But, with all of that going on I have had time to do a little traveling before the school year officially starts. I traveled last weekend to the northern parts of Nicaragua which are known for their coffee, cigars, mountains, and cool weather. I rolled in to Managua on a Friday night and picked up two of my friends Jake and Noelle to head north. Standing on a 6 pm crowded bus three hours north was not the highlight of the trip, but what awaited us in the town of Esteli was worth the trip. We arrived in Esteli to a cool breeze which was foreign to me at this point after only a month back in Nica. I busted out my sweatshirt and had legit chills before putting it on. We met up with some fellow volunteers and our new friend Rodney who served as a volunteer back in 2004-2006 and has written much of the Nicaraguan Moon Book Travel Guide. He promised to show us a good time, but we really had no idea what was coming. After some wings and beers we headed to a club called Cigarzone. In my mind the north was cooler cowboy country so I sported some jeans, toms, and a knit t-shirt. As we walk through the dirt to the entrance of the club, I start to realize that I may be under dressed, but what the hell I'm typically out of place in this country in every way anyways. Not until I entered the Vegas-style club did I realize just how "special" I looked next to some of Nica's finest! I'm talking stilletos, lether stretch pants, and cocktail dresses kind of joint. Who knew this existed here! To top it off there was a live performance by Rasta Jam with his hit song Borrachos se Cae(the drunks fall). Watch the video, its hilarious that this represents popular Nica music. Then picture several Niacarguan women with bellies flopping over their pants dancing along on stage with the black dude with horrendously long dreads.....classic!
After a night that lasted in to the wee hours of the mornin we woke up the next day to head to Somoto Canyon. This is Nica's only canyon, just recently discovered in 2006 surprisingly. As you wind back in to the steep crevices, the canyon reveals just how truly beautiful it is. The walls get so steep at points that you have no choice but to swim the cool clear water that runs through the canyon. We spent several hours in the canyon on Saturday hiking in and relaxing on sandy beaches. I thought it was such a neat experience I had to go back the next morning to hike farther in. At points there are small waterfalls to boulder up and high ledges to jump off in to the cool pools of water. What really impressed me about the whole experience was that the locals were hiking and boating the canyon, taking full advantage of the canyon's beauty. This is rather rare in my experience with Nicaraguans. Typically Nicaraguans don't go seeking physical activity and swimming especially is not a common skill set, but the Somotans know what an awesome thing they have going on. Many locals will take you on a guided hike of the canyon and then put you up with their family on the canyon ridge for the night. I am definitely going back to camp and rock climb it!
Entering the Canyon
We had to swim most of it because the walls are so steep
Noelle and I swimming our way up
This shot reminds me of AZ
The crew
That evening we made our way up even further north to the city of Ocotal to join about 50 other volunteers to watch the Superbowl. We never fail to have a down right good time when all of us get together. I got to reunite with my training group from Nandasmo as well as represent with all my Chinandegan site mates. When I came to Nica I was with the rest of my business group as well as a group of Agricultural volunteers who are generally places up north in more rural sites so it was a nice chance for them to come out of the wood work share what they've been up to.
The next day I basically ate my way back to Chinandega with a cuban lunch back in Esteli and a dinner of ribs in Leon. This made a long day of traveling much more enjoyable with good food and good company.
To counteract that beastly music video I provided a link to earlier I'd like to share some actual tasteful Latino music that I've been really in to lately, they have a lot of great songs but Corre! by Jesse & Joy is their main hit. Not a fan of the video really but hope ya like the music!
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