My Last Week!!

Well, I'm in the middle of my last week as a Peace Corps Volunteer!  I have 5 days left in site, 9 in Nicaragua and 12 left in Central America.  So, I'm going to continue with pictures of people I've gotten to know over the last couple years! 

I swear they are much friendlier than they look in the picture!  Don Chepe (José) and his wife live in the intersection of my satellite site.  I built them a stove in April, and they have always been super nice to me.  While I didn't spend too much time at their house over my 2 years, they were always welcoming, and nice people to talk to.  Don Chepe walked up to me last week and invited me for a farewell lunch at his house, which is when I took this picture! They made me the best Indio Viejo (a local dish) I've ever had, and we sat and talked about the revolution and contra war, among other things.  Apparently Don Chepe was part of the army unit that captured the plane carrying secret information proving that the US was funding the Contras.  It turned into a major controversy.  

La familia Castro lives down the road about 10km from my site, but I have tried to go visit them every Sunday for the past year or so.  I was introduced to them through their older son, who is a good friend of mine.  I ended up building 5 ovens for different members of his family, and had a really hard time saying goodbye on Sunday (I definitely cried).  Both my friend and his 17 year old brother are not in this picture.  Through his parents, I became close with other family members in this town, and felt like part of the family. 

Don Edwin and his wife Doña Maritza have been feeding me lunch every afternoon that I am in their community for the past year.  They are family of a teacher I work with, and are extremely generous and nice.  They own the main store in their community.  They are preparing me a goodbye dinner Friday night that I'm really excited for!  I'm going to miss them a lot. 

Izdania and her daughter represent one of my best stove success stories.  They built this kitchen around the stove I made, and use it   several times a day.  I got to know her a bit late in my service, but she was always super glad to have me stop by to her house, and her daughter told me she will have a surprise waiting for me this Saturday morning. 

Yasser is the son of the family in the second picture.  He is in his final year of studying marketing, and I'm sure will go on to be very successful!  I met his last December on a bus when he approached me and asked me about my Peace Corps polo.  Apparently he had worked with a previous volunteer.  Yasser has become one of my closest friends over the past year, and I'm really glad I got to know him and his family!

The Picture Goal

Well, I just finished my 3 day COS (close of service) medical appointment to make sure I'm not going back to the States with any weird medical conditions, and I've passed with flying colors!  I don't leave just yet, but we have to do this within a few weeks of leaving. The last few days have been filled with dentist, doctor, and medical lab appointments, as well as a final interview with the Peace Corps Nicaragua director.  Now I'm stuck here for another few hours waiting for my exit interview with the Environment Program director.  So instead of finishing watching the 6th season of Modern Family, I figured I'd write in here again :) 
I've made it my goal these last few weeks in country to start taking pictures with community members I've grown close to over the last two years.  I had planned on taking them all before heading to Managua this week to be able to print them out to give as gifts, but I kind of dropped the ball on that.  It's also hard to take a bunch of pictures with different people when stopping by to take one usually involves spending at least 45 minutes sitting and talking before even taking the picture.  So, here are some of the pictures I've taken so far, with more to come!

Doña Myra owns the main pulpería in my village, which is like a corner store.  I built her an oven (my first oven of 18) on my 23rd birthday, and have since been getting gifted free bread and cake when she bakes!  She is a good friend of my host family, my neighbor, and is a really nice woman!

Elaine and Omar own one of the towns other pulperías, and were painting their house when I stopped by.  Omar is the guide at the ecolodge near my site, and I have enjoyed working with him on his English as well as learning a lot about the names of birds and plants in both English and Spanish. 

Doña Isabel lives about a seven or eight minute walk down the road from me, and has taught me so much about so many things over the past 2 years.  She grows pretty much every tropical fruit you could think of, and grows most of her own food. Before going to the States last year she let me pick a basket of coffee in her backyard and then taught me the entire process of processing the coffee.  The then brought the finished product home to give as Christmas gifts.  Through her I have milked a cow, learned how to make cuajada (a cheese many Nicaraguan's eat daily), picked avocados and other fruit, learned about so many different plants and flowers, etc.  I also go to her house to try out new recipes for things.  If I want to do something, she is usually down to let me try it.  She regularly gives me a cup of home grown and home roasted coffee, and gifts me fresh fruit from her property when I leave.  When I don't want to learn how to do something, I have enjoyed just laying in the hammock and talking or sitting on the couch and watch telenovelas.  

Doña Carmen is the most adamant user of the Peace Corps ovens I've made, and regularly gifts me bread or hornado de maíz (corn based baked goods).  I have spent many hours hanging out with her and her family pretending to bake and talking.  She speaks really fast, so spending time with her also really helped improve my Spanish!  She also insisted on standing on the step in this picture because I'm so much taller than pretty much everyone in my village.   

Profe Angelica is a teacher in one of the schools I work at.  She lives on the main road up the mountain at the entrance of the pine tree reserve.  It's a beautiful hike up to her house, so I usually find myself stopping at her house to talk as a stop over point on walks or runs.  I have spent so much time sitting and chatting with her on her porch!  I always knew if I ever needed any town gossip or advice, I could just stop by her house or ask her at school.  She has four kids, but Randy is the only one who made it into the picture.  He turned 11 the day this picture was taken.  Her husband Armando is also really nice to talk to, but he has been out of town working a lot lately.