Kel and Julia Visit

October was a heck of a month as I scrambled to finish up my first MBA application to Berkeley(nightmare), sit for the GMAT(nightmare #2) and plan Chinandega’s regional competition for my entrepreneurship class.  It ended with a bang when Julia and Kelly arrived on October 27^th to celebrate my birthday and just in time for the annual Peace Corps Gala.  My Small Business Development Project puts on a formal evening each year to raise money for the national competition between the winning student teams from each department in Nicaragua.  Julia and Kelly, although exhausted from traveling, held it together for a night of dancing and the usual Peace Corps shenanigans.  It was awesome to have them meat the majority of my Peace Corps “Family” down here.  They originally flew in to celebrate my 27^th birthday, but they got oh so much more!       

Our adventures started out the next day as we headed to my home in Chinandega.  After a quick visit to my house in Chinandega and meeting the family we headed to my second home, the beaches of Chinandega.  We spent two nights at Coco Loco where the gals took surf lessons and went barefoot beach running.  I taught a little yoga and we got to see the baby sea turtles released in to the wild.  We enjoyed the fresh local fair that Coco Loco serves and chilled in the pool with cervezas.  It was really neat to see my Kel and Julia engaged and so interested in the projects that Coco Loco/Waves of Hope are performing in the community as well as the people driving them.

Sunset on Coco Loco Beach

On my actual birthday I woke up at Coco Loco and headed out for a morning surf, ate breakfast burritos with the gals, practiced some yoga and then had a message!  Not bad!  We also kept up or daily ritual of beers before lunch, usually around 11.  In the afternoon we headed over to Marta Montealegre’s house where she threw a little birthday shin dig.  I know I have mentioned the Montealegre’s in my past blogs, but they have become my family down here over the past several months.  Julio and Marta have practically adopted me and given me my own room in their beach house just minutes from Coco Loco.  I feel very at home with them and their family.  Marta had originally said that she wanted to put on a little birthday celebration and have Kelly and Julia stay over.  I casually mentioned to my friends in the community to stop by for some drinks and appetizers that afternoon around 4.   I had no idea she was going to put on a three-course meal and make a tres leches cake!  She made sopa de albondigas or a soup with meatballs made of shredded chicken held together with cornmeal and immersed in vegetables(one of my fav Nica meals).  There were quesadilla like appetizers and tacos to wrap it up.  My jewelry ladies Norma, Hazzel, Maria and Sendi came as well as some local Nicaraguan surfer friends Victor and Yerlis.  Holly and Jackie came from Coco Loco with Waves of Hope volunteers Milo and Edgar making it an eclectic mix, which was really neat.  I looked around the huge circular table and realized that all of the people there have been really great to me and I am honored to have each and every one of them in my life.  After a Happy Birthday serenade I blew out a single number “6” candle since that would be the average age of Marta’s grandchildren, ha ha!  Her tres leches was seriously the best I’ve ever had.  If your not sure what that is, tres leches is a cake that is basically moist with milk and covered with a meringue frosting.  For my birthday present from Marta and Julio I got to choose a puppy from their Rhodesian Ridgeback’s litter.  I named her Sirena and there will be much more posts on her as she grows.

The next day us gals went on a horse back riding adventure down the beach.  It was quite hilarious as I was riding the Montealegre’s horse who only knows one speed, gallop, and Kelly was on a moderately fast horse while Julia was on Molasses, we named her that for a reason.  It was a hilarious day of running up and down the beaches and trying to stick together.  The rest of the day we hung with Marta as she filled us in on how the Nicaraguan war of the 1980’s affected her family and their life as a whole.  We chatted about politics and filled Kel and Julia in on how things work down here, dysfunctionally. Marta is a very talented, intelligent and gracious woman who I now call mama Nica and she calls me hija gringa(white daughter).  I think we all agreed that we could have spent more time at Marta’s house lounging in hammocks and soaking in the view.  The house is gorgeous and right on the beach. But we had a date to climb a volcano the next day so we were off to Hacienda Consiguina.

Hacienda Consiguina is owned by friends/yoga students of mine who were so kind to let us stay for free in their beautiful ranch house tucked at the base of the volcano.  We lounged and chatted over wine that night, entertained by their crazy kittens.  We were in such another world I almost forgot it was Halloween.  The next morning we road in the back of a pick-up truck to Volcan Consiguina.  We were tossed about like rag dolls as the truck sped across peanut fields and started to climb gradually as tree branches smacked us down and sent us flying around the bed of the truck.  It was quite an adventure before we ever started the climb.  At the top we took in the views of the islands of El Salvador and Honduras while listening to monkeys howl from down inside the crater.  I had hiked the volcano once before, but the views were still just as amazing if not more the second time.  After climbing back down we set out on our way back towards Managua, but this time to the beaches outside the city.  We all agreed that about 24 hours was enough time away from the beach and we were glad to be back by the water.  We loaded a big school bus from Chin to Managua for Kel and Julia to get a taste of the open air, 80's beat bumping, public transportation.  At one point we video taped a music video to Titanic's "My Heart Will Go On" for the entertainment of the passengers.  Kel is that video available for public viewing yet? 

We arrived at Los Cardones at night and they don’t have power in their cabins.  It was quite fun switching to head-lamps and candle light.  I think I can speak for Kelly and Julia as well that this place was really special.  Our cabin had a huge porch looking out towards the ocean with hammocks and rocking chairs to take in the view.  It was primitive but oh so quaint.  The waves were awesome and despite my bronchitis that I was sporting at the time, I took advantage of them every morning.  I came down with a cough right before the gals got in to town and with no time to see a doc I kept hacking my lungs up through out the trip and taking my crazy prescribed cough powder medication which I referred to as “crack”.  Honestly I was having such a good time I didn’t really let it phase me accept for the fact that I couldn’t breathe.  Despite my bronchitis we practiced yoga, walked the beaches, surfed and just plain chilled.  We ate some typical Nicarguan dishes and indulged every meal.  At night we sported our head lamps to dinner and then retreated with handfuls of beers to our cabin before cracking open our wine.  The sunsets were incredible, as usual.  I took advantage of the late high tide and did a sunset surf everyday up until the waves coming at me were just a silhouette.  One evening there was so much ocean activity I saw fish swimming beneath me and a stingray jump out of water!  To continue with the animal theme we went on a crocodile search, but only ended up seeing one splash back in to the murky water.

Los Cardones

The last few days at Los Cardones were pretty special as it really set in on just how long it had been since I had gotten to spend some real quality time with my girls.  Our morning coffee/tea ritual looking out at the ocean was one of my favorite activities.  We once again all got messages from the local women and mine happened to be just before we headed out on our last day.  I showed up to lunch after my message on cloud 9 as the girls handed me a beer.  We ate and drank cervezas until our taxi driver Jose arrived.  The catch was Jose was almost 2 hours late, so something like 7 beers later we loaded the truck to head off to Granada feeling pretty darn good.  As Jose sped over the washboard roads we realized that all of Nicaragua would be dry that day.  Before we went in to panic we picked up Jose’s wife and son of 4 years to accompany us to Granada and then found a restaurant in route to sell us tall boys.  On the way to Granada Jose’s son fell in love with Julia and continued to take picture of her on his mom’s cell phone and then stretch her face out like a fun house mirror.  Needless to say he had us rolling in laughter all the way to Granada.  When we arrived to the city and before Jose left we all climbed a bell tower of a church to take in the sunset and views of the city.

The last night we spent at Casa San Francisco with mojitos in the pool and then a roof top dinner.  It was so awesome to share my experience down here with Kelly and Julia.  It was really special to be able to share the life that I’ve built down here.

Kelly took some amazing photos over the trip and captured the sweetness of the country.  Julia and I stopped asking each other where Kelly was once we realized her tennancy to wander off randomly and engage in photo shoots with the local plants.

A little goes a long way

I haven’t written in quite some time due to all my extra energy going towards Graduate School Applications and GMAT studying.  The Volcano Evacuation really threw off my study plan and I returned back home to a bunch of unfinished business.  Any who I wanted to take the time and write a blog post about my past weekend because it has touched me in many ways.  I was so thankful to return to my home in Chinandega after not being allowed home for 10 days and it made me realize how great my life really is here in Nicaragua.  Granted I get lonely, a lot, but there are some things that make it worth it.  This past weekend I was offered a ride out to the rural beach community where I help out, by a nice couple Mark and Kay.  The also offered to put me up in there beachfront house so I didn’t have to commute back and forth to Chinandega with the rain and all the hassles that come along with it.  What a treat!  I got to go on a beach run during the sunset Friday evening and then do a little yoga on the rocks over looking the ocean.  I settled in to watch a movie with them in a rocking chair and then fall asleep to the sounds of the waves crashing.  I woke up the next morning to another beach run with the Coco Loco dogs Ocita and Rocco.  I spent the majority of the day working with the Artesenia del Mar jewelry small business, getting them ready to export their jewelry to the States.   These women are always a joy to be around and really appreciate my efforts to help them improve their business skills.   I may have mentioned in a previous post that its turtle season and Waves of Hope has a turtle conservation project where they pay locals to bring in turtle eggs where they protect them until they hatch and then release them in to the wild.  Well Friday night about 30 eggs hatched and we let them loose Saturday afternoon as the tide was going out.  This was my first encounter with a baby sea turtle and they are adorable as they flap about trying to make their way to to the ocean.  My jewelry ladies and Coco Loco friends took pictures and tried to smooth the sand in their path so they didn’t get stuck.  It was a really neat experience, but also heart wrenching to know that only 1 in 100 sea turtles actually make it to adulthood.  After a sunset dip that night I walked the beach under a full moon with a Nicaraguan friend and Coco Loco employee who is in charge of the turtles eggs by keeping track of when they come in and when they should be hatching.  Jaime is his name.  I wanted to see a momma turtle come lay her eggs so we went walking and talking to try our luck.  As we walked we started to talk about the moon and how it affects the tides and before you know we are talking about how the sun and moon are correlated and how that effects the time that you are born until all of a sudden I realize we are talking about astrology.  Eventually the conversation turns to  evolution versus religion and what came first the chicken or the egg!  I was absolutely blown away by his views, he’s not one religion, but views himself as accepting of all religions.  We started talking about energy and karma and how there is no good or evil, it is just what is.  Jaime is from this rural community and can barely write in Spanish, but he is an extremely progressive and intelligent individual.  We chatted about our views on life and how we feel about our work in the community.  He told me that it doesn’t matter to him what people think about him, just about how he values himself and if the work he is doing is helping his community.  He takes a tremendous amount of pride in helping Waves of Hope protect baby sea turtles and strolling the beaches at night to make sure he gets to the eggs before the poachers.  We continued to talk about the different types of people that coexist like those that value philanthropy and those that only want money.  I’ve seen Jaime’s living conditions, its him, his wife, and two daughters in a 10 by 10 room with a stove top outside.  This person is living to give back. An hour and a half later my appreciation for this individual has multiplied times 10 and I want to hug him for reminding me that even when I get frustrated with the culture that not all is lost in this country.

The next day I went horse back riding with Holly to break in her new horses that she bought to use during the woman’s surf camps that she hosts.  We ran the youngins up and down the beach as they shyed away form the water's edge, not too sure what to make of it.  I ate lunch at the Montealegre’s house and finally headed back to the city to work on grad school application essays an study GMAT.  The Montealegre's are beautiful people that live down the beach from Coco Loco.  They are Nicarguan, but raised their sons(my age and up) in the states before coming back to settle in Chinandega.  They are extremely supportive of my projects and treat me as though I am part of the family.  I look back at my weekend and feel very fortunate that there are  people that recognize that life isn't always easy as a volunteer.  Their little bit of charity goes a long way in just helping me feel good while I'm here.

Volcano Evacuation Vacation

That's what we've been calling this time spent evacuated out of Chinandega for the last 4 nights.  It all started about a week ago when a 7.6 earthquake shook northern Costa Rica that could be felt in southern Nicaragua.    We received tsunami warnings on the Pacific Coast through out the week and there was knowledge that the northern volcanoes were heating up.  Saturday morning around 10 am I noticed the rain clouds moving in quite a bit earlier than normal and with a brown tinge to them.  It wasn't until I glanced at my phone and saw the 13 missed calls and inbox full of text messages, that I registered what was happening.  The largest and most active volcano in Nicaragua, which happens to be right outside my city, was erupting and spewing ash.  The missed calls were from my boss, my site mate, long distance friends and the head of security checking in to see my status.  We were to evacuate Chinandega immediately to Leon city about 45 minutes south and then on to Managua.  At the time I was actually north of Chinandega traveling with some Nicaraguan friends for the day.  If I had been in my house in Chinandega I could have easily gotten on to a bus and out of there.  In this case being north away from any danger, there was no chance I was getting on a bus to return down in to Chinandega were all the action was.  Since I was actually out of the zone that was being effected I was instructed to stay put and wait for someone to come get me.  As the day chugged along the volcanic ash cleared with the wind and things seemed to settle, but Peace Corps continued to gather volunteers all around the Chinandega and Leon departments to bring them to safety.  Around 4 pm the head of safety and security picked me up in the middle of a rainstorm to bring me down to Managua where my fellow volunteers were gathered.  Although the action had wound down, its still Peace Corps' priority to keep us safe and accounted for.

The first two nights after the explosion we were put in a nice hotel in Granada which was plenty far from the volcanic activity and the earthquake prone epicenter of Managua.  After 2 nights of just hanging out, eating good meals and catching up with friends we thought the action was over.  Monday morning the Leon department got the ok to head back to their sites, but the Chinandeganos had to spend the following night in Managua until they were positive that nothing more was going to happen.  The following Tuesday morning we packed up or things to head home.  I decided to do some work before heading back, but just as I called a cab to head out we got the update to stay put in Managua because the volcano was showing some activity.  Unfortunately 5 volunteers had already gotten a head start to their sites and were ordered to stay put in route as yet another mini explosion took place.  Not minutes after that we were all called back to Managua once again.  So here I am in a hotel in Managua starting to go stir crazy.  When you only have a short period to pack up your things, I went for the passport, rain jacket, computer, toothbrush and wallet.  Hind site is 20/20, but right now I'm wishing I had some running shoes, a yoga matt and more clean clothes!  I had no idea that I would be peacing out of my site and not able to go home for 5 days now.  It's not looking good to return tomorrow....

Momacita en Nicaragua!

All the months of planning and the many skype sessions to plan our epic journey across Nicaragua finally came to fruition July 11th when momacita touched down in Managua!  I had been envisioning the day my mom would finally come to Nicaragua and everything would go completely wrong and make her hate this country, but instead it was quite the opposite.  The taxi to the bus station went well and we even got two seats together comfortably on a public bus.  Things were looking good.

The first few days were spent at Aqua Wellness Resort Outside San Juan del Sur easing mom in to the journey ahead.  Our cabin was upgraded to beach front and sported AC and internet so we were living large.  We practiced yoga, snorkeled, kayaked, and went hiking to look for monkeys.  All of that went pretty well accept for getting stuck in torrential downpoor when spying on monkeys, pero este es la vida Nicaraguense especially during the rainy season. Be ready for rain, ALWAYS!  We ate well and took in the beautiful views of our private bay.  Just two bays down was the International Surf Competition which happened to start the day we left!  I would have been more upset if we hadn't been on our way to the airport to catch a flight to Little Corn Island.

View form our cabana

mom's first Flor de Cana rum drink

After an hour long flight to the eastern coast coast of Nicaragua to Big Corn Island from Managua, we took a half hour long panga(boat) ride across the Caribbean to the undeveloped Little Corn Island.   The panga raced across massive waves to deliver us to an island of about 500 people, half of them being tourists. We hooped of our boat to climb across 2 other boats to finally land on a dock.  There are no motors on this island.  No cars, no motorcycles, no roads for that matter.  Just a boy with a wheelbarrow to help us take our luggage across a dirt path to the other side of the island, in about 7 minutes.  The island is tiny and its parameter can literally be walked in maybe 4 or 5 hours depending on how many beautiful white beaches you stop to rest on.  It has a Jamaican feel as all its residents come from African American decent, but they speak creole which reflects the history of the british that first conquered the area.  Mom and I had our little cabana at Little Corn Beach and Bungalow was right on the beach looking at crystal clear blue water and white sand.  Their pina coladas were the best I had ever had with roasted coconut on top, as my Peace Corps friend Kelli says"they're like your island crack".  It took us maybe one morning to discover all the island had to offer, which in fact was quite a bit.  There are several dive shops, cute restaurants and bars that line one side of the island.  We spent most of our happy hours at bar Tranquilo with my Peace Corps friend McClaine and girlfriend Kelly as well as our new friends, a dutch couple that road the boat over with us.  We hit some amazing snorkeling spots where we saw sea turtles, nurse sharks, manta-rays, stingrays, lobsters and barracudas.  The rest of our time was spent lounging on the beach, doing yoga, or getting a massage. We ate very well on the island. One afternoon for lunch a local women made us Run-Down soup right out of her house which was truly amazing.  King fish cooked in a coconut curry broth with breadfruit, yucca, plantain and potatoes.  At night we visited Bridget's local where you could get a huge plate of several lobster tails any way you like it for about $10.  The two night we ate there I had garlic and then curry, which were amazing and we would have gone back there every night but we wanted to share the wealth.  I didn't leave the island with anything but pictures, a bit of coconut oil, and mother-daughter matching coco necklaces, but it's not a place where you come to accrue things, but realize how unimportant things really are.  It's a truly special place where locals and ex-pats work together to keep their beaches clean and stray dogs healthy, which is extremely rare in this country.

Amazing beaches that stretch forever, literally untouched

Happy hour with McClaine and Kelly, check out our mom-dot necklaces!

After 5 beautiful days we wheelbarrowed our bags across the island to catch the boat back, to get a taxi, to catch our flight, to catch another taxi, to take a bus to get yet another taxi.  All while I'm completely stressing because this is all happening on July 19th, Nicaragua's day of independence after the revolutionary war of the 80's.  As we were heading in a big yellow school bus to Chinandega buses and trucks overflowing with people were heading in to Managua to celebrate.  We had just missed the chaos by maybe 20 minutes.  We could already see the traffice backing up the Pan American highway from Managua.

Thank fully we made it to Coco Loco by 2 pm to enjoy lunch after all those various methods of transport to get there.  The next 5 days would be spent at my second home, Coco Loco, surfing and just plain chillen.  The plan was to get my mom to try surfing, but my first day out on the water I managed to come back with a swollen face and black eye after my board hit me upside the head.  My mom took one look at me and swore off surfing, chillen it was.  We took in amazing sunsets and enjoyed tasty dinners.  It was nice to have her finally see where and with who I spend my weekends with, just really awesome people at a really feel good kind of place.  On Saturday we took a day trip up to Consiguina volcanoe where my friends have a ranch to do the same horse back ride I did with my bro and cousin.  We road through the wetlands and took in the views together as well as a great meal with my friend's fmaily.  On Monday Waves of Hope, the non-profit arm that I help out with held their first ever surfing invitational for the local rippers.  They told the kids to show up at 7 am for a surprise and low and behold!  Holly ended up awarding surf boards to first and second place and my mom donated money which will go to building a repair shack for the local kids to learn how to repair their own surfboards.  We had a lovely time and Mom rolled away with over $200 dollars of jewelry from my women's group who makes earrings, bracelets, and necklaces from local shells and seeds.

Check out the shiner!

There was a tie for 1st place!  The winners with Jamie, Ben and Holly Beck

We finally pulled ourselves away from the beautiful beaches of Chinandega back in to the sweltering city where I live.  Mom trailed around with me to my classrooms, my NGO, my yoga class, and to meet my family.  At times she didn't think she could outlast the heat, but she was a trooper and we made it through our time in the city before heading down south to Granada.  Our last super in Chin was a lunch of albondigas(basically chicken and corn balls in a vegetable broth) soup with my entire family at our house.  My host mom went on and on about how I'm always running of to teach yoga then to teach class and then to salsa and then for a evening run and finally off early to surf.  They said they never see my face because I'm so vaga(always out of the house).  My mom just nooded her head and said, yes that sounds about right, thats my girl.

Mom sneaking shots of me teaching

Mom with my counterpart teacher and the owner of the cafetine where I eat lunch

When we arrived in Granada we were pleasantly surprised to have been upgraded to staying in the hotel owners' house with a beautiful pool and private courtyard.  My friends Kelli and Noelle came from afar to spend the evening getting to know my mom.  We chatted over wine and a nice dinner together to wake up the next day to massages at the house and more hanging by the pool.  None of us wanted to part, but mom and I had to get to Jicaro.  We spent our last three nights together at a beautiful all inclusive eco-resort on a tiny island on Lake Nicaragua, about 20 minutes by boat from Granada.  The island literally had a restaraunt, fresh salt water pool, 9 cabanas, a yoga deck, spa deck and nothing more.  It was so excluded from the mainlaind with Volcan Mombacho hovering in the back ground.  One day mom and I did a hike around the volcanoe base and then kayaked through the hot springs.  We mainly just relaxed and enjoyed the incredible food that was served.

Sunset on the lake

Our lakeside treehouse

kayaking by Volcano Mombacho

At the end of the trip I asked mom what was surprising or unexpected during our travels.  Since we had spent plenty of time in Mexico as I was growing up she said there weren't any surprises really, but she did say that she observed how hard it would be to live here.  Not just in regards of transportation, but access to things, the heat, the culture would all be challenging especially long term.  It was nice to have someone so close to me realize it for themselves.  She did also say that she was surprised how happy the Nicaraguan people seemed, but yet there was still a depressing vibe amongst the country.  After her conversation with a local about the revolution and how the government operates today, she had a better understanding of why.  My mom is one of the most compassionate persons I know and to see her morn for the dogs and want to reach out to the children made me more aware of how I've become numb to the many tragedies that plague this country.  It scared me that I viewed some of these things as normal.  I'll never get used to the burning trash in the streets or the starving animals, but somehow I've began to turn the other cheek.  Having mom here was an opportunity to keep my compassionate side in check and realize that I do have an amazing country to go back to in one year.  I hope to make the most of these next 12 months that I know will fly by.  Thanks mom for an amazing 18 days of great friendship, comfortable traveling and fine dining.  Now its back to reality here.  Miss you a ton already!

Bro and Cuz Visit!

Finally the first family members came to visit after a full year down here! I was excited and nervous as I waited at the Managua airport watching Clay and Sarah's flight get delayed on the arriving flight screen. I have never seen two people look more like tourists, and then I had flash backs of arriving in Managua last May with a bunch of gringos and wondered what I looked like then. We made our way up north to Chinandega with both Clay and Sarah reviewing their spanish vocabulary as we passed street signs and billboards in Managua. Our adventure started out waiting for a microbus to fill so we could head north to my city of Chinandega. Sundays are slow for travel so we waited and waited some more as vendors tried to sell me books on reading dreams and give me long winded speeches about how much they love the U.S. Sarah and Clay just stared in exhaustion until we finally filled up enough to take off.

We arrived in Chin with a quick stop off at my house to meet the host family and then straight to Coco Loco, my second home. We reached just in time for one of the most beautiful sunsets I have seen out here. It was a perfect week to be up at Coco Loco as we were the only guests along with one other friend who was visiting the Coco Loco yoga teacher Nikki. The owners Jamie, Ben, his girlfriend Chris, surf teacher Jackie, Waves of Hope volunteer Jason, yoga teacher Nikki and the three of us had volleyball tournaments where we invited the locals to play along with us. Coco Loco's right hand man Orlando took MVP with his spikes, granted the only rule was you had to have a beer at all times. The week consisted of surfing, yoga, volleyball, walking the beach and just catching up over the years the three of us had missed since growing up together.

On Wednesday we had a special invitation to go up to a friend's farm at the base of Consiguina Volcano. Sarah, Clay, Jackie, Jason and I loaded up the truck with Orlando and drove up at 5:30 am. By 7 am we were scaling the side of the volcano in an open air four wheel beast you might know as a unimog. Branches were smacking us through the side of the truck and bugs of all kinds crawled amongst us as well climbed the side of the mountain. Once we reached the top we could peer down in to the crater and see across the ocean to the islands of El Salvador and Honduras. After hiking around the rim and taking in the view we headed back down to the ranch house for lunch.

My friend and owner of the farm Luis and his parents laid out a wonderful spread of beautifully cooked steak, potatoes, salad, rice, local cheese, avocado, and cucumber fresco with vodka. After a few more beers we decided it was time to saddle up the horses and head out in to the wetlands. All of the horses were beautiful, well taken care of and very well trained. We made our way through the wetlands wading through rivers, running across wetlands and even swam with the horses in one area. The river was covered with bright green lily pads that juxtapose the mellow blue of the sky. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever scene. As we ran through the wetlands water splashed up on and all around us catching the light of the setting sun. Jackie and I at the head of the pack just let the reins go as the horses ran releasing all their pent up energy.

My horse Gatiado, the largest of the pack had to swim across first

We continued to talk about that day as one of the most memorable experiences of the trip. The farm had so much character and a ton of history from the war during the 80s. Of course Luis' family made the experience unforgettable with their hospitality as well. The rest of the week at Coco Loco ended with a bang as we headed to Al Cielo for dinner our last evening. Two parisians moved down to Nicaragua, fell in love with surfing, and built cabanas and a restaurant on the beach close to Coco Loco. The food is absolutely amazing and they infuse their own rums and olive oils. Ben, Chris, Jason, Jackie, NIkki, Ckay, Sarah, and I made our way over to enjoy the sun setting on Nahualapa bay where we surfed each morning. We started the meal with a pineapple infused rum shot and the night just got more out of control from there. The wine, pizza, fish, chocolate mouse and more great food just kept flowing form the kitchen. We ended the night with yet another bottle of wine back at Coco Loco and a mini dance party. The next day it was hard to say goodbye, not because we were hung over, but because we had just spent the week as a close knit family and it was truly a blast!

Saturday we made our way to Granada and happened to meet up with several Peace Corps Volunteers from my group. Sarah and Clay had the chance to meet my best Peace Corps friends, which was really neat for me to mesh both families. Sunday we all watched the soccer game, toured around the city, and did a pre-birthday dinner for Clay with all my peace corps friends that were still left. Kelli went all out and got a chocolate cake to celebrate! Clay's birthday was Tuesday so we decided to celebrate in the morning with a zipline tour on Mombacho Volcano. The three of us got our own tour with two guides that were absolutely hilarious. They were constantly trying to scare us and act like we were going to fall off the platforms when we were really already attached to the line. The zipline itself was pretty mellow compared to the one I did in Costa Rica, but we got to backwards, upside down and on top of each other which spiced it up. 

    

   

Granada is known for its colonial architecture which pulls in plenty of tourism. We stayed at the beautiful Casa San Francisco which is owned by a previous Peace Corps volunteer. The rooms are all unique and ours overlooked their quaint swimming pool and fountain. We decided to be the tourists that we are and take a boat tour of the isletas(mini islands) off the coast of Granada in the gigantic Lake Nicaragua. My Peace corps friends Luis joined us on what we turned in to our own booze cruise. We stocked up on beer and headed down to the dock like dorky tourists in a horse drawn carriage. Our guide ended up being a really neat guy who gave us a personal tour and history lesson on Granada. At one point we had a monkey named Lucy chillen on our boat with us a we enjoyed our cold beers. It was amazing to hear about the famous individuals who had purchased these islands and see the high quality of architectural talent that went in to building the houses that inhabited them. After yet another solid Birthday dinner of pizza and pasta we headed to a bar named Imagine where we jammed the rest of the night away to Neil Young, Crosby Stills and Nash, the Doors and other great classic rock hits.

Our last full day together was spent at the famous Laguna de Apollo which you may have seen in my earliest posts from training. It was a blast from the past sitting along this beautiful lake's shores deep inside the volcanic crater and looking out in to the crystal clear water. It took me back to the days of training where there was no freedom and this beautiful place was my only escape on a Sunday morning. I remember the hour hike straight up and down to reach this paradise. Funny how much has changed since then.

Over all it was an amazing trip and it was hard to watch Clay and Sarah leave. It was just like the good old days when we spent our summers together growing up. I'm really lucky to have such an awesome brother and cousin! You guys rock! Thanks for coming to see my life down here! And special thanks to Sarah for teaching us the drunk shakey face!

Women's Leadership Camp at Coco Loco

As you can probably tell by previous posts, I spend a good chunk of my time at Coco Loco located on Chinandega's coast volunteering at their nonprofit Waves of Hope.  This is where you can typically find me on the weekends surfing and advising my women's jewelry group.  This past weekend another Waves of Hope volunteer, Jillian, and I decided to host a women's leadership camp at Coco Loco.  Jillian was a previous Peace Corps Volunteer is Macedonia working in youth development so we immediately had the same ideas of how we wanted the camp to run.

We targeted young ladies between the ages of 12 and 18 and now looking back I didn't realize how big of a range that was and how the various ages differed.  Yet I'm also amazed how well everyone got along.  We had four fun filled days with fourteen participants hitting all ages and even sneaking in some little sisters around 10 and 11. Our topics included leadership, decision making skills, goal setting, effective communication, healthy relationships, the cycle of violence, at home beauty recipes, self-esteem, reproductive health and preventing teen pregnancy along with yoga and other activities to burn off some energy.  I completely forgot how much energy teenagers have!  I would consider myself a high energy "go-go-go" kind of person, but I was exhausted each day.  Thursday and Friday we just had sessions in the afternoon starting at 1 pm so the gals didn't miss school.  Saturday we started at 9 am and after a full day we hit the beach after dinner for a bonfire where the girls shared their favorite part of the camp and what they were taking away from the experience.  At some points during the camp I wondered how much the girls were really getting out of it as I'm used to teaching an older crowd with a longer attention span.  I invited my site mate Lindsay, a health volunteer to come out and I noticed during the preventing teen pregnancy talk some of the youngsters would disappear out of embaressment for a bit, but eventually find their way back out of pure curiousity.  Around the bonfire as they roasted their marsh mellows for smores I got the real scoop on what was going through their heads.  I was really touched to hear that everyone had a different part of the camp that deeply effected them.  Jillian and I even had girls approach us individually to talk about their personal experiences.  I was also pumped to hear that all of them really enjoyed the yoga! One of the more touching moments was when we all sat in a circle and talked about how the machista culture has effected our lives as women.  This machismo mentality tends to foster the mistreatment of women as they are viewed as inferior to men.  We talked about how women need to unite and are more powerful in numbers.  They recognized each other as someone in their community to rely on and trust, they are now more of a team than ever.

I should have guessed that having the girls spend the night would turn in to an all night sleep over party.  We hauled mattresses up to the open air yoga studio to create one huge bed where the girls continued to put on fashion shows and scream throughout the night every time thunder or lightning hit.  It took me back to my slumber parties as a youth and remembering how I never wanted day break to come so the fun wouldn't end. Fortunately we had a banana chocolate pancake breakfast planned bright and early at 6 am.  Over the coarse of the camp the girls had envelopes posted on the yoga studio walls that they had decorated where others could put "kind words".  This self-esteem activity was really neat as everyone got to read all the nice things that others said about them over breakfast.  The first pic below was taken after breakfast at about 7 am, some older girls had already left to head to Sunday classes in the city so you can see how young Nicaraguan teenagers look compared to Americans.  They are generally really petite and skinny until the rice, beans, and fried foods catch up to them.  Don't they look so young?  It really blew me away the first day of camp when I had this vision of what teenagers would look like!

Anyways all of this would not have been possible if it wasn't for the lovely people Jamie, Ben and Earl who started Coco Loco and Waves of Hope two years ago.  Their dedication to improving the community and providing opportunities to local Nicaraguans is amazing!  These three canadians have put a new spin on community development.  They employ all local Nicas at Coco Loco and hand out numerous scholarships for students in the area who are helping to give back to the community.  The Waves of Hope volunteers help out in the schools and give english class.  Waves of Hope is in the process of building a high school as they just finished their primary school a few months ago.  But what's more is the locals are all friends and we are all on the same level.  I surf with the chef of the kitchen, Caludio, in the morning and we sit down for drinks after dinner together.  A local surfer Elton who is extremely talented also comes over to paint a wall at Coco Loco and we all watch surfing videos together over dinner.  I guess I'm trying to say that this place has it right, local Nicaraguans and North Americans working right along side each other to make a difference in the community sustainably.  I consider this place my second home outside Chinandega, but really it's where my heart is.  Pro surfer and friend Holly Beck also has paired up her women's surf retreat with Coco Loco to give back to the community.  Watch a video on Jamie and how Coco Loco and Waves of Hope operate on Holly's website.  Also you can read more about Waves of Hope at their website where I recently posted a blog about my women's jewelry business that I'm advising.
 

7 am after breakfast- No one wanted to say goodbye!

Decision Making Activity where the girls had to put themselves in tough situations and present their reasoning and thought process to come to their decision

At home beauty!  I'm about to apply and avocado and honey face mask!

Team building excersize!  The girls had to fit all team members through a different part of the web to get to the other side.  Planning a strategy a head of time was key!

Jillian is with the girls in a big not and they are trying to make their way in to a circle with out letting go of their hands.

Palo de Mayo

The last weekend in May I traveled across Nicaragua to the Atlantic Coast to celebrate Palo de Mayo in the city of Bluefields.  I know what you’re thinking, Bluefields?  That’s not Spanish?  Precisely.  I bet you didn't know that Nicaragua has the largest population of African descent across Central America.   The Atlantic coast is heavily influenced by the English who developed the Eastern side of the country when the Puritans first founded colonies along Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast in the 17th century.  They also brought with them an enslaved populations of Africans to work on their plantations.  Enslaved Africans form Jamaica also later sought freedom in and around Bluefields after the British emancipation in 1834.  This area became a destination for free blacks from the British controlled Caribbean.  There fore the people of Bluefields speak english and creole, but a special kind of creole that has developed over the years and is spoken no where else.  Common phrases like “alright, alright, alright”(popular greeting), “ya done reached”(you have arrived), “lick-a-bit”(referring to a small amount), and many more phrases fill the streets as I walk past southern plantation looking houses and picked fences.

A large group of volunteers united and organized events over the long weekend such as a happy hour, parade watching party and a trip to the keys off of Pearl Lagoon.  Saturday was our big day of cultural events.  We kicked it off by visiting the central park where vendors, which were thick homely black women, served home cooked meals that they had been slaving over all morning.  The key ingredient in the Atlantic coast diet is coconut.  Everything from bread to soup here is riddled with coconut.  I had a plate of gallo pinto cooked in coconut milk with lobster in creole sauce and yucca cooked in coconut broth.  A stage was set up in the park where traditional Atlantic coast dances were being performed.  The costumes  are made of brightly colored fabrics and typical leave womens’ midriffs exposed.  These dances are much more provocative than what you find on the pacific side.  There is an overwhelming amount of booty shaking and grinding performed by all ages.  Later that afternoon the party really got started with the Palo de Mayo parade.  This holiday is focused around fertility and there fore the fertility dance is performed by several different groups as they make their way through the street of Bluefields.  This consists of several women surrounding a fertility tree, or in this case a large branch, and wrapping strips of fabrics around its branches while making some freakish grinding moves as well.  Over all it’s a great show and we couldn’t help but join the crowd and party through the streets.  At one point in the parade there were young men spraying spray-paint in to the air and lighting it on fire, awesome for the environment I know, and one of them happened to have a University of Arizona shirt on!  You know what I’m talking about, the gigantic blue and white “A” on a red T-shirt.  I totally flipped out, chased him down, and took a photo with him.

Lobster and coconut gallo pinto

Go Wildcats!

Hanging in the park

After the parade we found ourselves back in the park, but this time ten times as packed and with cold beers in our hands.  After a dinner of more typical east coast food, we made our way to the most popular and shady reggae club called Four Brothers.  This was my first experience with dance hall reggae and it was a blast!  Everyone was grooving and chillen to some serious beats, but the trippy thing was the lights were so low the corners of the club were left black and all you could see was the bar lit up.

The next day we rose early and painfully to take a small boat up the coast about an hour to Pearl Lagoon.  If you recall from my previous posts, I visited this place a year ago when I visited another volunteer during training and absolutely fell in love.  The people in Pearl Lagoon are some of the most friendly and warm folk I’ve ever encountered.  Animals run the white sand streets freely and English has basically vanished leaving only a very thick creole in its place.  Unfortunately we did not loiter long in Pearl Lagoon as our main goal was to reach the keys about an hour off its coast.  Twelve of us including our guide Jimmy took off to sea in a rather small panga.  After fighting the waves to push our way out of the lagoon we finally made it to the crystal clear carribean waters.  We parked our boat on a tiny island with nothing on it but us.  There we cooked a famous Atlantic coast soup called rundown.  The “run-down” comes from the act of the fish, shrimp and other seafood that is boiled on top of the stew and the flavor runs down in to the yucca, plantain and root veggies that are drowning in a coconut broth.  The flavor is absolutely amazing and for a seafood lover like me, heaven.  After bathing in the clear water, walking three times around the island and hunting for what coconuts existed on such a tiny piece of land, we headed back to Pearl Lagoon.  This was just a taste of what is took come when my mom visits in July and we head to Little Corn Island!  Can’t wait!  That night we took advantage of our last meal of coconut shrimp and listened to a fellow volunteer play some reggae on his guitar.  I actually fell in love with his music and bought the CD from his band back home called Reviva, check out their song Illegal!

The key

Alicia and I on the boat

The trip was quite long, totaling 14 hours of travel by bus and boat, thankfully I broke it up over a few days getting there, but it was a rough one full day of travel back home.  In the end it was all very worth it! One Love!