Nicaragua Part 2 (still not sure of how many)

Wednesday. March 27. Continued.

Backpacks in tow we turned up the street that Sarah said looked familiar. By the time we made it to the top of the hill where the house we were looking for was, the news had already spread. “Sarah!” yelled a neighbor. Of course she remembered Sarah. She explained that Sarah’s friend Myra wasn’t home and that her mom was at the store down in town. We should go talk to her. Funnily enough, the little girl who ran up just minutes later from the other direction said the same thing. 15 Minutes in town and we were already famous.

The next conversation we had (after the hugs and hellos of course) went something like this (only in Spanish…and with lots of gesturing and pointing and eye-brow-raising…and lots or repetition which I’ll leave out for the sake of brevity.)

Characters: Roberta (Myra’s mom), Sarah and me (we will be a combined person because at this point we were kind of acting as a speaking team) and Tino the Taxi Driver. (Vanessa entertained the kids by simply existing)

Sarah: Is Myra here?

Roberta: No.

Sarah: WHAT!? NO!? Really? Seriously?

Roberta: Yeah, really. She is visiting her (insert word here that we took for grandmother but that wasn’t actually grandmother. And we didn’t figure that out until much later)

Sarah: No. Seriously. Where is she? When is she coming back?
Roberta: She is out on a farm visiting her (there’s that damn word again). She’s coming back Sunday. You’ll stay until then.

Sarah: Sunday!? NO! We are leaving tomorrow!

Roberta: No you’re not. There aren’t any buses tomorrow. It’s a holiday. You’ll leave Sunday morning.

Sarah: No. What!? No buses!? Shit! But really. We HAVE to leave before Sunday. We have a ticket back to Costa Rica Sunday morning.

Roberta: No. There aren’t any buses tomorrow or Friday. Maybe Saturday.

Sarah: A taxi?

Roberta: Nope. All the taxi drivers will be with their families.

Sarah: Can’t we just call Myra and tell her I’m here? Can we just go see her where she is? How far is it?

Roberta: No. No cell service. And no transportation until Sunday. She’ll come back Sunday.

(At this point we had a huddle to discuss what we could do. We seemed to be in a bit of a pickle. Roberta wasn’t the most accurate or unbiased source at the moment (even though her hands were planted firmly on her hips in the kind of way that could probably turn a tanker around) and really…we did need to get back to Granada before that bus left Sunday. As much as I love missing a good day of work and all…We saw a taxi driver drop someone off and get out to chat for a bit. Decided. Sarah and I headed over.)

Sarah: Hello. We have a question.

Tino: Hi. What is it?

Sarah: Well first, my friend’s mom says that there won’t be any buses tomorrow or Friday back to Granada from here. Is that true?

Tino: I mean there will be one in the morning and one in the evening but there’s no telling what time it will pass through, and because of the holiday it will stop for about two hours at every stop along the way. It’ll take at least 12 hours to get there.

Sarah: Ok. Then second, we were wondering if a taxi would be able to take us. My friend’s mom said no one would be driving tomorrow at all.

Tino: I’d take you. When do you want to leave?

Sarah: Wait. Really!?

Tino: Sure. We can leave whenever.

Sarah: Tomorrow?

Tino: Tomorrow. Friday. Just let me know.

Sarah: Oh my god thank you so much! Are you sure? Can we get your number so we can call you and let you know what we figure out?

Tino: Sure. (He wrote it in the cover of my book.)

Sarah: I’m Sara(h) by the way.

Tino: Tino (he pointed to his name, in the book by his phone number)

Sarah: We live with Roberta… (Sarah started trying to explain where the house was but Tino stopped her to say…)

Tino: Yeah I know it. She’s my neighbor. You’ll be able to find me.

(Tiny. Town.)

We made a vague plan to search for Myra tomorrow and head out either tomorrow night or Friday morning depending on how things went. We breathed a giant sigh of relief and we cooked and ate the best meal I had in Nicaragua, right there at the little tienda, right there on the main street. The kids pulled us around to show us the little carnival rides, set up in honor of Semana Santa, and they talked our ears off about whatever it is kids talk about.

We slept on a mattress in Roberta’s living room that night.  We didn’t quite feel like family…yet.