Perhaps the most consistently rewarding experience has been with the locals here from Balgue. Whether it is Pablo, our farm manager and cheeky old man, or the little kids on the streets.
Last Monday, amid the chaos of new piglets, Adelyda was kind enough to offer us an invitation to a local fiesta. Which turned out to be the invitation to her daughters preschool, plus the ten minute conversation we had to figure out that this was what she was doing was equally priceless.
When Thursday came, we found ourselves walking down the Totoco road past Adelyda’s house to enquire about where we were supposed to go. We were told to find the Catholic church. So when we walked into town and found the Catholic Church we went just past it because there didn’t seem to be anyone inside. About ten paces away from the church we finally saw the procession of little five year olds dressed in yellow. The girls dressed in a pretty yellow dress and the young lads wearing a yellow button down with dress pants and a black vest. Their parent escorting them looked equally dapper in their finest clothes.
Thankfully Adelyda was right at the frount and she was kind enough to give us some direction. We followed the procession into the church and Adelyda joined us sitting in plastic garden chairs along the side walls. Her husband, Roberto, was sitting with their daughter. Admittedly, I’m not exactly what you’d call a religious person, however there I was listening to a Catholic service in Spanish. At no point in time did I expect to end up at a Catholic mass in Central America. I suppose that is life for you though.
I enjoyed when the power went out when they turned on the massive speakers and the electronic keyboard. They just kept going like nothing had happened. And in fairness this is probably a common occurrence that they just continued on as they always did. Microphones or no microphones. During the service I spent most of my time, as I always do, people watching. In particular this little boy who stared at a photo just above my head, the little girl behind him who was touching herself, and the other white people in attendance. Oh, and the man with one leg who came in on a sort of hand powered motorized vehicle. I really liked his glasses.
My favourite part of the entire service was when we got to go around for the “peace be with you” part. Perhaps it is the best part of the entire religion. Setting aside your problems and germaphobic ways, you shake hands with your fellow man and wish him nothing more than peace.
After the service we all made our way to the school in order to continue the festivities. Each student was called up and given a diploma, there was a traditional Nicaraguan dance done by some of the young girls from the school in traditional garb. And just generally there were some of the cutest Nicaraguan children in attendance. While I sipped on “pink drink” (a corn, cinnamon concoction) I felt entirely lucky to be able to not only be invited to see this, but to feel like I was witnessing a glimpse into the life of the people here.
Once the official ceremony ended, it was time for the real party to start. The chairs were cleared away and Adelyda found us some small desks to sit in while she found some food for us. Sara and I talked to her husband about the school and about the ceremony while some loud music came out of the massive speakers. I think there may have been a break in communication, because he said there were 800 students at that school, which seemed a physical impossibility. Perhaps 80 to 100 is what he meant to say...
When Adelyda returned with our food, we all sat together in these impossibly tiny desks sharing a meal while watching the hungry stray dogs look on desperately. We then watched the young children hit the white bear pinata with a sort of ferocity not typically seen with 5 year olds. In particular watching the young girl hit the pinata like it was someone trying to steal her candy and then watch her dance while the bear spun in the air.
Adelyda then invited us to join her for some conversing at her abode. We walked through the plantain fields and reached her house. She showed us the fruit trees growing in her backyard and the ducklings they had. We had a conversation in broken Spanish about life in Nicaragua and her family. One tragic thing to notice was that the food they saved from the celebration was what they had to feed her entire family that night. I felt a bit of a jerk for eating an entire plate full of rice when her whole family was planning on eating only two small plates of food. She had been an incredible host to give us the whole plates when her family could have used it more than we did. We are incredibly well fed here, comparatively and I wish we had known to offer our food to her. Even if she turned it down.
Additionally I was really pleased to see Adelyda’s neice again, Anna. She is two years old and will melt your heart. She is really shy so all she really does is smile at you. A sort of heartbreakingly adorable smile that only behaving two year olds can instill. Plus at that age it doesn’t matter what language you speak. They think you are funny no matter what you do. This I like very much.
To top off Adelyda’s hospitality she was gracious enough to give us some juice before we left. The juice was from a tree she grew on her property and whose name I forgot. It looks like a rambutan with the seeds of a passionfruit. She gave us a huge bag and sent us on our way. The entire way back I really was blown away by her hospitality. She sat with us in Church, she explained to us what was going on, she let us eat like kings while her family did without, and she sent us on with a gift. Sara and I could not help but feel entirely blessed and lucky, and felt entirely grateful for the wonderful afternoon Adelyda showed us. Additionally she invited us to further celebrations in the week to come.
Truly these people make traveling and personality clashes entirely worthwhile.
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