Just as I started to get comfortable with my training town and fell into a groove, it is already time to say goodbye. It is scary to believe, but I am only in Masatepe until this Sunday, but for the rest of the week I will be traveling and not even around. Hopefully this will be an indicator of what to expect once I am actually a volunteer. My first three months flew by and I can only hope that this pace continues for the next two years. I am in no rush to complete my service, but there is something more satisfactory when the time is occupied and you are just being pushed along.
As for this week it has been crazy. Last week was our first week back from our site visits and it definitely made me look at my training town through a new lense. Coming back I felt like I was going home to where I have always been and belonged. I am really enjoying my family and even my little brother, Andres, is not bothering me as much anymore. I have just been trying to make the most of the little time that I do have left and also started traveling around the municipality since I will soon be far away. On this idea I went to Mombacho this Saturday. It is one of the biggest volcanoes here in Nicaragua and I set off early Saturday to find the "secret" termales. I went with a couple other volunteers and we were all excited since we believed we had legit directions. Well about 1 hour into our walk we realized we were not getting any closer to the volcano and also there were no signs of any hot springs. Even later one of the people with us realized that we were not heading to hot springs but a water spring that he has already been to with his family. He told us that it took them about 45 minutes by truck and that meant over 3 hours of walking for us. When we finally did make it we were welcomed to a small natural pool of clear fresh water. It was beautiful and seemed to just be tucked into the countryside. It was probably so much nicer because we just finished walking 14km, but either way it was an enjoyable trip. I would have loved to have made it to some real termales or even have stepped onto the volcano, but I guess I now have a reason to go back.
Other than our little trip to the volcano I went to Jinotepe yesterday with the group from my town. I had been once before, but wanted to go again for a change of scenery and to just be social. Basically, it is the next big town in our area and is famous for its large market. It was a lot of fun just wandering around, but there was a real damper on the day because I was sick.
Right now I am in the Peace Corps Office because I came down with something. Last night I had a scorching fever and I really thought I was going insane. I had two blankets on and was dripping sweat when I woke up this morning. To make it worse, I slept only about 2 hours last night because I would be jolted awake all night by either chills or horrible sweats. The weirdest part was that it went away when I woke up this morning and I even felt well enough to go to my charlas. Probably wasn't the best choice because once I got to my charla I had horrible stomach pains and then people started looking at me funny. Finally someone asked if I had gotten a sunburn and immediately after I realized I was having an allergic reaction to something. My whole face was bright red and little blotches started spreading throughout my body. I didn't feel sick, but anytime you change color you get worried. All of that led to me having to come here to the office and go through a round of testing. They aren't sure what I have, but I need to start looking more carefully at what I eat or just kick this cold. Especially with Swearing-in coming up I don't have time to get sick now and I just have to hope I can kick it before Monday.
If all goes well I am off to IPADE tomorrow, which is the same NGO compound we stayed at when we first got to the country. We get to meet the Ambassador on Friday and even have to spend the night in Managua on Thursday. The next two days are full of charlas which means they will be long days, but hopefully they will seem much more relevant due to the proximity of our ceremony and starting our service.
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