White Lies

On Saturday, Andrea and I went to Juigalpa, Chontales (the department south of Boaco). Andrea has been there before and I wanted to go and check it out and we planned to explore what it had to offer. We found some interesting things including a museum of bizarre and unusual animals with deformities. They weren’t alive, but their skins were there. It was gross. We decided to look at the other things that didn’t make us sick which included some totem pole rock structures and other carvings from hundreds of years ago.

Then we were on a mission to find some lunch. We walked back to the central park and someone called out “hey!” We turned and found a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, chele (light skinned person). He said he hadn’t seen a white person in a week and asked where we were from and what we were doing there. We made small talk and found of that he was Romanian but grew up in Canada, but traveling through Central America. He invited us to join him and his Nica friend for a beer, among a lot of other Nica men with crowded tables of empty beer bottles, but we told a little white lie saying we were meeting friends for lunch so we couldn’t, but maybe we would see him later. It got us out of what could have been an uncomfortable situation.

We finally found a place for lunch and it had AC! This made up for the slightly pricey menu. I had a chicken sandwich with fries—don’t know the last time I had that! It was great. After that we headed back to the park (avoiding the bar/restaurant) and got ice cream. We then checked out the other park that claimed to have an awesome view. It was beautiful and there was a great breeze :)

As we walked around the town that day, we got many piropos (catcalls) which we kindly ignored or politely said “hi” or “goodbye” to the people that only said “hi” or “goodbye” and not “honey” or “baby”. There were two young guys that said some things in English, which is pretty common for Nicas because they learn some words/phrases in school or from TV and think it’s fun to try them out on us. They asked where we live and we said Nicaragua, but they didn’t believe us because we’re white. Little do they know…haha

Anyway, later we went to the supermarket and picked out some items and a man started talking to Andrea while we were in line. He asked if she was married (which is also very common for Nicas to ask personal questions of people they barely know) and she said yes (a little white lie). This quickly ended the conversation.

It was time for me to leave as Andrea went off to the cyber to talk to her “husband” on Skype (or her boyfriend back home) so we said our goodbyes and I walked to the bus stop. I ran into the two young guys again who stopped on the corner to say “goodbye”. Side note: Nicas say “adios” to people in the street as a greeting, so their direct translation is “goodbye” or “bye” and it drives me crazy when guys call out to me saying “bye”. I always want to tell them to say “hi” instead, but then I would be giving the attention that I shouldn’t be. Anyway, I passed by them and waited for the bus, where they happened to be as well.

The bus finally came and I got on the crowded bus and who happened to be standing next to me, the two guys. They kept looking at me but I didn’t say anything and tried to look away. About 30 minutes into the trip one of them mustered up enough courage to say something to me and he asked where Andrea was. I told her she lived in Juigalpa (white lie), but only to protect her because she lives in a small town that would be easy to find her, while Juigalpa is large and she only goes there every other weekend or so. He asked about me and I told the truth that I was a Peace Corps volunteer and he told me about some volunteers he has met. Then, he asked if I was married. I followed Andrea and said yes, but he tried to catch me in my little white lie. He asked where my ring was, but I shot back with the fact that I don’t wear rings here because it’s dangerous (true!). We made small talk and I had to make a few more white lies when he asked me how long I’ve been married and if I miss my husband back home, but I don’t feel bad about it.

I talked to Andrea later on after I got home and we decided we need to make up fake names and short stories to use on the buses when people try to get too personal, all to protect ourselves. So, I don’t think lying is a good thing, but a few little white lies aren’t so bad…especially when you need to protect yourself in vulnerable situations. Sometimes it can be dangerous to be honest, especially as a young woman in a foreign country.