there are still nice people out there...

for my last afternoon in granada, nicaragua, i went with the kids and their dads to a little village celebration outside of the city while the moms got some rest at the hotel.  it was an adventure trying to figure out the chicken buses and the schedules but we made it there fine, had some popcorn and walked around for a bit, enjoying the music and the sights.

getting back to the hotel was more of an adventure, since we got three different answers from three different people for one, simple question: at what time does the granada bus pass by?  (since starting to travel, my M.O. has been to ask the same question to as many people as possible, and then try to average/reconcile all the answers, or try to discern the most popular answer.  didn't get enough responses this time :)  )

we waited a bit for the bus we wanted, but not wanting to stand around too long, we ended up deciding to  take the bus to another town to take yet another one back to granada, thus traveling in a triangle.

we got on the first bus, where a woman helped us and told us what to do.  we got off on the street to wait for the bus that would take us on the third ray of the triangle.  when it finally came, it was packed and i kept all my personal belongings really close.  the kids loved standing on this bus, too, and tried to surf it out while i just tried to be alert and blend in as much as possible.  but, at some point, jeff murmured, "someone took my wallet."  he headed toward the front door of the bus, and i looked at the three kids behind me.  ken had been sitting closer to the front.

while this was happening, a bilingual Eng/Span man on the bus had understood jeff, and shouted to his buddies (in Spanish) what had happened.  at that point, three giant nicaraguan men jumped off the bus, in pursuit of another man wearing a white-striped shirt.  the bus was at a red-light, and all of the passengers descended upon the left side of the bus to watch the events unfold, ducking their heads to be able to peer out of the school bus windows.  the three men confronted white stripe man across the street, where he was trying to wait nonchalantly for another bus with another man (his partner-in-crime, who had talked to/distracted us on the bus).  realizing he had been caught, the first man dropped the wallet on the ground behind him and they both bolted in the other direction.

jeff got his wallet back from the three guys (there are still nice people out there!) and everything went back to normal, except for all the excited chatter around us.  when we finally got off the bus at the end of the line, the bilingual man got off at the same spot.  he told us that he had been watching the man in the white-striped shirt since he got on, understood jeff's english and was able to act so quickly because of that.  he could have walked home faster, but instead sauntered slowly with us (we had three tired children).  he walked with us all the way to the hotel.  so kind. 

he was a baseball player, playing daily for the nicaraguan leagues.  he had just gotten out of practice and was heading back home to granada with his cousin (?) and friends.  we made small talk, he told us about his daughter and about the new dangers that granada was facing.

knowing that he was probably into major league baseball, i asked him what his favorite team was.

he looked at me sideways.  "you want to know my favorite team?"  he looked unsure.

i said, "yes, what is your favorite team?"

"the boston red sox."

am i trying to insinuate anything?  i dunno ;)