Since Mama left I have attempted to get back to some sort of normal. I mean it is not common to go parading around Nicaragua on a limitless budget, to go to the mall, eat a fancy dinner, and return the there following night solo. I guess I forgot to mention that, after I dropped Mama off at the airport I had a few doctor appointments and thus had to spend the night. I promised Mama I would go out for one more nice dinner and to me that meant the mall. So I went and in a last minute splurge went to see Avatar complete with popcorn and later went to the wings place to get a burger and watch the basketball game. The waiter got a kick of it, but I tipped him well so he can’t say anything.
So this last week has been me trying to reestablish bonds with the community. I don’t know if it is true or not, but I was worried that I had been gone too long and just feared that no one would want to talk to me. Luckily quite the opposite happened, I got right into work mode, visited all my schools and picked up where I left off playing baseball. I am now some how the co-leader of an infantil baseball team and I got them hooked on playing American Football. I also dug my compost pit and prepped my backyard for a garden. That is as far as I am going to get on the garden because we have just entered the dry season and it is drought time. I am already out of water and hoping I have enough stored in my barrel until it comes back. So that means I am using the water for me, not some plants that my program idiotically says I need to grow during the dry season. Yet, the one thing I am having success with is my water filtration project. I got a fire lit under me when the director said she was coming in two weeks to use my site as an example to a group of donors. Well since Monday I have been able to install two filters in the Casa de Materna and a NGO called PCAC. Both groups were very excited for this project and I already have at least 4 people lined up to buy their own filters and hopefully more once they too see the filters in use. It feels good to finally see some tangible results of me being here, but I guess this project is no different than me playing with the kids down at the field and sharing my experiences. I struggle with identifying my success and how to measure it, but it is days like this that I realize I am doing something when I am walking home and everybody is yelling my name and smiling.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Getting to Know Nicaragua and San Dionisio with Mama
How we spent most of our vacation
My luxurious kitchen
My Backyard
My first house
Mama´s first view of Nicaragua... the highwayYou may have to forgive me if these entries make little to no sense and seem to not only just bumble along a sporadic and neurotic timeline at best, but find enfold upon themselves into knots of paradoxes and conundrums. In order to ensure that no entry is too long and in an organizational attempt to not forget any detail I am going to try and make each day or major event as it’s own entry. However, I understand that this not only defies the space-time continuum as past events will actually be entered in as more current events and thus such a rift will not only defy string theory and quantum mechanics, but if following the laws of thermodynamics we would also combust due to the excessive heat generated by the friction of multidimensional travel. Good thing this is nothing more than a blog and I guess I really have had nothing else better to do as I am now citing laws that I have little if any grasp upon.
Let’s start over… this last week I was fortunate enough to have my first visitor in Nicaragua. It was none other than my mama. I remember when she told me right after New Years that she wanted to come down around January 11th. I recall rather than exalting my excitement I came across as almost disappointed. I assure this was far from the truth, but the fact of my mama finally coming to visit stressed me out The Peace Corps has singlehandedly broken down my ability to multitask and cope with stress like I used to. I am a far cry from the shadow of my dad and as a result the new burden of planning for my mom’s visit sent me into frenzy. I was worried that there wouldn’t be enough for us to, where would we go, where would we stay, what if she didn’t like my site? I was worried because in my normal fashion I had already double booked my birthday weekend and with my mom coming it was now triple booked. I was living right up to my reputation in the States as over committing and thus falling short in all realms. Well luckily it did all work out and I went to pick my mom up on the airport on Tuesday, January 12th.
My mom left CT around 2:30 in the morning to catch her 5am flight and to eventually arrive in Managua by 1:30pm. She already had a long day before she got to Nicaragua but I had a surprise for her, we were going to make the trek all the way back to my site, a mere 5hr bus ride. I too had to get up early, around 4am to catch the first bus and leave oscuro for Managua. It was exciting waiting for Mama in the airport and I recognized her instantly through the glass as she was walking through baggage claim. Now I try not to be emotional but it was so amazing to see my mom after 5 months and I couldn’t help but feel excited, sad, anxious, and loved all at the same time. Now I am used to Nicaragua by now and I am surprised how what shocks some people now just comes across as normal for me. I helped Mama get all her stuff out of the airport and rather than paying the extortionist fee of 120 cords to the bus station ($6) I figured we would just wait on the side of the road for 40 minutes for the bus to come by. Well Mama’s first hour in Nicaragua was thus spent sitting on the side of the highway while taxis drove by honking; trucks blew exhaust at us, and just being bombarded by odd looks. Luckily the first bus to Matagalpa is an old coach bus and is luxurious by Nica standards. We got to watch a movie and it is on actual paved roads. When we got to Matagalpa I kept the whirlwind experience going by hustling Mama over to a cab and shipping off to the next bus station to catch our last leg to San Dionisio. This part wasn’t as much fun. I am used to having to do the entire trip a pie, but it is rough if you aren’t accustomed to dirt roads, an old US school bus, and being thrown around like a ship during a hurricane. It was a lot for Mama to take in especially after being up since 2am but she is a trooper.
Finally getting to site wasn’t too eventful. It was already dark, by now it was 7pm and we just made it to my family’s house where we would be spending the night. My mom got her first taste of gallo pinto and the quahada, which is just salty cheese. Let’s just say that the one dinner was enough her for and she was set for the rest of the vacation. On a similar note, the next morning she got a taste of the Nicaraguan coffee which is nothing more than sugar with a drop of instant coffee. She told me that Melina would fit in here, but Mama avoided coffee for the rest of the trip. Our big plan for the first day at site was for Mama to meet my host family and some of my friends. Now usually you might expect this to be a big to-do with formal greetings and your normal conversation starters. Well here it was more about awkward silences, not really sure what to do, and people just moving on. So what I planned to be an entire day of introductions was done before lunch and that meant I got to walk around town. Again we finished the town pretty quickly and we took some pictures to show the rest of the family and hopefully post on here. We did make it up to my new house which is out in another community known as San Francisco. It is about a 15minute walk up a hill and in an area much quieter. I got that same feeling as I did when I got my apartment on Thorndike St. Mama made me feel like I made a mistake and my frugality seemed to be glaring at me in the face. I was worried that I got in too deep and that I should have forked over the extra 100 cords ($5) to live in town. Well we made it nice with the 80lbs of food and gear that Mama brought for me. By the end it felt like I was living more in a college apartment than roughing it in the Peace Corps. That night we were able to sleep up at my new house and rest up for the surprise I had waiting for Mama the following day.
Let’s start over… this last week I was fortunate enough to have my first visitor in Nicaragua. It was none other than my mama. I remember when she told me right after New Years that she wanted to come down around January 11th. I recall rather than exalting my excitement I came across as almost disappointed. I assure this was far from the truth, but the fact of my mama finally coming to visit stressed me out The Peace Corps has singlehandedly broken down my ability to multitask and cope with stress like I used to. I am a far cry from the shadow of my dad and as a result the new burden of planning for my mom’s visit sent me into frenzy. I was worried that there wouldn’t be enough for us to, where would we go, where would we stay, what if she didn’t like my site? I was worried because in my normal fashion I had already double booked my birthday weekend and with my mom coming it was now triple booked. I was living right up to my reputation in the States as over committing and thus falling short in all realms. Well luckily it did all work out and I went to pick my mom up on the airport on Tuesday, January 12th.
My mom left CT around 2:30 in the morning to catch her 5am flight and to eventually arrive in Managua by 1:30pm. She already had a long day before she got to Nicaragua but I had a surprise for her, we were going to make the trek all the way back to my site, a mere 5hr bus ride. I too had to get up early, around 4am to catch the first bus and leave oscuro for Managua. It was exciting waiting for Mama in the airport and I recognized her instantly through the glass as she was walking through baggage claim. Now I try not to be emotional but it was so amazing to see my mom after 5 months and I couldn’t help but feel excited, sad, anxious, and loved all at the same time. Now I am used to Nicaragua by now and I am surprised how what shocks some people now just comes across as normal for me. I helped Mama get all her stuff out of the airport and rather than paying the extortionist fee of 120 cords to the bus station ($6) I figured we would just wait on the side of the road for 40 minutes for the bus to come by. Well Mama’s first hour in Nicaragua was thus spent sitting on the side of the highway while taxis drove by honking; trucks blew exhaust at us, and just being bombarded by odd looks. Luckily the first bus to Matagalpa is an old coach bus and is luxurious by Nica standards. We got to watch a movie and it is on actual paved roads. When we got to Matagalpa I kept the whirlwind experience going by hustling Mama over to a cab and shipping off to the next bus station to catch our last leg to San Dionisio. This part wasn’t as much fun. I am used to having to do the entire trip a pie, but it is rough if you aren’t accustomed to dirt roads, an old US school bus, and being thrown around like a ship during a hurricane. It was a lot for Mama to take in especially after being up since 2am but she is a trooper.
Finally getting to site wasn’t too eventful. It was already dark, by now it was 7pm and we just made it to my family’s house where we would be spending the night. My mom got her first taste of gallo pinto and the quahada, which is just salty cheese. Let’s just say that the one dinner was enough her for and she was set for the rest of the vacation. On a similar note, the next morning she got a taste of the Nicaraguan coffee which is nothing more than sugar with a drop of instant coffee. She told me that Melina would fit in here, but Mama avoided coffee for the rest of the trip. Our big plan for the first day at site was for Mama to meet my host family and some of my friends. Now usually you might expect this to be a big to-do with formal greetings and your normal conversation starters. Well here it was more about awkward silences, not really sure what to do, and people just moving on. So what I planned to be an entire day of introductions was done before lunch and that meant I got to walk around town. Again we finished the town pretty quickly and we took some pictures to show the rest of the family and hopefully post on here. We did make it up to my new house which is out in another community known as San Francisco. It is about a 15minute walk up a hill and in an area much quieter. I got that same feeling as I did when I got my apartment on Thorndike St. Mama made me feel like I made a mistake and my frugality seemed to be glaring at me in the face. I was worried that I got in too deep and that I should have forked over the extra 100 cords ($5) to live in town. Well we made it nice with the 80lbs of food and gear that Mama brought for me. By the end it felt like I was living more in a college apartment than roughing it in the Peace Corps. That night we were able to sleep up at my new house and rest up for the surprise I had waiting for Mama the following day.
Forced Marches Can be Fun Too
Walking to Esquipulas
Mama about halfway into the trek
The madness of the bus station
Just way too many peopleI guess there is no way to really mentally prepare you for the “walk” to Esquipulas. I am reluctant to call it a stroll because I think my mom would kill me, but I am hesitant to call it a hike or a trek because walk is just such an understatement and juxtaposition to feat that we actually completed that it works so perfectly. I will do my best to set the scene for you. My town is focused around the Catholic Church and the adjacent concha which is a park and basketball court that is more frequently used for futbol. There is one road that splits at the point of the park and envelopes the entire area. As my mom and I walked down into from my house you can see the concha and park from about 4 blocks away. The normal scene is to see a school bus passing through and a group of 5-6 chavalos sitting on the corner doing nothing. Well… let me tell you, today it was like walking into the center of a refugee camp. It is horrible to use the analog but it is the best way to describe the madness, the filthiness, the garbage, and chaos that ensued. The road was lined with about 20 buses on either side of the park, I guess people had been pouring in since the night before and there were shanty tents and hammocks still set-up from where they decided to squat for the night. In addition there were vendors selling water and any type of food accompanied by the mandatory plastic bag. As with all Nica things all the garbage ended up right on the floor and by the time we walked down there around noon it was like walking on a plastic carpet. I don’t mean to bash them and I understand large festivals in the States have the same problem, but it was pretty disgusting as it was accompanied by the exhaust of all the buses.
The main herd headed out around 12:30, but I got a tip from one of my Nica friends to wait a little so it wouldn’t be so congested and I was told it was mas tranquilo. Now you may be asking yourselves why there would be about 2000 people in my town ready to march to the next town and more importantly why is this a big deal? Good questions and I am glad you asked… one is that it is the patron saint festival in Esquipulas and for some reason all the towns within 60 miles decide it is worth celebrating. Also, it is a huge deal because even though Esquipulas is the next town, it is a 20km walk away on dirt roads and ascending and descending countless hills.
I don’t know how, but I convinced Mama to take on this odyssey with me and we headed out with my Nica friend, Jason, (yes we have the same name) and his two friends. It started off all dandy, I was in high spirits and I had the chance to point out two of my schools along the way. Given the closest school is a 30min walk and the following one is an additional hour. Either way, we were in high spirits by the time we made it to the turnoff to my second school and I figured if Mama was tired we would just hop a bus. Well, poor planning on my part. The buses that went by looked like living hells, imagine cattle cars but with an additional 20 cows somehow squeezed in and another 30 stacked on the roof for good measure. There was no way Mama was getting on one of those buses and I wasn’t either. It was also funny because both of us were stubborn and unwilling to give up. I figured for sure that Mama was going to kill me and walking did get pretty old after kilometer 6 or so. I mean there are only so many dirt roads you can stare at and deforested cattle land you can take pictures of. There were some highlights of the trip… I got to take some pretty funny videos of Mama interview style asking what she was thinking signing up for this, we got a huge plume of black smoke blown on us from a bus, we had aching feet from the constant pounding of rocks, and it was cute seeing my host family waiting for us around 2/3 through the trip to walk the last leg together.
Four and a half hours later we finally made it to the entrance of Esquipulas, did I mention that we forgot to bring any water and were relying on oranges for nourishment? I was pooped and I am sure Mama was near exhaustion. It just so happened as we were walking into town that I spied Icia and Angus, two volunteers and the people I was supposed to meet up with later. I said by the my Nica friends and we ducked into the house to just sit down and ponder what we just accomplished. We were staying in another volunteer’s house, Stephanie’s, and it made me feel a little more at home to be meeting people in a house. Angus made a surprisingly good dinner of rice and beans and retold some stories about how he has either spent all his Peace Corps money on going out with his buddies or how he built a gym out of trees and cement blocks. My mom got to see what true volunteer life was like and I got to rest my weary feet. However, it wasn’t all relaxation yet. I promised Jason and his family that I would meet them out in town and I had to live up to my word. My mom and I ventured out into town and it was the scene from San Dionisio but at a much larger scale. Now, the town is only marginally bigger but there were an additional 5000 people there set-up for the long haul. People actually constructed plastic shanty houses, there were vendors selling anything fried, and the crowds actually seemed to be exhibiting tidal patterns. It was sheer chaos and I was truly overwhelmed. I was tired of getting pushed around in the crowd especially by a population a head shorter than me and it was grotesque how much worse the garbage was, you could feel it all crunching under your steps. I finally told my friend I had to get out of there and we retreated back to the house.
Some other notable events from the day was that Icia was getting her bed delivered during the worst possible time and it was coming in on a bus. Of course Icia also didn’t have any money and we stiffed the cobrador 100 cords, in our defense he was blatantly overcharging. He then threatened Icia that he would get his money and this ties into another event later in the night. Also, I pulled a classic move and got sick. Now, I was already sick, I was getting fevers at night, but this is Nicaragua and I was in an uncontrolled shiver all night. I had to breakdown and buy the warmest thing I could find which was a Ecko false double-layered long sleeve shirt. Mama and I shared and bed and other than my shivers I was able to sleep, until… Until the incessant honking of bus horns that sounded like each driver decided to park right in front of the house and give off a 10 blast salute. Now the connection with this and the anecdote earlier is that the first time I heard the beeping I thought it was early morning and it was the bus driver with the mattress coming to kill us. I remember bolting out of bed, running to the front door, and making sure the door was locked. I quickly learned by the next barrage of honks that this wasn’t the case and it was in fact 1am in the morning, but I was still scared. You might think this is pretty bad, but it gets oh so much better. Icia made some joking remark during dinner about a street parade for the past week and I remember from Masatepe some kids would run around with drums. Nope, at 4:30 in the morning I was awoken again by what seemed to be a full marching band company passing right through the center of the house. It was like Nicaragua collectively decided to make my night a living hell and was doing one terrific job of getting it done.
As my father’s son I could not let my mom rest too long, even if we did just walk 20km the day before. I had plans for us to get to Leon and I would be damned if we didn’t keep to the schedule. We walked all around the aftermath and finally found a bus leaving for Managua. Luckily we were able to reserve seats, but it was packed and Mama got her first experience of being squished by people’s hips in your face, bodies pushing up on you, and the stench of way too many humans in one place. From Managua we were able to take a more comfortable micro express to Leon. By now it was only day 3 of Mama’s visit but we were in our 4th city and I had even more planned for the next day. The one plus is that in Leon we got to meet up with even more volunteers for what was our planned joint birthday parties. We all went out to the legendary “La Rosita’s” which is a little café that serves…. Bagels! Now I know this is no big deal in the states, but they don’t believe in any type of bread besides white here or tortillas so it is shocking to see bagels. I actually got a bagel with cream cheese and lox. It was beyond words and I topped it off with a slice of carrot cake, was I in Nicaragua?
The main herd headed out around 12:30, but I got a tip from one of my Nica friends to wait a little so it wouldn’t be so congested and I was told it was mas tranquilo. Now you may be asking yourselves why there would be about 2000 people in my town ready to march to the next town and more importantly why is this a big deal? Good questions and I am glad you asked… one is that it is the patron saint festival in Esquipulas and for some reason all the towns within 60 miles decide it is worth celebrating. Also, it is a huge deal because even though Esquipulas is the next town, it is a 20km walk away on dirt roads and ascending and descending countless hills.
I don’t know how, but I convinced Mama to take on this odyssey with me and we headed out with my Nica friend, Jason, (yes we have the same name) and his two friends. It started off all dandy, I was in high spirits and I had the chance to point out two of my schools along the way. Given the closest school is a 30min walk and the following one is an additional hour. Either way, we were in high spirits by the time we made it to the turnoff to my second school and I figured if Mama was tired we would just hop a bus. Well, poor planning on my part. The buses that went by looked like living hells, imagine cattle cars but with an additional 20 cows somehow squeezed in and another 30 stacked on the roof for good measure. There was no way Mama was getting on one of those buses and I wasn’t either. It was also funny because both of us were stubborn and unwilling to give up. I figured for sure that Mama was going to kill me and walking did get pretty old after kilometer 6 or so. I mean there are only so many dirt roads you can stare at and deforested cattle land you can take pictures of. There were some highlights of the trip… I got to take some pretty funny videos of Mama interview style asking what she was thinking signing up for this, we got a huge plume of black smoke blown on us from a bus, we had aching feet from the constant pounding of rocks, and it was cute seeing my host family waiting for us around 2/3 through the trip to walk the last leg together.
Four and a half hours later we finally made it to the entrance of Esquipulas, did I mention that we forgot to bring any water and were relying on oranges for nourishment? I was pooped and I am sure Mama was near exhaustion. It just so happened as we were walking into town that I spied Icia and Angus, two volunteers and the people I was supposed to meet up with later. I said by the my Nica friends and we ducked into the house to just sit down and ponder what we just accomplished. We were staying in another volunteer’s house, Stephanie’s, and it made me feel a little more at home to be meeting people in a house. Angus made a surprisingly good dinner of rice and beans and retold some stories about how he has either spent all his Peace Corps money on going out with his buddies or how he built a gym out of trees and cement blocks. My mom got to see what true volunteer life was like and I got to rest my weary feet. However, it wasn’t all relaxation yet. I promised Jason and his family that I would meet them out in town and I had to live up to my word. My mom and I ventured out into town and it was the scene from San Dionisio but at a much larger scale. Now, the town is only marginally bigger but there were an additional 5000 people there set-up for the long haul. People actually constructed plastic shanty houses, there were vendors selling anything fried, and the crowds actually seemed to be exhibiting tidal patterns. It was sheer chaos and I was truly overwhelmed. I was tired of getting pushed around in the crowd especially by a population a head shorter than me and it was grotesque how much worse the garbage was, you could feel it all crunching under your steps. I finally told my friend I had to get out of there and we retreated back to the house.
Some other notable events from the day was that Icia was getting her bed delivered during the worst possible time and it was coming in on a bus. Of course Icia also didn’t have any money and we stiffed the cobrador 100 cords, in our defense he was blatantly overcharging. He then threatened Icia that he would get his money and this ties into another event later in the night. Also, I pulled a classic move and got sick. Now, I was already sick, I was getting fevers at night, but this is Nicaragua and I was in an uncontrolled shiver all night. I had to breakdown and buy the warmest thing I could find which was a Ecko false double-layered long sleeve shirt. Mama and I shared and bed and other than my shivers I was able to sleep, until… Until the incessant honking of bus horns that sounded like each driver decided to park right in front of the house and give off a 10 blast salute. Now the connection with this and the anecdote earlier is that the first time I heard the beeping I thought it was early morning and it was the bus driver with the mattress coming to kill us. I remember bolting out of bed, running to the front door, and making sure the door was locked. I quickly learned by the next barrage of honks that this wasn’t the case and it was in fact 1am in the morning, but I was still scared. You might think this is pretty bad, but it gets oh so much better. Icia made some joking remark during dinner about a street parade for the past week and I remember from Masatepe some kids would run around with drums. Nope, at 4:30 in the morning I was awoken again by what seemed to be a full marching band company passing right through the center of the house. It was like Nicaragua collectively decided to make my night a living hell and was doing one terrific job of getting it done.
As my father’s son I could not let my mom rest too long, even if we did just walk 20km the day before. I had plans for us to get to Leon and I would be damned if we didn’t keep to the schedule. We walked all around the aftermath and finally found a bus leaving for Managua. Luckily we were able to reserve seats, but it was packed and Mama got her first experience of being squished by people’s hips in your face, bodies pushing up on you, and the stench of way too many humans in one place. From Managua we were able to take a more comfortable micro express to Leon. By now it was only day 3 of Mama’s visit but we were in our 4th city and I had even more planned for the next day. The one plus is that in Leon we got to meet up with even more volunteers for what was our planned joint birthday parties. We all went out to the legendary “La Rosita’s” which is a little café that serves…. Bagels! Now I know this is no big deal in the states, but they don’t believe in any type of bread besides white here or tortillas so it is shocking to see bagels. I actually got a bagel with cream cheese and lox. It was beyond words and I topped it off with a slice of carrot cake, was I in Nicaragua?
Birthday Fun
Birthday Dinner with my Nica family and friends
Mama in Leon
The Lion of Leon
Birthday bonfire on the Beach in Leon
Nice sunset with all you ever needThe next day we got up at the hostel and were prepping to head to the beach. The group we were with were a little groggy from the evenings activities but actually beat us to the punch at getting out to breakfast and then finding taxis to the beach, guess you can do anything with the right carrot. Well Mama and I went to try another local restaurant that served organic/veggie dishes. I got to have some fruit with yogurt and Mama got French toast, not bad for Nicaragua. We then did some walking around Leon. I did want to get to the beach, but at this point we were going to wait for Jamie to get in from Managua and figured while we were here we should see the city and the churches. Mama and I walked around the market and saw the dozen churches that dot the landscape. I got a couple good shots of the old colonial architecture, but the market was quite a let down. Maybe it is because I am just so numb from the markets in Masaya and Managua, but this one wasn’t crazy enough, there were no insane vendors, vagos, or people shoving me for no good reason.
Jamie finally got into town around noon and we made our way to the beach, this is where our mini adventure begins. We took a taxi to the bus station, but since Mama was with us, we decided to splurge the extra $4 for the 20min taxi ride straight to the beach. We figured we would save some time and get all the sun we could. Well along the way the taxi light on top of the car blows off; strike 1. We then tell the drive we want to go to Las Rocas, but I swear he dropped us off in some remote area; strike 2. We think no biggie, beaches here are just weird, but through many odd texts and short phone calls we realize we are an hour walk from where we are supposed to be; strike 3. I was pretty upset, it was now 1pm, we can see the beach, but we are at the wrong one. The bus won’t be here for an hour and the taxi disappeared. We decide to start walking and luckily we are able to get a ride from a family to the hotel… homerun.
Once at the beach we get set-up in our rooms. Thanks to Racheal this was all taken care of ahead of time and all Mama and I had to do was walk in and drop our stuff off. We had a room overlooking the beach and first thing I did was change and head straight for the water. Mama of course didn’t go in, but I don’t blame her, the waves were pretty big and I got knocked around by the current. Later in the day we were able to play some football with a couple Nicas and even head out to a seafood restaurant for dinner. Now it is not what you are thinking, it was basically the upper porch of someone’s house and I knew it was a bad sign when I saw a rat scurry past our table. When we finally ordered our meal which was fish nothing more it was truly that, an entire fish taking up the entire plate with some tostados on the side. It was intense, it reminded me of our trip to CO when I freaked out about the trout. I don’t know what type of fish this was, but I was less than amused and ate only about half.
That night we got around to celebrating the birthdays. Mama and I of course kept it classy with wine spritzers and I even got her to partake in a few games of drunk driver and ring of fire. We had a nice run in with a random guy at our table and at one point we all shared the same look of why is he here and how do we get him to leave. Around midnight the owner of the place wandered over and started the conversation as…”I have a problem”. I of course went into panic mode, but he just wanted to know if we could use the wood and gas he had to start a beach bonfire. I guess his problem was that he didn’t want to do any of the work. Now, I am no official boyscout, but I pride myself on knowing several outdoorsy things, fire being one of them. I jumped at the chance and right at midnight (my birthday) I got a huge bonfire going for all of my friends. It made me feel like I was home and was a perfect conclusion to the night.
Now for most people, a night of partying and a late night bonfire would be enough for one’s birthday. However, I am not under normal circumstances and this was only the beginning. After another 6hr bus ride back to San Dionisio my mom and I were met by my host family and Jason’s family for a big dinner. They knew I was fed up with beans and rice and decided to make stuffed pasta with chicken and cheese. I made them a regular lettuce salad with Italian dressing and they surprisingly at all of it. It was a great conclusion to a long day of fires and travel.
Jamie finally got into town around noon and we made our way to the beach, this is where our mini adventure begins. We took a taxi to the bus station, but since Mama was with us, we decided to splurge the extra $4 for the 20min taxi ride straight to the beach. We figured we would save some time and get all the sun we could. Well along the way the taxi light on top of the car blows off; strike 1. We then tell the drive we want to go to Las Rocas, but I swear he dropped us off in some remote area; strike 2. We think no biggie, beaches here are just weird, but through many odd texts and short phone calls we realize we are an hour walk from where we are supposed to be; strike 3. I was pretty upset, it was now 1pm, we can see the beach, but we are at the wrong one. The bus won’t be here for an hour and the taxi disappeared. We decide to start walking and luckily we are able to get a ride from a family to the hotel… homerun.
Once at the beach we get set-up in our rooms. Thanks to Racheal this was all taken care of ahead of time and all Mama and I had to do was walk in and drop our stuff off. We had a room overlooking the beach and first thing I did was change and head straight for the water. Mama of course didn’t go in, but I don’t blame her, the waves were pretty big and I got knocked around by the current. Later in the day we were able to play some football with a couple Nicas and even head out to a seafood restaurant for dinner. Now it is not what you are thinking, it was basically the upper porch of someone’s house and I knew it was a bad sign when I saw a rat scurry past our table. When we finally ordered our meal which was fish nothing more it was truly that, an entire fish taking up the entire plate with some tostados on the side. It was intense, it reminded me of our trip to CO when I freaked out about the trout. I don’t know what type of fish this was, but I was less than amused and ate only about half.
That night we got around to celebrating the birthdays. Mama and I of course kept it classy with wine spritzers and I even got her to partake in a few games of drunk driver and ring of fire. We had a nice run in with a random guy at our table and at one point we all shared the same look of why is he here and how do we get him to leave. Around midnight the owner of the place wandered over and started the conversation as…”I have a problem”. I of course went into panic mode, but he just wanted to know if we could use the wood and gas he had to start a beach bonfire. I guess his problem was that he didn’t want to do any of the work. Now, I am no official boyscout, but I pride myself on knowing several outdoorsy things, fire being one of them. I jumped at the chance and right at midnight (my birthday) I got a huge bonfire going for all of my friends. It made me feel like I was home and was a perfect conclusion to the night.
Now for most people, a night of partying and a late night bonfire would be enough for one’s birthday. However, I am not under normal circumstances and this was only the beginning. After another 6hr bus ride back to San Dionisio my mom and I were met by my host family and Jason’s family for a big dinner. They knew I was fed up with beans and rice and decided to make stuffed pasta with chicken and cheese. I made them a regular lettuce salad with Italian dressing and they surprisingly at all of it. It was a great conclusion to a long day of fires and travel.
Masaya, Masatepe, Catarina oh my...
Can you believe that this is in Nicaragua, neither could I
Shopping for Hammocks in the market
Welcome to the Masaya Market where all your dreams come true
Mama and me at the Mirador in Catarina looking at Laguna de ApoyoAlready Mama and I have covered a large portion of the country and had traveled to 4 different cities. I couldn’t let Mama rest now and on Monday evening we headed off to Managua to spend the night and prep for the next leg. On Tuesday we headed out early for Masatepe, my old training town. We met up with my family for lunch and it was so cute to see them meet my mom. Sol was quite excited and Andres kept trying to wisk me away to play videogames. Luckily Soledad was home from work to meet Mama too and Hilda is still recovering from the motorcycle accident. After a nice lunch and little gift exchange we did a little photo op and I took Mama around town to show her our old drinking hole, the park, and the school where I taught. I guess if you haven’t lived it there really isn’t much to see, but for me there is so much sentimental value in Masatepe. From there we headed off to Catarina which is known as the touristy town in the region. It is another training town and is famous for the lookout over the laguna. We passed through town and for some reason today it was living up to it’s touristy title because it was packed with extranjeros. When we finally made it up to the mirador the lady tried to overcharge us because we looked and were gringos. Luckily I had my Peace Corps ID and the rate changed from 20 cords to 2 cords, not bad. Best of all, she apologized to me and said, “I thought you were one of them”. Ha, I love it, I guess I am starting to fit in. Mama and I went up to the look out and from there you can see the entire lagoon and Granada off in the distance.
After our quick little jaunt at the look out we headed into Masaya. Now this is the capital city for the department and is therefore the largest. It is famous for it’s big market, artisans, and el Hipico which is when the cowboys come and make their horses dance. Well, Mama and I of course skipped the touristy market and headed for the real deal, the Nica market. It is your less glamorous place and has no shiny bells or wistles. It is littered with trash, smells of urine and god knows what else, and is so narrow that you are always bumping into someone. I have been warned countless times about being robbed there so of course it probably wasn’t the smartest bringing Mama. Now I have never been to India,, but this market is what I imagine. However, for how negative I make it out to be, I can’t help but fall in love with the place. There is something raw and untouched about it. You can find things much cheaper than anywhere else and it brings out your natural desire to just bargain and get it all. We were there for one mission and one mission only… buy a hammock. It seems to be a Volunteer right of passage to have a hammock and I was not going to miss the boat. Let’s just say mama and I walked away mission accomplished.
One our way back to Managua Mama and I decided last minute to stop at La Galeria Santo Domingo… a mall. Now I know what you are thinking, a mall, there are countless in the states and a place I always avoided. Well, I don’t know what has changed, but these are like holy mecca’s to me now. I love the mall and I was blown away by this one. It is known as the American mall in Managua and all the prices are the same as the US and in US dollars. It doesn’t matter we didn’t go to buy anything, but I felt like I was transported to a place in FL. I felt so comfortable and removed. All my stress seemed to melt away and in an odd way I felt safe. For how much I bitch about consumerism and product identification, that is exactly what I wanted. Just when I thought I couldn’t take anymore a little train drove by me. Well just pinch me already, I thought things were already unbelievable when a little kids train goes passing by filled with waving children. Every turn seemed to unlock another secret and the best was when we made it to the outdoor entertainment area. There is a 10 screen movie theater and real restaurants. I mean fancy Italian, French, Wine Bar, Wings, Mexican, a bar, all of it. I couldn’t believe my eyes, I hadn’t had this type of food in five months. Mama and I couldn’t decide so we went to two restaurants. The first was to get chicken wings. I even got to have a beer and the hottest damn wings I have ever eaten. I mean my eyes were tearing, my tongue was trying to sever itself and my throat was pleading for me to stop. After we managed to stomach all we could we did another lap of the mall and snuck into an Italian restaurant. It had trendy fixtures and music and best of all drinks with an elaborate menu. I was able to get fillet minion with gorgonzola sauce and Mama got sea bass with herbs. It was the best meal I have eaten since I left and I savored every bite.
The following day it was time for Mama to leave and go to the airport. It was sad to drop her off, but it didn’t really hit me until I was standing outside looking at her through the glass. Perhaps I was still on a high from the night before, but it was almost as she was just finishing visiting me from Boston. It seemed so surreal. It was a fast but good week having Mama come visit. Next time I would cut down on the travel and have her see more what life is like here, but who can blame the urge to do everything.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Christmas, New Years, and did I mention San Juan del Sur?
Happy New Year and a very late Merry Christmas!
Night time New Years Eve... we head back out on the strip and head to a couple bars. It was a good time of meeting some random people and actually being surrounded by a fair amount of gringos. Just your normal out on the town type of night, but the real fun came around midnight, I think. We were headed to an outdoor party on the beach with an open bar, but they wanted $15, that is ridiculous even for US standards. Needless to say we did not go in and since it was outside we were able to have a party right next to the stage. Now, I know what you are thinking and it was true, we were lame just running around the beach dancing, but it was still fun. The weirdest part was I don´t remember any countdown or Auld Lang Syne. Instead I remember just looking down at my phone and noticing it was 1204 and saying thats why there are so many fireworks going off... I can be pretty slow at times.
The next day, the first day of a new decade started off just how anyone could dream. We all stumble out of bed and make our way down to the beach where we all promptly fall asleep and basically start up the same antics again. The day was complete with walks along the water, some more swimming, and best of all being threatened by some random bolo. I am known for being oblivious and that day was no different. I was delightfully reading my book and somehow missed the entire conversation. I was hoping to claim I didn´t know any of the people if shit hit the fan. Basically, it was getting out of hand and the guy would not go away so we had the bar tender (our new best friend) chase the guy away. The bartender proceeded to tell us that this was a scheme that is often run and usually people are just too scared and pay up.
I can´t say I am struggling too much right now in my service. Life is looking pretty good and it was a good call to go on this trip. I remember being hesitant to travel all the way down to the beach, but those last two days seemed like the perfect getaway.
I hope everyone is doing well and I know how hard it is to get back into the swing of things. Now I am only talking from experience because i just spent the last couple of days on the beach and I am still on vacation until the end of the month, but you can imagine.
I know it has been a while since I wrote to most of you, so here is a quick update starting from Christmas.
As you can imagine, Christmas is a pretty big deal here, but not in the same way as the states. It is almost like any other day except the people decide to stay up late, kill a couple extra animals and launch off tons of bombas. Christmas Eve started with me going over a neighbor´s house with my sister´s husband to see a pig being slaughtered. It wasn´t as shocking as you would think. I mean it was just standing there, the guy grabbed a log, cocked his arms back and hit it right between the eyes. When the chancho was on the ground confused he just stabbed it once in the neck, and left a little whole. I guess this guy is an expert and that one cut was enough to cut the artery and the pig bled out in about 3 minutes. Now, it sounds so quick and easy adn I was generally unaffected but I did feel pretty queezy at points, it is not often I watch anything die infront of me. However, I did partake in removing all of the hair and got to watch how the guy expertly trimmed off all the meat and removed the organs in two cuts. I was shocked and at least happy to see the whole pig gets used. Later in the day I learned how to make nacatamales and chicharones with the family and the whole day basically revolved around cooking and eating. It was a slow day and around 10 there was a big mass at the church across the street. The following day for XMas I opened all my gifts but it was weird doing it all by myself, something just felt wrong. Yet, thank you so much for the gifts, I loved them and I think I owe my slight weight gain to all that candy. Now the killing did not stop. I watched them kill two more chicken and again it was uneventful. No twisting the necks or decapitations, just a slit of the neck and letting them drain out.
That night I did go out with a friend to his family farm and again just ate more and ate some more. I am surprised not everyone here is overweight, but I guess that is why today is so special, there is never this much food.
Now the next big thing on my list was I went to visit my other family in Masatepe two days before New Years. It was amazing to be back in Masatepe again and had a different vibe. Imagine the Claradin commercials where before things are hazey and then it is vivid. That is waht the town felt like to me. For some reason my conversations wit the family felt more connected and I really appreciated them. I hung out with Andres all day and even played his new PS2, I couldn´t pass up the chance. Together we walked around town and said hi to all the other host families and it was good to just get out and appreciate all that they have done for us. When we got back to the house for lunch I was shocked to see Amber (the former volunteer) there and that she of course out did me by bringing gifts. I felt like a tool because here I am staying at the house and getting free food and I had nothing. Well not to be out done I rushed out and improvised a few gifts. I got picture frames and gave them two pictures I had of all of us together and a bag of chocolate I was saving for my trip to the beach. They loved it of course and I was happy I was able to save the day. Later that day I went with Sol to Catarina to hang out at the mirador. It was fun to finally just be able to spend time with here and realize she is much more fun than I ever imagined. We just talked and realized there was a party in town that night. We hung out for a little watching the clowns dance around and people watched, but headed back early since I was off to the beach the next day.
Oh the beach! I was expecting normal murky Pacific water and all the Nicas told me it was helado this time of the year. I didn´t have high expectations but as we pull into town I notice that the water is that vivid bright blue you see on commercials and that the street is lined with hostels and bars. We check into our place and try and get out as soon as possible. A little note about our hotel. The owner is a friend of a friend to one of the volunteers. He gave us a great rate, but imagine your traditional ex-pat. He is some attorney and is now into developing and selling property. He is also pretty creepy and skeevey. Some classic quotes are- I can help you change, I had plenty of practice in college.... of more girls are coming, there is room in my bed.... I´ll give you a good rate for a massage.... I prefer to be on the receiving end. Not to mention that he is also a passive agressive nut.
Quick shot of the sunset
Well we finally escaped his grasp and head down to the beach to swim, drink, and relax. Now, I like to have a good time but it is 11am and I can´t fathom starting to drink yet. I lather up on the sun screen and decide it is best to just pass out and mix it up with some swimming. I guess everyone else had a different idea and decided to put their livers to the test. When I awoke from my first nap I see my friend Chris clammering around searching for his glasses then proceeding to say how he doesn´t care, he has another pair (in Leon!). Well it ends up being a great day and most people head back to teh hotel around 4pm to take a nap in preparation for the evening activities.
The next day, the first day of a new decade started off just how anyone could dream. We all stumble out of bed and make our way down to the beach where we all promptly fall asleep and basically start up the same antics again. The day was complete with walks along the water, some more swimming, and best of all being threatened by some random bolo. I am known for being oblivious and that day was no different. I was delightfully reading my book and somehow missed the entire conversation. I was hoping to claim I didn´t know any of the people if shit hit the fan. Basically, it was getting out of hand and the guy would not go away so we had the bar tender (our new best friend) chase the guy away. The bartender proceeded to tell us that this was a scheme that is often run and usually people are just too scared and pay up.
That night we made our way back to the bar for some karaoke and dance competitions. It at first was pretty lame and sad. I mean it was Nicas belting away to English songs in horrible accents and karaoke can just be plain bad. We had to do something and fast so we ordered a couple litros of beer and started playing flip cup. A bunch of Nicas joined in and we had a good group going. After a few rounds we step up to the plate and start singing along. Rather than doing English songs I decided to go along with the Nica Ranchero music which is just more melodramatic country music sung like you are dying. I was loving it and enjoyed it even more since it was annoying the hell out of Jamie. Well I made my leave early when Jamie (my friend from training town) started becoming real good friends with the owner and was asked to sing every american song. She switched on her bitch mode and instead of the lyrics sang ¨You don´t know what I am saying because none of you can speak English¨. It was priceless, but I knew a lot of them did speak English. Either way I later heard that the crowd loved it and they even broke out into another dance party.
The whole crew
I can´t say I am struggling too much right now in my service. Life is looking pretty good and it was a good call to go on this trip. I remember being hesitant to travel all the way down to the beach, but those last two days seemed like the perfect getaway.
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