One (Uno) Leg Juan

I got home from Nicaragua a few weeks ago, and ever since then I have been really busy. I keep running into people that I haven't seen since before I left, and they all ask me how Nicaragua was. I thought I would outline some of the highlights and then I can just direct them to my blog. That way I don't have to keep telling the same stories and the popularity of my blog increases. Watch out Rebecca, I am going to start competing with you for most popular blog...

The best Nicaraguan story is about one leg Juan. We helped out on a building project for the first few days that we were in Nicaragua. The first thing I learned how to do was mix cement. We had to measure a certain number of buckets of sand, water, and cement powder. Then we mixed up the cement with shovels. I am telling you--this is hard work. I was mixing my first (and only) batch of cement when I made the comment that Kelly and I were the only ones mixing, and all the Nicaraguans that were there were just watching us. Our friend Brooke looked over and said that they were all watching us because when I leaned over, you could see down my shirt. Well, that was a great excuse to not have to mix any more cement, and I started a new job as the site historian.

This is how I really got to know Juan. I was taking pictures of everything, and Juan loved getting his picture taken. He started talking to me, but he only speaks Spanish. Unless someone is counting or saying the colors of the rainbow in Spanish, I don't understand. I was just smiling and pretending that I knew what he was talking about until Jon Portie came over to interpret. Juan had been telling me that he had been in a construction accident a few years ago, and he only has one leg. He got a prosthetic leg from the Red (rojo) Cross a few year ago. He then pulled up his pant leg to show us that he has a plastic leg.

Juan continued to talk to Jon, but quite suddenly Juan started to unbutton his pants. I had no idea what was going on. I didn't know quite how to react, and the only the Jon Portie said to me was "I'm not sure what he is going to show you this time". I wasn't sure I wanted to know what he was going to show me. He unzipped his pants and pulled one side down over his hip to show me that his plastic leg goes all the way up to his hip. I was trying not to laugh, but for anyone who knows me, you know that I am a giggly girl, and I couldn't hold it in. My face was red, I probably snorted, but I was glad I only saw a plastic leg and not anything else.

I think maybe Juan felt comfortable pulling his pants down in front of me because he had seen down my shirt earlier. Kind of like an eye for an eye. Or maybe in his culture pulling your pants down is not that big of a deal. I'm not really sure of anything except it made me really uncomfortable and nervous and was very funny.

Stay tuned for the next Nicaraguan adventure story!!