It's going to be almost impossible to recap all of the events over the last two weeks since Thanksgiving, but I'm going to do my best! I'll start off with a bang, Thanksgiving dinner at the Ambassador's house! Twenty-five of us volunteers were invited to the Ambassadores humble home to enjoy is pool, each others company, pool side bar service, and of course a lavish meal of real American Thanksgiving food. Here is the shot of the table that was set out on the patio sporting beautiful crystal that always seemed to be full of wine.
Cheers to self-refilling wine glasses!
Thanksgiving weekend was spent with some of my best girlfriends here hanging by one of the most beautiful coves I've ever seen, located just north of San Juan del Sur. We practiced yoga on an enormous pavilion over looking the bay and I got a chance to surf some new waves. The place we stayed, Aqua Resort, was a real treat and an all out vacation for me. Although this place is not cheap it was amazing and completely worth every penny! We had our own cabin amongst the monkey infested trees hovering just over the beautiful bay.
Yoga Pavilion
The following week was spent back in our training towns of Masaya where we spent those first 3 memorable months of service here in Nica. We returned for a week of intensive spanish class to hash out some of the difficult and technical issues that come with learning a foreign language. I also got to reconnect with my best gal Nica friend Irma and check out her life at the University of San Marcos.
Tuesday of that week was spent in Managua at the National Business Competition that I have been talking about. My group of Noni's Tea met me at the Holiday Inn to present their product along with the best of the best from all over Nicaragua. I was extremely proud of their hard work in the weeks leading up to the competition. Although we did not place, the experience was awesome and brought us all very close.
After our week of training we headed to the colonial city of Leon to enjoy the weekend before yet more training the following Monday. Leon's baseball team was conveniently playing my Chinandega team on Saturday so a bunch of us settled in behind second base with some beers to hoop and holler along with the Nicas. On Sunday I took advantage of our proximity to the volcano of Cerro Negro, which you can actually board. Yep, get a lode of my piece of equipment, ghetto! What you see here is a piece of wood with a rope attached at the end, which equals absolutely no control. There were other tour groups around us wearing matching protective suits, but I'd like to think our method of old worn out knee and elbow pads was more Nica-fide. I wasn't expecting much from the experience, maybe a few laughs and some good views, but I was surprised to find that one can actually really mess themselves up on the volcanic gravel if they fall. You can work up some serious speed and the gravel just starts flying at you. I was emptying gravel out of my sports-bra at the end and looked up just in time to see my buddy Jake completely eat it at the end.
last time I tuck a t-shirt in to yoga pants
Play Ball!
The rest of the week in Leon we all had a chance to reflect on the work we have done with our total of 7 months here in Nicaragua and share with the group. I was pleasantly surprised with the array of projects that my group is working on and gathered some ideas of my own. At night we all bonded over trivial pursuit, cards and playing the guitar. We ended the week and a half of the group being together with the celebration of Purisima. This is the celebration of the Virgin Mary and the immaculate conception of baby Jesus. Basically there are fireworks, live bands, and huge crowds of people going door to door tric-o-treat style as everything from food to jewelry is being given out. Instead of saying tric-o-treat, the people sing and shout the phrase "Quien causa tanta alegria"or basically "who causes so much joy". It was an interesting site to see everyone pushing and shoving their way to the front to grab the gifts. It was an interesting juxtaposition of selfless giving and selfish taking, which had me standing towards the back not wanting to receive anything. The tradition was really interesting although I felt as though participating would be inappropriate since I am not here to take from these people.
Since the next day was a holiday in Nicaragua I couldn't pass up the invitation to go deep sea fishing with one of the judges of my competition and someone who has become like a second father to me here. We spent all day out at sea only stopping to visit a deserted island to play some frisbee and then head back to shore to fillet our fish! I'll leave you with a photo of the sun setting on a great few weeks of traveling....
My Mackerel compared to Jose's Needle fish
Bay of Corinto
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