Gringa en Nica

After the rainy season ends in early to mid November, Somoto has a mix of spring and fall. A bunch of flowers are blooming, different ones every week…so that part feels like spring. However, there is crispness in the air that we attribute to fall and everything is turning brown. The flowers stand out beautifully among the brown grasses and trees. Unlike home where the end of the rain and snow season usually means the green flourishes all around, course the snow melts and provides an unending water supply (on a good year at least). One can tell when the rain has ended because everything immediately turns brown! The days are usually sunny with big fluffy clouds, the ones not filled with rain, and it’s probably around 82 degrees on average. It’s nice because I don’t have to take 3 showers a day due to non-stop sweating. At night I haven’t been able to sleep with my fan on because it’s so cold! I have a fleece blanket and a regular sheet that I sleep with and they keep me plenty warm. Even better, the fall feeling provided a good background for the two Thanksgivings I had this past week.

Mike and I celebrated Thanksgiving at Matt and Jess’s house on Thursday at 3pm, along with Carolyn and Carrie (Health 46, the group before me) and Carolyn’s Nica friend. We didn’t get a turkey this year, not enough time to get one and then fatten it up. Next year that is my goal! I already told my mom that I want to have a small turkey for Xmas at least, with plenty of stuffing and gravy (my favorite part). I made our family’s traditional President’s Cheese Dish which turned out pretty damn good considering I was dealing with sub-par ingredients and didn’t have actual pimentos; I used sautéed sweet red pepper instead. Matt and Jess made stuffed chicken with gravy and not one, but two desserts! A pumpkin pie and apple crumble! Carolyn made a really yum salad with apples, nuts, raisins and mixed around with plain yogurt. Mike made what we call “Thai Thanksgiving Soup”, which was squash soup made with coconut milk (that Mike made fresh) and basically all the spices one uses to make Thai curry. The end product had a smell that reminded us of Thanksgiving and fall. Since all the food was ready at once we ate right away and there was no snacking or drinking beforehand. Therefore at the very end of the meal we were not what we call “Thanksgiving stuffed” but we were very very full! When we got home around 5:30pm, the food coma hit hard! We couldn’t even stay awake to watch a movie on TV! So what did we do? Took a much needed nap!

For the weekend we headed up the mountains to Cusmapa to celebrate Thanksgiving the Sequel and my birthday. As you can see by the picture below, we once again had a feast to feed probably 20 people…ok ok maybe 10? Celebrating the holiday was Mike, Callie, Pedro, and yours truly. I made the stuffing and so-so chicken stock gravy. The stuffing turned out pretty damn good and I used lots of celery from our garden in the backyard of the Cusmapa house. Before dinner we watched the sunset with some of the many kids that are always at the house. Pedro and I lent our cameras out and taught them how to take pictures, so I have a ton of pictures with half of the heads missing and about 10 pictures of the cell phone tower alone. Since Cusmapa is so high up in Nicaragua you can see all the way to the Pacific and the lands of El Salvador and Honduras. In addition, on a very clear day you can see the volcanoes in Leon and Chinandega to the west.

Thanksgiving number 2 - Cusmapa

This is about as artistic as I get...my sister got that gene

Callie's Pumpkin Pie...yummy!

The Claro cellphone tower in Cusmapa, it ruins the moment

Pedro my Spanish roomie explains photography to the kids

The beautiful hillsides and clouds

David and I

The "Pipe" (baby) and I

You can see El Salvador and the Pacific Ocean..almost in this photo

Julisa, David, and I

Who doesn't love sunsets?

I totally forgot this girl's name

Callie and Mike also enjoying the sunset

Me of course

Enjoying the view

This is where the padre lived

The kids love hanging on Mike

Another beautiful sunset shot in Cusmapa

David and Gieselle

Evidence of the pine trees and mountains

Boys will be boys...Eric, David, Tony and Norlan

Sun doing down...

Going down....

Bye bye sun, hasta mañana

A pine tree, duh!

On Sunday we celebrated my birthday eve, and Callie cooked an alfredo/tomato sauce which was super yummy! After dinner Callie, Pedro and I (Mike left for Somoto that afternoon, boo!) played a rousing game of Monopoly. I had pretty bad luck and only had the Railroad and 1 Monopoly. Pedro basically lost all of his property to mortgages…but then decided he would blatantly steal about $5,000 from the bank. Even with this “found money” Callie whooped us both! After Monopoly was a dance party of 3 people, after many Toñas and some Flor de Caña. Pedro went to bed 5 min. before midnight, and Callie and I listened to Josh Groban to welcome my 24th year of life. Nothing says happiness like a Josh Groban song! I’m pretty infatuated!

My sad stash and properties

Pedro and I

Pedro found a pile! Thief! Ladron!

And the pile again...

Monday, December 1st, my birthday! Thanks to Mom/Dad and Auntie Anne/Uncle Mike for calling me! And thank you to everyone who sent me a text message on my phone, wrote me an email, and wrote a message on my Facebook wall. Thanks also to Callie for making me a really great card…“Zelek makes bread”…and to Pedro and Mike for celebrating with me. Since the kids are out of school in December, Callie is running a mini-camp for the kids and having the women over more often for knitting time as well. In the morning she reads to them, she started James and the Giant Peach in Spanish and then she teaches them theater games like charades, Pictionary, etc. All of these activities are great to help the kids get rid of their “pena” (embarrassment) and expand their creativity. Also, I’m sure a 95% of these kids have never had a book read to them as well since so many of their parents are illiterate or don’t take the time to read to them. Callie also continues to run choir practice with the kids at the Oratorio. They are practicing Xmas songs for an upcoming concert in Managua, set for the 19th or something. Also on this day the little kids next door (Oscar and Sara) finally got up the courage to come over and visit, instead of just looking through the fence in awe. They brought over their “carrito” (little car) and were fascinated with the drawings on Callie’s book. They are probably two of the cutest kids I’ve seen here in Nicaragua! I like it when kids are that age (3-5) because they are old enough to talk and play, but not old enough to really annoy you!

Sarita and Oscar with their carrito

Our walls are slowing being decorated in the house and last week Lauren and Callie drew some pictures to put up. I contributed by making a bus schedule and an Obama collage for the wall. Speaking of Obama, I’m so happy he picked Bill Richardson for Secretary of Commerce this week!

And continuing with the theme of politics, last week the U.S., Netherlands, Spain, England, Denmark, and Sweden announced the withdraw of Millennium Goal Funds due to the ambiguity of the municipal elections. Before this announcement, Finland alone had withdrawn $12 million when the National Electoral Council told them they could not observe the elections. The U.S. (to my knowledge) has pulled about $64 million out of Nicaragua, which was supposed to be used for infrastructure development. I’m not sure the total amount of funds taken out of Nicaragua, but I know it is a big chunk of change! This leaves many PCVs with the question; will the Nica gov’t eventually kick PCVs out? I don’t think it will come to that, but anything can happen at the drop of a hat. Luckily I’m right next to the Honduran border, so if we need to leave quickly I can catch a 20 min. bus and be over the border in no time. And if all else fails I can find a horse and ride over the mountain!

Pictures by Lauren

My Collage! Obámanos!

Picture by Callie

Card making supplies

HIV/AIDS Training at the Public school

My friend Tupac is proud to be Nicaragüense

Jess and I with the Madriz Counselors, Harold and Ada...taking the picture is Marietha

This weekend Mike, Callie, Callie’s friend Kate, and I are going out to the karaoke bar in Somoto to celebrate my birthday and two other coworkers’ birthdays. It should be fun and I need a new song to sing since I’ve done “Man, I Feel Like a Woman” twice already. Maybe I’ll sing a Selena song. Part of me is really happy that Somoto has such a boring night life, it means less calories and less money. Furthermore, a good 50% of the music played is Mexican Ranchera…which I can only take about 1 hour’s worth. I just can’t get into it! Maybe because our neighbors blast it outside at 5am about every other day. However, dancing really helps distress! Hopefully they will play some good Reggaeton or some Salsa.

Speaking of music, two weekends ago was Carnaval in Somoto. They had 6 stages set up in the streets of Somoto and the party lasted till 5am. The group was Callie, Mike, Joe (from Esteli) and I, and then we ran into a ton of the Ag volunteers, Matt/Jess, and most of the other Health volunteers from Madriz. My favorite Nica band was there, Mokuanes, and I even got to meet them at the end! I didn’t bring my camera or phone because I was afraid someone would steal it from me. About 4 people I knew, Nicas included, had money or their cell phones stolen. Luckily no one tried to rob me, though Callie and I had our butts grabbed about 20 times. I was even with other guys around, and still Nica men think it’s free rein to cop a feel! WTF mate? I stayed out till 4:30am, a record for me in Nicaragua! Usually it hits about 1:30am and I’m done. I think it was the dancing that kept me awake and the 3 hour nap I took that afternoon. How Carnaval worked: Each band played 40 min. sets and then took a rest, so you would move from one stage to the next and there would never be clashing music. I saw so many people I knew and I met a lot of internationals that are living in Somoto. There are Canadians, Spaniards, and Japanese that live here and I had no idea! I think there are Germans as well, but I haven’t me them yet. Safety wise, besides the theft, I felt really safe at the event and there were police everywhere. I saw 3 fights get broken up quickly and no one bugged Joe and me when we were walking the 5 blocks to the house.

The day after Carnaval is the Hipico, which means “Horse Parade.” Personally, I think Hipicos are lame, the rich from all around Nicaragua show off their dancing horses. It was weird to see the “normal” size horses on the streets, since most of the horses in Somoto are the size of ponies. The parade is a competition to see who has the Best Horse. How they determine that…I’m not sure. Next Hipico I’ll try to take a video, it was too dark to take a good one when I went. I tried to snap a picture of guys drinking beer or talking on their cell phones while on their horses, but I didn’t get any good ones, sorry! Mike and I took a picture with the Toña girls while they were on their float. Also in the parade are small bands, the famous Toña beer truck and other random actors (see picture below). We didn’t stay long, just to see the horses and that was that. Maybe next year I can convince someone to let me ride in the parade; now that would make it way more fun!

People in costumes during the parade

Mike and I with the Toña girls

And we can't forget the Toña truck!

The horse parade...so exciting...

I’m so excited to be going home in less than 2 weeks! Crazy how fast time goes by! I’m sure everyone is sick of Xmas music already, but I’m so excited to listen to all of my favorite songs! The only Xmas music I have on my computer is Josh Groban and the Beach Boys…luckily I don’t get sick of them! Enjoy the new pictures; I took about 300 in the last 2 weeks!