Words

I had to laugh this morning.  I went down to get a cup of coffee and Idalia and Blanca were at the pila washing clothes.  Idalia said something that I didn’t quite catch … there are still (and always will be I suspect) many words I don’t know.  So when she said what she said and I didn’t understand I asked her what that one word was.  She repeated it for me.  Rather loudly she said: ‘doliente’   

I laughed out loud – not at her or the word – but it is so common, when someone doesn’t understand a language, when we talk to foreigners to try to help them understand what we are saying, we speak LOUDLY.  Not more slowly with more simple language.  But LOUDLY. 

So I joked with Idalia and thanked her for yelling the word to me so I would understand it better.  We both laughed then and continued the conversation about this word … exaggerating our loudness and having a lovely bit of camaraderie. 

She explained what it meant and why she was feeling that way.  Poor thing. 

“Doliente” basically means ‘sore’.

She was gathering firewood (for cooking) like most people in the cantons have to do.  This is one of her tasks for her family – probably because she is very STRONG. 

She apparently had an extra heavy load yesterday and she strained herself when she loaded them on her head and then again when she dumped them to the ground at her home.  Her side hurts her badly she said.

Así es la vida … la gente siempre doliente por su trabajo diario …

Such is life … people are always sore because of their daily work …