Woman Counting Money

[Robert Watcher]

A woman counting out her change at the bus wicket - to see if she has enough money for her trip.

 

[Asher Kelman]

A woman counting out her change at the bus wicket - to see if she has enough money for her trip.

Rob,

Theres' a lot going on here. The money counting is intriguing. Is she counting the change after she bought that night dress, or whatever it is on her right shoulder. Here face shows such a deep set of lines, that at first I thought she had had some injury or tumor. However, these just seem to be lines of aging exaggerated by the lighting.

Asher

 

[Robert Watcher]

Rob,

Theres' a lot going on here. The money counting is intriguing. Is she counting the change after she bought that night dress, or whatever it is on her right shoulder. Here face shows such a deep set of lines, that at first I thought she had had some injury or tumor. However, these just seem to be lines of aging exaggerated by the lighting.

Asher

The coins in Nicaragua are called Cordobas. Most common are 1 cordoba and there are also very slightly larger 5 Cordoba coins which aren't as common. This woman was standing by the bus ticket window, early in the morning - evident by the long shadow in front of her. The price for the trip from Leon to Chinandega is on the paper on the wall - 26 Cordobas.

1 Cordoba at current rates is roughly 4 U.S. Cents. So the trip would cost around $1 U.S. There are many people that we know who barely make that much in a day - whether through begging or little bits of work they may pick up from time to time. A more common wage based on full time work in say a hotel or working in a store, may be around 60 -70 Cordobas per day. But I have heard of some having to work 10 hours for that amount. Just to give a sense of how precious this woman's few coins may be to her.


I was walking around the Terminal, noticed her and grabbed a shot on the move, and carried on. It was just interesting content, lighting and composition to me. So I can only presume that she was counting her coins to see if she had enough to catch the next bus. She is probably a very poor sun beaten person - may have begged for the coins to travel - or may just be standing counting her earnings and that happened to be in front of the ticket window. But I'll go with the counting coins for the bus story to suit my image.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Thanks, Rob, that's a great story. Your explanation adds a lot of richness. I can imagine her looking for any of the higher denomination coins! Now what about the dress/blouse or nightdress over her shoulder. That does seem rather odd to me. At first I mistook it for a sling to support a damaged arm or wrist!

Asher

 

[Robert Watcher]

Thanks, Rob, that's a great story. Your explanation adds a lot of richness. I can imagine her looking for any of the higher denomination coins! Now what about the dress/blouse or nightdress over her shoulder. That does seem rather odd to me. At first I mistook it for a sling to support a damaged arm or wrist!

Asher

Such sights are not odd down here. I don't know what it is. Could be to protect arms from the sun - a place to store personal belongings - or could be a homemade sling.

A funny story a couple days ago on a bus we were traveling on. Preface this with most local woman storing their phones in their bras - so they are always reaching in and grabbing their phone and putting it back when done.

So this rather distinguished woman, was standing in the aisle of the bus. She reaches into her bra and has a strange look on her face. She pulls her hand out and opens her small purse to hunt around for her phone. It was't there. So she feels all around her breasts on the outside of her blouse, squeezing different objects as the phone had to be there.

Then a look of relief as she again reaches in and first pulls out her wallet and then the phone that was obviously tucked away underneath it. The wallet went back in - she made her phone call - then te phone went back into it's storage location.

My wife Anne & I got a lot of amusement out of watching the procedure. From living in Central America for so long, there isn't much that comes as a shock. In fact most of the time we don't even pay attention or notice such daily goings on.

 

[Robert Watcher]

I have added a little extra info about the value of the woman's coins, above.

 

[Asher Kelman]

I have added a little extra info about the value of the woman's coins, above.

Hilarious! I can imagine some gallant young man offering to answer her phone for her, LOL!

Asher