Corinto Seafood Festival

The month of April has flashed before my eyes, maybe because I spent a good chunk of it traveling for Semana Santa.  Work has also had me very busy along with the addition of several yoga classes to my schedule.  Yoga has finally taken off in Chinandega for me and it's almost overwhelming.  I stared the process by asking of I could teach a free class at an all women's gym when I first arrived in August, but with no success.  I returned several times over the last month or so asking for just 30 minutes here and there to at least give a demo and then let the members of the gym chose for themselves if they want a yoga class offered or not.  Well turns out the women really enjoyed my class despite my gringa spanish, but the gym wouldn't offer me an evening time slots because the aerobics classes are all too popular.  We are talking super ghetto wanna be aerobics on three pieces of wood haphazardly nailed together and used as a "step".  And this wins over my yoga class? humbling ha ha.  I posted signs in the gym with my phone number and asked women to organize a group of their friends, find a local, and I will come teach.  Finally it all worked out and I have an organized group Monday and Wednesday nights.  While all this was going on apparently the gym decided they wanted me to teach Monday mornings so now I have 3 scheduled classes a week.  Plus my host sister and mom are all in to yoga now so I'm teaching a class at my house for them and our mutual friends.  Is there such thing as to much yoga?  I don't think so!

I have started a series of trainings at my Microfinance NGO Pro Mujer.  Last week was my first 2 hour training session to 20 women small business owners from different parts of Chinandega.  We covered leadership, goal setting, the planning cycle and FODA Analysis.  I couldn't believe how well the women were engaged and participating through out the two hours.  Here two hours is quite a long time to keep a group focused, but these ladies were really in to it.  I'm sure they were getting a kick out of my less than par spanish.  At the end of the session they all wanted copies of the slides, and with myself being a poor volunteer, they all chipped in and paid for their own copies, which aren't exactly cheap.  Guess they liked the materials!  It's really great to have Pro Mujer behind me financially to reimburse these women for traveling in from the campo, providing the equipment and air conditioned space.

Artesenia del Mar, my women's group that makes jewelry, is really taking off!  We just did a photo shoot this weekend on the beach of all of her new styles to create a catalog.  I felt like I was creating an Anthropologie Spring Edition catalog by wrapping bracelets around drift wood and using natural props to display the jewelry.  Pictures to come!  Norma, the lady who started it all is really putting everything she has in to it and coming up with awesome designs all on her own.

Amongst all this I found time to visit my BFF here in Nica in the mountainous city of Boaco.  It's the San Fran of Nica minus the Bart and trolleys, so let's just say my gluts got a work out.  Amongst working on her community garden, hiking and morning yoga, we mainly found ourselves day drinking and catching up over the last 3 months that just flew by.  By the way, an excellent rum drink to cool you down is pineapple, cucumber, cilantro, orange, and grapefruit juice, rum to taste.

This past weekend was the Corinto Seafood Festival.  Corinto is the port town about 15 minutes away from Chinandega.  It's a smaller quaint city where the majority of the cargo arrives to Nicaragua on the Pacific side.  They block of the central park and vendors cell every type of Nicaraguan seafood you can imagine.  There was ceviche, fried fish, pupusas with fish, seafood soup, shrimp, lobster, muscles and the list goes on.  Of course a lot of it was fried like Nica food always is, but oh so good.  There were also beer tents set up so you could roam around drinking and eating as you redeemed your tickets for whatever goodies your heart desired.  That morning a good friend from training, Irma, came up from Masaya to perform with her dance group at the festival.  It was great to catch up with her over breakfast and then hang to watch her perform the traditional Nicaraguan folklore dances as well as the Palo de Mayo from the Atlantic coast.  After achieving a full stomach we(20 plus volunteers) headed to the beach to relax and digest before heading back for round two.  Around nightfall a live band started playing music in the central park which only led to one thing.....dancing.....possibly on stage........

Gotta love the costume

She's in the middle

Smile for the camera Irma!

Semana Santa with Char & Derek

Little did Char and Derek know when they booked their flights to visit me here in Nica that they were coming over the biggest party week in Central America.  Although we avoided the chaos that Semana Santa brings we managed to have our own party on the Island of Ometepe!  We started our journey in San Juan del Sur with some surfing, beachside beers and fish tacos.  Char and Derek got a load of the popular surfing beach Maderas as they rocked their longboards.  At night we chilled on Buena Vista Surf Club's infinity deck watching the sunset and listening to howler monkeys.  This is of coarse before Char and Derek did their nightly bug hunt to kill of any living creatures in their cabin.  I was informed that there were several scorpion encounters in their bed the few nights prior to my arrival!  Welcome to Nica!

After a few chill nights on Maderas beach we made our way to the Island of Ometepe which sits on Central America's largest fresh water lake named Cocibolca or "Lake Nicaragua".  I should redefine "island" because we are actually talking about two volcanoes, one dormant and one active, that are adjoined as one large land mass.  We parked ourselves about half way up the Maderas dormant volcanoe at the eco-resort Totoco to stare across the way at the very active La Concepcion volcanoe.  While we were at it we thought we might as well take a dip in their infinity pool.

Noelle is lucky enough to call the island home so she joined in!

Our island adventures began with a narly bike ride, wait I should clarify, more like mountain biking an hour and a half to the entrance of another 2 hour hike to San Ramon waterfall.  I think we were all ready to pass out by the time we reached the cool waters, but it was well worth the hike!

My buddy Andrew who also lives on the island was kind enough to be our guide

That night we had some of the best mojitos I think I've ever had, made with sugar cane straight from the island.  We dined like kings at a foreign owned restaurant named Campestre that has amazing meals for around $5, and returned just about every night after that to do it all over again!  As if i hadn't completely tuckered Char and Derek out, the next day we decided to kayak the Istiam river, taking us on a three hour journey over the lake and between the volcanoes.  Char and I ended that day with her treating us to messages on their cabana porch as the sunset, what an awesome friend no?

The next day we played it more low key and checked out the natural spring Ojo de Agua to bath in its cool waters and drink coconut water.  The day winded down with yet another Toña litro session at Campestre with another volunteer friend Ricardo.

Sadly the next day Char and Derek left the island to head up north to the city of Leon to board down volcano Cerro Negro before heading back to the airport in Managua.  It was reported to be an awesome experience and I'm still waiting to see the Go Pro video they took!  It was so amazing having them visit and get to see the country I live in.  I think they really enjoyed themselves, I know I did!

My island adventures continued with Noelle inviting Ricardo and I along with her Nicaraguan friend Roberto to go fishing Nica style.  I'm talking wooden stick with fish line attached.  Our bait was larva that we hand picked from the bottom of rocks from the lake's shore.  That in itself was an experience as the larva had pinchers and they actually drew blood!  While Roberto and the owner of the boat reeled in fish after fish, us volunteers ended up empty handed.  After several hours we parked ourselves on a deserted beach off the lake to build a fire and cook up the fish they caught while the sun set.

Island fish, apparently the pinker the better

After picking every piece of meat off the bones of these fish stuffed with peppers, onions and garlic, we made our way back home while the sun setting over volcano La Concepcion.

The next day was dedicated to getting our horseback riding fix as Ricardo and I share the love of riding We reminisced about riding in our childhood as we galloped along the lake shores amongst herds of horses running free.  Later that day we were joined by my two good guy friends MacClaine and Ryan.  As soon as they hit the island we found ourselves on the beaches of the lake with our own litros of Tona.

The next day we took on the challenge of hiking up Volcano Maderas.  My friend Andrew, our fearless leader, took us on a record breaking straight up hike of 2:15 while it takes most groups 4 hours.  I was drenched with sweat and gasping for air as we made our way through the thick cloud layer.  The crater at the top has turned itself in to a lake since the volcano's dormancy.  It made for a beautiful view.  It wasn't until the way down that the mud turned in to a problem of slipping and sliding down the mountain.  I've never ended an adventure so dirty.

The crater lake and lingering clouds

view from about half way up the volcano

the boys lookin for the monkeys

The next few days we camped for practically free along the Lake's shores switching it up each night.  I experienced one of the most beautiful sunsets from a dock set away from the beach in the middle of the lake.

The last few nights of my Semana Santa were spent in San Juan del Sur where we partook in some great DJ parties on the beach and more amazing food.  I sealed up the trip with a bang when I bought my first real legit surfboard.  The one I had was really beat, but this brand new board made its way up from a shaper in Peru. I bought her off a canadian named Jacoah who just couldn't afford to get his custom board back to Canada with him.  It's not exactly the color scheme I would have choose, but beautiful none the less.