A few of my recent activities

Last night (actually night before...i wrote this yesterday) I went to a local party for a boy that was shipping off to work on the cruise ship. They ship off for 8 months at a time….so there is much need for a celebratory farewell. It was in a small house; such that the 20-25 people packed the entire living room and kitchen (I think the home only had 3 rooms). There were young and old people, and everyone danced. The older ladies were so much fun to watch; they were dancing with the younger guys and having so much fun. Everyone passed around a big bottle of rum to fill their glasses and just sat back and relaxed to the music. Then they passed around soup for everyone. It was a light broth soup with some vegetables. it was really fun to experience a little local party. And even though I didn’t really know many people, I really felt relaxed and everyone was so nice to me. After a few hours everyone (the younger people) went out to the dance hall to dance.
Today I checked out the casino here in Bluefields. Mostly like any other casino, but it was really small. All the machines were 1 Cordoba (about 5 cents), and most have the actual handle you pull and the 3 things spin to match up. I didn’t win much, but my friend hit a “jack-pot” of $450 (Cordoba)….so that was about 23 dollars….not such jack-pot really. Since I supplied the money in the first place (I am the sugar-mama) we just stayed for a few hours and gambled the winnings. So that was sort of fun to do for the afternoon!
A few days ago I went to El Bluff. It is a small town on the other side of the lagoon, where the main port is. There is a beautiful beach and a big bluff where you can look out over the ocean. It was such a beautiful place. There are no cars there and it is much like Bluefields, but only about 2000 people. I met a family and they were such great people. One of the boys showed me around the place all day. It was so nice to be on the beach, and see all of the fishing industry. Although the economic situation at El Bluff is struggling a lot as well. One of the main reasons is that a fabrica for fish (canning plant) that employed about 500 people shut down a few years ago. That had a dramatic effect on the community. It was so sad speaking with the older man, as he described the bleak situation he teared up. Saying that he has seen people go hungry and it makes him so sad. That really had an effect on me, I wish so much that there was something that I could do….. The people of the Atlantic coast need jobs more than anything. Its not that they don’t want to work, there just is none to be had. Investors don’t want to put money into businesses either because of the instability of the government…it really is a difficult situation. If I had money, I would buy the fabrica and re-open it….that’s what I would do.
Last night I went out dancing. We first went to a place over the water for drinks. It was one of the most beautiful nights I have seen in Bluefields, the sky was perfectly clear and you could see all the stars. Then went to the dance place, it is a dark Caribbean style club that is about 120 degrees and was packed with people. It was so hot that I could only dance one or two songs before going out for air. Then we went to a house next to the club that sells late night food right inside their house. Everyone just comes in to the living room and buys their food in the kitchen and sits on the couches to eat…very interesting. I had hot soup again…that seems to be the favorite late night snack here. It is hot because you put pepper juice in it, super spicy!!! That will sober you up relay fast! Then we went back to dance more, but soon a fight broke out….sort of scary because the place is a bit dogey and I guess that people get shot there sometime. So my friend said we should leave before it got to that point…..
So the only thing that is not going good on this trip is my Spanish. I only am around Creole speaking people mostly, so it has been hard. Even though they speak Spanish as well, they just automatically talk to me in English…I think that my English has actually gotten worse too. I have started to talk a little Creole I tink! I find myself leaving out a’s and s’s and other preposition words: so like to say “will you come to the park with me?” I will say “come to park?” or to say “ I have a banana” I say “I have banana” or to say “my friends are nice” I say “my friend nice”….so hopefully that won’t stick for too long when I go home….I don’t know what people will think I did on this trip!