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.
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