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.
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