I'mmmmm Baaaaack!

After a crazy couple of days, I'm back in Boaco, but didn't get to teach because my cp was a no show and didn't want to tell me why he didn't go to school.  So, after going to the instituto, sitting there for about an hour, and then coming back home, I got some laundry done, ate some lunch and now I'm planning some lessons for my community classes. 

Let's see...what did I do this weekend?  I went to visit Frank and we had a little date night--got dressed up and went out for pizza (so fancy!) haha  It's our favorite in Dario (his town).  The next day he headed off to teach a couple lessons in the morning before our airport run so I cleaned up his room to get it ready for his visitors.  On his way to town, Frank called me and I met him at the bus stop and we took the bus into Managua to pick up his brother and his friend at the airport.  Frank told me they were both taller than him, but wow did I feel short!  I usually don't feel that small just standing next to Frank, but all three of them was a little overwhelming.  

Frank, Tom (his bro), and Jon (his friend)

Well, we jumped on a bus and went back to Dario so Frank could pack and then we went up to Matagalpa for the night.  We met up with some other PCVs in town for the Matagalpa volunteer meeting and just hung out.  Saturday was their meeting, so Frank had to leave us after breakfast.  I hung out with Tom (Frank's brother) and Jon (his friend from Boy Scout camp--they work at camp together).  It was actually really fun.  To be honest, I wasn't sure how it was gonna go, but we had a good time walking around Matagalpa and swapping stories.  After the PC meeting was done, Frank and Sam joined us and we hopped on a bus up to La Dalia to check out the festival in Sam's site.  

Coffee shop in Matagalpa

Hanging out eating interesting Nica fruit--Tom loved these.  He said they have them in China too.

Mamon Chino (a gooey fruit which is kind of like the inside of a grape, inside a weird, spiky, soft shell)

More coffee!  That's what they do in Matagalpa (where tons of coffee is produced).  Tom was really disappointed in how small his coffee was, until he felt the buzz shortly after haha

Sam's house in La Dalia

There really wasn't much going on, but it was probably better that way since we were exhausted from the 2 hour bumpy ride up into the mountains.  We made hamburgers, listened to music, and hung out.  It was great.  The next morning we ate breakfast and then went back down to Matagalpa.  The plan was to go hiking, but it was really rainy, which means it would be really muddy as well.  So, we ditched that plan and grabbed lunch in Matagalpa before heading towards Frank's site. 

We stopped in a town called Chaguitillo (pronounced Cha-we-tee-oh) where our PCV friend Rebekka lives.  Her site has a cool little hiking area and swimming hole so we went and checked it out.  They all told me they weren't going swimming so I didn't take my suit; however, when we got there, all the boys wanted to go swimming so they just used their boxers.  Darn double standard!  Oh well, the water looked kinda dirty anyway... 

Tom's first shower of the trip :)

We left Rebekka’s site hoping to catch a passing bus but only two passed by and they told us they were going to Esteli, but we wanted one heading toward Managua.  I think one of them lied to us, because no other buses came so we had to take a microbus from Rebekka’s site to the nearest town and wait for a bus there.  We finally got back to Dario, much later than we had planned.  So, we dropped off our things and got some dinner at a local family restaurant in town that Frank and I frequent.  It has good food and it’s super cheap!  My meal (taco, gallo pinto—rice & beans, fried plantain chips, fresh fruit juice) was only 27 cordobas, which is $1.20  :) 

I took an early bus back to Boaco this morning to make it to class on time, but that didn’t really matter since my cp wasn’t there.  Positive: I get to clean up my stuff from the weekend and take care of some errands.