Culture Lesson I

A couple nights ago I went on a walk with three teenage guys: Yader, Maudiel and Donald from NPH. We walked to the town center which is a very small square block of trees, bushes, dirt, concrete benches and two little tiendas with chairs outside selling BBQ chicken and soda.

Donald, Yader and I sat down on a little wall when Maudiel paused to chat with a friend he ran into. I offered 20 Cordobas (a little over a dollar) in the pursuit of soda for everyone. We knew what we all wanted except Maudiel who was still talking with his friend.

After a little bit there was a pause in the conversation where both of them were looking different directions and not saying anything. I called out to Maudiel who was about 10 feet away from me. He looked, but by this time, Yader, who had already told me we had to wait for them to be finished, and I were arguing about whether or not they were still in a conversation.

Yader and me in the kitchen later on.

Yader informed me that they were still talking ‘in their heads’. After a few seconds of us arguing, Maudiel and his friend resumed their chatting. Now Yader has interesting perspectives on lots of stuff and will say things that are blatently not true with a straight face daring you to catch him in his bluff. But this one appeared to be fairly true.