✍️ Narrative Writing – Step by Step

Many years ago, I (travel) along Central America with a friend.

We (travel) across Honduras for a couple of days when we (arrive) at the border with Nicaragua.

When we (show) our passports to the border officers, they (tell) us that in order to cross the border we had to pay some money; it wasn’t much, maybe a couple of dollars.

“What?” I said. I couldn't believe it. We didn’t have any money, because we (see) any banks in the few villages we (visit) along the way.

We had a credit card, but it was Sunday and the banks were closed, so we couldn’t take out any money in the nearby villages. We (beg) the officers to let us cross, but they just wanted to get their four dollars and they didn't care if we had to stay there the whole weekend.

We (stand) there, next to the officers, when an old man dressed in very old and dirty clothes (say), “I’ll pay the taxes for these two young men.”

We were amazed. That man looked very poor, the kind of person for whom 4 dollars could be a big deal. “We don’t know how to thank you,” I said. And he replied, “A la mano que da, nunca le falta de nada”, which means something like 'A giving hand never goes empty'.