The 14th and 15th of January we celebrated El Senor de Esquipulas, El Cristo Negro. It all started the the 13th where my site mate, his host mom, and myself watched fireworks in the street at the local Catholic Church. This is the night that the Black Christ officially leaves the church to begin the festivities the following couple days. It was like celebrating the 4th of July in the States! The 14th was more of a religious holiday. I participated in the Pilgrimage in which I met up with my other site mate, Chris Oritz Y Pino and a couple of other PCVs who made the Pilgrimage to my site, Esquipulas. I walked for about 2.5 hours sweating out of every sweat gland I have. The walk was nice, but it was good to get back to my house and take a cold shower. It was nice to have friends in town to celebrate. We were able to do a little celebrating the night of the 14th. Streets were crowded with people and the local central park was covered with people, families, dogs, trash, food, etc! It was crazy!
My site only has about 7000 people. About 15,000 came during the two days! People from all over Nicaragua come to my site to celebrate these two days.
The 15th was more of a party, a celebration...celebrations in Nicaragua lead to a lot of happiness...a lot of happiness in Nicaragua leads to a lot of ragged guys passing out on the street, lol!
The 16th - 18th I had in-service training with my other business volunteers. We stayed at Apoyo Resort at the Laguna de Apoyo for two nights. Que bonita ese lugar! How beautiful this place is! We were able to spend a little time having fun and one full day of work. Also we were able to spend some time in the water and enjoy a moon-light swim in the Laguna!
Following IST, I headed to San Marcos, Carazo where I was able to spend some time with the novia. She is a student at the American University here. It was good to see her and relax.
My parents came the first week of February for a week. Man it was good to see them! I picked them up at the airport and we jumped in our little two door compact silver suzuki jeep and headed north to my site. We made it 20 minutes up the road and were pulled over by the local police. We were told we were following too close the people in front of us, which was not the case. The officer insisted that we would have to go to a bank to pay $12 and then head back to Managua to get my dad's license which the officer "supposedly would have taken to the polica nacional"...My parents do not speak spanish, so I had to suck it up and do some translating. I understood about 90% of what he was saying...he went on a rant about some political stuff which I cared less to listen too. I insisted that it was better to pay him the money and for us to keep the license...which is probably what he wanted. My mom was frantic, lol. We kept joking with her the whole week that the police were looking for her!
Anyways, we arrived at my site, I showed my parents my casita (little house) and took them on a quick tour of my site introducing them to my neighbors and other people in my community. My parents brought a small suitcase full of useful items and candy and gifts that I handed out to kids in my community!
Everyone loved my parents and loved the fact they were here visiting! I still have people to this day (two weeks later) ask me if they have left yet, haha!
Next, was Matagalpa, Matagalpa. My novia's step-dad invited my parents to stay at their house for free while they were in country. He loved having my parents stay and even gave them two huge bags of coffee from his coffee farm which he owns and runs!
We headed down south following my novia and her sister and her sister's friend. We were about an hour outside of Matagalpa when the novia's camioneta (pick-up) broke down on the side of the road. I felt lucky that we were there to keep her company while her step-dad was in route with his mechanic. Finally, an hour later he arrived with his mechanic. The problem was solved and we headed south towards the Laguna de Apoyo. The novia headed back to San Marcos. The Laguna was beautiful once again. We stayed at the Apoyo Resort where I had stayed a couple weeks earlier. The first day was for us to relax, the second day I took my parents to San Juan de Oriente and Niquinohomo, my old training towns. We stopped at my first training host family in SJdO and I introduced my family to my host family (with the exception of my training host mom who passed away last July 2013 after I left). Moving forward, we ventured toward Niquinohomo where we visted my other training host family whom were exceptionally glad to meet my family. This day, my novia (okay, okay, I haven't introduced her yet, her name is Alejandra) came in to hang out and say one last good bye to my parents. My parents adored her and thanked her for her hospitality.
The last night at the Laguna de Apoyo was amazing. I went for a swim and then my parents and I had dinner at the restaurant that overlooks the Laguna. We ended the night each with a fancy sweet delightful mojito.
The last day came pretty fast. We packed up and headed to Granada just on the other side of the Laguna de Apoyo for a few hours. I wanted my parents to see a bit more of history in Nicaragua. We had breakfast at Kathy's Waffle House (I suggest this place to everyone who visits Granada Nicaraga). We walked around and sweated, drank water, and sweated more. For a snack we headed to Cafe Sonrisas. This was a start up funded by the Rotary Club in Northeast Texas. They give the deaf community a chance to work and earn money. They also make hammocks by hand here. My mom was impressed and so dad bought her one to take home!
At last we headed towards Managua to stay at the Best Western. I even had a room to myself!
I think I wore my parents out driving around and hopping from place to place, but I felt better that they were able to see where and how I live as a volunteer for the Peace Corps Nicaragua. Also, they paid for my food and hotel nights! What a blessing it was to have them around and share my experience and the culture here in Nicaragua with them!
I miss them!
After sending my parents off, I headed to the Peace Corps office for a meeting with Team Emprende. Oh yah, I applied for Team Emprende 2014-2015! I have a lot of work ahead of me this year, but that doesn't mean there will not be room for some fun! Oh, Team Emprende works alonside our bosses helping organize the annual Gala, keeping other business volunteers in line, helping organize the national business competition, fundraising, and organizing in-service trainings / idea exchanges for the small business volunteers.
Please feel free to share my blog and my life as a small business Peace Corps Volunteer living and working in Nicaragua (2013-2015).
No comments:
Post a Comment