Two weekends ago I found myself on the beaches of Leon celebrating my good friend Kate's birthday with a pinata, grilled fish, bonfires and surfing. The department of Chinandega has a reputation for being very social and taking advantage of the wonderful beaches that surround us. We planned a fun filled weekend for about 15 of us all in honor of Kate, well also just in honor of having a darn good time together. We happened to come across five Peace Corps volunteers from Costa Rica whom made us realize just how awesome Nicaragua is. Don't get me wrong, these guys were a ton of fun, but at the end of the day we have great people in the Nica program and some beautiful undiscovered and undeveloped land that we get to frolic in for two years.
Cheers to Kate!
During the week I have been diligently planning with my teachers to make sure my high school seniors start the school year off with a bang. We are covering such topics as Entrepreneurship, types of businesses, and the creativity needed to create a new and interesting product. At Pro Mujer I created and distributed a survey to identify women small business owners who have big dreams for their business, but just need a little guidance to realize those goals. My project is to select a handful of women who I can really spend some quality time advising them on their business plan and future goals. I have also been working with my women who make the jewelry out of shells on their marketing strategy and packaging while successfully putting their products in two new stores, one in Leon and one in Chinandga. This past week also served as a training week in Chinandega for new health volunteers where I got to take part in HIV/AIDS talks at events such as mens billiards tournaments.
The next weekend was spent on my very own Chinandega beach surfing, just the guys and I. The five of them are all agriculture volunteers so it was no surprise that each night we had a massive bonfire on the beach to grill our fish over. I had an awesome time just taking in the sun, surfing and catching up with good friends. On Saturday I made the trip with my buddy Maclaine to the northern city of Jinotega to run a half marathon that the Peace Corps was helping organize.
The northern mountainous regions of Nicaragua are known to be much cooler and the people boast about their beautiful vistas. I got a chance to breathe in some of this fresh crisp mountainous air last weekend at the Jinotega half marathon. I realized just how accustomed I had become to the heat when the cold morning air of about 60 degrees was almost unbearable. We ran the 13.1 miles through valleys and up and down mountains, which I was totally not trained for. The beautiful views and cool weather made up for the challenging terrain. I was really impressed with the amount of Nicaraguan participation in the actual race, but a bit less impressed with the logistics of the race. We stayed in a church that had been remodeled in to dorm style living where I slept on the floor on a thin mattress the night before the race. We were woken up at 5 am to bus the entire length of the race to turn around and run back the direction we just came, very counter intuitive if you ask me. Over all it was a ton of fun and I would do it all over again next year. The other volunteers that were a part of the event really made it an experience to remember. The next evening we headed to yet another mountainous city called Matagalpa where we rewarded ourselves with the comfort of great Italian food, wine and a cozy hostel.
Couple of us half marathoners before the race
Starting the trek through the mountains
Post race wine with my buddy Andrew
This week is the women's empowerment fair that I have been working on for quite some time. Peace Corps along with Pro Mujer and several other NGOs in Chinandega are getting together in the central park to display all the different services for women in our community. The event is in honor of International Women's Day on March 8th. We will have representation from women's right organizations, health NGOs, and microfinance institutions. I have also invited women artisans in the community to come sell their products including my jewelry ladies from the beaches. To top it off there will be entertainment consisting of a performance by a youth orchestra and a folklore dance number as well.
Today I ate my first mango of the season which made me oh so happy. One of my teachers and I spent some quality time together picking the ripe mangos from our high schools trees after the kids all left. Not a bad way to spend an hour or so after lunch. We were a good team. Silvia had the ten foot long stick and I was designated mango catcher. I know I know, always so hard at work.
I'm going to leave you with a song that I just can't get out of my head. I think I'm obsessed. It's in portugese, but oh so catchy! Ai Se Eu Te Pego by Michel Telo.
Lovely colorful notes y fotos. Me encanta todos tus experiencias. Te quiero muchisimo!
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