Random Pics from the Mirador

Ok I may or may not be the most inefficient blogger ever. I had some awesome pictures and a pre written blog from my latest adventure and I didn´t put it on my flash drive to bring to the cyber. Oy. Oh well. Above is a picture from the Mirador in Caterina and the forest above the laguna are the forests with screaming monkeys that I hiked through to get down there.

Last week one of the girls in my youth group invited me to come visit her house out in the campo (rural area) to visit the finca (farm) near her house. I of course jumped at the opportunity to break out the hiking boots and a group of us headed out. The finca and forests were absolutely amazing, so much fresh fruit and the kids are so much fun. We had coco con leche (so delicious) I got to try so many fresh fruits I was in heaven - I had raw cacao (my cacao nib obsession can live on here - woo hoo!!), a whole coconut - drank the water from the shell after it was hacked open with a machete, then ate the coconut, mango, mame, guava, and some other stuff that I don´t remember the names of. I need to post the video of the cocunuts getting cut open - really cool.

Tomorrow morning I´m heading out for my first solo adventure and my first site visit to a small town up near the Hondurus border - I´m really pumped and mostly optimistic that I can somehow manage the 3 buses I need to take to get up there.

Got to run but next week I should have some good stuff to post. I miss you all - and someone send me some mail!!!! :)

The Weekend

Sorry for the double post but the cyber in my town doesn’t have reliable internet access and I haven’t been able to get on for the past few weeks... Week 4 of training – I can’t believe I have been here for less than a month. It feels like much longer… Some days I feel like I’m adjusted to the new pace of life here – waking up at 6; classes all day; dinner and a novella in the evening; then bed – but then on other days I honestly think I am going crazy because it takes so much effort to do the simplest things. I think it will be different once I get to my site, can speak Spanish better, and get a little of my independence back.

This weekend was my first full weekend off meaning no training or health talks on Saturday (there are literally a million different health risks here – I think I might become a borderline hypochondriac by the end of the 11 weeks of training!). I’ve already gone through about half my supply of Germ-X wipes – I might have to resort to bathing in straight up rubbing alcohol in a couple weeks.

Anyways, to take advantage of the freedom I decided to go on a trip to Masaya to find some legit Nicaraguan coffee. I brought my French Press with me and am determined to use it. The Pali (grocery store) was great. I found my coffee and some other random stuff that made me happy and headed back home. It’s kind of funny/really frustrating whenever I try to do anything on my own here (like making coffee or going for a run) because I try to explain why I want to do it, and well, sometimes I don’t think the words that come out of my mouth make any sense. I just wanted to boil some water but my family doesn’t think I’m capable of even the simplest tasks (sort of true) – but I think that they enjoy the novelty of my “loco” ideas. I’m getting used to the fact that every time I stray from the standard small talk phrases I know I get looks as if I have 3+ heads J

So I asked if I could boil some water and it was quite the process – the result of my first round of explanations was to put my French Press on the stove to boil (which would have been a disaster because the bottom is rubber); once I managed to explain that it had plastic in it the next interpretation was that I wanted to microwave it (which would have been worse because I probably would have blown up the house!); finally on the 3rd round I was able to explain how I needed to make it. I made the coffee and offered some to my family – and to be polite a few people accepted –I’m sure they were curious after the effort we just went through. I didn’t measure the coffee and it was really strong and not that great so I said if they didn’t like it (Nicaragua surprisingly doesn’t have a big coffee drinking culture) they didn’t have to finish it. The look on their faces was priceless but to be polite they all managed to choke it down after going through an entire bowl of sugar. I don’t think that did anything for my culinary cred.

After the coffee adventure – 1 hour later – I decided to hike down to the laguna with one of the guys in my training town and 2 of his cousins. The hike down wasn’t too bad – through the jungle, really steep, but beautiful. The butterflies here are massive and the colors are amazing. We got to the laguna, waded for about a ¼ of a mile to the touristy spot and hung out for a bit. It was such a nice afternoon… then we needed to head back -up the vertical incline we just came down. I’m pretty sure that I burned about 5,000 calories, I almost passed out, and I don’t think I’ll do it again. There are tons of monkeys in the woods and it was getting late in the day. When they start howling it sounds like a pack of dogs are stalking you – really creepy. Overall it was totally worth it though – it’s nice to get out into nature because there is so much smoke here sometimes I forget how gorgeous the land is.

The next 2 weeks are going to be interesting, tomorrow afternoon we are going to visit a volunteer in Granada to observe some classes, and next Saturday I am going to visit another volunteer for 3 days. I’m not sure where I am going yet but I’m excited to see a different site and what the daily life of a volunteer is really like.

Training - The Adventures Begin

Hola everyone! So I have made it through my first 2 weeks of training and I’m exhausted. Right now I’m living in a little pueblo – only 4,000 people and my schedule consists of waking up (around 5:30 because that’s when the rest of my house gets up) going to Spanish class for 4 hours, coming home for lunch, then going back to class for another 2-3 hours then going for a walk and hanging out with the new fam. The idea is that I will be sufficiently fluent in Spanish by the end of training – July 31 – here’s hoping! My training town counterparts are to the left and Gloria is our facilitator.

It’s so weird how easy it is to adapt to a completely new environment – I shower in a bucket now!! Although I’m not going to pretend I’ve mastered the art of efficiently showering in a bucket. Washing my hair is always an adventure and I’m pretty sure that my “adaptability” is more due to the fact that I’m so tired every day that I function just to make sure I get to all of my classes/training.

My family here is nice and really huge. There are 20 people living in my house and all are related somehow – I put together a family tree but think I might have missed some stuff because I still can’t figure out the exact relationships... There are some upsides to living with so many people, I always have someone to practice my Spanish with – and when one person gets bored of listening to me bumble along and butcher even the most simple phrases I can just move on to someone else. I feel like growing up in the crazy Byrne household somewhat prepared me for the communal living situation.

The town next to me (about 10 minutes walking) has this great spot the “mirador” - there are restaurants and bars at the edge of a cliff that overlooks Laguna de Apoyo and if it’s really clear you can see Lake Cocibolca (which is a lot bigger) in the distance. I walk there every night and once I got up early to run up there in the morning – awesome views any time - you can see storms coming in, cool cloud formations and some other volcanoes.

Last weekend I took a day trip to Laguna de Apoyo, the water is so clear and there are a few hotels around the lake (big tourist hangout which was kind of nice because that means other people that speak English!) I actually swam in the lake (well paddled out to the raft thing in an inner tube) and avoided getting sunburned, so I considered it a good day.
I’ve been taking the public transportation, which are old school buses or random little vans that can hold like 20 people, to get around and am pretty proud of myself because I haven’t got lost yet. I went to a horse festival in Masetepe yesterday and am planning on going to Masaya (big city – woohoo!!) this coming Saturday; I’m pretty pumped about it.

Ok back to studying - more updates later – and sorry about lack of pictures I somehow lost the battery to my camera and just foud it the other day...