Wednesday, December 02, 2009

A funny thing happened on the way into town today.....

     First, let me start by explaining “going to town.”  The city I live in is a fairly good sized one, but it is a medium – small town.  There are about 15,000 people that live here and when you say “I am going downtown” it actually means you are going into the heart of the town, which is the large market and all the shops and boutiques that surround said market.  It is a VERY active place and usually has a lot of people buying and selling, catching taxi's, waiting to get on a rapid (small bus like vehicle) to take them to one of the smaller  towns or villages that surround the town or getting on a bus to go to one of the bigger towns several hours away; So as you can see, it is truly the “heart of the town.”

     Back to my story; While walking through my neighborhood on my way into town today, as usual a child saw me and called out “toubaco” which means white person.  Now I know what you are thinking, how rude, there is no way we would just call out something like that in America.  Well here, they do not see to many white people so that is what they do; and therefore it is ok to answer back “baleejio” which, as you guessed it, means black person.  Having learned this term recently, I thought I would try it out.  I had just passed a guy before coming upon this child sitting outside a door to a compound.  When the child, maybe 4 years old, called out, I responded, much to the child’s surprise, as evident on his face and not knowing what to say next.  As he sat with a VERY shocked look on his face, the guy I just passed started laughing….HARD!  He entered the compound and started to tell what had just happened, and for the next 5 – 6 houses I could hear the laughter as he retold the story several times.

3 comments:

Angela said...

Love it! I am curious how well that would work in Guatemala. Hmm . . .

Kelly said...

(I just found your blog)what a cute story.

Max Kent said...

I'll have to remember this one when I go "downtown" next time. In one particular area they holler out "gringo!" So, you know I'm gonna try that!