ABSTRACT
The gentle tapping at the window told me that María and Marlene were now off duty and ready for our bus ride to the Mercado Oriental, the Eastern Market. When we arrived at the stop where dozens of people were already waiting, my heart sank as I realized that the overcrowded, dilapidated excuse for a bus that was chugging tentatively to the stop and listing precariously to one side was in fact ours. Packed like just another sardine with sweaty people sitting on my head and shoulders, I smiled wanly at my friends as they began to relate their stories, unique for the particular details of their lives, but representative as well of the lives of the working poor.
So eager were they to talk and so pleased was I to listen and learn, that our conversation stretched into the evening hours and over the next several days, during which time María and Marlene invited me to meet their friends and families, to visit their homes, and to share meals with them. I was again struck by the innate hospitality and generosity of the Nicaraguan people, who give willingly of what little they have.
Good friends and employees at the same hotel in Managua, these two domestic workers recount their family histories; numerous migrations from city to country and back again; typical work days; concern for the health and education of their children; the vicissitudes of living with husbands who are alcohol abusers; and describe their life and work both before and after the Revolution.
