Music Genome Project

I wish I could claim this as my own novel idea, however I cannot do so. One of my good friends from Tufts who is much more creative than me has taken on the endeavor of discovering what is the soundtrack of life. Such a project can be seen in many different lights from the abstract to the quite literal. However, what he was going for and what I hope to mimic is to learn what are the songs that define you as a person. It can be taken in the direction of the songs that resonate with you, songs for when you are angry, happy, in love, or in a fit of rage. They can be songs that you use to get ready for the clubs, to find your inner peace, or just to escape from the world. While most of you are probably thinking that this is a piece of cake I already know what my favorite songs are I want you to take a step back. I am not asking for your favorite songs, I am asking for the songs that define you as a person.


What I want each of you to do:
1. Chose 10 songs that define you.
2. A short description of why you chose that song.

I have already begun working on the soundtrack of my life and I find that it is continually changing. However, I know that there will always be certain constants that I will forever resonate with my mood. I took the approach of finding songs that correlate strongly to nostalgic moments in my life, but I am curious to see what each one of you makes of this assignment.
My list in no particular order:

Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd (The Wall Disc 2)

I am a huge classic rock fan thanks to my dad and i-95 and my love for Pink Floyd only increased after hanging out with my roommate in Davis Square. This is perhaps from one of their greatest albums and maybe I am choosing it as a symbol for my overall love of Pink Floyd. I specifically chose this song because I think it is one of the sexiest songs I have ever heard. Nothing beats putting on this song, fading out and just letting the moment take you.


Stay or Leave - Dave Matthews (Some Devil)

Produced when Dave went solo for a bit, all his songs had a more melodramatic tone. I am not saying I am depressed, but this song always reminds me of my summers in Brookfield. More to the point it reminds me of high school when I would go down to the lake, spend all day swimming, and end the day with a bonfire. It doesn’t help that I have several mistakes with my relationships and this helps me recall those times.


Stand By Me - Ben E. King (Greatest Hits)

Ok, I may be a dork, but this is my “favorite” song. I have it in quotes because if I had to think about all scenarios and what really strikes a cord it would be this song, yet obviously it is not appropriate at all moments. This is also my mom’s favorite song and I enjoy the simple message and do-whop beat.

Since You’ve Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson

I may regret this and I think I do as I write this synopsis. Yet, part of me can’t help from putting this as one of my defining songs. Everyone has that one song that they are embarrassed to admit they like and this was one of my more open secrets. Like Patrick’s Third Eye Blind, this song takes me back to high school when this would blast in the weight room and no matter how big the kid, we would all bust out to the chorus.


Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinead O’Connor (Greatest Hits)

Another love song that I can jam out to at any hour of the day. Her voice just sounds so desperate in this song and it is so damn sexy. The message is pushing for personal independence, yet harps back to the importance that we aren’t anything without someone to share it with.


Her Beautiful Ideas - The Guggenheim Grotto (Happy the Man)

I first heard this song only two years ago while I was driving to work in Brighton. I couldn’t get enough of it and I fell in love with this band. They are a duo from Ireland and I just love this entire genre of music. Based again on love, it is just an uplifting song and I enjoy the several different beats they have meshed together. It is definitely a walking song and you can see me walking down the street to the beat.


Babylon - Outkast (Atliens)

Really I wish I could put this entire album on the list. It is so perfect and exemplary of Outkast. I love each of their albums in different ways, but the early work of Outkast is just so raw. This song just has the greatest quotes from Andre 3000 and I can still recite the whole song.


Would You go With Me - Josh Turner (Your Man)

This song single-handedly got me into country music. I love his voice and it was kind of ruined for me when I finally saw what he looked like. I always imagined a dirty cowboy who was a mild alcoholic and very disheveled. Yet, I still love the song and it is great for just singing along to while you are cruising down some windy country roads.


Friday I’m in Love - The Cure (Greatest Hits)

Listening to I-95 Classic Rock Brookfield Danbury. This song always comes on and I never had the heart to change it. You can’t help but feel good about yourself when this song comes on with the light beat and who can argue with the voice.


Street Lights - Kanye West (808s & Heartbreak)

This song reminds me of my last connection to Tufts. Anyone who knows me knows that I didn’t have the best college experience and I was glad to finally leave. However, this song reminds me of my closest friend from Tufts who is perhaps the most difficult friend I have ever had. I always recall hanging out in his room, talking about nothing or art, and heading out to the clubs. I came very close to losing this friend who I would have swore was my one true friend from college and it reminds me of how fragile friendships really are.


Runners Up:


Holiday in Spain - Counting Crows (Hard Candy)

What can I say, I studied abroad in Barcelona for a year and they mention it in the song. I made some of my first true college friends while abroad and also came close to losing some of my most important friendships in the process.


Cat’s in the Cradle - Harry Chapin (Verities & Balderdash)

I am sticking with the theme of life messages. It is a constant warning to me of what not to become and to remember that I am living the one and only life I am going to have and I shouldn’t waste it always trying to reach my next goal. I think of my dad who works so hard for my family and how I too one day want to be a father.

Karma is PMSing

I had a fun little encounter the other day. My foot had the delightful pleasure of being introduced to a cement wall. It was quite an unexpected meeting, but nevertheless my life was changed from it. It was a dreary afternoon and I had nothing to do. I was making my way over the the cyber to catch up on a few emails and maybe even do something productive with my day. Well as I was making my trek across the park a few kids called over to me and asked why I wasn't playing soccer. Not having an adequate excuse, who was I to turn down the opportunity for a quick futbol sala game. 

I have been secretly proud of myself in my futbol skills because within the last month I have upgraded from playing with 12 and 14 year olds to late teenagers and others my own age. It was a big step for me and it is kind of sad departing with my distinct height and weight advantages. I can no longer push little kids who come up to my waist out of the way and I am thus forced to actually learn the skills of the game. If I get lucky maybe I will start making friends who are my age, that would be a step. Before you all start getting too excited, this transition was not of my own choosing. It just so happened with the rains most of the kids have transitioned from sports to marbles. It is the latest craze and you will often find the fields deserted for kids huddling in corners playing marbles. I know I am desperate and want friends, but even I drew the line when the little kids starting playing that game and realized it was time for me to grow up. 

Well back to my mistake, I started playing with my new group and it was a 3 on 3 game. Things were going well and I gauged my contribution by limiting myself as a minor handicap. I even had a couple goals and while I can't compete with their skills, I like to think I am at least another body that they need to get by. Well I realized I was not in their league and resorted to what I knew best, dirty tricks to slow the other team down.

This is where karma comes into play. They may have been my age, but I have the distinct advantage of being bigger than all of them. Plus, they don't really know how to interact with the gringo so I usually have the advantage of being able to use my size and play a little more physical. Well there was this one kid who I just couldn't stop no matter how I tried. I swear he somehow cheats or has codes or some other metaphysical trickeries. Every damn time he would beat me and I'd had enough. I resorted from trying to get the ball to going after his ankles. I guess Karma doesn't really appreciate this tactic and as a result when I had him trapped in a corner, I made a jab for the ball, ie ankle, I of course missed and nailed my big toe right into the wall. Maybe it was the adrenaline or maybe I was just too tired, but at the time I didn't feel a thing. However, I quickly realized that my shoe was starting to feel more and more constrained and I couldn't put any pressure on it.

To make a long story short here you go. There is the picture of my poor toe and I got an x-ray and it is definitely fractured. There isn't much you can do for a toe and that means I have to minimize my walking for the next 4 weeks! I don't think the doctor comprehended what he just handed down to me, how can I not walk in my site. I am a 15minute walk from town, my schools are anywhere from 30minutes to 1.5hours away. Ugh, it is going to be a logistical nightmare, but that is what you get when you get angry and try to play dirty.

Baking with the Rizo Family

This weekend I didn’t really have much planned. It was going to be my time to catch up on laundry and work on my garden. I was down to my last clean shirt and I don’t want to tell you when was the last time that I had showered. It was going to be a me weekend and I was going to take a break from letting all the kids come over to my house. Even though I am not busy in the same way I would be in the States I am still exhausted by the end of the week. It is tiring always trying to maintain a certain image in a community where you know you are the center of attention. I guess that is how celebrities feel and it is a lot of work.

One of my goals was to jumpstart my water filter project again. I attended a meeting during the week and I was determined to get a few sold. Well luckily I have been able to sell three more and that will look pretty good when the director comes to visit me this upcoming Thursday. Well on my rounds I met up with Jason’s mom who owns the big pulperia in town. She invited me to come over her mother’s house this weekend to make pizza and cookies. I couldn't pass up the opportunity and I guess laundry would have to take a back seat. What is another week in semi-clean clothes?

Anyways, it was fun working with three generations of the Rizo family. Their daughter Rebecca was back visiting for the weekend from English school and I got to practice with her. She is definitely getting a lot better and even Jason is taking English class now and I can have decent conversations with them both. I need to taking my Spanish studying more serious, I don’t want them showing me up in my own language.

This time around I took more of a managerial position in the kitchen. I was able to regulate the chopping of vegetables to Rebecca and her friend Jamie. I was able to concentrate on making the dough and supervising Santiago making the dough for the cookies.

We made a whole bunch of sugar cookies and were busy eating them as well. Their grandmother was busy cooking carne asada and all the while I was supposed to be managing the heating up of the brick oven. I have never heated up a brick oven with wood before, yet for some reason the mother thought I was a seasoned expert. I don’t think I did too bad, nothing came out burned and we were able to cook all the different trays. We were able to make two pizzas and I admit they were better than my first attempts. I was able to get the dough thin and Jason brought mozzarella cheese from Matagalpa. I may have used too many onions, but it is just a note for next time. The dough still has a different type of taste than most pizzerias, a little doughy, but I will have to do some reading on how to improve that.

And finally what day would be complete without a group shot of all the cooks.

Muy Muy and the new Hang out

This week I got to visit one of the nearby cities called Muy Muy. The professor who helps me with the soccer team is a professor at the agricultural institute in Muy Muy and he invited me to attend their version of field day. It was a celebration of world agriculture day and was jam packed with baseball games, volleyball, soccer, and basketball. I went with our town’s baseball team and I was excited to see another part of the country. As always it was a bumpy 2hr ride out there in the back of a flat bed truck. We were getting bounced around pretty bad and I am not quite sure my tail bone has fully recovered. Most of the team members are older, about my age or a few years older. There were 20 of us in the back of the truck and it is amazing how a bunch of guys can act. I figured it would be a quite ride since we were leaving so early, but I was way off. They were swinging from the side of the truck while we were going up what I thought were impassible roads. Of course the baseball gear was in the back with us and they were taking the bats to poke and hit each other with. It was pretty funny, but some of the jokes for them just don’t get old. A perfect example is one of the players hit an other in the butt with a bat. Of course everyone thought this was hilarious and for the next 1.5hrs this joke just got dragged on. One exciting part on the way there was that we got a flat tire, which if you saw the road would be shocked that there was only one flat tire. It took us about half an hour to replace the tire because the bolts were on so tight and it was just enough time for them to start a dirt ball fight.

Well when we finally did get to Muy Muy I got a nice tour around the facilities. It is a technical school for 3^rd to 5^th year high school students who want to go into farming or later become engineers. It was very well kept up and hosts about 400 students who live on the premises. I got to see their chicken coops, the dairy farm, and the new hydroponics rice field they are making. As for the baseball team, they got crushed 7-1 and I guess it was keeping up with their previous record as a site for sore eyes.

On the way back we again all piled into the back of the truck and luckily everyone seemed to be a little more tired. Yet, the butt hitting seemed to continue and was as hilarious to them as it was the first time. To make it worse we stopped so they could all go pick some jacote or small hard fruit’s the size of a large grape. Some were eaten but the majority turned into ammunition to be hurled at others in the back. I did partake in this and nailed a couple people in the head, but I got my fair share of hits as well to the head.

Even with all this excitement for one day, the most interesting part was when I got back to my house. I already had started my personal garden with the help of some of the neighborhood kids. I never solicited their help, but they just saw me in the backyard and came by because they were curious. I can’t condone child labor, but they did a great job breaking up my soil and picking out all the rocks. Well this night they came back over as soon as they saw me turn on the lights. I could hear a distant yell that “Jason ha llegado” and I knew I was going to be barraged by a group of little boys. Eight kids showed up and they were excited because the night before I told them if they brought milk we would cook flan together. Well in tow they had a liter of milk and we cooked two boxes of flan. This may seem like an insignificant step, but remember I am in a machismo culture and cooking is regarded as women’s work. They had a blast even if it was just stirring powder in with boiling milk.

Perhaps the funniest part is that it takes time for flan to set. The usual course of events at my house is that the kids come over, rummage through all my belongings, and look at the pictures I have up on the wall. I let them play checkers, Uno, or cards and it keeps them busy while I plan my lessons. Well tonight I let them look at some of my Popular Science and Car and Driver magazines. Given, the magazines are in English and they were more captivated by the pictures, but they were kind of reading the magazines; another rarity in Nicaragua.

Finally the flan had set and it was time to eat. They all loved it and I promised that we would cook pizza this upcoming week. I already got one of the kids to let me use his oven and another volunteered to buy all the supplies if we collect a small donation from each kid. They are super excited and it should be interesting to get them to do some more intensive cooking, who knows this could turn into a weekly activity with them. Now if only I can get them to ask permission before they come running through my front door and to get them to not touch all my things.

My Green Thumb

It is officially over! The rains have come and the drought has met it’s fate and is over. It is such a great feeling, I never thought I would miss water as much as I did. I can now go outside turn on the llave and I have water. I am still being ultra-conservative with it, but it puts one’s mind at ease to know it is at least regularly available. With the rain there is a new sense of optimism in the air. My town very much a farming community and with that the seasons and weather are that much more important. Financial decisions are made around the weather that ultimately affect their standard of living. At first we were all worried that the rains had come to early and that it was a sign of a dry winter. There are still speculations that these rains won’t last, but it is pretty hard to refute when it has been on and off raining for the last week. Everyone seems to have at least a small parcel of land and the town has been a buzz with people buying seeds or chemicals to plant. I am even getting into the swing of things and have started not only my school gardens, but my personal garden.

This last week has been dominated by gardening. In each of my schools I have been busy gathering seeds, giving a quick plant charla, and rushing out to build our gardens. I have a couple pictures of each school and I am so proud of all my students. Each school has a different type of garden based on their resources. In some of my schools I used tires, in others we built rock gardens, and in one we were able to do a traditional raised bed garden. In each of my schools we planted cucumber, tomato, pepper, onion, carrot, squash, melon, watermelon, radish, eggplant, and in some we even did pumpkin. Hopefully something does decide to come up and grow. Last month I did tree nurseries in my schools with mixed results. I have to get back to them and replant the bags that didn’t grow, but it is just hard because now we have our mind set on gardens.

The first school to get a garden was Piedras Largas. I work with two multi-grade classrooms at this school: a 3^rd- 4^th grade and a 5^th - 6^th grade. I brought them both out at the same time and I had the younger kids clearing all the weeds while the older kids were responsible for building the seed beds. One problem was the ground was so hard that it was taking them forever. In my normal fashion my plans were way too ambitious so we cut the garden down to four rows. All the kids were laughing and having fun and it was great to see them all working together. Here is a picture of the garden:

My next school was Jicaro II. It is funny because each school is so different. In Jicaro the parents are so supportive and the week before I had 14 parents come and help out my 5^th - 6^th grade classroom. It was great to see all the parents willing to help out and they seemed to be having more fun than the kids. The mothers were fooling around laughing, and I think I had to discipline them more than I did any of the students. We were doing a tire garden and the parents were hard at work cutting the tires in half and building stands for them. Here is a shot of the families and the students:

The following week we were going to plant in all the tires and build two eras for some of the other plants. The problem was that the rains had finally started and my teacher was adamant about still working. I would classify it as a disaster. I really do like this teacher, but like all of my other teachers he thinks I am only here to serve him. I brought my seeds, but I think he imagined a large garden that would rival commercial farms. I had to perilously guard my seeds but even still I managed to lose all my pumpkins and have the rest get destroyed in the rain. The whole day left a bad taste in my mouth, but I think I just need to lighten up a little bit more. We were able to build a beautiful garden and the kids regardless of the rain worked so hard. I am always impressed by how much the students know and how handy they are with all the tools. A machete here can do anything from cutting steel barrels, tires, cutting down trees, wedding, or even digging.

The next day I was off the El Cobano to do one of my last school gardens. I figured this school would be the easiest because they already had an area built from a previous NGO. This is one of my smaller schools and it struggles with the community it is supposed to serve. The parents aren’t as supportive and their supplies are often stolen by the neighboring families. Just the night before someone went to the school and literally stole the schools fence. I don’t know how they ripped off a chain link fence from concrete posts, but my hat is off to them. Back to the garden, the school already had a spiral rock garden built form the year before. Currently it was being used as a weed garden and already forgotten about. It makes you wonder if all my work is destined for the same fate once I leave. But I digress, the ground was a super sticky mud from all the rain, but that didn’t discourage my kids from running out and getting their chance to swing a machete or a pick axe. Remember, my kids are all between 8 and 12 years old and I am letting them use machetes or more realistically very sharp swords. I would never be able to get away with this in the States, but hey, when in Nicaragua. I had the kids bring in dry cow manure and extra dirt to fertilize the rock garden for our plants. Everyone was eager to participate and it was great to see every kid just wanting to get their hands in on the action. I had them doing such tasks as go fetch rocks or go over there and pick weeds. They ate it up, they were helping the goofy gringo.

Finally, I have taken on a new task while I am at the schools. I wouldn’t say I was a bad volunteer, but usually I would show up do my science lessons, play a few dinamicas, and then resign myself to a seat in the back of the classroom and read a book. I wasn’t being lazy and I would go around the class occasionally, but it was just so boring. This month I promised myself I would be more active and now I have started taking over the math classes. With all my teachers I have offered to take a small group that has the most difficulty. I try to give the students more personal attention and give them the positive reinforcement they so desperately need. These are the 14 and 15 year old boys who are still in 3^rd grade and are often ridiculed by the teacher or their younger peers. I don’t know how to convince the teachers that by yelling at a student or making fun of him will not magically make them be able to solve a problem faster. Even in my two weeks of helping I have noticed a huge difference and they seem to have more confidence with me at least. I tell them it is perfectly ok to use your fingers, pebbles, or draw pictures to solve problems. I just want them to get comfortable with the procedure first and then by repetition they will eventually remember that 5x6=30 and not have to count it out in groups every time.

Fun and Drama in Managua

I have been on quite a few vacations in my time. I have traveled around Europe, I have been to South America, I have even been around parts of the United States. Each vacation is different and it depends on many different factors. It may be a bold statement, but I think my last vacation may have been one of my bests. I don’t know how to explain it, it was short, filled with drama, but it was just that a vacation. I think the stars were aligned, the timing ideal, and the tension just right for me to embrace the moment.

The trip started off far from perfect. I had the novel idea that I would group my travel with an appointment at the Peace Corps Medical Office. Seemed like an ingenious idea right, a reimbursed trip to the office, which was along my route of travel, a meal, and then I could merely go along my way. Well I took the first bus out of my site at 5AM and was on my way to Managua for a 10:30 appointment. Everything was going perfect, I got the bank and solved my money issues and was in the office with time to spare. This is where my plan began to break down. It just so happens that the doctors at the office err a little more on the side of caution. I figured I would walk in successfully self-diagnosing myself and request some allergy medication or maybe an anti-congestant. Nope; I was way off base; the fact that I had a cough for a month and what not put me on quite a different path. Instead of my 1hr appointment I was instead treated to the whole 9yds. I had to go get a chest x-ray, which of course came back negative, and a blood test. I guess it is good that the doctors take all these extra precautions, but not when you are in a rush. All these appointments brought me to 2pm, I was cutting it close. Now, remember I am in Nicaragua, nothing works quickly, especially the doctors. Instead of just getting my results I automatically had to spend the night and get the results in the morning. Ugh, normally this would be a message that the gods were smiling at me, but today they were definitely mocking me. I had tried to do too much, take too much advantage of the situation, and I was paying the price.

I begged, I pleaded, I looked for excuses, but there was no way I was getting out of my next day appointment at the office. I guess it isn’t all bad, they put me up in Los Pinos, a nice hotel with hot water, real showers, a pool, and a TV. It wasn’t exactly hell, but it is when you are supposed to be in Rivas waiting for your girlfriend who thinks you will be there to pick her up after an 8hr bus ride in a city she does not know. I was in full crisis mode, how was I going to get in touch with Stella and let her know that I would not be there to receive her? Well, I guess fate has a funny way of also being accommodating. It just so happens that Stella finally got a cell phone this week and I was able to reach her before she crossed into Nicaragua. Let’s just say she was less than pleased with the turn in events, but she could get to Managua on her bus. Her strain and frustration further accelerated my stress and I began another fury of attempts to try and get out of my appointment. Remember I am in the Peace Corps, although I have many liberties I am still stuck in a program that controls my everyday life. While most people could jus put off their appointment for another day or leave at whim, I was trapped on an order that I must show up for my appointment.

Here is the real kicker that I left out, this is the weekend of May 1st or more commonly known in Nicaragua as Labor Day. Well in the United States that means bbq’s, family parties, and not much else. Here it means that the government is going to throw huge rallies in downtown Managua because they are “the government of the workers,” ya ya ya, and all that B.S. I found out about this in a two day old email from my security director that this weekend was going to be a mess and I was to stay out of Managua and not leave site. Great, I was planning on going to Isla Omotepe and I was on an alert to stay in site. Hmm… I was stuck, I didn’t want to directly lie to my program, but I did have prior engagements that I wished to honor. I sent off a few emails to my security director and luckily I was given permission to travel as long as I was updating my email and I even found an alternative route that would avoid Managua if necessary.

Back to the real situation, I am stuck in Managua at a hotel and Stella and is still coming to Nicaragua, but has now diverted to Managua. Well I have about 5hrs to kill so what do I do; I go to a movie with a couple other volunteers. I worked it out that I would have enough time to see the movie, I already arranged a cab to bring me to pick Stella up and I would be there waiting for her as she got off the bus. I forgot to mention that Stella was being dropped off in a notoriously dangerous part of town. Great, not a place you want to be left alone, especially as an American. Ok, I had it covered, I got to see Ironman 2, which was amazing btw. Here again is where things began to fall apart. My taxi came, but the hotel forgot to call me that it was waiting outside. I wasted about 20min in my room waiting for the call when I should have just looked outside. Also, Stella said she was getting in around 9 or 10, an one hour window. I was aiming for about 9:20 so I wouldn’t be too early or too late. Well, I guess I was wrong either way, Stella got in just around 9 and I wasn’t there to get her. Luckily, someone let her use a cell phone and she got way over charged to take a taxi over to me. There went my plan to be the good boyfriend and be there waiting for her. When she finally got to the hotel our first priority was to order food. In typical Stella fashion she had not eaten anything all day and had a craving for pizza. We found a place and if anything salvaged the day it was a nice large vegetarian pizza at 10pm in Managua.

Hopefully you can start to see a trend; things are slowly improving and my odds of having a good weekend are increasing by the minute. Well the next morning Peace Corps decides to smack me back to reality. The quick meeting I was supposed to have in the morning at 8am quickly turned into a waiting game. I was pacing the office just rearing to leave, but no they gave me a whole collection of meds that I had to take. I was given an inhaler, a syrup, and two pills; you would think I was dying. Now them thinking I am not the brightest bulb in the bunch had to then demonstrate how to take all the medicine. I realize they were just doing their job, but it doesn’t help that I was in a rush and with every fleeting moment I was noting another lost ferry to Isla Omotepe. We finally got out of the office around 10:30 and our next job was to fight traffic through the demonstrations to Huembes Bus Terminal and be on our way to Rivas.

Isa Omotepe

I promise I am getting to the point of my vacation. I tried to do it in my last journal entry, but getting out all the drama I had to go through in the course of 24hrs was a story in itself. Yet, I digress; back to the topic at hand, how was this last vacation easily one of the best vacations I had? It couldn’t have been the time; it was only 3 days, it wasn’t hard won after a tedious season of work, and it wasn’t basked in luxury. However, this trip hands down stands out as one of my top trips. In order to see this you need to step back and look at how all the blocks happened to fall in place. I reached Rivas with Stella after a strenuous period in the Peace Corps Office where I was literally counting down the minutes and only seeing lost opportunities. It happened at a point where I was re-energized to work, but as a result quickly buried myself in too big of projects. Together, Stella and I had to fight through traffic and avoid the imminent government rallies to get to the bus station and catch one of the expresses just as it was pulling out of the station. Maybe it was the fact that our friend John was waiting for us at the station ready to depart at a minute’s notice and we were again fighting the clock to make the next ferry that we caught with only minutes to spare. All these factors compounded upon themselves to create a situation that superseded reality and created a hyper sense of manifest destiny that I was supposed to take this trip.

Ok, finally, the trip. After our late night pizza in Managua and our odyssey to get to Rivas Stella and I were finally able to meet up with John Gwillim (Check out his websites: Blog and Site ). We made our way to the port town and caught the last mid-day ferry and were merrily on our way to Isla Omotepe. For those of you who don’t know, Isla Omotepe is in contention to be named one of the great treasures of the world and is distinguished as the only island with two volcanoes on it or something like that. Alright, so the ferry; it was a boat that fit about 50 people, but don’t let the number fool you; Nicaragua knows how to cram people into way too small of accommodations. We crawled across the lake to the island at a pace I swore I could out swim. Yet, we did make it and we were being perilously chased by some ominous rain clouds in the distance.

The theme of this trip was to not be scammed by the shameless Nicaraguans. As soon as we got off the boat we were bombarded by taxi drivers willing to take us anywhere on the island. Now, I don’t want any of you picturing Hawaii in your heads. Even though this is one of the biggest tourist destinations in Nicaragua it is far from developed and as I got off the boat I swore I got off in the wrong location. The town wasn’t rundown, but it wasn’t exactly touristy. It had an ominous air to it that was not the least bit welcoming and it seemed the goal was to get out as quick as possible. There were two options, a cheap bus that would take 4hrs to get to our destination or clash with the taxi drivers and manage a reasonable rate and a 1.5hr ride. Luckily, John is a pro at negotiating and had inside information; his friends said a taxi should cost no more than $4 a person. To show you how bad the taxi drivers are, they started off with a rate of $10 a person. Ha, we spat at their pity attempts to sucker us in and we found some other tourists to split a taxi with us and we managed a respectable $5 a person.

The taxi ride was a story in itself. We managed to gather the most indecisive group of tourists known the man. I don’t like to brag, but the three of us had our heads on straight, but I don’t think the others had a clue where they were or even what they wanted. To be truthful, neither did we, but we figured we would see what we wanted and it would just come naturally. Well we managed to chose a hostel right on the beach and like a flock of sheep the other 6 people followed us. While we booked a room and got settled in the others were wandering around lost double guessing all of their decisions. It was a sad sight, but we had things to do, stuff to do so we could not worry about the lost.

Hopefully in all my rambling you did not lose my mention of the ever present thunderstorm looming just off the horizon. Well by the time we got settled into the hostel it was upon us and there was a steady rain coming down. However, who were we to let a little rain and electrical currents to ruin our afternoon. It was only 4pm and we theoretically still had 2hrs of daylight left. John helped convince us to rent kayaks and we took off in the rain. I would like to clarify, at this point the thunder was only a distant rumble and if you follow the counting rule it had to be at least a 1,000 miles away, right? Anyways, we set out on the lake and were being somewhat cautious and stayed within 100yds of shore. It was quite a juxtaposition; the rain was nice and cold, but the lake was so very warm. We splashed around for a little and headed out for Isla de los Monos. It was exactly that, a small island about 50m long that had two monkeys on it. Later we were disappointed to find out that the monkeys were put there by someone and fed daily. We did a couple laps around the island and one of the nearby islands as well and finally decided to head in as the thunder steadily grew louder.

That night we found out there was an all you can eat buffet at the hostel. You heard me right, an all you can eat buffet at a hostel, who was the sap who thought that was a good idea. John’s and my eyes lit up and we were ready to put that title to the test. Perhaps Stella was slightly appalled by both our appetites, but it sure was delicious.

The next day was the real kicker for the whole vacation. We set off early in the morning on our kayaks and our newly acquainted friends, Bob and Kathy. They were a married couple from AZ who decided to just take a vacation and seemed interesting enough. There were five of us and we set off in 3 kayaks for a little known river about 1hr up the coastline. It was a beautiful trip heading up towards the river. We were hugging the coast of an amazing island watching all the locals head down to the shore to do their laundry, to the backdrop of Volcan Concepcion. Yet, it was no easy stroll, it was an hour of some serious kayaking and we had to rotate people in the single kayak in order for the slower single to keep up. By the time we reached the river it was a welcoming idea to jump in the water and pull the kayaks to shore. We weren’t exactly worried about the bull sharks, they have been over fished for decades and plus what were the odds?

Again, this is not what you are picturing. When I say river it is not like we were going to turn and head up the Connecticut River, it wasn’t even on the scale of a brook. From out on the water it looked a little murky, but then again we knew that it was technically classified as a swamp. No biggie, we thought we would just have to pull our kayaks through the delta or about 100m and then we would be on our way. John was our unofficial guide and I guess like me he has a way of getting himself into situations. We figured we would just go straight up the delta because the fastest route of travel is a straight line. Seems logical enough, but that is the exact same rationale that leads to planes crashing into mountains; you forget to look at the geography. Well we did just that and instead of a mountain, we quickly found ourselves in knee and later waist high mud. It was really quite an experience to have mud just sucking you down and climbing to any and every part of you. It was slow going to say the least and it was made harder by the fact that the ground underneath was scattered with uneven rocks, debris, and just icky thoughts. I didn’t want to know what I was trudging through and if it wasn’t for the others by my side I would not have been in there. About halfway through the delta Stella climbed back into the kayak and I had to pull her. I guess there really is no way to describe it. From a distance it looks like a river, all be it shallow, but it seems like running water. The entire time there was about 3” of standing water, but the layer of mud below it had a way of just sucking you down.

Finally we made our way through, were able to climb back in our kayaks and head down the narrow river. It really was breathtaking; it felt like you were transported out of the civilized world. There were no signs of human development, no distant voices, and only the symphony of singing birds and insects. About 150m in I did however make a startling discovery. There in front of me in the water was movement. I thought it was a turtle or something, but it was way too long to be a turtle. As we got closer I noticed it had one serpentine eye that had an unwavering gaze on us… it was a caiman! I was trudging through water that had caimans, animals that resemble a alligators and are up to 6ft long. Surprisingly my initial thoughts were not of fear, but how cool it was that I was in dangerous waters and my mom would kill me if she knew. We pressed onward and the river began to get narrower with overgrown vines and the water turned into a carpet of water plants. We were really being transported through time and the only thing I had running through my head was the theme song of Jurassic Park. A comical moment along the trip was that we did run into another group that came up behind us. The most surprising part was not seeing them, but the fact that their boat was spotless and so were the people. I guess that is why you hire a guide, we were tricky and followed them out on the dry path.

From this point on the trip headed back to a more regular vacation. I was no longer sludging through caiman infested waters or narrowly catching buses. It is not to say that my trip lost any of it’s luster, just that it was just that, a vacation. I had to say my farewells to Stella, and John and I were off to Granada for the night. Our main goals were simple, to find a place with Guiness and have a last decent meal. Well we fulfilled one of those goals, we had a great dinner, but the Guiness fell short. It was not because it was unavailable, but we got caught up with some Happy Hours, and who can say no to two for one mojitos? Finally, it was Monday and I was supposed to head back to site. Unlike the end of most of my trips it was not filled with anxiety and dread, but I was ready to head back. I felt fulfilled and ready to return to my “home.” I was actually excited to see my house and my neighbors again. Maybe it was because I had to stem the hemorrhaging of money, I had spent my monthly salary in the course of 4 days. Yet, I did have one final trick up my sleeves. I had a pit stop in Managua to visit an old friend, Carl Bailey.

Carl Bailey (Bio) is perhaps one of the most amazing men I have ever met. He is the father of one of my good friends form high school and we often joked that he wasn’t human. It was just one of our inside jokes, but I never realized to degree in which that was true. Carl is the most selfless man I have ever met. He has an extensive past of donating and working to help many impoverished schools and disenfranchised children. He is part of many NGO’s in the Danbury area and he even finds time to teach at Fairfield University. I don’t want to brag about all his accomplishments, but I felt secure being in his presence. I felt a reassurance that something in the world was going right and perhaps with luck I can accomplish a fraction of what he has done. I am always struck by how genuine Carl is and how no matter the situation the world is seen infinitely better through his eyes. It was a great note in which to end my trip and a motivator for me to continue my work in the Peace Corps.

IST and Terrero

I have really gotten myself into a pickle. I have been slacking and there is a lot to report since I last wrote in my blog. I finally had my in-service training (IST) and I had another soccer game with my youth group. Not to mention that I have been traveling this weekend with Stella and our friend John.

Ok, let's start from square one: IST. Even though it is just another training event it is monumental in the fact that it was scheduled months in advance and never seemed like it was going to happen. I remember still being a trainee and our director mentioning IST, like I was going to pay attention that was six months in the future. Well it came and it went. That means I am a significant chunk into my training and the freakiest part is that Env 48 was with us and they were given COS (close-of-service) charlas. Wow, in one year I too will be learning about my COS and will be getting ready to head back to the States. Well, that is still 18 months away and I can't dwell on it too much, but IST was a lot of fun. I got to meet up with all 17 other volunteers at Selva Negra, a beautiful resort farm just outside of Matagalpa. It is significantly cooler than anywhere else I have been in Nicaragua and green. So as we get to IST there is of course all the general questions about how is site, what have you done, are you happy and it it both helped me relax and feel more anxious. I learned I have a lot of work still to do and that I can't rest now. I am always trying to compare my work to others and still can't kick the habit. I need to realize there is nothing to gain by constantly worrying what others think of my work or what others are doing. Each site is so different and we cannot all be expected to complete the same tasks.

The best part of IST was after IST. A group of us headed into Matagalpa city after training to spend the night. The last winners of our trivia night were in charge of organizing a new trivia game for us in Matagalpa. I was very hesitant to participate, but a little nagging voice, in the form of my mother was invading my ear saying I would regret missing the opportunity. Well I formed a team of three other guys and we were definitely the black horse. It started off fairly well, we got every question right in geography and political events. We did fairly well in sports, but we started our downward spiral in pop-culture and "The Office". Luckily, we did well enough and we won by a commanding lead. I was shocked and we were bestowed/burdened with the responsibility of organizing the next trivia night some time in July.

The second part of this was my time with my youth group. Surprisingly we are still going strong and I can usually call up a group of 6-10 kids for practice. This last Sunday we met out on the campo and practiced form 9-12:30 and I got about 10 kids out on the fields. Needless to say I did not wear sunscreen and burnt to an absolute crisp. It was a lot of fun but I was paying for it that night. It doesn't stop there, the following day I found out classes were cancelled and I was able to solicit a truck and get gas to take us out to a town called Terrero to play. It is about 40 minutes away between San Dionisio and Esquipulas. It was a complete desert. As we roll up in our truck I kept wondering where the field was. It was a rock ridden field with prickers on either side and two sticks stuck in the ground at either end for goals. Even with these dire conditions it was a blast. Did I mention that there was not a tree for miles around and we decided to play from 10-2pm? I figured I burned once, I might as well keep the tradition going.

My team played great and we looked so professional showing up in our uniforms. There were about 14 players and each had their jersey and team shorts. We did organized drills to warm up and all stretched together. I am positive we psyched out the other team who were all just standing around watching us in a mix of hodge-podge shirts. We dominated, we won 5-0! After we decided to have a mixed aged game and they convinced me to play. I admit, I didn't do half bad. I like to think I am better because I don't give into just swarming the ball and I believe in spreading the field. I stayed in my position and as a defender I successfully shut their offense down. One funny moment was I absolutely leveled another player. Don't worry he was my age, we were playing against other adults so settle down. It was my first game of not picking on the little kids and I liked it. I can keep pace with these people.

So after 6hrs in the sun you would figure I would be done for the day... nope! I figured I was close to Esquipulas so I should go on over and interview the director about their library. After IST I have gotten motivated and want to build one in my own town. I had our truck drop me off on the highway and I realized that the next bus wouldn't be passing for 2hrs. Disaster; so rather than wait I just started to walk. It only took me about 40 minutes but the sun was still pretty damn strong. I did make it, get the interview, and I got to stay at my friends house for the night. Not bad for a day's worth of activities.