I checked out of Hotel Europa, got a taxi to the bus station and whilst sat there I got talking to a nice lady as we filled out our customs forms. After I lent her my pen she offered me a cookie. Now I know not to accept gifts from strangers but thought #Yolo #NoParents! and said yes.
On the bus, (1/2 locals, 1/2 people looking for a cool Profile Picture) I went up and asked the lady if I could practice my Spanish with her. Rosie said “Si”.
The next hour was spent largely her speaking normally, with me nodding and repeating the last word she just said. Through the swathe of words we (unevenly) exchanged, I was able to garner some bits of information about Nicaragua, and we also shared descriptions of our famillies etc.
Her father and 5 siblings live in Nicaragua, but she moved to Costa Rica to work. Her brothers are a: taxi driver, lorry driver and a farmer. We established (on 3 serparate occassions) that she worked as a dry cleaner/ at the airport/ as an accountant…
When talking about the country of Nicaragua, I learnt the Spanish for earthquake (“fue de terremoto” – 1972), Civil War (“guerra” – 1979) and, she was thankfully quick to add that there is now peace (“paz”)
I said “Adios” to Rosie as she left at Granada and I went on to Managua.
