Another Edition of “I’m an Awkward Gringa…Why Don’t You Stare At Me Some More?”

8 am Thursday morning- one of the cooks from the Comedor Infantil, Paula, and I go shopping to buy a fish for Friday’s lunch. The best place to buy fresh fish here in Corinto is in the Barrio de los Pescadores (Neighborhood of the Fishermen). It’s a neighborhood located right on the ocean- it has amazing views of the islands, fantastic sunsets and great access to the beach. The fish stores or markets are set up in front of or inside of someone’s house or garage. The place we go to is a wide open garage type building filled with bins, buckets, scales and of course, the smell of fish. The bins and buckets have tiny fish, child-size fish, urel, eel, manta rays and shark. It’s a busy place, but because it’s still early in the day, there are many people sitting around drinking their morning coffee. The men fishing in the boats have just come in from an early morning expedition. Some use the spear fishing method, while others use massive nets. You do not see many fishing poles here, at least not in Corinto.

Paula and I choose a fish of about a foot and a half in length- we need enough fish to feed 30 children. The man gives me the fish in one black plastic bag and I give him 50 cordobas (about 2 US dollars). I then put the bag with the fish on my bike handle bars and begin to head home.

Because I am white, I get stared at- even though I have been here for 6 months. I do not have to make a fool of myself and do anything extra to draw attention. Just by being white, people notice me. But, being the awkward-at-times-person that I am, I sometimes draw attention for other reasons.

Anyway, Paula and I bike back to my house. We are right around the corner from my place when the fish bag breaks. The fish slips out through the hole in the bag and flops onto the street. People are staring. The breaks on my bike are broken right now(I promise to get them fixed right away!), so the only way I can stop is to use the Fred Flintstone method. I slow down and start dragging my foot on the ground. As I am attempting to stop my bike in a most comedic manner, the fish is still just lying in the middle of the street. I finally stop and I turn my bike around. There are many many people staring now. Some are laughing; some just stare. Not one single person comes over to help. They just sit and enjoy the strange gringa show.

Eventually Paula takes the fish from me and we make it back to my house. We stuff the fish into my freezer and sit down to rest after our fish flopping fiasco. What a way to start a Thursday!

Stay tuned for more awkward situations to come!