Chela

Who knows what "chela" means?

This is a new term to me. At first I thought it was funny, then I thought it offensive, and now I'm just indifferent. Down in Honduras, our translators and some of the boys at the orphanage called me chela. One little boy, Omar would follow me around, point at me and say "chela". I would say, "No, me llamo Chrissy, not chela". But he would just call me chela anyway.

So... ready? Chela means blonde hair/white girl. At first, I thought it was funny by simply the fact that they have a term for us beyond gringa. But then when the little boy would call me chela, I was a little offended because to me it was like him calling me "blondie" or something. I woudn't appreciate that if someone called me that here. Teasingly, I told one of our translators that I didn't like the little boy because he was calling me chela. But the translator, A-Bob, told me it wasn't a bad thing... more like a compliment. So now I don't really care because I don't really get the context of chela.

I watched Dirty Dancing Havana Nights after getting back from Honduras and the first thing I thought when I saw Romola Garai was "Wow, she is soooo chela". :P