It is harder than I thought to think back only a month, but I guess that is the price I have to pay for procrastinating and continually pushing my obligations aside. The big news of the last month is not only that I was in the United States, but also my touring around Nicaragua beforehand.
The Nicaraguan school system is different than the United States, the school year runs from the beginning of February until the end of November. In fact, the Nicaraguan system accounts for 200 days in the classroom; whether or not that number is actually achieved is debatable, but you can’t blame them for aiming high. Anyways, right after my Thanksgiving weekend I was busy attending promociones (graduations) for my 4 schools. It was cute and a lot less awkward then the previous year. Nothing really changed, but unlike last year I now knew all of the students and shared a sense of accomplishment in handing the diplomas to all my 6th graders. Of course I had my round of posing for pictures with families and then the customary visits to all the student houses for lunches. I really don’t know how the teachers do it every year; each promocion is for at least 6 children so that means 6 different families to visit. Besides the distance between all the houses we are given enormous plates of delicious food. Remember, it is seen as rude not to eat or leave too much… that means I was successfully able to fast the following week without an inkling of hunger.
Well the promociones were my last job obligation for the year. Sure, I am supposed to be in site and continue to do community based projects, but my days opened up considerably with the removal of my normal obligation between 6am to 1pm. Also, how was I going to work in town when everyone is on vacation mode? If there is one thing that Nicaraguans take seriously it is their vacation, and who am I to deny them that? So rather than fighting the system I decided to embrace it. I did what any capable person would do and decided to go on my own vacations.
Here is a quick summary of my last two weeks in Nicaragua before going back home. In the last weeks of school I formed a new group of friends. With Angus and I working together on our baseball league I started seeing him more and more and then one of our other good friends transferred sites closer to our region. Well this resulted with us becoming somewhat of a trio and what better way to inaugurate our group than a trip to Estelí. For those of you who are not familiar with Nicaraguan tourism, Estelí is located up north and famous for cowboys and cigars. We went for a little bit of both. John was on a search for cowboy boots (where I bought mine) and we were curious to find some good cigars. You may not believe it, but Cigar Aficionado rates Nicaraguan cigars as some of the best in the world… do you know where the best cigar wrappers come from? Connecticut, that’s right! Ok, getting back on track. We headed up to Estelí to tour some of the cigar factories, buy some custom made boots, and just get a feel for the city. We lucked out and timed our trip during their Purisima. La Purisima is an event when using wealthy families and the local government first hold a prayer event and then give out free plastic-ware and candy. If any of you have seen the scenes from Africa when they are giving out rice to famished zones you are pretty much imagining the scene of any Purisima. It is bedlam and I couldn’t help but just stand back and watch the frantic people push and shove others out of the way for stupid little plastic cups. I am sorry, but if I have one complaint about the culture here it is this… why are lines so hard to comprehend? Well I am not going to bash the culture, this is only my observation and on a lighter note, the cigar factory… worth every minute. Not only did we get to smoke cigars throughout the tour, but cigars normally worth $30 in the States were only $1 in the factory.
Alright, that trip alone is enough to get me in the vacation mood, but there is more. The following weekend I decided to follow the example of my Nicaraguan friends and take a vacation to get ready for my vacation. I headed down with Angus to San Juan del Sur to work on my tan for a bit before heading back to the blistering cold in Connecticut. True, I am already pretty dark from just normal life, but it doesn’t hurt to touch up and just make the contrast that much more apparent. After 8hrs and 3 buses we made our way down to the beach and met up with several other volunteers. At this point I would like to give a warm salutation to Rachael’s parents. They took all of us poor volunteers out to an amazing and entertaining dinner. I can’t recall ever feeling so comfortable so quickly around two such loving people and meeting them was reason enough to travel all the way across the country. In fact, that was the main reason we headed down to San Juan del Sur and the next day Angus and I headed out to Granada. Besides just being two vaga gringos, Granada is heading back in the direction of site and cut off nearly two hours of travel for us both. Even more, Granada is a beautiful colonial city and perfect for some used American apparel.
Coming to the end of my little bout around Nicaragua was that after Granada I headed back to San Dionisio to say good bye to my family and pack for my trip home. I don’t know why but flights are always a huge inconvenience and being 5-hrs away doesn’t help. I ended up leaving site a day earlier to go visit my family in Masatepe a short visit. It was so worth it; I played all day with Andres and got to show off my ever improving ability at speaking Spanish. Hilda and Gonzalo are still happily married and are busy saving up to purchase their own house. Sol is also married and now living in the Dominican Republic and Andres is just like any other crazy 8yr old. After only a day I was up the following morning with the family at 3am to head to a special mass, El Nino Divino. I did have to be at the airport at 5am and right as I was about to enter the church the first bus went by and I was told to jump on, sorry church, looks like you will have to wait.
There you have it, a short synopsis of my last two weeks in Nicaragua. Sorry I don’t have any pictures but you get the idea. From the start I kicked off my vacations right and after traveling around and visiting my family in Masatepe, I was ready for the real deal and was heading back to America.
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