La Vida Alegre

Something that I´m noticing is enormous part of Nica life is music, which I love! Music is always playing somewhere, which is something that I wish existed in the States. People here love their tunes, and share them, loud and proud. It´s not uncommon for people to sit in rocking chairs in front of their houses and blast their choice of music from speakers the size of Texas. Everybody does this, from 12 year old boys, to 93 year old women. Music videos are a constant presence here, and I´ve come across at least 7 channels that are solely devoted to music videos and concerts. A lot of people use this as their source of music, and leave the TV on this channel whenever they´re in the house. Another popular practice is to play music from your phone, or smaller portable speakers on your bike. On my 5 minute bike ride to work, I often experience a mini concert composed of 5 second samples of a myriad of songs.  Now you might ask, what types of music do Nicaraguans typically listen to? Nicas listen to a variety of genres- Spanish rap, American Top 40 hits, traditional folk, you name it. However, I have noticed that Nicas are particularly inclined towards 80´s dance hits and power ballads. They are EVERYWHERE. Particularly on the buses that I take from Leon and Chinandega, the drivers always seem to end up on the station with Paula Abdul or Bon Jovi. There´s a lot of ABBA here too, and I have listened to Total Eclipse of the Heart more times than I can count. While the idea of listening to “Never Gonna Give You Up” on a stuffy, silent, microbus that is stuffed to the gills may sound somewhat hellish, I never fail to find it hilarious, and always need to stifle my laughter.

Although this week hasn´t been the happiest, because I was sick for a couple days (unfortunately I think it was caused by a delicious smoothie), I am making up for it today, by relaxing and enjoying the sunshine and little pleasures. Today is the first day I´ve had since I´ve been here with absolutely nothing planned, so I rode my bike to the beach this morning where I stayed for a while. I watched some kids splash and frolic in the ocean, and sat and basked in the sun and my own happiness. Nicaragua is such a happy place, and it´s infectious. There is constant sun and music, and animal sounds, and fruit growing, and life. All of which makes me a very happy person. When I got home, I found a giant bowl filled with about 10 ripe tomatoes in our fridge, which prompted me to run and ask my host mom if they were saving them for something special, or if I could have one. She laughed at my excitement and said I could have as many as I wanted, and now I am in tomato-heaven, right now as I write this. I love tomatoes, and here they are always either sliced very thinly and doused in vinegar, or cooked. While vinegar-ed tomatoes are better than no tomatoes, I was so happy to see that bowl!

When I wasn´t bed-ridden this week, I was continuing my English classes and working in the newly-created garden. The garden project is going so well that I´m thinking of expanding it. When I met with the program director on Thursday, he suggested that because the school already had a lot of the tools needed and other community members were becoming very invested in the project, I might want to consider organizing another community garden in one or two more locations. All volunteers are given an amount of money that we can put towards the project, and because the school already has so many resources, that money could be used to create another garden.  I think this is a great idea, but because paperwork is due at the end of this week, I´ll have to act quickly and meet with other workers at my agency to make sure that this is possible.

I´m heading to Leon early Friday morning where I will meet up with everyone else, and then drive to an undisclosed location for our first excursion, which I´m very excited about! Our program directors have been extremely secretive about where we are going, thought they have told us how much planning has been put into the trip, so I can´t wait to find out what this secret place is! I´ve also been thinking about taking some day trips on my own, or going with some other volunteers. I have the option of talking to my agency and rearranging my schedule so I have a long weekend here and there, to go to another city or area of Nicaragua, which I would love!