Atlantic Coast Adventure

Before heading off to the great unknown, aka: The RAAS (the southern, Atlantic autonomy of Nicaragua), I went to Frank’s place to visit and check out his work there.  I got to go out to a finca with some of the local jovenes to see the garden they’ve been developing and I even got to pull a few weeds.  Nope, I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty!

We made sure to get some pizza at his local pizza place because it’s the best pizza I’ve had so far in Nicaragua—it’s a good thing I don’t live in his town!!  It’s a nice treat when I go to visit :)  I also tried some helados for the first time.  I’ve seen them before but haven’t tried them since they’re made with tap water, but I was feeling adventurous and it was totally worth it in the end!  It was sooo hot that day and helados are basically a popsicle in a bag.  Most snacks here in Nicaragua come in plastic bags—I might even change their motto from “The land of lakes and volcanoes” to “The land of plastic and fried food” but that just doesn’t sound as appealing to tourists I guess haha  Anyway, these helados were made from a variety of chopped up fruits and the juices and frozen in little bags, sold for about 10 cents.  Deliciously cheap :)

After I got to relax at Frank’s and we were ready for our big trip, we hopped on a bus and headed to Managua to meet up with the rest of our group.  We had dinner at McDonald’s because that really is like a little piece of home for us here.  It’s crazy because I NEVER eat McDonald’s back home, but for some reason whenever I’m in Managua, I see those golden arches and I’m drawn to them.  Well, it certainly hit the spot (especially the hot fudge sundae dessert) and we took a taxi to the bus terminal to wait for the night bus.  Our bus wasn’t leaving until 9pm, but left around 9:30pm.  We all piled in and soon realized that our back seats had been added so they could sell more seats so we had absolutely NO leg room, and to make things worse, there were big metal springs sticking out of the seats in front of us… We didn’t want to rip our pants or get stabbed by those, so we had to sit a little sideways and take over an empty seat next to us.  Needless to say, it was not a comfortable 5 ½ hour bus ride, but we made it there safely so that’s something to be thankful for.  

After arriving in the RAAS from the bus ride, we waited at the boat dock to take our ride into Bluefields, which is a port town on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua.  Our boat left at about 5:30am and it took 2 hours to get to Bluefields.  It was a little smoother in the panga than the bus ride, but every now and then we hit a small wake or wave and it scared me awake.  Thankfully I had Frank’s arm to grab :)  I do like boats, but trying to sleep on one and then waking up to the boat bouncing and smacking the water is not so fun.  Anyway, we made it to Bluefields and I was so excited—it looked beautiful!

Napping at the boat terminal after the long bus ride

Pangas

Crawling out of the panga onto the dock.  They really need to invest in ladders.

We met up with Martin, a PCV who lives in Kukra Hill (about a 30 min boat ride north of Bluefields) and then we went to our hostel to check in.  Since we were all exhausted, we zonked out for a couple hours and decided to meet up for lunch later.  This was great.

We then had lunch on the bay and enjoyed each other’s company, telling stories of the bus/boat rides, etc.  That evening we went to a showing of a film made in Bluefields called “The Black Creoles” which shared the history of the area and included interviews of locals.  It was very interesting and fun to listen to people speaking creole.  It was funny because even though they were speaking English, because it was creole, it was difficult to understand and I ended up reading the Spanish subtitles to understand what they were saying.  Go figure!  That means that my Spanish is good though :)  This also reminded me of studying different dialects, accents, pidgins and creoles in grad school.  It’s so interesting—you should check it out if you have some free time.

The next day was the feria and parade.  It was only the second annual fair there even though they’ve been celebrating palo de mayo (maypole) for a long time.  This was fun—there were booths with local foods, handicrafts, and giveaways.  I bought some pan de coco (coconut bread) which is a very common item here.  It was a pretty chill day as we walked around the park and waited for the parade to start.  We heard an announcement for the parade just before 2pm and headed out to the streets, but in true Nica fashion, the parade didn’t get going til about 3:30pm.  We found a restaurant with a balcony facing the streets and ordered drinks while we waited.  At least we found a fun place with a nice view.

That night we decided to check out the local night life after dinner on the bay and visited a reggae club.  It was definitely interesting, but good for dancing and I LOVE dancing :)  It was even better that I had my boyfriend there so I could dance with him and not have to worry about any creepy guys asking me to dance.  There are some definite advantages to having a boyfriend here haha  I'm definitely glad I have Frank here other than those reasons though.

Sunday was crazy, but turned out well in the end.  We got up early because we were planning on taking a trip out to the Pearl Keys in the Pearl Lagoon, north of Bluefields.  Some girls in our group had arranged a deal with some locals they had met and we got 11 of us together to make the trip.  Well, we were supposed to leave at 7:30am, but that came and passed quickly.  While the guy went to get gas, we all went out and searched for breakfast foods and then eventually walked over to the guy’s house and waited for him to show up after filling the tank.  It was 9:30am by then and we found out that it was going to be a little more expensive because the gas was more than expected. Also, they told us that it would take 2 ½ hours to get there instead of 1 ½ like we had thought originally.  Hmmm…well by then some of us started to talk about ditching this plan since things were changing and we hadn’t even seen what kind of shape this boat was in.

We waited a little longer and then decided to leave and just go to the beach in El Bluff on the coast, like we had originally talked about the day before.

So, four of us took a 30 minute panga ride to El Bluff, found a little cabana, and enjoyed the beautiful beach.  The waves were perfect and we were greeted by two really cute puppies.

Later we found out that the rest of the group encountered more issues with the boat deal, including motor problems and sitting and waiting for 2 more hours.  So, they didn’t end up going and a couple of them had to stay and try to sell the gas…  Glad we got out of that one!

After having a great lunch (gallo pinto cooked with coconut oil, tajadas, and salad) and getting very sunburned (what’s new right?), Frank and I decided to catch a panga back to Bluefields so we could buy our tickets for the bus and boat ride home the next day.  We got there in time to get the tickets and I felt relieved after that knowing that our rides were secure for our early morning travel :)

Frank and I cruised around the park that evening and got a little ice cream treat before heading back to the hostel.  We turned in early because the next day we would be leaving early and traveling the whole day…

4am came way too fast, but we got up and headed downstairs to meet up with the others.  We walked down to the boat terminal and waited a little to load the boats just as it started to rain.  Our boat did not have a cover, but fortunately Nicas have a plan for this: using a giant piece of plastic (similar to a tarp) and having the passengers hold on to it and the panga goes jetting down the river.  I couldn’t help but laugh as the tarp flapped up and down hitting people in the head and still allowing sprays of water inside.  In times like these, you have to laugh and realize that it’s just a little water and it’s an experience you’ll never forget.  I didn’t get a picture of this, but you can use your imagination.

Our bus left El Rama at 8:30am and I got off early at the roundabout before my town because the route passes through Boaco—very convenient!  I then had to wait a couple minutes for the bus to pass by to take me into Boaco.

Wow, what a weekend!  We did lots of traveling and saw lots of interesting and unique things.  Definitely a great experience! 

Swimming and Celebrating

This past Thursday was Frank's birthday and he wanted to go to Granada and the Laguna de Apoyo (between Granada & Catarina) to celebrate.  The Laguna is what you've seen in my pictures from el mirador (the lookout) in Catarina--went there with my parents & Frank's family over Semana Santa, but not down to the water.  Anyway, we went to Granada first and stayed at the same hostel before with the pool--so refreshing in this heat!!  The water was so cool and then the showers were warm--how awesome!  I took 3 showers just to soak that up haha

Then we went out to dinner to celebrate Frank's birthday.  We got drinks for happy hour, then he got a nice steak dinner and we got a dessert to share.  I brought a candle to make it official.

Happy Birthday!

After celebrating in Granada, we took a shuttle down to the Laguna to the sister hostel of the one we stayed at in Granada.  It was beautiful!!

We went swimming and kayaking here a lot (and now I'm very sunburnt!) and it was such a great time.  There weren't many people there, the owners were super nice, and we got to cook our own food at their kitchen--we can't afford to eat out all the time haha  It was great though--we had fun cooking together and enjoying the beautiful surroundings.  I feel so blessed to be able to experience all this and it's so wonderful to have someone to share it with :)

Persistence pays off

I finally got the internet situation taken care of!  Yay!!!  Time to celebrate :)  They finally credited my account and I paid for this month's internet service.  Phew!  Glad that's over.  I celebrated by stopping by the panaderia and buying some yummy treats...

Next problem: surviving this heat!  The rainy season has started, but it's only been raining in the late afternoon after the HOT HOT HOT sun has been shining in the morning. Hope the rains start coming earlier...

Add marshmallows if desired...

Since I've been sick this past week or so, I've been drinking hot drinks to help.  Some of these have consisted of my special peppermint hot chocolate that I enjoy so much.  I figure that if I'm sick, hot, and sweaty, then I might as well try to enjoy something :)  I glanced at the back of the packets to make sure how much water I should add and noticed a couple last liners on the most recent packets: "Top with whipped cream, marshmallows or peppermint bits if desired"; and "Also delicious when topped with whipped cream".  It was almost as if the makers of these hot chocolates were teasing me.  "If desired" and "also delicious"?!  Yeah, I'm sure that's true, but don't you realize that's not possible for me?  It should say "Add whipped cream if available".  Or, it could be like those hot chocolate packets that come with those freeze dried mini marshmallows already included.  Now that would be helpful. 

Don't worry, I'm not being bitter...just trying to improve their advertising :)

Weekend Workshops

This past weekend was one I had been working a lot toward, planning, thinking about, and organizing...  Friday was the pronunciation workshop in Camoapa, Boaco.  I left on the 6:30am bus to make it there by 8am in time to run through the power point with Jason and get lunch before the taller.  Unfortunately, when I arrived in Camoapa, Jason informed me that there was a little "situation" that he was trying to fix.  That morning he had stopped by the school where we were going to have the taller, and found out that the principal who was organizing the event had to leave for Managua for something and hadn't actually gotten a projector for the taller.   Jason was waiting for a guy to call him back to see if he could get the projector, and then the dreaful call came... the guy said it would be better to have the taller another day since he couldn't get a projector and the directora (principal) hadn't talked to many of the English teachers in the area since only one person was confirmed to arrive that day.  Bummer!  Well, I hung out with Jason for a little while and we went through the power point so we were on the same page, and then we headed to Boaco.  He needed to do some shopping so he went back with me.  I was pretty disappointed getting up that early and traveling an hour and a half by bus to get there only to turn back around, but I know it wasn't Jason's fault and things like this (unfortunately) happen too often.  I'll just have to make another trip out to Camoapa some time, but I do like traveling and seeing new things :)  Plus, Jason said he'd make me his specialty sandwich and home fries.  Can't argue with that!

Andrea came over later that afternoon and we got our things together for our manual taller for Saturday.  We had a great time hanging out and even had some ice cream with the chocolate syrup my parents brought me :)  Andrea doesn't have a TV, so one thing that we also have to do when she visits is watch TV, or at least watch TV shows on my computer, so we did just that. 

The taller the next day went really well.  We arrived at the building at 7:30am to set up and make sure everything was in order.  We ran through the activities and such for a little practice while we waited.  Then, the first few people started showing up a few minutes after 8am.  Then, in true Nica fashion, we started 45 minutes late.  I hate starting things late, but when people arrive late, there's not much you can do about it.  Anyway, we went with it and we all had a great time.  The teachers were really excited about the new manuals and we got to do some practice lessons together to make sure they know how to use the manuals and can translate the information to their classroom. 

All in all, the taller stuff went well--it was good to have more time to talk about the pronunciation taller with Jason before actually giving it, and we had a good turn out at the manual taller.  Then, I had Sunday to relax a little and read.  I finished another book :) 

The rain finally came...

Back porch...the water wasn't draining fast enough so it flooded into our kitchen

Front porch

Chocolate rivers

Water running down the hill

That first big rain really gets things moving

Taxi braving the flood

Creepy Crawly Critters

I didn’t think I was scared of cockroaches until one scurried into my room the other day.  I have chased some down in the kitchen and swept some out to the back porch, but as I sat on my computer typing away and spotted something moving quickly across my floor in the corner of my eye, I couldn’t help but turn and scream.  I ran over to maybe kick it and it then started climbing up my bags I have on my floor.  My sister ran into my room thinking there was a rat and tried to help move my stuff and it ran under the armoire.  She laughed at my fright and I told her, I just didn’t want him in my room, that’s why I was screaming.  I told her to get the broom and we moved things around and it came out into the light and we both were screaming then, trying to catch it with the broom and get it OUT!  If only someone had made a video of this.  She finally swept it out of my room and into the kitchen and began swinging the broom and hitting it, trying to kill the little rascal, but the rumor is true: it’s almost impossible to kill those darn things!  She swept it outside toward the trash but it ran away and hid under the desk near the door.  There was no way I was letting this guy go because if he came into the house (and my room) once, I’m sure he was gonna do it again.  We moved things again and he came running out and made it in the house again, but this time didn’t get far.  Hazzell smashed it with the broom while I sprayed it with bug repellent because I don’t (yet) own bug spray.  Phew!  We killed it and Hazzell swept it out to the back porch where I’m certain a bird will come to get it soon…hope it doesn’t mind the bug repellent oops!  That definitely caused a lot of excitement in the house and broke up the quietness with only Hazzell and me here. 

Happy Birthday Blog! (Yesterday)

Yesterday was the one year birthday/anniversary/whatever you want to call it of my blog!  I wanted to post yesterday but there was a problem with the server :(

Looking back at old blog entries reminds me of how little I knew of what I would be doing here and what experiences were to be had.  It’s crazy reflecting on the past year and what has gone by so quickly.  Last May I knew I was going to Nicaragua but I had no idea what that meant.  I knew I would be living with a host family, which I had a short experience with in Mexico before, but nothing like this one.  I knew that I would be meeting a whole ton of new people and speaking a language I had a slight grasp on, but never understood the kind of relationships that would form and the kind of person I have turned out to be.  Yes, I’m still Megan, but I feel like I have been growing so much in the past year and my mind has been opened so much to this culture and the various cultures I run into when meeting new volunteers.  It is fantastic! 

I had a little sad moment today (well kinda this week) when I suddenly realized that even though I’m away for 2 years having this awesome experience, my friends and family are continuing on with their lives and moving through changes as well.  While I’ve been gone there have been birthdays, weddings, pregnancies, births, and many other momentous occasions that I have missed.  It’s weird following my friends’ lives through their Facebook accounts and putting myself in the middle of their pictures hoping to share some of the joy.  It’s sad being so far away when all of these exciting and important things are going on back home, especially with friends that are so close to me.  However, what I have here is truly unique and although I’m missing a couple things here and there, I still have those friendships and love that will continue even after I get back. 

I’ve been sick with a head cold this past week and had a little stomach issue, but nothing extreme.  So, I’ve missed some classes this week.  I think I can blame this sickness to stress and travel.  When I travel, I tend to not get as much sleep and moving around a lot through different areas (dry/tropical) can do that to ya.  Also, I’ve been working on a lot of things for the two workshops I have this weekend and planning meetings for next weekend.  Ugh!  Stress definitely can make you sick and I’ll vouch for that.  And because I’ve been sick, I haven’t made it out of the house much, especially not to the grocery store, so I’ve been having to be a little creative and working with what food I have.  Tonight I found a tomato soup packet and made tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich :)  That was wonderful!  Who knew that I’d be eating soup in 95 degree weather?  I actually drank tea two times this week and just like tonight with my tomato soup, I was wiping the sweat from my face, neck, and arms as I began to glisten.  Lovely.  I haven’t been using my fan either since I don’t think that would really help my sickness, so this has resulted in buckets and buckets of sweat.  I hope I get rid of this soon.  Blah!

Ok, ok on to bigger and better things.  I recently got back into the habit of reading, which I LOVE!  I love reading and I haven’t been reading as much as I would have liked, not sure why.  But, in the last two weeks, I’ve finished two books and I’m half way through the third.  I love it!  Right now I’m reading a great book (which is a prequel to a book recommended on a friend’s blog): “Cold Tangerines” by Shauna Niequist.  It’s splendid, fun, encouraging, and entertaining.  The subtitle is great: “celebrating the extraordinary nature of everyday life”.  What a great way to look at life, especially when the norm starts to really get at our nerves.  I’m having a hard time putting it down, one because of the short chapters which are each a snidbit from the author’s life—a memorable event, encouraging/challenging story, etc; and two because I find her writing style so easy and fun to read.  She makes me feel like we’re sitting in coffee shop swapping life stories.  It’s a little comfort.  Isn’t that what books are supposed to do.  Let you escape, sink in, and get comfy?  This one does it for me, especially when I’m lounging in my hammock on the back porch—yes, be jealous! Hehe

Well, I guess this is where I wrap things up and tell you to look forward to hearing about my workshops this weekend—I’m sure I’ll have some great stories ;)  But for now, enjoy life and celebrate each moment, because this is what we’ve been living for—today.

Water...

Oh, I forgot to mention in my last post that among all the crazy busyness as of lately, we have not had running water in about 2 weeks!  Yikes :(  We have filled up some buckets when the water comes to spigot in the kitchen, but we're running out.  Not fun.  Glad I went to Frank's this weekend and could take a real shower (yes, still cold).  :)

Busy Busy Busy

I almost forgot about my blog because I've been working on some things here, but thanks to some dedicated blog readers, my parents notified me that I had been slacking on my updates  hehe 

Anyway, so I have two workshops coming up this weekend and I have been doing a lot of work trying to get things together for those, one of which includes checking in with teachers to confirm attendance and collect money for the new manuals we're providing.  That has been the most difficult--tracking down my counterpart teachers to plan lessons is hard enough, but then trying to find/call teachers from other schools AND collect money from them is a whole other story. 

I met with Andrea (PCV in Tecolostote, Boaco) the past two weekends to organize things for our taller (workshop) on the new English manuals that PCVs edited.  They are super!  They have lesson ideas and activities that correspond with the Ministry of Education (MINED) curriculum here and are extremely helpful to English teachers here, who have NO textbooks and NO materials and some have NO prior English teaching experience.  We already had a TEFL manual, but it was just recently updated and we are so excited to get it out in the teachers' hands.  But first, we are setting up talleres to present the new information to the teachers and show them how to use the manuals.  This is part of my job description (teacher trainer).  It's exciting to do these talleres because I feel that I'm giving the teachers something valuable they can use in their classroom for a long time.  Andrea and I are looking forward to this weekend! 

Along the lines of my other upcoming taller, I'm working with an environment PCV in Camoapa, Boaco who has a community English class and would like to help his students (who are mostly teachers--English and other subjects).  We are working to put together a taller on pronunciation and communication.  A lot of English learners say they have problems with pronunciation and they want to practice pronunciation.  However, in the TEFL field, we don't suggest teaching pronunciation as a whole lesson in itself, but rather include it in a context of another lesson.  Personally, I don't focus too much on pronunciation with my students because I want them to first be able to produce the words, phrases, etc. and be understood.  That's my objective.  Then, as students advance, pronunciation practice makes more sense.  Well, I explained this to Jason (the env. PCV) and we are going to include communication practice activities in the taller so that the teachers will have opportunities to communicate things with others and then we will include some specific pronunciation exercises.  We met two weekends ago and we're meeting again before the taller on Friday.  I get to visit Camoapa for this one and I'm excited.  I've been wanting to visit the little towns in Boaco since everybody already come to the capital and has seen where I live. 

Well, no that you can see I've been a little busy with planning and such, I can also include a little frustration that's been lingering the past few weeks.  So, I thought my internet "issues" were over with, but apparently not quite yet.  *Hopefully they'll be resolved today though*  I received my bill for the internet and they had charged me for the two weeks that I had not received internet, even though I had gone into the store and talked to people on the service line several times.  I had my sister pay the bill for me because I received a call telling me that they were going to cut off my internet since the bill was late (oh yeah, someone got the mail, opened my bill, and set it on a bookshelf in the kitchen with other papers without telling me).  So, I waited until the weekend and had Jasser go with me to the Claro store.  They told us that we would need to bring an official letter of complaint along with the identification card of Jasser's grandpa (who is the account holder).  We had to wait for the next weekend for this since it was already Saturday afternoon and they're closed Sundays and Jasser goes to school in Managua during the week. 

Well, Jasser came home Friday night and we put together a mighty fine letter of complaint and collected the necessary items, made copies, and prepared ourselves for the fight (no, not really).  We took the things in the next morning and the lady that "helped" us was rude and told me that I didn't connect the router up right and I was just trying to get money for leaving the router off for 2 weeks.  Hmmm, not great customer service.  I was beyond frustrated after that, so I went home and tried to cool off before my planning session with Andrea.  I had Jasser call his uncle (who is also one of my counterparts) and he came over to review the situation. 

Today I went to the Claro store yet again, and my counterpart asked for the boss, a lady he knows, and he explained the situation to her.  She was very kind and told us to just present the information to the customer service representative and that she would credit our account.  Fortunately, we talked to a different lady then the one before and she was much nicer.  However, she needed to get approval from another guy, who happened to leave at 11:30am for lunch, so she told us to come back around 3pm.  Long lunches here.  I'm a little more optimistic about this now, but there still is a slight problem.  They only have one recorded report from me which marks one week of no service from the internet, and that wasn't even the week I didn't have internet.  So, it's a little frustrating because no one documented when I went into the store before to tell them the router didn't work, nor when I called service line several times.  What's a gringa got to do to get some good customer service here?  Apparently, I need back up.  Jasser helped me a lot, but the lady didn't buy our case, but having an older Nica with me, who also has some inside connections was more helpful.  We'll see how it all pans out...

Now I don't want to end this blog on a bad note, or thinking of frustrating things, so I'll tell you a little about this weekend and leave you with some cute pictures.  I went to Frank's town to visit and the little granddaughter at his house was turning 1 and getting baptized.  How exciting :)  So, we got dressed up and celebrated with the family.  The poor little girl was sick, but it was a great party.

At the baptism

Baptism/Birthday party

The aftermath of the piñata

Enjoying the party