This is day 3 in Puerto Cabezas, located in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region of Nicaragua´s Atlantic Coast. Before coming I was warned by many of how dangerous the area is because of corruption and drug trafficing, however I´ve really enjoyed my time here so far, with (knock on wood) no mishaps or run-ins with shady drug trafficers so far. I still have about 3 more days to go though. I´ve had the chance in my wanderings around the city, enchanted by the painted, wooden houses on stilts, to talk with many of the locals, especially about the municipal elections that are coming up this Sunday, about a month and a half behind the elections held by the rest of the country. As in most other parts of Nicaragua, the people here are equally warm and welcoming as those I´ve met before. It´s a very diverse city overflowing with Carribean spirit and indigenous peoples. Pretty much everyone here is bi or tri-lingual in Spanish; Mesquito and English. Today as I wandered around the city on an extremely limited budget as funds are getting tight, I happened upon this random house that apparently is a pretty famous bakery, only known to the locals though. So, with my dinner ration of 20 córdobas=$1 I was able to purchase a bag full of coconut bread and Johnny Cakes which I will enjoy with a hot cup of fine Nicaragua instant coffee.

Tomorrow on the 5 a.m. bus I am off to Waspam which is located on the famous Coco River that serves as a natural border between Honduras and Nicaragua. After speaking with some locals from the region living in Puerto Cabezas I have a handful of reccommendations of indigenous communities which lie along the river. I just came upon an article about the region and thought I would share it. Very well written in my opinion. I wish I was so eloquent.

http://www.cnntravellermagazine.com/2007/11/01/into-the-unknown/

Well, a RPCV(Returned Peace Corps Volunteer) that hasn't officially returned to the U.S. yet. I officially COS'd (closed out my service) on December 22, 2008. I'll quickly summarize some of the December events that marked the end of my service.

Dec. 14-I threw a despedida (goodbye party) for myself which consisted of making a whole bunch of pastries, refrescos (drinks) and popcorn for anyone who wanted to come and I showed a video with music that I made comprised of random pictures of people from the town. I wanted to make a pretty little sentimental, heartfelt speech in the beginning, but no one would be quiet long enough to listen, so I just started the video. Once the people heard the music and noticed that the pictures were of themselves they quickly quieted down and all 150 or so of them huttled around the television...which made for another problem, that the children or shorter people couldn't see. In the end, it seemed like everyone enjoyed it, and I ended up raffling off about 10 copies of it. I also got the privilege of watching the video several times during the week that followed in almost everyone house I visited because between the 10 copies distributed almost everyone in the town was able to borrow a copy.

Dec. 24-For the Nicaraguans this is their main day of Christmas celebration. It began with mass in the morning, followed by lots of food in the evening. My friend, Jess, from T.J./SoCal came out to visit so he had the pleasure of being invited to eat three dinners within the span of a little less than two hours. Needless to say, I was full for the next few days.

Dec. 31-This day also consisted of the same pattern of visiting people and eating til your sick combined with bull riding and dances in the night, which were interrupted both nights by three-eight hour power outages. I also got decked out in my cowgirl wear for the last time. At midnight, we burned the stuffed dummies (viejitos) filled with firecrackers that we had made earlier that day to simbolize the ending of the old year. Finally, we ended the night by going to a neighbor's house to eat torta borracha (drunk cake-cake filled with rum). What a great end to a super year! Jan 4-Jess and I headed to Managua, Jess for a flight with a destination to L.A. and me with a destination to Puerto Cabezas, a port city located in the north of the North Atlantic Autonomous Region of Nicaragua's Carribean Coast. It turned out that the reservations clerk made a mistake and La Costena doesn't flight to that destination on Sundays. So, I had to make a snap decision to change my flight to the destination Corn Island. Corn Island-just a few words to describe it...AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL, yes, rainbow blue/turquoise water, tropical paradise, bamboo huts, need I say more. I am still pinching myself expecting to wake up from this dream I am having right now. Just a quick recap of the past week: walking along the secluded beaches, exploring the palm tree filled island, drinking coconut milk and eating scrumpsous (sp.?) coconut bread, hanging out with locals and learning to make coconut bread, drinking flor de cana rum on the beach looking up at the moonlit, star-filled sky, listening to regaee music, trying to decipher the creole English spoken by the locals and eating fresh lobster and shrimp at about $10 a plate. What's next?-Tomorrow I am hopping a 12-hour long boat ride to Puerto Cabezas in the north of the Atlantic Coast, maybe do some touring of the indigenous communities along the Coco River and explore the Landmine Triangle from the war in the 80's. The possibilities are endless. To quote my friend Jess, "From Puerto Cabezas to the sky!" Fly back to U.S.A.-Jan. 23, destination Orlando, FL to hang out with my niece for the weekend.

Wow, it´s been a while. Just wanted to give you all a quick update. Where to begin...well, first, we finally inaugurated the library which means it´s open for business!! Two teenagers in the town will be in charge of the library. The whole town was invited as well as the mayor and several others from the mayor´s office. In the end around 50 or so parents attended and about 150 children. There were cultural dances, poems, and a snack (sandwiches which were a special treat because it was the first time many had eaten them : ) at the end. It went really well, and I am so glad that the library is finally finished. We also had the priest from Juigalpa come who is very active in the local communities and donated about 10 desks and chairs and about 8 boxes of books! Gracias a Dios! In the evening, there was a fundraising dance which also was a big hit! Here are some pictures to get a taste of the excitement that day. I wanted to send a special thanks to all of you who supported the library throughout the process, whether it be through donations of books and money or by just listening as I vented. : )

In other news...right now I am in Managua doing my COS (Close of Service) three days of medical exams. Every volunteer who is about to terminate their service has to spend three days in the capital have blood drawn, physicals, dental exams, stool samples, etc... fun stuff. It's actually a great time to catch up on all the paperwork that has to be down before we leave...well, for those lucky people like me who have remained pretty healthy throughout their service. My official COS date will be on Dec. 22, however, I will be remaining in my site until Jan. 4th. Yesterday I found out the exciting news of who the replacement volunteer in my site will be. We will be in the town together for about a month before I leave so hopefully I can give her the full scoop to help her transition go even more smoothly. Yesterday, I am proud to say that I voted by means of an absentee ballot. Hope all of you will be doing the same this Nov. 4. It should be an exciting election and I will be watching it in the next town over where there is cable. The municipal elections are also coming up here as well on Nov. 9 which should also prove to be just as exciting. Hope all of you are doing well, and I am looking forward to seeing all of you in a few months!

This is a picture of the two environments groups currently in country (Nica 42-my group and Nica 45). The Nica 45ers came in last August, a year after us. This IST was pretty useful and a good opportunity to get to see volunteers again and discuss the kinds of things they are doing in their sites. It was also a good awakener because we began to talk about COS (close of service) which will technically be on November 14th, but usually people stick around for a while after. I can´t believe that we are almost in the home stretch. Now comes the big question, what to do next!

Today, after my knee finally stopped hurting from my fall, I decided to go visit one of my students who lives about a kilometer and 1-2 from my town on the ¨highway¨ (dirt road). I´ll quickly explain the fall so as to not leave you hanging in wonder. While running on Monday with one of my neighbors we were just about to finish up the run and stop when we reached the entrance to my town. I was trying to encourage her to keep running until the end and because I wasn´t paying attention I slipped on the gravel and skinned my knee and hands pretty good. It didn´t really hurt too bad at the time but the next day it was a little painful to bend when I walked. Anyway, I still have a pretty nice scrap mark on my knee, but it doesn´t really hurt anymore. By the way, third time I have fallen in Nicaragua. : )

O.k. Back to my story. So, I set out on my bike around 6:30 in the morning to beat the brutal sun and as soon as I arrived they put me to work. I finally learned how to milk a cow and it wasn´t as hard as I thought. It´s all about technique. (I say that pretty casually even though what I milked probably would only have filled about a cup.) After ¨we¨ filled about a bucket-full of milk, they made me coffee with fresh cow milk...mmm, it´s so yummy, to accompany the eggs and tortilla for breakfast! What could be better, everything you need right there at your fingertips: the milk straight from the cow, that is also used to make the cheese, and their 4-year old son was sent into the weeds to search for freshly laid eggs. What I loved about visiting this family is that they can live so simply, yet they are still so happy. For example, there is no electricity or running water, but they have candles and the husband just finished digging a well himself, the letrine has no door and you bathe out in the open at the bottom of the hill with the water you pump yourself from the well and no one is shy about it because there is no one else around. Like I just mentioned, they have everything they need food wise and if not, they just grow it. What a wonderful life! After eating a lot (typical of Nica´s to feed you until you have to firmly refuse to eat another bite) I decided to go on a hike with my 8-year old student. We walked over the rolling, golden hills typical of my region and through the tall fields of wheat to her grandmother´s house that was literally in the middle of nowhere (sounds like something out of a fairytale, right!) . From there, the grandmother took me on the most amazing tour of her land. She lives right by the river which was pretty dry in most parts, as is most of Nicaragua or Chontales anyway during the month of April, especially at the height of summer, but it felt like I was in a different world. Unlike the town and surrounding areas that I live in, this place was filled with trees and plants that I had never even heard of and she grew just about any vegetable and exotic fruit you can imagine, unfortunately including nancites, which are these aweful little, round yellow fruit that smell horrible but the Nica´s love to make them into fruit drinks and icecream. She also grew plants and herbs that could cure just about anything including prevent cancer and treat a poisonous snake bite. It was wonderful, especially just for the fact that it was actually cool there because of the shade from the trees, which is VERY hard to find in my site. As soon as we left, you could feel the intense heat of the sun pounding down upon you. This is no exageration!

Hello again...Happy New Year, Happy Valentine´s Day, Happy Birthday, Happy Easter...I think that should cover everything. I guess since it´s been a while I´ll start with the present and work my way back.

We are just entering into our week vacation for Semana Santa (Holy Week), a time of limited working, especially for those in the more rural areas, heading to the beach, public pools or if neither of the two work to a river that may not be dry yet, and lots of food (baked goods such as rosquillas-round, hard treats made from corn and cheese that are oh so tasty soaked in coffee, almivar-fruit such as mango and jocotes (red plum-sized fruit) cooked in a caramel type substance, viejitas (yes, that means old women, but it´s a hard pastry that has caramel in the middle and are also pretty tasty with coffee), pinolío (typical drink made from ground corn and cacoa mixed with water), tamales (made from ground corn)...are you starting to see a pattern-no, it´s not Corn Celebration Week. Anyway, I am kicking off my Semana Santa here in Jinotega in the north of Nicaragua getting ready to run a 21k=15 mile 1-2 marathon, my first marathon ever let me add. I am pretty excited, especially since I actually got my butt out there and started training. I was up to about 3 miles a day and two days I got up to 5-miles without stopping. Maybe to some of you this sounds like a piece of cake, but those who know me well know that it´s a pretty great feat for me. ; ) From what I have seen, mainly from the bus window, Jinotega is beautiful, pretty similar to Matagalpa, very green with lush forests, steep mountains, lots of nature reserves...and it´s chilly here. I think you will all would chuckle at teh fact that I find 77 degrees chilly, but that is compared to the 91 degrees where I live. Yes, as I left the hotel I even took a sweater with me, actually the only one I have because when I went home for Christmas I left there anything that went below the knee or had sleeves.

Besides that, what have I been up to for the past three months since I came back from the states after Christmas break?? Mainly, I have really just been diving into my work at the schools and trying to get the library finished. We almost have it completely painted, the window protectors have been installed, well, we´re still missing one which is why we can´t put anything inside, the old door was refinished, the walls were smoothed out so that we could paint...and that brings us up to date. Hopefully, by the end of the month it should be open! I´ve really learned a lot of patience through this experience. Naively, I thought that in September/October when I took the project over from the Amigos de las Américas that it would definitely be finished before I went home for Christmas, but little setbacks such as the only man in town who could smooth out the walls had gone to work in the mountain for a month, there is only one man in the next town over that makes furniture and as luck has it November/December was his busiest times and the mother of the man who is making the window protectors became pretty sick, so all of that combined has caused some delays. But, it will be finished and open for buisness, as they say. Most importantly, I wanted to thank all of you again for your donations as our funding is quickly drying up like just about everything in my town, and at least with your help the bookshelves won´t be so bare

Hmm...what else? I had to get a new box for my worms (compost project) because the other one was rotting and had about 3 big wholes in the bottom. Luckily though, the majority of the worms survived (including the drought they experienced while I was in the states) and now, I have a new box full of huge worms! Now, I am trying to grow tomatoes in a bucket (an idea I found on the internet) using the compost to hopefully motivate the other members of my community as to it´s greatness. After the tomato plant gets to a certain size you are supposed to flip the bucket over and the plant grows upside down. Cool, huh! Yeah, my neighbors think I´m crazy, too. I really had no other option though, and at least this way the pigs, chickens, donkeys, and cows that daily pass through my yard can´t eat it. His name is Tomy (get it?) and I just found out yesterday that he has a brother that was a late bloomer and is now growing beside him.

The community bank is still a success and now, four new members have joined, including a 6-year old boy. We have started a monthly raffle (items such as laundry soap, dish soap, toothpaste, etc.) to earn some extra money for our social fund and people have begun to take out loans, including myself. I had to borrow 1000 córdobas=$40 this month-I just don´t know where the money goes.

*From my trip home in December, I really began to appreciate the Nica style of saving everything and using it until...it is no more. For example, after I pulled my stepmom´s ¨old¨tennis shoes out of the trash to bring back with me to Nicaragua, I told the people here about how in the states (and this isn´t everyone) after about maybe a year of use tennis shoes are thrown away or donated and new, clean ones are purchased. This seems to me to be the trend with a lot of things in the states. However, here everything is saved and if it breaks it is repaired and it´s life continues. For example, plastic chairs and buckets that crack are simply sewn together again. I think given the amount of ¨stuff¨we have stored up in our attics and basements that we may have forgotten about because it´s been there so long or things thrown away each year we could really learn a lesson from the Nicas.

*I just thought this was funny. The first time we chose our winner for the raffle we had our little baggie filled with the numbers from which the winner would be chosen. The pulled out the first number, called out the name...and crossed him off this list, continuing to pull the second number. I was a little confused and asked if it wouldn´t be simpler to just pull out the first number and that person would be the winner. Makes sense, right? Well, here the fairest method of choosing the winner is to pull out ALL the numbers and the last one remaining is the winner. Yes, it takes a LOT of time, but for them it is the fairest way so that no one can accuse them of setting it up or cheating.

*Time-there aren´t many people in my town that have clocks in their homes or watches. So, you may be wondering, ¨How do they know what time it is, especially if they have an appointment?¨ Well, this definitely explains why it is culturally accepted and a norm to show up to any event at least 30 minutes ¨late,¨ but for the people in my town their clock is the buses. For example, the kids start heading to the elementary school in the morning when the 6:45 bus passes because school starts at 7:00. I really just figured this out the other day when one of my neighbors was sort of walking around aimlessly between the bus stop and the park. She asked me if the 10:00 bus hadn´t passed yet and then, asked the time. I thought it was interesting especially considering thinking about how for many people in the U.S. time is money.

Hopefully, it wasn´t too long for you, but remember, it had been a while!

It feels like it´s been forever since my last blog, although just a little over a month has passed. Lots to tell, so hold on!

First, I´ll begin with the sad news. My cat, Cusuco who I had come to love despite my initial desire to ¨return him to sender¨ because of his constant mischief, has died. My neighbor´s say I´m the cause because I put a ribbon around his neck which they say was the cause of his 3-day disappearance. After three days of wandering around, probably hungry, i suspect he was led to search out food the only way he knew how, rummaging in the kitchens of my unsuspecting neighbors. When he finally returned home he had been burned from scalding hot water (you make the judgement as to whether he fell into a pot as the gossip was spread or that someone got angry with him and doused him with the boiling water). I had to leave the next day for Managua and the burn didn´t seem that bad, but according to my neighbors the burn was severe enough that he started to smell from the flies landing on him and well, that´s enough details. Being that animals aren´t too high on their compassion list, my townspeople´s sympathy consisted of them doubling over in laughter because I was upset about a dead cat.

This past week we had our annual 3-day AVC (All Volunteer Conference). It is basically a time to get together to see old volunteers as well as meet the new ones that had recently come into country, learn some new information to take back to our sites, and participate in fun events like tug-of-war, dodgeball, the ¨who can stuff your face with the most marshmellows¨contest, and the talent show, but I am definitely glad to be back in my site.

The weekend prior, a small group of volunteers and I got together to explore the island of Ometepe, which is located in Lake Nicaragua (the largest lake in Central America). We spent three days there and had an amazing time. The first day we found a very generous local to give us a $15 full-day tour of the island, followed up by a trip to the rodeo for the island´s patriotic festivals. The next day, we headed out early to climb the Conception Volcano which is an active volcano of about 1, 700 m. (5,600 ft.). It was an amazing hike and after lots of sweating and tears (a little exageration) we made it to the top, well, to 1,200 meters. To go the additonal 500 meters would have taken an additional 5 hours and it was already late. From the top, we had a spectacular view of the volcano, the beautiful island of Omtepe, and Lake Nicaragua. It reminded me a little of San Francisco because the fog would roll in and you couldn´t see a thing. Then, the next the you know the wind carries the fog away and you have a spectucular view. Definitely worth a visit for those of your who are still contemplating!

Right now, we are in the middle of the promociones (graduations). A few days ago after the graduation mass and ceremony, they had the annual graduation dance. I think it was one of my more cherished events here. Before I begin to describe it I have to make a special mention that out of my entire municipality the top two students in the class of 2007 came from...yes, you guessed it, my small, sleepy town, Llano Grande. It was quite a proud moment. If you are reading this, Jess, one of the top was Julith, Ceasar´s daughter. Each graduate that cared to participate bought tickets for their invitees and reserved a table at the Community House in Cuapa. I was highly honored with an invitation to this special event by a graduate from my town. The tables were decorated with flowers, silk clothes, candles, etc. with the common theme of a pineapple as the centerpiece filled with caramelos (candies, such as suckers, marshmellows, etc.) sticking out of it. They also had food, pop, champagne, and the national liquor of Nicaragua, Flor de Caña. It was a great evening and I was proud to be about to share this very proud moment with the graduates and their family and friends, dancing until about 2 A.M.

**Sorry, my camera is currently out of service so I don´t have any pictures to share.

Yep, that´s about as good of a summary as I can give for the past month...rain, rain, and more rain. I´m not complaining though, expcept for my clothes, drawers, passport, etc. becoming moldy and therefore, my house smelling like mold. I really enjoy the rain, especially since I don´t the infierno is coming in January! We were evacuated to Managua about a week ago for 5 days or so due to the roads being washed out. My road thank goodness is pretty good so I am in no real danger, but other volunteers were unable to return to their sits because their roads and bridges had been completely washed out!

A few weeks ago I had my first big scare. Don´t be alarmed because it wasn´t really a big deal in hindsight, just a good scare. Apparently, one of the women in my town went a little crazy (still not sure of the cause), but gracias a Dios she is receiving medecine to help. So, around 4:00 a.m. I woke up early to make tortillas with the neighbor to take with me to a workshop I was giving in Managua. I heard someone screaming from across the park and when I arrived at my neighbor´s house she told me that the woman was sick and had gone crazy and was on a rampage visiting various neighbor´s houses. I didn´t take it too seriously, until I went to take a shower. When I stepped into my bathroom the woman, who was just a stone´s throw away in the park, thought in her dilusioned state that the gringa was hiding from her. She quickly came over and started banging on the door. In my shy american state I quickly hid my naked, white body as she peered in telling me to bathe her. She then decided to board the airplane that sat next to my bathroom, a.k.a. my wash rock, and because the posts holding it up were beginning to rot, it crashed to the ground. This made her angry, so she grabbed one of the posts and started banging on the side of the bathroom. Not knowing at the time that she was harmless, I began to freak out, crying and screaming for my neighbors. They so graciously called her over to their house where they bribed her with food to get out of their barril of water in which she had placed herself. At that point, I had quickly finished bathing and getting ready to catch the bus to Managua. As I headed for the bus stop, the sick woman saw me again and begain to chase after me, but luckily the bust came in the same instance and I was wisked of to Managua in the nick of time. Needless to say, it was an interesting morning to say the least!

Besides that, there´s the exciting news that we received notice that we have been granted a $500 grant from Disney to help in the construction of our community library. So, that will be keeping me pretty busy until December, and then it´s off to Pennsylvania for 3 weeks!

At the end of August we officially completed one year of being in Nicaragua! My, how the time flies!! This has been a particularly busy time for me, gracias a Dios. On September 15th, Central America celebrated their independence from Spain. Below is a picture of a parade my local school participated in. They had their dance routine memorized and practiced and the students were ready to march, but at the last minute they weren´t able to contract the band from Cuapa because of lack of funding. So, next year´s goal is to work on fundraising toget together some type of music for them to march to.

Another reason the winter here is so alegre (happy) is that when the rains come they fill up the river, which means unlimited water for washing, bathing and swimming! Here are my neighbors making their way to the river with their laundry. As you can see, they are experts at carrying just about anything on their heads...and without dropping it.

Here you can see that there are unlimited wash rocks to choose from.

Here is a picture of my dog, Rocky, who by the way is getting over his sick period and is now in the process of being trained to chase chickens, especially that one that comes in my house about every 2 minutes (no exageration!), you know who you are! He could be a dog model...man, he´s cute!

This is just a random picture of the people in a mountain community who were laying out their beans to dry in the sun. I just thought the beans looked pretty!

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of riding on the most crowded bus I´ve seen here so far. This is our local bus and on Saturdays it is especially crowded because of the students who study in Juigalpa just on Saturdays. Thankfully, I got to ride on the last step hanging out of the bus. You may ask, ¨Isn´t that dangerous?¨ Well, maybe, but it´s better than becoming a human sardine in an air-tight can. It´s funny because you play this game with yourself. When they stop to pick someone up and they squeeeeeze onto the bus, you think, ¨They can´t possibly fit another person on.¨ But, lo and behold, 5 more people were waiting at the next stop and somehow by the driver yelling, ¨¡Hacemos mas para en el medio! No hay nadie!¨(Move towards the middle! There isn´t anyone!), we were able to fit everyone and anyone on the bus.

Finally, I think my proudest moment so far in Nicaragua is the fact that I helped a small group of 9 community members organize themselves and form the first bank of Llano Grande, Banco de Desarrollo Comunitario (Community Development Bank). This is a great feat for them as saving is not a habit for the majority of people here. And, eventually when there is enough funds in the bank they can begin allowing others to borrow in order to gain money for the bank through interest charged. They started off with a monthly deposit of about 50 córdobas ($2.50) which is a good amount of money for most of the people. We´ve only had 1 meeting so far, so I will keep you posted. Yes, I am a bank member as well, and here I am receiving my first bank slip from the secretary and auditor of the bank.

As you probably could tell from my last e-mail, I was pretty excited about the corn season, especially because of the new corn tortillas (guirila). Well, as they always say, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Word got out about my love for guirila and everybody started inviting me over when they were making them. In fact, yesterday morning my host family woke me up at 6:30 in the morning because they were making guirila and said that I was to come eat! Yes, this was not a request. So, I got out of bed and still in my pajamas walked to the neighbors´ house to eat two piping hot guirilas straight off the griddle. I must secretly admit though that I am getting a little tired of them, the spark is starting to wear off. Don´t worry though, there is a solution. I have discovered lloltamal which is a tamale made from new corn which is just as wonderful as the guirila but with a different flare. So, all is restored again in the corn world of Llano Grande! (I knew you were worried, Matt and Tina!)

I think I mentioned before that I got a dog, Rocky, (sorry, forgot to bring the camera so no pictures this time) who just started getting sick about 3 weeks ago. My first trip in which I took him on the bus to the vet which was quite an experience. First, I had to carry him from my house to the bus stop because he didn´t have much energy and therefore, didn´t want to walk. This created a commotion on the bus because you do not only touch a dog, but it´s even worse to carry one. So, when I arrived home that day my neighbor who was also on the bus told me about all the bus gossip that occured that day. The people said that the gringa was a chancha (pig) for carrying the dog and that the dog crapped and peed on the bus, which he did neither of! I was grateful though for being a gringa because normally they put the dogs on the roof of the bus, but since I bathed my dog he was allowed to ride in the bus. The first vet I took him to said he had a fever and an infection in the lung because he was coughing and had difficulty breathing. He also has lost quite a bit of weight so he´s looking pretty similar to the street dogs that wander around. The doctor prescribed an injection of penicilin, which are extremely popular here in Nicaragua and this seemed to help a little. He still doesn´t have ganas to eat his food, but he has a little more energy and seems to be breathing better. A few days ago I took him to another vet just to get a second opinion and she said that he has anemia. So, she prescribed another injection of vitamins, as well as vitamins that he takes orally with his food. We´ll see if this does the trick.

This whole sick pet experience has been a very interesting cultural experience being that most Nicaraguans I know are disgusted at the thought of showing an animal affection by petting him, etc. Their first reaction when he started loosing weight and was very sluggish was immediately that he was going to die...and I mean almost everyone I talked to about him. This didn´t really help me feel better! Then, after returning from the vet the people laughed at me for first taking him on the bus and then, for taking an animal to a doctor. One woman last night told me, ¨Wow, I can´t believe that a dog can have the same illness as a person,¨ because her son had anemia as well. Finally, I got looks of disgust from the people for the outrageous amount of money I spent on the vet visit and meds. for a dog- 100 córdobas=$5.

It´s been raining like crazy here and I am enjoying every minute. And, the thunder is incredible. When it begins to rumble it´s so strong that it literally shakes the house. I´ve always loved thunderstorms, but I must admit that a few times I´ve ran to the neighbors´house out of pure fear! A few nights ago it rained so hard throughout the entire night that it filled my house with water. I am currently in the process of digging a ditch around my house. A few days ago, a neighbor, her daughter and I took a trip to a neighboring community, El Tule, up in the mountains. It´s a beautiful town, but the trip there is a bit challenging. First of all, it´s a path that cuts right through the woods and climbs up into the mountains; if you weren´t with someone who knows the trail well you wouldn´t be able to detect it otherwise. Because we are right in the middle of the rainy season, the trail was covered in mud and the river we had to cross was about ankle deep. We made it up with minimal difficulty about an hour later and spent a relaxing day chilling in a hammock, playing with the kids while they served just about every food typical of Nicaragua, including lots and lots of watermelon. Around 2:00 p.m. it started to storm and downpour which meant and slippery trip home! We waited out the heavier part of the rain and finally decided that we had to go around 4:30 before it got dark. It was still raining, but only a light drizzle. I don´t know how the two women that I went with did it, but in their dress shoes and chinelas (flip flops) they were flying down the trail, meanwhile there´s me way behind them slipping and sliding everywhere. After 15 minutes or so, another man who was from the town we had just visited caught up to us and was following behind. Thank goodness for this man because he actually stayed with me the entire time. At one point when I lost my balance and fell on my butt in the mud, after we all stopped laughing hysterically, he found me a nice, sturdy walking stick that pretty much saved me! About halfway home, it started to pour, but luckily I was wearing my glasses (yes, I´m being sarcastic!) which were quickly covered in rain drops. I couldn´t see a thing and the mud was getting thicker and deeper. Once we finally made it to the river which was now about knee deep we were home free! We arrived home soaked to the bone, but thanks to God, safe and sound! Needless to say, I don´t think I will be visiting El Tule again until we reach a dry spell (yes, it was a little scary)!

I really do love this time of year! For those of you were just waiting for the right time to come visit, this would be it. The first picture just says it all: delicious, home-grown corn! Yes, now that it´s finally raining the pastures are filled with cows again and the fincas filled with corn, watermellon, small squash, tomatoes, etc...oh, and of course, frijoles nuevos (new beans)! Basically, they are called new beans because they are picked just before they become fully ripe; they are smaller in size and lighter in color and they taste oh so good!! I minimally like the fully ripened beans, but I could eat new beans all the time...with crema (similar to sour cream) and cuajada (a type of cheese)...mmm! I also never realized the different phases and products that are produced from one stalk of corn! The first thing that is produced is the chilote (baby corn) which can be eaten whole, in soup, etc. A few weeks later comes the elote (corn on the cob) which is the most exciting part for me because that means...guirila! I used to have to travel to the ends of the earth/Nicaragua to get it...i.e. La Libertad, but now it´s in my own town, in my neighbors house which is just a few steps away! It´s so exciting. Guirila is a tortilla made with ¨new¨corn and it has a sweeter taste. I think this could be one of my favorite foods...ever! Now, if that isn´t enough to make you want to get on the internet and purchase your plane ticket to come down, then I don´t know! My neighbor, Cira, kindling the fire to cook the corn on the cob. First, it is boiled, then it is ready to be eaten whole or once the kernals have been picked off it´s ready to grind to make into guirila (new corn tortillas). Corn on the cob with cuajada. My neighbor, Ludwig, and I enjoying my first guirila in my town. Don´t worry, the gaseosa (soda-which is a must) is on it´s way.

Dory and I picking the new beans off the vines. After a few hours of doing this I really appreciate how easy we really have it in the United States. Some of the families here, because they don´t have the money to buy beans nor money for the bus fair to go to the city to buy them, grown their own beans to feed their families. After growing them, they go out into the hot sun and cut the stalks to bring back. It gets extremely hot because as you can imagine the stalks are pretty close together and while they are crouched down cutting them there is no air circulation. When they arrive home, they have to spend a few hours picking them from the stalks, taking them out of the shelves, washing them, then another 2 hours or so to cook them. Finally, they are ready to eat. The two bags that they collected is probably enough to feed their entire family of 9 for maybe two days. Then, they have to repeat the entire process over again.

Dory and Ingrid taking the beans out of the shell(correct term?). Poor Ingrid just couldn´t take it anymore and fell into a siesta! (actually, she´s just very camera shy)

Because of the rains, the monte (weeds) grow out of control. Here are three workers hacking away at it with their machetes. You can see that they have barely made a dent in the few hours they have been working. The average pay for this type of work is around 70 córdobas per day=$3.

It hasn´t just been all fun and eating. Here is a picture of one of my country school making a box for their garden. The finished product!

The principal´s grandson. He is sooo cute!

I am finally back home from my month of fiestas/workshops/vacations, although I still have one more week-long workshop in the upcoming week. As I mentioned in my e-mail, it had been a little challenging returning back to my little, hot, poor town after about a month and 1/2 of cars, hotels, air-conditioning and hot water/real showers, although after being away for so long I am now remembering why I love Llano Grande so much. A few days ago, I went to my neighbors´house to play cards (a big part of my daily routine). We played for a brief time until the mom, with whom I was playing, had to leave to go ´echar las vacas´ (take the cows to the pasture to eat), so that left the grandmother and I. We just sat there on the porch looking out, not really at anything in particular because during the day there really is no movement or sounds in my town besides the occasional parrots sqwuaking (they say that they are calling out for my Dad because they miss him because it sounds like they are saying, ¨Ken, ken.¨) Sometimes, we´ll get some excitement when a cow or donkey has wandered into the yard and all of the dogs in the vicinity go running towards it growling and barking. My dog caught on pretty quick to this and is part of the gang now. When I first got here, the fact that people would just sit there and not say a word, just gazing out, amazed me and drove me crazy because I thought that I would go insane with boredom, but ironically, now I find in calming and peaceful, not having to try to think of empty conversation...just spending time with people. In hopes of raising some money for the library that is being constructed in my town in the old, until recently condemned elementary school, a movie night and dance were organized. I thought they both were pretty successful and I was really surprised at the number of people that showed up. The movie was held in a neighbor´s house that had been empty. I learned that it´s really important to be more selective in the movies that are bought for movie night. I guess I should have expected that there is a reason they are sold so cheaply in the city ($1 per copy). They even have some movies that have just come out in the theatres...hmm. The first movie we showed was in English with Spanish subtitles. We watched for a while, but obviously the people weren´t interested since they couldn´t understand and we realized that most likely many of them couldn´t read either. So, we tried several others and all of them still only have Spanish subtitles, but the actors voices that were supposed to be in English were muted which was even worse. So, all you heard were the background noises. The last one we tried was an action film with Silvester Stalone and because there was a lot of shooting and voilence in the general, even though the voices were muted as well, it still kept their interest. The second activity was a dance which was held last night. We have a ´casa comunal´ which is where all of the dances, reunions, etc. are held, so we borrowed a stereo from one of the neighbors and we were all set. Even though there was no alcohol, which is usually a fiesta must, the teenagers and some adults that arrived seemed to have a good time. At 5 córdobas a person (25 cents), we probably raised about 80 córdobas ($4), but as they say here, ¨poco a poco¨(little by little), every little bit helps.Yesterday, I finally broke down and and spent a couple hours doing my mountain of laundry that had been collected since I left for my 2 weeks of workshop/vacation, in addition to my sheets because I had found some creep crawlies in there last night. Even though we are in the middle of the rainy season when the water should be plentiful, we haven´t been receiving that much water, maybe only 20 minutes or so which is only about 1 barriel full, i.e. not enough for 10 people, including myself, to bath, wash dishes, wash clothes, cook, and general cleaning of the house. After an afternoon in the sun, my clothes were dry in the morning. It´s such a happy feeling taking the clean clothes down from the line after spending so much time washing them. Yes, I know I´m a big dork and I´m not even sure why I included this part, but I was just really dreading washing all of those close and this morning I just kept looking out happily at my clean clothes. Anyway, I hope all of you now understand a little of what makes Llano Grande so great. : ) Here are some pictures from the last month or so. Enjoy! This is my friend Jess making us dinner, hamburgers with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, avocado and yes, pineapple. They were delicious!! his is Jess and my neighbor, Dory, the Queen of the Hípico (horse parade). This is us getting our groove on at the dance. Now I understand why they call me ´girafa´ (giraffe).

This is Jen and I on our Costa Rica trip. We are taking a boat to one of the beaches on the Pacific side.

This is us eating our first typical Costa Rican meal, tamales.

Jen on the zipline in the Volcano Arenal. This is a picture of about the 3rd time she got stuck in the middle because she braked too soon. : )This is just a picture I took from the bus (well, it was actually a cattle truck that was serving as the bus because the bus broke down). You can´t really make out much, but the sunset was amazing!¡Gracias a Dios!

We officially commenced fiesta season here in Cuapa. It began yesterday with the first hípico (horse parade) followed by, of course, a dance with the ever so popular musical group, Los Paisanos. Unfortunately, it rained throughout the entire parade (although I rather enjoyed the cooldown), but I was still impressed with the amount of horses and how beautiful they were, especially the dancing horses. People came from all over to watch and ride, including those Cuapeñans (spelling??) currently living in the states...Miami that is. I didn´t think that I would break down, but as I was feeling the pressure from fellow Chontaleñan volunteers as well as from my fellow townsfolk, so I invested in the cowboy boots, checkered shirt (although mine was facenta pink), belt and skin-tight jeans. I just couldn´t do the cowboy hat...yet, but I am planning to rangle up a dancing horse to ride in the hípico in my town and that would definitely require a cowboy hat. As another visiting volunteer and I walked down the street to check out the scene prior to the start of the parade I was a little confused as to whether we were part of the show as everyone stared at the gringas in their cowgirl wear yelling the usual catcalls (chela-white girl, hermosa-beautiful, muñeca-doll, tssst tssst gringa) that are normally not a part of my daily routine in the quiet town of Cuapa. The dance was an especially memorable event considering the surprise visit by my friend Jess who is doing a backpack tour of Central America. What luck that he had the good fortune of arriving on fiesta night, although for those of you who already know Jess could have probably guessed that his attire consisting of a tie dyed shirt, green flip flops, and of course the ever-so-famous mohawk was the spectacle of the night. Because of a conflict with another town´s fiestas we have to wait another grueling two weeks for Cuapa´s fiestas, then another week for my town, Llano Grande´s fiestas. It´s going to be pretty hard to come back down from a high of two weeks of straight fiestaing...but I think I´ll survive. The most exciting part is that I get to spend my first fiestas with my dad who will be arriving on the first night of the fiestas. I hope he knows what a sacrifice I am making to miss the first day of fiestas to pick him up! ; =) These are some friends in Cuapa ready for our first dance of fiesta season! Because it was the crowning of the queen of the hípico it called for a little more fancy dress.

This is a fellow volunteer and I posing with a friend from the mayor´s office decked out in his cowboy gear.

Some fellow Llano Grandeñans getting ready for the parade.

The start of the parade in the main street of Cuapa.

And of course, no fiesta is complete without the official beer of Nicaragua, Toña.

¡Feliz Día de las Madres! (Happy Mother´s Day...here in Nicaragua) By the way, Happy belated Mother´s Day to all of you back in the states! Today is Mother´s Day here in Nicaragua and they say that it is comparable to Thanksgiving Day in the states in that there is a big dinner and everyone is traveling to spend the day with their mothers. In the elementary school in my town as well as the high school they had a big acto (ceremony) to celebrate. This included poems, folkloric dances, and girls dancing to reggaeton. It was a very moving experience to be a part of this event, especially a part of such a warm community in Nicaragua.

These are all of the students in the school in my town waiting for the acto to begin in the 3rd and 6th grade classroom I teach in.

This is my neighbor performing a folkloric dance in a typical costume. This is my cat play fighting with the neighbor´s cat. The 5-year old owner of the cat gets mad when they are playing because we joke with him that they are in love and that he is going to have nietos (grandkids).

These are some pictures from the acto in the high school this morning.

The majority of the people in my town either do odd jobs or work in the ¨fincas¨ farms, the men that is anyway, while the woman stay home and mostly do ¨officios¨ housework and take care of the kids. In the homes, about 1/3 have televisions and the Nicas are obsessed with their novelas. The Spanish soap operas start from 7 or 8 in the morning until 10 at night with occasional news breaks. So, usually after finishing up the housework which seems to happen around 10 or so being that they get up at 5 a.m. (that´s not including the meals of course) they have the whole day ¨free.¨ So, what do they do with all of this time, you ask? Travel? Well, only a small percentage (maybe 2 percent) actually have private vehicles and there are still some that even though we have pretty frequent bus service only leave town once or twice a month, if that. I can´t speak for all Nicaraguans but I can tell you what my 13-year old neighbor did yesterday for example. Yesterday, she decided to celebrate her birthday since the actual day fell on a weekday. The typical celebration can include anything from a full blown out party to just a simple dinner with the family. Since this is a rather poor family they decided to just have a basic dinner with the family, killing a chicken and buying gaseosa (pop). She told me that she had a surprise to show me and the surprise was that she had saved the foot of the chicken and had painted it´s ¨toenails¨with fingernail polish. I found it a little disturbing, but I guess when you´re bored...

Well, I'm here in Managua and have some free, uninterrupted sit-down time at the computer while waiting for my doctor's appointment so I thought I would give you a brief rundown of the main events taking place in my normally tranquilo town. By the way, the doc appointment is nothing major. Just a little problem I'm having with my feet swelling up.

¿Quién es la niña más guapa? ¡La Virgen de Cuapa! ¡Qué viva la Virgen de Cuapa! (Who is the most beautiful girl? The Virgin of Cuapa! Long live the Virgin of Cuapa!) This was the phrase on most people lips in Nicaragua this May 8th which was the 27th anniversary of the first appearance of the Virgin Mary by a farmer named Bernardo in Cuapa. Each year there is a huge celebration that people flock to from all over the world (around 20,000 people to be exact) and this year I got the opportunity to witness it first-hand. A group of people from my town who made a promesa (promise), which is where the people promise to do a certain task in order to be healed of a certain ailment or maybe obtain a job, etc., decided to walk from my town to the town of Cuapa, about a 17-kilometer walk. It actually was a lot shorter than I thought; we left at 5:00 in the evening so that we wouldn't bake in the sun and arrived at 7:00 p.m. When we got to the appariciones (location of the Virgin sighting) I was shocked at the massive amounts of people everywhere sprawled out in the grass or just relaxing in the hammock they had brought to sleep in that night. We stayed until about 3:00 am, at which point I was ready to crash, especially after our walk. But, I would say the majority of the people being that many either walked there or traveled a decent distance to get there stayed the night. It was a really beautiful and spiritual experience and I can't wait to attend next year.

This is a picture of one of the "buses" taking people to the celebration. It's so full that the people have to sit on the edge. This is pretty typical though.

On the Saturday before the day of the Virgin sighting, there was a processional through my town with the Virgin followed by mass. Here we are waiting for her to arrive!

Here she comes...Oh Virgencita de Cuapa!

Just a random picture thrown in. This is a picture of one of the neighbor kids that lives next door. Everyday he comes to my house to visit and chat and on this particular day he decided to show himself off in his tanga underwear and cowboy hat. How cute!

Another random picture of a woman at the venta (store) giving her daughter a bath. This is my very first plant. I was so proud, but now it looks like it's dying. My neighbors told me though that sometimes they look a little droopy after first transplanting them. Yes, I did put it outside to get some sun, actually in the neighbors patio because since mine isn't enclosed yet the cows, chickens, and other random animals that pass through my yard would either eat it or trample it. Speaking of, one day after my cat in cajoots with the neighbor dog stole two fish I had sitting on my table and carried it away, a random dog came into my house as I was sitting on the neighbor's porch and left carrying a transparent plastic bag. My friend tried to chase after him but the bandit got away. I still don't know what he took, but so far I'm not missing anything...?

A few Sundays ago, the Mayor took her whole staff including myself and some of the principals on a bus trip to Granada, Masaya, and Catarina. We ended the trip with a stop at the mall and finally a trip to a fair in Managua. It was a really fun trip and a great way to get to know the Mayor's office a little better. They are a really young and energetic group of people!

This is a stop we made to one of the islands in Granada where we decided to take a dip!

Isn't it beautiful!That about sums up the exciting events in my life! So, here's your chance to shoot me an e-mail to let me know what's happening in your neck of the woods! : )P.S. Jen-I got both of your messages and was so excited to hear your voice. Unfortunately, I do not have cell phone reception in my town, but they are in the process of finish a cell tower and we should have service shortly. So, thanks so much for calling even though we didn't get the chance to chat!

This week in the schools was spent making our tree nurseries and what a job it was! The kids worked really hard in all three schools, but now I understand possibly why the people here are not too found of planting. Digging the whole was the most difficult part in all three schools because the dirt here is so dry and well, just sucks for planting, that is in my region anyway. As you can see in the second to last picture, at this school the soil was pura piedras (pure rock). I was a little nervous at first being that honestly I have never planted anything in my life, but it was a great experience and a lot easier than I imagined. In the first two schools, we planted about 150 seeds and in the last rural school we only planted 25 because they only brought in a small amount of manure being that there are only 15 total in the entire country school.

Here the kids are mixing the manure with sand...

...and a little water.

The other half of the students are working on digging the hole (the second one that is...just behind the students is the first hole we dug which was apparently too close to the letrines because while digging we hit the tiles that had been burried that help in some way with the urine from the letrines???). Go girls, go!!

Here I am at the second school helping them to place the bags. At the second school we had to enclose the vivero using stakes and a plant with thorns that grows nearby to protect it from animals such as gallinas and chanchos (chickens and pigs) that are commonly found running around freely. This is the soil we had to dry to dig through at the third school. What a task!

Finally, we dug through the rock and here is the end product.

Just a little extra for you! Yesterday, I had a great trip to Managua, the capital. I had to go with a friend from Cuapa to help him with an application for a class he will be taking in the U.S. Instead of riding on a hot, crowded, bus blaring ranchera and regaeton, we rode in an air-conditioned car which takes almost an hour less. We pretty much hung out in the more fachenta parts of Mangua which is where a small population of Nicaraguans go in Managua who actually have dinero. We ended our trip with a visit to Price Smart. I think we have them in the U.S. as well, but it is basically the equivalent of Sams Club. It was a little weird being there at first because it reminded me so much of the U.S. but a nice little hop out of reality for a short moment. After a short bout of a lot of internal conflict, I finally broke down and bought a huge bag of crunch bars for 100 cordobas which here is an autrocious amount of money to spend on chocolate, but I figured that I had to have a reserve to last me until my dad comes to visit at the end of June at which time I can restock. And, it really is not that much money, $5.

Hello again! Sorry it has been so long since I´ve written but as the time passes it just seems to get harder and harder to find the time to write! Anyway, we are just beginning to get back to work after a lovely week of vacation. Practically everyone in Nicaragua had the week off with the exception of the mayor´s office, banks, etc. I really ¨had that ¨don´t feel like going back to work¨feeling, but thanks to our new president the holiday was extended until tomorrow which means no work today either! Thank you Daniel!

I must admit, this has been one of my best weeks here. It started off with two birthday parties on Saturday. Here is a video clip of us singing Happy Birthday...in Spanish of course!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5724107462527390593

We started off at the birthday girl´s house in Cuapa, which was followed by a trip to a local farm where we continued the party at a friend´s ranch house. We had a beautiful view of all of Cuapa, including the Rock of Cuapa and had bar-b-qued lamb. We stayed there until late evening at which point we were invited to another birthday party that night which included kareokeing(spelling) to ranchero (Spanish country music)...interesting to say the least. : )

A view of the Cuapeñan landscape.

Sunday, I started off with mass at the local Catholic church. Lately, for some reason I´ve felt a little disconnected from the ¨big guy,¨ so it was nice to get my church fix after not having gone for a while. Following mass, it was off to the barrera (bull ring) which is quite an event in itself, very different from those in Spain; here, they don´t really hurt the bull at all. It mainly consists of men (only men) inside of the ring, some on horses, other just clinging to the fence waiting for the moment the bull passes for them to spring up to the top in order to avoid getting gauged by the bull´s horns. What makes for an especially interesting spectacle are the men who have started drinking since the morning and at 2:00 in the afternoon are trying to dodge the bulls. And you thought driving drunk was dangerous. One actually was so drunk he passed out inside the ring. Later that evening, I headed to the dance that follows with some locals from Cuapa. The next day we woke up around 9:30 in the morning, which is the latest I have EVER slept in here. I guess I was just so tired that I blocked out the roosters, cows and other farm animals that usually serve as my alarm clock at 5:00 a.m. Later that day, I attended a baptism of the nephew of a teacher I work with. After a fun-filled weekend of fiesta-ing, I decided that for the rest of the time I was just going to relax and enjoy my small town festivities. During this time, like I said before, no one works especially in my town considering most of the people (men) work on the fincas (farms) therefore, they can take the whole week off no problem. Everyone is busy in the beginning of the week making typical foods, including horneadas (baked goods), almivar which is a mixture of honey/sugar and papaya, mangos, and another fruit called jocote, pinolio which is a drink made of cacao, water, and ground corn, of course rice and beans with an added treat of sardines. So, basically my week was spent just visiting people since when I am working I either don´t have time or don´t feel like it because I am so tired from walking around in the hot sun. For this reason, I have probably gained about 10 pounds because at each house they offer this yummy treats and it´s harder than you think to say no or that you are full.This is a picture of two women in my town checking on their horneadas. They were up until about midnight baking!Another part of my routine now includes daily trips to the mango trees to fill bucket upon bucket with sweet, juicy mangos. We only have a few more months until they start to go bad, so I have to take advantage. Here is a picture of one of the neighborhood kids who usually accompanys me on our trip eating a delicious mango.I think that pretty much sums up my Easter vacation. I can´t believe we are already well into the month of April. At the end of the month we have our yearly IST (in-service training) in Selva Negra again. I am excited to return again and see everyone, mostly though because it was so chilly that I actually had to wear a sweatshirt while I was there and the food was AMAZING! Hope you all enjoyed your holiday as well! I must admit I definitely missed the chocolate bunnies!

Hello again! What a busy week! What I wouldn´t give to be able to complain about being bored.

Sunday and Monday I participated in a workshop this NGO was giving in my town on how to cross-stitch. It was interesting but VERY time consuming. I still haven´t finished the flower I was working on...nor the border now that I think of it. In coordination with this NGO, we are trying to get a group of adolescents together to teach them as well so that they can possibly sell the items they make as a way to make a living.

This is a picture of a friend in my town helping to build my lavendero (washing apparatus because obviously we don´t have washing machines here). Basically, he found a flat rock which will be held up by some sticks and mecate (rope?). I can´t wait to start using it!

This is a picture of my first ¨little¨friend that I found camped out in my bucket bath area yesterday. O.k., so I guess I can´t be lazy anymore and just let the leaves pile up! Don´t worry though, I called my friend over who lives next door and she killed it for me. You didn´t actually think I have grown brave enough to kill it myself did you??

So, after returning from my bath that same day I decided to do a little work in my ¨office,¨ which is the room to the left of this picture. I was just finishing up a project I was doing for my classes when the 5-year old neighbor came over to visit. Calmly, he walked in and was calling to me, ¨¡Susie, venga y ver! (Come and see.) I was telling him to hold on until I finished up when his mom came in and started shouting, ¨¡Una culebra!¨ At this point, I felt that maybe I should take a peek. : ) Of course I had to take a picture, then I ran outside and watched from the window like the chicken that I am.

This is a picture of the mom killing the snake with a big stick! My heroe!

Here is a picture of me at a 15th birthday party with some friends from Cuapa, where the mayor´s office is located.

I have found myself to be super busy within these last couple of weeks and have wondered lately where does all of my time go. When I signed up for the Peace Corps I thought I would have 2 years of relaxation...to read, study Spanish and French, or just have time to do whatever it was I wanted to do in the states but was too busy to do. However, I find myself just as busy here as I was in the states. So, where does all of this time go being that I am still just observing in the schools. Let´s see...

*learning to play the guitar

*traveling to Juigalpa to do errands (1 hour in bus each way and always at least a few-hour

event due to bus schedule)

*traveling to Cuapa (1/2 in bus) for meetings

*visiting the people in my town (for each person I visit I have to dedicate at least an hour and

1/2 for talking, eating, etc.

--This has been driving me crazy a little because in the beginning I made the mistake of trying

talk to everybody I encountered. You may be thinking, ¨What is the problem? Isn´t that what a volunteer should be doing?¨ The problem is that after you talk to someone once naturally they want you to visit all the time which wouldn´t be a problem if it was possible to do an ¨American-style¨visit (just a quick 5 minute-hello, then you´re out the door. : ) however, this is not possible here, well it is but you would be considered maleducada for being so apurada (in a rush). And I think living in a small town makes it more difficult because I pretty much know everyone. Even though it stresses me out trying to think of everyone I should be visiting but haven´t lately, I think this will definitely be one of the things I will miss the most after my two years, the fact that people have or make time to sit and chat for a few hours.

*birthday parties and other fiestas (which usually take up an entire day re not in my town)

On top of all of the above mentioned activities here are a few more things that have been occupying my time here in Nicaragua:

*This is a picture of a teacher capacitación (workshop) on Participatory Education I along with two other volunteers gave in my town.

*This is us at the famous Rock of Cuapa. It doesn´t look that big, but the climb to the top is pretty intense. (I just had a photo of the acutal rock, but I just deleted it and unfortunately don´t have time to repost! : ) The person to my right is another volunteer from AZ and the others are a super nice family I am friends with in Cuapa.

This is what you see if you make it to the top along with an amazing view!

Wow, I can´t believe how busy I have been in the past couple of weeks. A few weeks ago, we gave teacher talleres (workshops) in some of the other volunteers´ sites. It was interesting to see where they lived and worked. A week from tomorrow we are finally giving one in my town. Everyone in my town is so excited to meet other gringos since I am this first volunteer in my town. This past weekend I spent with another volunteer in a town called Comalapa which is about an hour and 1/2 bus ride from my town. They were having their yearly festival to celebrate the Virgin Mary. For three days, they begin with a Catholic mass in the morning of course, followed by a procession where they carry the Virgin throughout the town singing until they reach the house where the Virgin remains for the night and then, of course they pray. This is followed by daily bull fights which I´ve found to be quite interesting. Basically, the ring is surrounded by fencing to of course protect the spectators from any mean bulls that may get a little out of control. However, the inside of the ring is filled with men (most of them drunk) standing around the edges or on horseback. When the bull comes near they all jump up and start climbing the fence. Needless to say, there were some close calls because we all know how refined our instincts are when we have had a few too many. While visiting this volunteer, I also learned about the worm boxes that I plan on starting in my town. Basically, you take these Californian worms and put them in a box with cow dung. In about 15 days, they turn the dung into this rich soil that can be used for planting. It´s pretty amazing. I also learned about these stoves they are making in her town that are supposed to be more effecient because they burn less wood which means less trees being cut down and because they have a chimney people aren´t inhaling the massive amounts of smoke they do with their typical wood-burning stoves. The coolest part is that they are made out of water, dirt, horse manure and the tree bark. I am really excited to see how it turns out in order to determine if it would work in my town as well.

Other than that, I have just been meeting with the teachers in my school and observing classes. I am really excited about working in the schools, especially in those that are a little farther out. You can tell how much they appreciate the fact that I am traveling so far just to help out in their schools. And the teachers are great, so eager to work with me!

Finally, I have some pics of my new home! I have been living here since January 26th and am loving it. It´s so nice just to have my own space and be able to cook and get up when I want. So far, I haven´t had that many visitors which really isn´t such a bad thing I am learning, except of course my neighbors who come over everyday. They are a super nice family, so I don´t mind so much. For some reason though, I just feel more comfortable going to other people´s houses to visit them.

In this picture I am standing with my 5 year old neighbor.

This is my bathroom where I take a bucket bath every morning. It´s been tricking trying to get a bath in the morning because in the part of town in which I live the water comes from 9-10:00. Last weekend, I left for about 3 days and my neighbors told me that my bucket had pretty much turned into a pond when the plastic blew off. They found frogs and mosquitoes beginning to make it their new home! This is my letrine. Yes, it´s as far as it looks. Although, I don´t use it at night for fear of the cockroaches that I´ve found crawling around when the sun goes down. If you look closely, behind the latrine is the hill that I climb if I need to make a call from my cell phone. You get excelent reception (although I guess anything is excellent compared to none at all : ).

This is my living room/kitchen. In the corner is a table I am using for the meantime, but it´s getting pretty cluttered so I am going to try to make some kind of shelves to store things on.

My bedroom...I love the color! It took us about 2 days of painting (and just one coat) because since the walls are made of cement they just sucked in the paint. It´s a pain in the you-know-what to hang stuff though because the nails to enter the cement walls very well and when I finally get them to stay, there´s a strong wind that constantly blows through my room and knocks everything down.

Finally, this is my cat, Cusuco (amardillo in Spanish). He has his own bed but seems pretty comfortable on my backpack! And, he killed his first insect the other day. I was so proud, but completely grossed out as I could hear a crunching sound as he devoured it.

Well, not to much news to tell, but thought I would update everyone just the same. First, a rather disturbing happening. One morning I awoke to find what appeared to be a zit on my leg. Of course, the normal reaction was to pop it being that it has a nice, white squeezable head. Much to my surprise, it wasn´t a zit because when I popped it, our popped a white, fly looking creature. My host family of course wasn´t shocked by this event and simply responded that this is completely normal and that the little boy in the family had one in his head just the other day. Then, they continued to laugh at me as I looked at them in disgust.

Right now, I am in Carazo with my host family...again (just can´t get enough), just kidding, I came back because the muchacha in the family had her baby. So, now I am a second-time proud aunt to a 7 pound little girl.

I am still working on the house. I am learning just how much patience I need here because things in Nicaragua happen at a very slow pace. Supposedly, the bathroom and water are being installed as we speak, which means in retrospect, I should be able to move in on Monday. Vamos a ver! They finally delivered my bed on Wednesday and another volunteer was kind enough to give me an extra matress she had which only cost me the bus far of hauling it of 40 cordobas in comparison to the 2000 I would have had to pay for a new one.

I think that´s it for now. Hopefully, the next time I will be posting pictures of my new house, enticing all of you to make the short trip to Nicaragua to visit.

Here are a few pics from my stay with my training family. I had such a great time and was very sad to have to leave again. Although I love my new town, it´s always hard to come back at first. But, I was anxious to get back to start working on my new house!

This is the tree that my host brother put up in the living room. It was so beautiful, especially with the whole room filled with lights and a singing Santa that only I understood because it was in English. And I wasn´t about to try to translate ¨Jingle Bells.¨

This is the salto (waterfall) we went to in the river by my training town. It was amazing.

This is my sister, our friend Karla, and my host Dad hanging out in the water. What a great time!

For Christmas this year, I decided to return to my training family´s house in Carazo. It´s amazing how close I´ve become with them in just 3 months. I felt like I was visiting my ¨real¨ family who I´d known for years. It´s traditional here, just like the French, to celebrate on the 24th. When I stepped into the house, I felt like it was truly Christmas. The walls were painted green, the tree beautfully decorated with actual wrapped presents beneath it, and lights strung up everywhere! Around 11 pm some of the other family came over and we all ate Christmas dinner which consisted of pretty much the normal: rice, beans, chicken, and pop (for special occasions). At midnight, everyone flooded the streets to watch the fireworks and after about 2 minutes nothing was visible with all of the smoke. It was a joyous night! We stayed up until about 2 am opening presents and chatting with visitors who stopped by.

The 25th was pretty much just another ordinary day here. My family took me to the river that is close to their house. We ended up walking down to this waterfall and hung out there for the afternoon, swimming, eating, and of course having a ¨little¨Nicaraguan Rosa de Caña rum. Needless to say, it was a great time!

Yesterday, we took a trip to Masaya, a touristy town closeby that sells all sorts of traditional handmade items. I wanted to buy a hamock for my new house and they have the most beautiful things there. Speaking of, I have officially found the house that I will ¨hopefully¨live in for the next two years. The mayor´s office near my town has a project where they build houses for families in need. The families just have to pay a sum of about $190 and they own the house. This woman that I´ve become friends with moved out of her house to be with her mother in the house next door. So, she offered to rent me her house. Of course the house is very basic; it´s sepearted into three parts/rooms and the woman is supposed to be installing electricity as well as building me a shower while I am gone. Now, in Nica terms, electricity means a light bulb strung from the ceiling connected to the house next door and the shower will be constructed of black trash bags and of course a bucket. I had to pretty much fight with the lady to give me a price because she said I should be deciding, so finally we agreed on 300 cordobas, which is about $20 per month. Not too bad! As soon as I return, I want to start painting it so that I can move in as soon as possible. I am just really eager to have more space and to be able to cook what I want and get up when I want (not that I don´t love waking up every morning at 5:30 am to country Spanish music). : )

Well, I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and an equally wonderful New Years. I will be spending New Years in Granda with some other volunteers. I´m hoping they will have the traditional burning of the old year´s doll in the streets!

Yesterday, I went on a hike to a cave located near my town with this family I have been hanging out with. The trail wasn´t too long, but very steep...good exercise and of course there was a beautiful view from the top! If you look closely, that clump of house is my little pueblo!

After reaching our destination we found a shady spot to sit under a tree to cool off a bit and have a little snack. While we were doing so, the guys that came with us decided to see what animals they could find at the top of the hill. When they came back, this is what they found. (See below...I know, I can´t believe I am holding it either!) In Spanish it´s called a garrobo which I think is a spiny-tailed iguana.

After they proceeded to tie it´s mouth shut so it couldn´t bite anyone and declaw it (or at least that´s what it looked like) they told me that it is customary to eat the garrobo if and only when one is lucky enough to catch one, as we were. : )

Well, here you go...my dinner last night: garrobo with tortilla and coffee. I must admitt it was quite tasty, although I could only eat a couple bites because I couldn´t expel from my mind the image of that poor reptile being sliced open. So, for any of you who are lucky and courageous enough to come visit maybe we can try to catch one for our dinner. Bon appetit!

This is the house where I am currently living. If you look all the way to the left, you can see the room the family built on for me. : )

This is me with Francisca who is graduating from pre-school and her grandmother.

Above is a hen house that we built yesterday with an organization that works in Rural Development.

Here I am on my first day of learning to ride a horse. Beside me is my teacher, 10-year old Noel, a little boy who is temporarily living with the family. Sorry the picture isn´t so clear.

This is me standing in the middle of a field on a hike I took with a family I met in my town. We climbed the mountains surrounding my town and went to an even smaller pueblo of about 30 houses.

Do you find yourself wishing you had more time to read or just take a walk, that you could get up whenever you want, that you could eat tortillas, cheese and beans for every meal, saddle up on a horse and ride off into the sunset, well, welcome to my world! : )

I arrived at my site last Friday after about 2 weeks of staying in nice hotels with a.c., hot showers where the water pours out of the shower head like warm honey, the most delicious and well-balanced meals you can think of with fruit galore. I purposely refused any offerings of beans and rice during this time because I knew that once I got to my site I definitely would not be lacking in these food groups! : )

So, more about my town. Like I said, it is a VERY small town in the rolling hills of Chontales. Each time I take the bus to the next nearest town I am just amazed at how beautiful it is and that I get to live in the midst of it for the next two years. So far, I have discovered two stores that sell things in my town, but only the basics...toilet paper, soap, gasiosa (pop), juice, etc. However, when I need to go grocery shopping for milk, cereal or other necessities it´s just a 45-minute bus ride to the nearest grocery store. Speaking of cereal, I think I freaked my new host mom out a little when I asked to have just oatmeal for breakfast...with NO beans and NO cheese. She tried to convince me that it´s simply not done that way here and that one needs to have those basic staple foods with each meal. After some convincing, I finally got her to let me just have the oatmeal. This morning I tried again, but she already had my breakfast prepared...tricky, tricky! I have been trying to get out each day and get to know at least one new family...for those of you who don´t know, one of my principle goals while I am here is to meet all 450 people that live here. I don´t think it´s that unreasonable. You may wonder, ¨Why only 1 family?¨ This is because when you meet someone for the first time, especially here, I usually spend at least 2 hours talking to them and during that time they offer me something to eat, usually ??, you guessed it, beans and cheese (cuajada). So, I´ve tried to plan to visit people when I haven´t eaten for a while because they take offense if you don´t at least eat some of what they offer you, no matter if you have just eaten lunch. Last night, I went to a vela with a family I have come to know. The vela kind of reminded me of a viewing at a funeral, except pre-death. The father of the owner of the one store (pulperia)in town is very sick and therefore, very close to death. Since they don´t have enough money to send him to the hospital, he sleeps in a bed in the middle of the living room. During the vela, people from the town come to visit him daily. It´s actually very sweet, although I felt a little ackward being that I didn´t know him. There were two little girls there that I had just met from the school, so they were teaching me Spanish and I taught them some words in English. It´s funny, but the time I felt the most comfortable was sitting there playing with them on the porch of their house.

Besides that, my life here has been pretty slow and tranquilo as I find myself often saying. I´ve gotten the chance to read a lot, I´ve also been getting into the Spanish soap opera that comes in on our only channel (the dos) at 8:00, after which I am usually tired enough to go to bed. I am looking forward to returning to my first host family´s house for Christmas. So far, I haven´t seen many signs of Christmas in my town, although I doubt many people will be putting up trees or lights considering their level of poverty. I know understand what the other volunteers mean about the days feeling so long, but the weeks flying by. I can´t believe that I have almost been here a week...and in Nicaragua just over 3 months!

As you can tell by the size of my town, I do not have regular access to internet, so I will try to update and check e-mail every couple of weeks. It shoudn´t be that difficult in the meantime considering I won´t be teaching until the beginning of February. Hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are getting ready for the Christmas season. Today, since I am in the ¨big city¨I am going to treat myself to pizza and icecream for lunch! Hasta pronto!