COMMUNITY INTEGRATION- At Last

Let’s back track to a year ago in Nicaragua, January 20, 2010. I wake up in Managua for the first time, lying in the bottom bunk sweating profusely. With 23 other soon to be Peace Corps Trainees I wonder what one earth I have got myself into. I don’t speak Spanish. I don’t want to be a way from my friends for two and half years. I like hot running water. At 6 am I decide it’s a good time to get up, not too conspicuous. In fact, maybe I should take a run around the compound Peace Corps has put us up in? Get my blood flowing? Get ready? As I run the loop the guard at the front gate yells out, ¨Buenos Dias.¨ I yell back ¨Buena Dia,¨ check that out, I’m speaking Spanish.

Present, January 16, 2011. I’m walking down to the local fritanga in downtown Jinotega. An enchilada, some gallo pinot and a maduro sound like a great way to end the day. I can plop myself down on my front steps, eat dinner and maybe play some games with the neighbor kids. I get there and the woman running the street barbeque stand says, ¨your usual?¨ Why yes, my usual! I’m walking home one hand in my pocket on hand holding on to a black plastic bag full of some good Nicaraguan street food. A child runs by and says, ¨adios Lorena.¨ I pass an old man on the street and stop to talk. He asks why my boyfriend isn’t with me. Because, if that white boy doesn’t watch out he will have to date me, he just needs to find a way to be 30 years younger. If only right? When I finally get home, sit on my front steps and pull out a fork, Badher, my next door neighbor, pops his head out the window. ¨Lorena, are you going to play with me?¨ Obviously his six year old self can’t see that I’m eating and that is higher on my list of things to do then play ball. I tell him to sit down next to me and tell me about his day in the market.

Feliz Navidad y Año Nuevo

It´s been a while! The holidays swallowed me up, in the best possible way. Let’s see if I can give a brief summary of all the fabulous/super cool things I´ve been up to while on vacation.

Vamos a empezar en diciembre de 2010. So, in early December Braden and I decided to kick it in Chinandega and begin our winter holidays. We traveled all the way to northern Chinandega, almost to the border of Honduras, to a small beach town named Jiquilio. It was beautiful. Warm water, cool breezes, baby sea turtles. It couldn´t have been better. We rented a small hut with a palmfrawn roof. And, we spent our few days lounging in hammocks, swimming, walking on the beach or chatting up other backpackers. In the evenings we ate from a vegetarian menu provided by Rancho Tranquilo, our hostel. Turned out that around lunch every day we would vote for what we wanted to eat for dinner. The most voted upon meal was then prepared for everyone that evening. Super communal feel.

And, one evening while we were there we were lucky enough to help release baby sea turtles! Baby sea turtles, did you get that? Baby sea turtles! It was amazing. Turtle eggs are a delicacy here in Nicaragua. Because of this the population is now close to extinction. So a hand full of conservation efforts, big and small, have begun to sprout up all along the western coast of Nicaragua. Most of the time I´m assuming you can´t touch the turtles if you don´t work there. But, in this case the people who owned the hostel had just started their sea turtle conservation work and welcomed the help. Take a look.

After our trip to Jiquilio we both flew our separate ways back the States for the holidays. Side note I saved all of my vacation days from the entire year of 2010 for this vacation. I flew straight to Houston, Texas, my new home! Lucky for me a flight from Managua to Houston is just around 2.5 hours. Not bad at all.

Being home for the holidays was amazing. Good food, turkey and stuffing, the Nutcracker, Christmas lights. I´m basically a junky for Christmas. Oh, and hot showers, obviously!
Those of you that I saw during my vacation, it was great to catch up. I loved seeing you and can´t imagine another year and half without you.

Guess you´ll just have to come visit me!

So anyway, I´m back in Nicaragua. Back to my little Nica house, back the permanent dust on my floors and best of all, back to the cold cold showers of Nicaragua.