What's been going on lately...

We’ve had a lot of hot weather and a lot of rain. It’s been pretty crazy with so many activities as well.

On Saturday, Kellie and I visited another trainee (Julie—Julia Elena) in the next town over (Catarina). It was nice to visit and just sit and chat. We were going to go see “El Mirador” the lookout over the lagoon in Catarina, but it started raining and was getting a little dark so we turned back. I got home and my host family was watching shows on September 11th. I joined them and although it was really sad, especially being in another country, it was good for me (and everyone) to remember those people who lost their lives, the people that risked their lives to save others, and the way the unfortunate event united our country. It was a good reflection, but made me sad to think about the continuation of disagreements and fighting going on. We watched various footage from that day and near 9pm, the power went out so I retreated to my room.

Sunday was really hot and there was activity from the morning on. We kept hearing what sounded like bombs or cannons, which I was a little accustomed to from staying in Mexico for six weeks hearing the cannons in celebration of certain saints. Here, we never figured out what they were for—I even asked one of my host sisters and she didn’t know. Anyway, later we found out that La Torcha de Libertad was coming through our town (this had nothing to do with the cannons because they were going off all weekend). La Torcha symbolizes freedom throughout Central America. It begins in Guatemala and goes down through Central America ending in Panama. I thought it was pretty cool that it actually went through our little town, but it was fun to see the students carrying the torch and Nicaraguan flags.  Later that day Kellie and I decided to go to El Mirador, and my host sister had asked me earlier if I wanted to go, so we invited her as well. We walked across the highway into Catarina and then headed up to the viewpoint. It’s a pretty touristy area—no gringos, but people from all over Nicaragua. They have a few restaurants there and lots of shops. We sat and enjoyed the view, where we could actually see Granada and Lake Nicaragua (where I took a boat ride while staying in Nicaragua). The lagoon (La laguna) is below and a volcano to the right. From my understanding, the lagoon is a crater from a previous volcano, because people were telling me that not many people go swimming there because the sides are fairly steep and there’s not much shallow water. I found out that a lot of people here don’t know how to swim which seems weird to me, but if they don’t have pools or anyone to teach them, then I guess it’s normal. Anyway, we got ice cream cones before heading home because it was hot, and do I really need a reason for ice cream? ;)

Monday was a regular day of classes for us, but all of the students in town have the week off for Independence Day festivities. With all the rain though, it actually cooled down a bit in the evening, getting down to about 85 degrees. It was refreshing :)

Yesterday we had the day off to participate in the festivities with our family because this is the day with the most celebrations. My family did not plan to go to the parades, thankfully, because I heard from other trainees that watching 3 hours of marching students, sometimes with music, sometimes without, in the hot sun, got very boring. I had wanted to go to the Laguna and had talked to my host family about this and my host brother planned that we would go this day and leave the house at 8am. Well, I’m still trying to get accustomed to Nica time, which is very different from the US. I got up at 7am, because I usually get up at this time for my 8am class. I started getting ready and waited for my host mom to make me breakfast. I told her that I was going to the Laguna with my host brother and sisters and she said they weren’t even awake yet. So, I ended up having breakfast at 8:15, by which that time I was starving! My host mom told her daughter that she didn’t want me going because the terrain is difficult to get down the bottom of the crater. I told them that I go hiking in Oregon and I had gone hiking in Mexico through a lot of rocky terrain so it would probably be fine. We finally left the house a little after 9am and walked over through the town, across the highway, and over toward the entrance of what would be a crazy hike down to the Laguna. We had three little ones with us (3, 5, and 7). I helped the five year old girl along through the rocks, mud, small rivers that crossed our path, brush, and beating sun. I’m glad I have experience hiking. I’m not a professional by any means, but I was used to this kind of hiking so I was able to get through it just fine, while helping a five year old as well. I wore my water/hiking shoes because I knew it would probably be muddy because it had rained a lot the night before and I didn’t know the conditions of the lake. I’m glad I wore these because I saw many pieces of various kinds of shoes left behind along the way to the Laguna.

Two hours later, we finally made it to the bottom and I had sweated more than ever—I was dripping, pouring, and I thought my hair was even sweating. I was so excited to just jump in the water and cool off. We walked around a little to find a good place to put our stuff and swim. We walked through parts of the water to get to another beach and the water felt pretty warm. Well apparently, since this is/was a volcano, there’s hot water spots bubbling up—which we found. It was almost boiling hot. Fortunately, we found a cooler place to swim and stopped there. We swam out a little to find some cool spots, but for the most part the water was warm. It wasn’t too bad because the sun was behind the cloud so it had cooled off a bit. We stayed there for about an hour before heading back.

We decided to take a different way back which was more like a road as it had two lines of cement slabs so a car could drive up and down the road. This didn’t necessarily mean it was easy. By the time we made it to this “paved” part, it was raining and it was pretty much like walking up a river. At one point, I asked my host brother if we were close and he said yes, the road was very close. We had to stop part way and seek refuge in a straw hut to wait out the rain. We stayed there, drank some water, and had some snacks. After about 45 minutes or so we wanted to get going, but I was the only one with an umbrella and the rain hadn’t stopped. When we heard thunder, my host brother said we had to go. So, we trekked out into the pouring rain and continued our journey uphill through the muddy “river”.

We continued on and my host brother kept saying “estamos cerca” (we’re close) to which I now replied “!Mentiras!” (Lies!). He laughed and we kept hiking. He said it again and I shouted “!Mentiroso!” (Liar!) and he laughed again—it became more of a joke throughout the rest of the way up. We forged on and finally made it to the top around 3:30pm (about 2 hours later). I took some pictures there because it was a little different view from El Mirador, then we took a mototaxi back home. I am amazed at how many people they’ll squish into those things! Mototaxis are basically a motorcycle that has a mini car built around it, so in the front is the driver, and then there is a bench in the back for passengers, and the whole thing is covered—I think I have a picture of one in a different blog, but I’ll try to get a better one. Anyway, my host brother squeezed into the front with the driver on the small bench, and then in went my two host sisters and I in the back, along with little ones on our laps. This means there were five adults and three little kids in one mototaxi. I just started laughing. While we drove on the highway we went about 5 mph—it was so silly. We had to climb some pretty big hills, but the driver did not give up. We did pass a man on a bicycle going up the hill, but everything else raced past us. I’m glad the roads aren’t too narrow, because there aren’t many rules about passing—you just pass when you want. We finally got home and I was so hungry because we had been gone for about 6 ½ hours and I only ate some granola bars for lunch and it was already 4pm. I took a shower first because of various reasons, sweat, dirty water, mud, etc. We actually had running water so I got to take a real shower too which was a nice treat :) Then I had a later lunch—it was pretty much gallo pinto soup, as it was beans, rice, onions, cilantro, and water I guess. It was really good though. I also had a cooked plantain, and of course fresh fruit juice. By this time I was exhausted so I relaxed in the living room with my host sister and a friend that came over. It was 5pm then and I knew I had the youth group at 6pm, but I just wanted to lounge for awhile. I did go to the youth group and we had 12 kids this time which was great! We had them make maps of their community to see what resources they had and things they need. We talked about reasons why English might be needed and what things they have in their community already that can help them learn English.

It was a long night and I got home around 8:15pm. I was so exhausted, but I managed to eat some dinner (fruits & veggies) and then read a little while lying in my bed.

Today I had classes in the morning and we’re having another youth group meeting tonight because our usual days won’t work with the students so we’re reworking that. Anyway, I’m excited for our youth group and to work more on teaching them English (which is the purpose of our group, among other subtopics).

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