Hola,
Anna Rodis here, your Bilbo Bloggins for this week.
SFO –>Nicaragua
We knew we were in Nicaragua when our plane landed and water vapor spewed out of the ceiling vents. Stepping off the plane, we felt the hot stickiness in the air outside. Josh, the redhead, Spanish-speaking Texan, greeted us at the airport and took us to our temporary home—Casa Nica in Masaya. We all piled into a van with our packs on the roof and ventured off to our casa.
As we walked up to the front door of Casa Nica, decorative prison bars greeted us and there was no sign indicating our arrival. But as soon as we walked in, we were pleasantly surprised by a spacious room with a table fit for 14 with a huge, open-air garden full of flowers, banana trees, humming birds and two colorful, handcrafted hammocks. As we attempted to take it all in, we passed six bedrooms, two baños, a kitchen, a second garden (complete with an eco-friendly compost pile), and to our disbelief, a washing machine! There was also a perfect room for hanging out! It even had a ping pong table….oh, and a (friendly) bat. We spent countless hours in this room taking part in orientation activities and dancing. Who knew we all loved to dance?
Culture Shock
Our first dinner out in town was a bit different than what we were all used to. As we walked to dinner, we came across several grossly skinny stray dogs and men “politely?” whistling at the girls in the group. Once we arrived at dinner, we squeezed into a small room/garage/restaurant and ordered what we now know is a very typical and traditional Nicaraguan meal of…can you guess? Rice and beans! With fried plantains and meat of course. It may sound boring, but the food here is so good!
During dinner we had some unexpected visitors. Adorable and hungry kids eyed our plates while we attempted to consume an un-godly amount of gallo pinto. At first we felt very uncomfortable eating while these starving kids watched. We really didn’t know what to do. It took us about fifteen minutes to decide to give our leftovers to the kids. I was more than happy to give the food to the kids but it made me really sad that they had to beg to survive.
Our second full day in Nicaragua was jam-packed. We started the morning off with scrambled eggs, refried beans, crispy tortillas and fresh fruit made by four members of our group including yours truly. After breakfast we presented our “life maps.” We had spent several hours the night before crafting the maps, which were basically a depiction of our life stories. They were very personal and included the most difficult and best times of everyone’s lives. As cliché as it sounds, seeing all the maps made me realize that people are so much more than what you see on the outside. The beauty and hardship is what lies on the inside and is what can really connect people together. After our tell-all-maps, we had a nice sex, drugs, safety and poop talk…that one was for you parents!
Immediately following that super fun/awkward discussion we sat down (without our leaders) and made a large list of group agreements that we plan to uphold for the duration of this trip. To name a few we decided to: give shout-outs and acknowledgements at dinner, be as goofy and positive as possible and always include each other in adventures! This activity was surprisingly easy because we are all on the same page with what we want to get out of this experience.
Following our many hours of orientation games we went out for a group lunch at a delicious street/food stand and ate more gallo pinto and tostados and tried a sweet chia drink. We then walked around town like a cute group of gringos (gringos means foreigners, it’s what everyone on the streets calls us) and explored central park and the artisan market, which was full of colorful, hand-made crafts and textiles.
After our mini-excursion in Masaya we returned to Casa Nica for an amazing native Nicaraguan speaker–Bismarck. He spoke about the culture and history of Nicaragua. Bismarck talked to us completely in Spanish, but he spoke so clearly and slowly that most people in the group left the talk feeling confident in their Spanish comprehension abilities!
That night for dinner, Celina, Alex, Kenzie and I walked to a nearby pizza joint to grab a menu and order some yummy comfort food. The wonderfully talented Celina placed the order, spending an hour on the phone with the pizza guy trying to explain that we wanted Hawaiian, Jalapeno, Margarita, Cheese and Veggie pizzas. She eventually got the message across. I felt like a kid in a candy store that night! I was grinning from ear to ear as I sloshed through the puddles on my way home and ate piping hot delicious pizza with my new friends. We finished off the night with a dance party where everyone showed off their hot moves…or lack thereof.
Scavenger Hunt!
The morning of our scavenger hunt we paired off, were given 750 cordobas for food and activities (1 US dollar = 25 cordobas) and a list of items to complete by 5pm; our mission began at 11:30am. Go time…
We gathered up our daypacks and essential items, i.e. cameras and raincoats and hit the streets for our first day out alone. I think we all felt ready to leave the nest and explore, but also extremely nervous to have to rely on our Spanish to get us around and to not get lost. We all visited an Internet cafe and blogged as well as printed out an adequate map of the city.
We soon made our way up to Coyotepe, which is a fort now run by the boy-scouts. It was used as a dungeon to hold and torture prisoners during the war. Six people in our group stuffed themselves into one cab on the way to the fort! The view from the top was breath-taking; you could see the entire city! But, the feeling from inside of the dungeon was very frightening. It was so eerie walking around in the dark, hearing bats overhead and looking at the areas were people where tortured to death. It’s crazy how one place can evoke such opposing emotions. At 5 we met up at Malecon: a gorgeous boardwalk/pier that overlooks a large lake and mist covered volcano. That evening came to a close with a much needed massage circle=relaxing bonding time!
Laguna de Apoyo!!!
Julia and Noah, our fearless leaders, powered through our orientation workshops in three days. They planned for 4 days of orientation but our group was so diligent and cooperative that they gave us the opportunity to choose the destination for our fun and relaxing first day off. We chose a beautiful lagoon!
We woke up at the crack of dawn and ate sweet and savory pastries for breakfast. We then put on our bathing suits, gathered up our daypacks and marched off to the bus stop. The bus stop was unlike anything any of us had seen before. Thirty plus different colored buses were jammed together like sardines in an open lot. If you can imagine a graveyard of buses, that is what it looked like. The lot was also packed with locals selling every type of food and drink. We boarded our pimped-out school bus, fully equipped with disco lights and prepared for the journey.
As we rolled out of town, locals jumped on and off the moving bus attempting to sell various items. They would walk through the aisle dripping in sweat while carrying their massive containers of cold water, ice cream, popcorn, and candy. I’m not sure how none of the local vendors got injured bus hopping, since our driver never slowed down! We were finally dropped off at the top of a large hill and had to venture down the road for a good 45 minutes to get to the lagoon. As we walked we saw several large howler monkeys, which sound like dogs barking in a tunnel.
Laguna Apoyo is a crater lake in the top of a dormant volcano surrounded by lush greenery and mountains. The 500 foot deep lake is warmed by hot springs. The water was crystal blue and is the clearest and cleanest water in the country. It even has its own species of fish–how cool is that? The highlights of the day were our amazing lunch (whole fish, spicy chicken ex.), our one hour bonding time filled with lots of talking and laughing on a floating dock, jumping off a 10 foot tall dock into the vibrant blue water below and kayaking to the center of the crater. Many of us capsized along the way, but heck, we were already wet! It just chilled our sunburned bodies.
We left the lake at 4 and waited in the street for our bus; while we waited Ryann found a long flexible vine that we used to play jump rope. We were able to fit four people in the jump rope at one time–it was a big accomplishment! We also made a local friend while jumping rope. He played with us for a while and was actually really impressive, he hopped on one leg, did several 360’s and more. Once we returned home from our “lake day” we showered, ate dinner, and cleaned-up/got dolled up for our first discoteca. We danced at Coco Jambo from 9-12am! Everyone took part, including our amazing leaders. We had so much fun salsa-ing with the locals and dancing with each other to Spanish music. We got home at 12:30, attempted to pack up and catch some zzz’s on our last night at Casa Nica.
Sore Calves and long, yet beautiful, bus ride
We woke up in the am feeling the results of the night before. I almost fell over when I stood out of bed; my calves were so tight. After breakfast we said our goodbyes to our first unbelievably awesome home and gave our parting gifts to Josh. At 11:30 we boarded an even cooler bus to Matagalpa, Nicaragua. Our bus driver’s entire family accompanied him to work on this Sunday morning. How sweet is that? The family was adorable; they talked, laughed and ate a lot of junk food on the ride. The bus also had a television, which played 80’s music videos! There is nothing like watching and hearing Michael Jackson sing “Thriller” while winding around streets in an entertainment filled bus to a beautiful new location. Two plus hours into our ride we stopped for lunch and quickly realized that everything in Matagapla is closed on Sunday except bars, so that is where we went for a quick bite. After lunch, we found the Colbri Spanish School and had a mini-orientation at the school. We then squished onto the bed of two pick-up trucks and headed off to our new homestay families.
We are now in Matagalpa and will be here for two weeks. Every day we walk to school with our homestay roommate or, in Celina and Taylor’s case, by ourselves. Celina and Taylor are the two super-brave and awesome people living in homestays by themselves. We have four-hour long group Spanish classes with one of the many amazing, extremely smart and awesome teachers and every night we have a school-planned function. So far we have been serenaded by a Nicaraguan singer and guitarist, have listened to an elderly man speak about the history of Nicaragua, and have watched the procession de la Virgin de Mercedes. This celebration happens once a year and is in honor of the head of the church. It consists of street dancers in hot pink dresses and go-go boots, hundreds of local children and families spending time together off of work/school, a lot of traditional music played by live bands and bombas (fireworks). My ears were so confused during this celebration–all the sounds from the choruses, bands, car horns and fireworks seemed to clash.
Nicaraguans really like to party! It seems like there is a party/street procession of some kind every day. We are woken up each morning by bands playing in the street. I wish we had constant parties in the states. Why do we need a holiday or special occasion to celebrate? Everyday should be a fiesta! Anyway, that’s all for now. We hope everyone at home is doing well. We love and miss you all!
Con Amor,
Anna Rodis