April 5th 2025

Today I helped my grandmother with her booth at a Tamale festival downtown.

My grandmother made 2 buckets of Cacao (essentially a really good chocolate milk drink) and she baked Perrereke (this sweetish bread that's made with canella, cheese and a bit of milk and sugar).  

She rented a table with her friend and I helped her set it up. We put up the Nicaragua flag on the wall behind us, and wrote our prices on a sign. I handled the money.

^My fit (under my jacket)

The bread sold out an hour into the event, and soon we were down to one bucket of Cacao. Halfway through the event we ran out of ice. There weren't any stalls selling it, and so I told my grandmother that I'd look around for a nearby store selling some. 

There weren't any, but I found a gas station on my phone a couple streets away. So I took a bus there, which I was nervous about because I don't often go downtown, but it was a 10 min ride so it was okay. It was raining, so I was glad I wore a hooded jacket this time and a baseball cap. I then went into the store, took 3 bags of ice, and at the cash the guy seemed a bit surprised that I was only buying ice, but gave me a bag so that made it easier to carry on the bus. On the way out, this intimidating-looking guy held the door which was helpful lol. I took the bus back, and on the walk the rain was POURING. I finally made it back and we had more than enough ice for the rest of the event.

^How I felt (an ice-delivery man from the late 1800s)

They hired some singers, bands and traditional dancers to perform on the stage at the front of the building. The building was FULL of people halfway through, and there wasn't much participation from the audience but I think the performances were really good. I also went to look around the other stalls set up. They were mostly selling food, but there was one stall selling Mexican clothing and nick-knacks which I really liked.

We ended up with most of the Cacao in the last bucket, but we made a decent amount of cash from the event.

Youtube Video Link: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTSGd8GbyCM