows where she lives! Here is a rough transcription in English...
Karina: "So, you're going to go with us to give her the gift, right Charissa?"
Me: "Um...sure. Are we walking there?"
K: "well, we have to walk around and see who knows where she lives. but we'll find it"
Me: "yeah, but how? Does Marvin know where she lives?"
K: "no, but we're going now to find her."
Me: "Ok, but like, how will we know?"
K: "marvin will drive us there."
(At this point I stop asking questions. Just go, Charissa. Its bound to be an adventure.)
Ok...I am also leaving out some details about transport...but I need to you to get the flavor of these exchanges. We spent 20 minutes before lunch debating if we could take a moto...but no, 3 people was too many for the moto. So then we waited til after lunch, argued with Marvin for about 1 hour to go get his truck. Then we thought it wasn't happening...then he randomly shows up and is like "lets go lets go! get in the truck right now!"...so we went! immediately.
So we drive down the hill to the newspaper stand...ask the lady there if she knows the pregnant newspaper seller...turns out the one we are looking for is her sister-in-law! I have no idea how this happened...but it worked out, and we left the gift with her. We are turned around, about to go back up the hill, when my coworkers realize that our boss is out for the day...so this means we need to "tomar un cafecito" (like, have a little coffee). We turn around to go further down the hill and head to Dunkin' Donuts. It was a crazy time at the restaurant with 2 of my favorite coworkers, who were paranoid the entire time that our boss was right around the corner. But it was really fun...felt like we were in college and skipping class! We also had a generally hilarious time in the truck, singing songs in English (oh wait, that was mostly me) and getting to know each other better.
All in a day's work, as I like to say.
There are also other stories...the day of my boss' birthday, where we left for about an hour to take a taxi to buy a last minute cake...how I get in on farewell parties the banks have for their out-going loan officers and I wait for an hour for people to show up to the party...how I come back from lunch and they are fumigating the office because of Dengue and I can't be in the office for 2 hours...I mean, lots of stuff like this that make me laugh continually and give me good journal entries. I love it. And I'm hoping that was coherent enough that you get some insight into my life here and can appreciate the humor too.
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