Call me loca, but it recently occurred to me that, in Nicaragua at least, the number of people begging in the street has diminished. Rather, people are becoming micro-entrepreneurs--selling gum in small packs, homemade bracelets of rope and shells, or Oreos in 4-cookie packets. Many even clean your car windows instead, using a water bottle and squeegee, albeit it is oftentimes unasked for. Sure, there are still the mothers with hollowed-out faces, or the children telling you to ¨Dame un peso¨ because you´re a gringo, but I also feel like people are starting to catch on that begging may not be the best way to make money on the street anymore.
Call me loca again, but I have mixed feelings about what this means. On the one hand, of course it´s frickin fantastic that people are working for an income instead of looking for handouts. And, the resourcefulness of selling individual packets of things also impresses me. But, to some extent, I also think it represents the gross overcommercialization of our world. Look at how much crap we are buying.
The cynicist in me asks: Is Nicaragua just on their way to becoming another commercialized culture? It´s been a topic that´s been coming up a lot in the small groups I have been translating for, the idea that now everyone here must have cell phones and tvs and refrigerators and microwaves as well, etc etc. And, getting back to the idea of buying things on the street, it pains me to see a mom spending 5 cordobas on a bag of Ranchitos (Nicaragua´s version of Doritos) for their kids instead of saving up to buy milk or some kind of meat for them.
Maybe I´m reading too much into all of this, and maybe it isn´t my place to judge if people here want the same level of comfort as in the U.S. But, at the same time, I´ve also really appreciated the simplification of my life here, and I hope I´m not simply taking advantage of people´s lives here, but I am learning a lot from them.
In short, if anyone has an easy, 1 or 2 sentence answer to this rant, please leave it in the comments section. :)
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1 comment:
ok, i'm becoming creepy readying through these all, but i really do miss some things about nica...esp the spanish (yea, you should tell akf that one!!! jaja) but as a tiny responce, I think we struggle through these questions but we learn that there is no real answer. It is impossible not to judge at times, but that judgement can bring about great critical thinking and possibly make other people think deeper! Paz y alegria mujer (o hombre en nica-lol)!
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