It’s been a pretty
eventful last month or so! Regardless of
some of the things you will read in here, like my getting sick, having things
stolen, getting into heated arguments in with guys on busses, etc, I am still
riding on the Peace Corps high I’ve been on for the past several months. With that said, here are some of the
noteworthy things that have happened this May:
1) I met a super
progressive and awesome family when I went on a trip to build an oven on their
farm. They own a really large farm, and
pretty much everything we ate was raised or grown on their land: rice, beans,
corn for the tortillas, milk for the cheese, steaks, jalapeños, veggies,
coffee, and the oranges for our rum. The
rum, however, was made on the other side of the country. They are converting, or have converted, the
rest of their land into a biological reserve.
Not for tourism or to make money.
Just to be. It’s a pity Peace
Corps Volunteers usually can’t go to this part of the country (I had to get
special permission)! It really is any environmental volunteer’s paradise, and I
already have plans to go back and bake there next month.
2) A minute and a
half after texting the security director of Peace Corps that I was back in my
department from that trip to build the oven and that nothing had gone wrong, my
iPhone was stolen from my backpack. I
didn’t realize it was gone until I was on my other bus, but I know exactly who
took it. While it sucks, it was old and
starting to get really slow, so it’s his problem now. I was actually happier that he stole the
iPhone and not my cheap Nica phone. It
would have sucked to get all my contacts back!
3) My Mac
crashed. It was a pretty bad week for my
outdated iProducts. I’m glad I had
backed it up a few months before it crashed, and I only lost a couple months of
pictures rather than them all. It’s
since been fixed, but she’ll never be the same.
4) I turned 24!!
Never has the statement “never trust a fart” been so true as it was on that day. I guess there’s a reason the told us that in
Washington, D.C. the day before coming to Nicaragua. First time I had been sick in months though,
so I couldn’t complain.
5) Several friends
came to visit me in my site a few days after my birthday (when I could confidently
venture away from a latrine). We went up
to the ecolodge near my site, went swimming under the waterfall, and they even
bought me a really great cake. It was
great!!
6) I started
getting tutored in math. I used to be
really good, but after 6 years of no classes my math skills are bordering on
embarrassing. I had met someone in the
park in town waiting for a bus a couple of weeks ago that is studying to be a
math teacher. So naturally I tracked him
down in his house across the valley the next day to ask if he could help me
study for the GRE (which I may or may not be taking before I finish my
service). Is that weird?
7) I got into
arguments with two different cobradores (the guys who charge you on busses) over
the equivalent of about $.19 within an 18-hour period. I usually take the same busses when I travel
around my sites so the cobradores know who I am. Every once in a while, however, I take a
different bus with different cobradores.
In both cases they tried to overcharge me C$5 for a “gringo tax.” They didn’t say this of course, but I made
sure they knew I knew what they were up to.
While I’m of course arguing over principle, I’m pretty sure I’m getting
a reputation as being super cheap by those watching me on the busses. To be fair though, that $.19 can buy my
morning sweet bread. I’ve since come up
with a battle plan for one of the cobradores for next week, so let’s see how
this goes. Maybe not the best idea, but
I hate being discriminated against, taken advantage of, and lied to. I’m also one of the few people that actually
stands up to them. In both cases,
however, I got my money back after constant pestering.
8) I took a hot
shower last weekend!!!!
9) I had forgotten
how awesome microwaves are. I was able
to heat up the rice and beans for lunch that my host mom had prepared for me that morning!!! It was amazing! It was my first time using one in quite a
long time though, so I couldn’t exactly remember/figure out how to use it. I ended up having to ask for help.
10) I just about
finished my stove/oven project. I’ve
even built 4 more ovens than I had planned on building. The extra 4 ovens were not part of my grant,
which means less paperwork for me! I’ve
also finally started teaching how to bake again!
