Well, I’ve been at my new site for a
few days, and it’s already been quite an interesting experience. I’ve been observing classes at one of my
schools, went on an awesome 3-hour hike with my host brother in the mountains
around my town, and more! I haven’t
really been able to go out on my own yet, and won’t be able to for at least the
next month or so. That aspect has been
a bit difficult to get used to, but I’ve definitely been getting a lot of
reading in, and have also been practicing my Spanish a lot (my site is
relatively safe, but my family just doesn’t want me walking around before I
know everyone for security reasons). I
haven’t been bringing my camera around to avoid looking like a typical gringo
tourist and because I really don’t want to have anything stolen from me my
first week in site. If I had my camera
on that 3 hour hike it would have likely lasted at least another hour, and this
blog post would be all pictures. No
words can express how beautiful the hike was, so I’ll try and keep its description
short
We started off on the main road, and
hiked up to the pine tree reserve (yes, there are plenty of pine trees in my
town!). We hiked through that for a
while, which consisted of many more inclines than declines, but also had plenty
of places to rest and look out over the mountains. It was a bit later in the afternoon, so the
sun was hitting the trees and mountains perfectly for the last hour and half of
the hike. From there we continued into a
farm area, where there were mainly coffee plants and banana trees, but also
looked like a rainforest at times. Our
final destination was an Ecolodge called Finca Esperanza Verde, which had one
of the most amazing vistas/miradors I’ve seen in Nicaragua, or anywhere for
that matter. It definitely helped that
the sun was just hitting the top of the closest mountain peak. The lodge was started by two PC volunteers
from North Carolina in the past, and now is a running Ecolodge and organic farm
that grows everything from coffee to regular veggies. To finish off the afternoon we walked back
down another road and made it back to my house in about half an hour just as
the sun was finally setting completely. Before
we left I had just asked my host brother to walk me around to help me get to
know people, and that’s what we ended up doing.
It was pretty great!
Finally, I just have a list of
things I’ve gotten used to here so far.
Disculpe (excuse me) if I’ve mentioned these before.
- Showering in the
backyard with ice cold water (scratch that, not sure if I’ll ever get used
to that one)
- Having the 2
family pigs block my exit or entrance to my room
- Sleeping on a
very thin colchón (meant to be a mattress, but more like a thin mattress
pad). It’s actually not that bad!
- No Internet in
town!! If I want to use the Internet, I have to take a bus half an hour
into my municipality. It’s nice to
be less connected. I just type out
all my e-mails and blog posts in my room and bring them into town on a
flash drive.
- Rice, beans,
cuajada (type of cheese), freshly homemade corn tortillas, occasionally
eggs from our chickens that roam around my house, and sugary fresco
(drink). Not much variety, but it’s
all pretty great and filling!
- The outhouse… it
became so much easier when I abandoned the hover.
- There’s one
Catholic Church and four Evangelical churches in my town of less than
800. I’ve learned to just stay
clear of the topic of evolution (even if the teacher that is teaching
epochs in time asks you what you think).
- Lodo… otherwise
known as mud. In a month it will
become polvo (dust). If you ever
visit me, you’ll definitely become familiar with one of those two
words.
- Wearing tube
socks whenever I wear shorts to hide my tattoo. Yes, it looks as funny as you’re
probably imagining.
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