Nicknames

I have discussed before here that I stand out in Nicaragua—I am tall, white and Spanish is obviously not my first language. Fact: Nicaraguans like nicknames. So here is a list of things I am called:

Chele--means white person, less offensive than gringa and is not for North Americans exclusively, this is what almost all cat calls use for me

Gringa—basically the same as above but applies only to people from the USA, used some in catcalls also recently found out that the group that I do homework assignments with puts this in parenthesis after my name on assignments

As a single girl, my Nicaraguan friends give me a hard time about every guy I so much as talk to and then feminize the guy´s nickname and use it for me. So I am Paya, China (yep, Chinese) and Cherepa ( a type of lizard). Sometimes this goes farther with the family of the aforementioned referring to me as cuñada, sister-in-law.

Probably the most offensive of my nicknames is imperialista. Down here, the US is seen as an imperialist power so there for I am obviously an imperialist.

The neighborhood favorite is tranquileña from when I was misheard mispronouncing inquileños at a birthday party.

Chamanita-after my favorite club in Nicaragua.