Chicharra

Orange Charlie was another eccentric character in Yelapa. He always wore orange-colored clothes and drank orange-flavored Fanta. Rumor had it that Charlie had taken one too many tabs of LSD, but that could probably be said about many of Yelapa's early gringo residents. In my mind, Charlie was a harmless character. He always carried a clicker that made the sound of a cricket or chicharra (cicada) which attracted the village children. He would click above their heads and offer a prayer and then give each child a small square pscyhedelic sticker. He was the Orange Pied Piper of Yelapa.

When I first came to Yelapa, I only knew how to count to 15 in Spanish. That was my limited vocabulary. One time I went into PV to do some shopping. I wanted some dyes and other art supplies. Obviously to me, chicharra was the word for orange. I went to several shops and asked for chicharra only to be met by blank stares. I finally pointed to the box of dye colored orange and was informed by the clerk that word was naranja!