WHEN YOU CANT FIND ONE THING YOU IMPROVISE

YESTERDAY I accompanied my Nica-Managua Dad and Nica-Man Brother to the market Oriental. I have been telling my Managua family that I would make a Mexican dish for them sometime and I thought that day had come. To my surprise I couldn't find Chile Serrano or hitomate Verde. It was also a bit difficult to find some lightly salted cheese. My experience was just like a roller coaster. We catch the bus close to home but the driver was anxious to catch up to the bus ahead that all the passengers were literally holding on for their dear lives. It was really a sight to see because I could not stop laughing at how fast the bus driver was going. My dad then told me that the government only subsidizes a portion of the bus' fuel expense but that the earnings comes from how many passengers a bus gets. Since many routes overlap the bus drivers compete with one another because they want to get the first patch of passengers waiting on the road. In the market it was a similar experience as in the bus except it was more like we were all bus drivers trying to get through the sales persons. There was pushing, touching, yelling, stopping, speed walking, dodging, getting left behind, getting thirsty, sweating, bargaining and so on. There are so many fruits being sold there! Some fruits are giants, like the papaya, avocado, and cilantro. The ride back was just like the one there. Except this time I believe my knee hit the side of a seat and started bleeding. I didn’t realize that I had a bleeding knee until I was at a friend’s house eating cake. Since I was missing some key ingredients for the enchiladas I had to improvise. Instead of the Chile Serrano we used jalapenos and this really tiny chile that I can’t recall the name of but it is super spicy. The combination of the two made a perfectly spiced salsa for the enchiladas. Since the microwave wasn't functioning we heated the tortillas by putting them over boiling water so that the steam would help soften them in a bag. At the end the meal was delicious. The mixture of the two chiles gave the enchiladas a spicy yet tolerable taste. Even though my Nica family doesn't really eat spicy they did enjoy the meal. The rest of the day I was tired and when I am tired I laugh a lot AND complain about the small stuff like walking.