Party Weekend

This weekend was super fun!  I celebrated my birthday with 20 other PCVs in Boaco (they all came in to celebrate) and some Nica friends too :)  

Friday evening, Frank and Sam arrived at my house to begin the weekend celebration.  Frank brought me flowers (daisies—my favorite, in pink—my favorite too) which he had carried all the way on the bus ride, while hanging off the back of the bus part of the way.  The buses get pretty full in the evenings and I’ve seen people hanging out the back and the front of many.  I’m thankful he made it safely :)

We just relaxed and hung out that night because it had been a long day.  I did some laundry for Frank, and by that I mean I put his clothes in my washing machine and then we all had dinner in the park.  

The next morning we went the natural hot springs place just outside of Boaco and Rebekka, an environment PCV who lives close to Frank, met up with us there.  We hung out there for a couple hours and enjoyed the hot water.  It seems weird, hot water it hot weather, but it made me feel clean and I’ll even admit that I saw some grime rub away off my legs.  I guess those cold showers aren’t enough haha

We headed back in the early afternoon and met up with more PCVs.  We got lunch and then went to my house where I was surprised with cake from my Nica family and friends.

After the mini party at home, a bunch of us went up the hotel where my party was going to be and we decorated.  More PCVs showed up and everybody was hanging out, chatting, and meeting new PCVs.  It was so great to see everybody together.  But, we had to take a little break as I needed a shower and we all had to get into our party wear. 

All snazzied up in our finest, we went out for pizza at the local place here in Boaco and I brought a cake I had made to share with everyone.  The pizza was yummy and so was the cake (cake #3 in total for birthday cakes--#1 was the surprise one from my students, and #2 surprise cake from my Nica fam). 

Our bellies were full and ready for the night life and dancing the calories away.  We headed over to the bar and relished in the rooftop atmosphere and brisk evening.  It was everything that I had imagined—so fun with so many friends :)  My host mom even got in on the dancing action.  It was great! 

We wrapped things up around 1am (some stayed later) and traded in our dancing shoes for chinelas (flip flops).  I was certainly exhausted.  I love planning things, but when it’s all over, it is definitely a relief.  This one was a success in my book.

Sunday morning we were slow to rise, but PCVs came trickling into my house to say goodbyes and drop off the Mardi Gras necklaces from the night before.  The friends staying in my house headed out, leaving Frank and me to play a game of cribbage before he had to leave.

As Frank and I were getting ready to go to the bus terminal, I suddenly realized that Sam had my keys and he was no longer in Boaco, but far away in Masaya.  Um, what to do?  I called him frantically not knowing what to say or do about the situation and I might have overreacted a bit, but fortunately Frank was there to calm me down and encourage me, when I started becoming hysterical :P

Since Sam had gone to Masaya because he had an appointment the next day in Managua, I made a deal with him to meet him in the middle to get my keys the next morning before his appointment.  Lucky for me, he hadn’t gone back to his site which is about 5 ½ hours away from me!  

I wasn’t too happy about getting up early on my late morning, but I got my keys and my mind is at ease.  Oh, I also went and made more copies.  I had a copy of my room key but my host family misplaced that about a month ago… Now I have a copy of my house key which I will keep in my wallet, and a copy of my room key which I will hide in my house in a location only known to me ;)

Funny story about the buses…I had a seat leaving Boaco in the front row which was nice (I chose that so I could get out easily), but the bus got so crammed on the way to Tipitapa (where I was meeting Sam).  I slept most of the way so it wasn’t bad, but I woke up at one point and saw a couple getting on the bus with a young girl (about 4) and they had to stand on the stairs by the open door.  I tapped the man and motioned for him to hand me his daughter (very common with Nicas to do this) and I took her to sit on my lap.  She was super cute and didn’t seem to mind.  The next stop, more people got on and the lady next to me took on a little boy.  Then, if the bus was busting at the seams already, more people piled on and a lady set her little boy on the seat back in front of us for balance.  I thought about taking a picture, but hope that my description can give you a good picture in your mind.  The ride back was pretty crammed too and I had to stand most of the way.  I’m really getting accustomed to bus travel, but hoping that I can get a car when I return to the States :)