Happenings

When I got to site, a volunteer friend of mine told me that in the last year he had done a tally of classes missed or canceled for some reason. Apparently, in his case class is held about 75-80% of the time. This is often due to teachers meeting with parents, “trimming” the trees around the schools, village parties, the list goes on. While it might sound nice to have the day off, usually you find out after traveling about an hour by bus to get there.. or better yet by bike. Luckily, this time I was informed that there would be no class.

With my day off, I decided to go ahead and check off one of the places on my list to visit- Finca Magdelena. This coffee cooperative is made up of 24 families and located about a 1.5 kilometer hike up from the town of Balgue. From the property you can take off to hike Volcan Maderas, a nearby waterfall or go on to see the petroglyphs.

One of the views from Finca Magdelena

I’ve often caught myself thinking that I am in a whole different world on this island. On top of this mountain, even more so.  I realize Peace Corps service can be a pretty challenging experience at times. It has the tendency to tug on every thread you have got left. We are faced with so much poverty, unwanted attention, and awkward situations tend to fill the majority of our days. Sitting in an old farmhouse drinking a cup of strong Nicaraguan coffee grown in the land behind me and looking at a volcano, lake and butterfly farm simultaneously, I can’t help but look around myself and realize I am a pretty lucky girl.

For instance, the hospitality of the people continues to surprise me. Coming from South Carolina, we brag of the hospitality of our people and pineapples (the symbol of hospitality) adorn everything. However, the warmness of this community is something else. Every single person that you meet tells you their name and where they live. Then, they invite you over for coffee or lunch whenever you want. The thing is, you better go or else you will probably offend them. For example, a couple of weekends ago, we were in Rivas. We stopped by a house to ask about a good and cheap place to eat breakfast. (I love how in Nicaragua you can add -cito to the end of any word to add an endearing “little” to any word.) In this case she asked if we wanted gallo pincito, pancito, huevito, quesito, y cafecito... rice and beans, bread, eggs, and coffee (a typical Nica breakfast). We told her, sure that sounds great, where do we go? She said, adelante.. or come on in and proceeded to make us breakfast.

Speaking of breakfast, this is a picture of my amigos “helping” me to make pancakes. After talking them up all day.. I failed. And I failed miserably. I am still trying to figure out how I got into the Peace Corps if I can’t even follow directions from a box. We’ll blame it on the fact that they don’t use non-stick pans here. Anyways, I fed the leftovers to the pig in the back yard. By the sound of his grunts, I think he at least enjoyed them.

Most of you probably know Bunny or Buns, just to let you know he's doing all right in Nicaragua and has made some good friends. Also, he sleeps under the mosquito net at night so he's not too itchy.

Here are also some links to photos that I have posted on Facebook. You should be able to access them even if you don’t have an account, but please let me know if you have any problems.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.856243244724.2323828.21312865&l=578c69e6c4&type=1

 

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.843145048614.2318807.21312865&l=93141e4852&type=1