What did I do today? (and a rambling recap of the last 4 days)
Happy Wednesday, everyone! I hope everyone is having a good week- mine is speeding on by!
I realized that I have never actually wrote out my day to day routine for all of you, so I present to you, Rachel's Ramblings of November 20th (probably in more detail than anybody cares for, but feel free to skim! Or skip to the exciting part where I talk about barreling down a volcano at 50 mph):
I rolled out of bed at 7 am, slid into my flip flops (nobody goes barefoot, ever), and shuffled into the kitchen, where my host mom tried to talk to me, but ultimately failed as she usually does, because we have learned that I can't speak or understand Spanish right after I wake up. I took a quick shower, after testing it to confirm there was water, got dressed, and then went into the kitchen to get some breakfast. My host mom surprised me with a banana smoothie(!), rather than my usual cafe con leche, which I had with some gallo pinto (rice and beans) and bread, a fairly standard breakfast. I brushed my teeth, using my family's toothpaste, because I finaly squeezed out ever last bit last night, so I have to remind myself to buy some more! I had the keys to our office, and realized that I wasn´t going to be needing them until the afternoon, so I texted one of my coworkers, Ignacio (Nacho) who came and got them from me a few minutes later, so he could go and pick up some rice (which we keep at the office) for the comedor infantil that we work at. I biked about 20 minutes to the high school where our main garden is, but learned that I didn´t actually have to be there, there was a miscommunication, so I biked back to my house where I caught one of the many Friends episodes that run during the day, and then headed off to comedor,which is held outside a local woman´s house. There I chopped many vegetables (I am getting really skilled at dicing tomatos and onions), as well as some strange bananas that stained my hands brown, and successfully avoided getting attacked by their mean and scary looking duck. This duck bites every leg it sees, assaults the other ducks, and is only being kept around so it can be eaten at Christmas. Good riddance. I left before the food was served to the kids because I had to prepare for my two classes today. I had Chinese food (it seems like just ramen with a different type of sauce) for lunch, because there´s a Chinese restauraunt down the street from my house, which is just as random as it sounds. I headed off to the office around 2, where I was locked outside (a fairly usual occurance) because Nacho still had the keys, though he came just 10 minutes later and brought me a posicle, which I couldn´t complain about! A posicle is hard to explain because I´m not even sure what´s in it, but it´s basically frozen coconut milk with cinnamon and other flavors, and something that turns it pink. It´s in a plastic bag that you bite a hole in and suck on, and it´s absolutely delicious! I taught my classes- one at 3 and one at 4. In the class for kids I taught the present progressive, and in the class for adults I taught directions, and we drew maps and talked about giving directions from place to place. After class the volunteers hung out and the office, where Nacho gave me an absolutely wonderful massage, we talked about his time in Ethiopia, and made plans for the weekend. Then I came home, at a dinner of beef, gallo pinto, and tostones (fried plaintains), and here I am, sitting outside of my house on the curb, enjoying the WiFi and writing this fascinating narrative!
This weekend was very busy, but very wonderful. I woke up early to take the familiar trek from Corinto to Leon, to go volcano boarding, which this time was a success! There were 9 people total who did it- the four of us from Amigos, 4 twentysomethings (3 American, 1 British) from another volunteer organization that are living in Managua until April, and an Israeli girl who is adventuring down from Georgia to Argentina. We collected our stuff sacks full of jumpsuits, water bottles, gloves, and goggles, piled into the back of a truck, and headed up towards the base of Cerro Negro. Cerro Negro is an active volcano that erupts about 7 years, though it´s been overdue for an eruption for 2 years. We knew that volcano boarding was fast, but hoped it was faster than lava...just in case. Once we got to the base we started hiking up, stuff sacks and volcano boards (wooden boards with plastic on the bottom) in hand. The hike was more strenuous than I anticipated for what I determined to be 3 basic reasons- 1) Not all that bad, but the stuff sacks and boards were awkward, heavy, cumbersome, and generally uncomfortable, 2) The path didn´t really exist, and it mainly consisted of extremely loose gravel that was very easy to lose footing on, which leads me to... 3) My foot! I sliced my foot open pretty badly on Wednesday, and although I hadn´t tested it much, I realized that it was still extremely sore, and by the end of the hike I was carrying a pretty heavy limp. All this complaining makes it sound horrible, but by the time we got to the top, the worst was over, and the hike was definitely worth it! The views were absolutely stunning, and our guide, Mike from England, said this was one of the clearest days he had seen in the 3 months he had been doing the hike. I´ll be uploading pictures as soon as possible! We took many pictures of the magnificent view, taking in the stark contrast of the black lava rock and lush forest. You could even look into the volcano´s crater and see steam, and feel the head from underneath your feet. Finally, after suiting up and what felt like much too little explanation, we did the deed of the actual volcano boarding. I sat on my board, feet first, leaned back, pulled my goggles over my head, and pushed off! I barreled off at first, then my Velco´d jumpsuit failed me and opened up, allowing all my belongings (which were stuffed into our sacks and jhung around our necks in the front of our suits) to spill out, putting me off balance and sending me tumbling down! I rolled down a bit (Dad- think my first time on Avalanche x 100), then managed to climb back up the slippery gravel, get a hold of my board, stuff everything back into my suit, and got going again, and this time picked up some speed. By the time I reached the bottom I was had a scraped up calf, an ashy goatee, and an absolutely incredible experience. It was exhilerating to say the least, and although it was quite an adventure, and some people went again, I was quite content with it being a once in a lifetime adventure. We finished the afternoon off at the base of the volcano by making and eating some delicious tacos with ingrediants that the guide had brought and munching on bananas and trail mix.
After returning to Leon and retrieving t-shirts from the agency, Tess, Emma, and I headed off to Chinandega, where we would spend the night. We snagged a cheap hotel, and spent the night out with some friends that Tess had made, as well as a couple Peace Corps volunteers that we knew and ran into on the street. That morning we met up with Sarah, showed her and Emma around Chinandega and had a quick breakfast, and then boarded the microbus for my lovely Corinto! We picked up some sandwich fixings, bananas, and water at the supermarket, and then went to the beach where we had our own little inlet to ourselves. We alternated between swimming/floating in the absolutely pristine and perfectly temperate ocean, and sunbathing while eating our sandwiches. By late afternoon my cheeks were rosy and hands were prune-y, and everyone was perfectly content. We wandered back through Corinto, and I acted as a bit of a tour guide for the others, showing off my quaint little beach town to the big city dwellers.
Monday was parents day, but I think mine forgot, because they were a few thousand miles away. However, there were 3 extra parents here in Corinto! The parents of Kelsey, the Peace Corps volunteer that live next to Corinto, and the father of Jan, the German volunteer here, were visting, which was quite exciting. Kelsey´s parents were here for the previous week on vacation for Kelsey but were visiting Corinto for their final day in Nicaragua, and Jan´s dad had just arrived on Saturday. It was a lot of fun seeing other volunteers with their parents, and I definitely saw them from a different perspective when they were together. I also went to Chinandega on Monday to retrieve my phone, which I left there on Sunday morning, and on the bus ride I met a man who went to high school in Wellesley, MA! He told me that he is originally from Ecuador, went to high school in Wellesley, currently lives in Florida, and is visiting a friend in Chinandega- quite the traveler! He was very friendly, but not in an overly probing way which I appreciated, and even paid for my bus ticket!
Right now this weekend is looking like a fairly standard Saturday- can´t wait for my salsa lessons!- and on Sunday my agency is planning a surprise birthday party for Jan´s dad, who´s birthday is that day, as well as some time at the beach and at the local carnival that is set up for a week here. Looking forward to it!
I know some of my friends back home are very stressed with the college load, so sending them all muchisimo paz y amor (there´s a bakery in Leon called Pan y Paz- Bread and Peace, two perfect things that I could always use more of!)
Volcano boarding pictures plus a bonus puppy photo!
I realized that I have never actually wrote out my day to day routine for all of you, so I present to you, Rachel's Ramblings of November 20th (probably in more detail than anybody cares for, but feel free to skim! Or skip to the exciting part where I talk about barreling down a volcano at 50 mph):
I rolled out of bed at 7 am, slid into my flip flops (nobody goes barefoot, ever), and shuffled into the kitchen, where my host mom tried to talk to me, but ultimately failed as she usually does, because we have learned that I can't speak or understand Spanish right after I wake up. I took a quick shower, after testing it to confirm there was water, got dressed, and then went into the kitchen to get some breakfast. My host mom surprised me with a banana smoothie(!), rather than my usual cafe con leche, which I had with some gallo pinto (rice and beans) and bread, a fairly standard breakfast. I brushed my teeth, using my family's toothpaste, because I finaly squeezed out ever last bit last night, so I have to remind myself to buy some more! I had the keys to our office, and realized that I wasn´t going to be needing them until the afternoon, so I texted one of my coworkers, Ignacio (Nacho) who came and got them from me a few minutes later, so he could go and pick up some rice (which we keep at the office) for the comedor infantil that we work at. I biked about 20 minutes to the high school where our main garden is, but learned that I didn´t actually have to be there, there was a miscommunication, so I biked back to my house where I caught one of the many Friends episodes that run during the day, and then headed off to comedor,which is held outside a local woman´s house. There I chopped many vegetables (I am getting really skilled at dicing tomatos and onions), as well as some strange bananas that stained my hands brown, and successfully avoided getting attacked by their mean and scary looking duck. This duck bites every leg it sees, assaults the other ducks, and is only being kept around so it can be eaten at Christmas. Good riddance. I left before the food was served to the kids because I had to prepare for my two classes today. I had Chinese food (it seems like just ramen with a different type of sauce) for lunch, because there´s a Chinese restauraunt down the street from my house, which is just as random as it sounds. I headed off to the office around 2, where I was locked outside (a fairly usual occurance) because Nacho still had the keys, though he came just 10 minutes later and brought me a posicle, which I couldn´t complain about! A posicle is hard to explain because I´m not even sure what´s in it, but it´s basically frozen coconut milk with cinnamon and other flavors, and something that turns it pink. It´s in a plastic bag that you bite a hole in and suck on, and it´s absolutely delicious! I taught my classes- one at 3 and one at 4. In the class for kids I taught the present progressive, and in the class for adults I taught directions, and we drew maps and talked about giving directions from place to place. After class the volunteers hung out and the office, where Nacho gave me an absolutely wonderful massage, we talked about his time in Ethiopia, and made plans for the weekend. Then I came home, at a dinner of beef, gallo pinto, and tostones (fried plaintains), and here I am, sitting outside of my house on the curb, enjoying the WiFi and writing this fascinating narrative!
This weekend was very busy, but very wonderful. I woke up early to take the familiar trek from Corinto to Leon, to go volcano boarding, which this time was a success! There were 9 people total who did it- the four of us from Amigos, 4 twentysomethings (3 American, 1 British) from another volunteer organization that are living in Managua until April, and an Israeli girl who is adventuring down from Georgia to Argentina. We collected our stuff sacks full of jumpsuits, water bottles, gloves, and goggles, piled into the back of a truck, and headed up towards the base of Cerro Negro. Cerro Negro is an active volcano that erupts about 7 years, though it´s been overdue for an eruption for 2 years. We knew that volcano boarding was fast, but hoped it was faster than lava...just in case. Once we got to the base we started hiking up, stuff sacks and volcano boards (wooden boards with plastic on the bottom) in hand. The hike was more strenuous than I anticipated for what I determined to be 3 basic reasons- 1) Not all that bad, but the stuff sacks and boards were awkward, heavy, cumbersome, and generally uncomfortable, 2) The path didn´t really exist, and it mainly consisted of extremely loose gravel that was very easy to lose footing on, which leads me to... 3) My foot! I sliced my foot open pretty badly on Wednesday, and although I hadn´t tested it much, I realized that it was still extremely sore, and by the end of the hike I was carrying a pretty heavy limp. All this complaining makes it sound horrible, but by the time we got to the top, the worst was over, and the hike was definitely worth it! The views were absolutely stunning, and our guide, Mike from England, said this was one of the clearest days he had seen in the 3 months he had been doing the hike. I´ll be uploading pictures as soon as possible! We took many pictures of the magnificent view, taking in the stark contrast of the black lava rock and lush forest. You could even look into the volcano´s crater and see steam, and feel the head from underneath your feet. Finally, after suiting up and what felt like much too little explanation, we did the deed of the actual volcano boarding. I sat on my board, feet first, leaned back, pulled my goggles over my head, and pushed off! I barreled off at first, then my Velco´d jumpsuit failed me and opened up, allowing all my belongings (which were stuffed into our sacks and jhung around our necks in the front of our suits) to spill out, putting me off balance and sending me tumbling down! I rolled down a bit (Dad- think my first time on Avalanche x 100), then managed to climb back up the slippery gravel, get a hold of my board, stuff everything back into my suit, and got going again, and this time picked up some speed. By the time I reached the bottom I was had a scraped up calf, an ashy goatee, and an absolutely incredible experience. It was exhilerating to say the least, and although it was quite an adventure, and some people went again, I was quite content with it being a once in a lifetime adventure. We finished the afternoon off at the base of the volcano by making and eating some delicious tacos with ingrediants that the guide had brought and munching on bananas and trail mix.
After returning to Leon and retrieving t-shirts from the agency, Tess, Emma, and I headed off to Chinandega, where we would spend the night. We snagged a cheap hotel, and spent the night out with some friends that Tess had made, as well as a couple Peace Corps volunteers that we knew and ran into on the street. That morning we met up with Sarah, showed her and Emma around Chinandega and had a quick breakfast, and then boarded the microbus for my lovely Corinto! We picked up some sandwich fixings, bananas, and water at the supermarket, and then went to the beach where we had our own little inlet to ourselves. We alternated between swimming/floating in the absolutely pristine and perfectly temperate ocean, and sunbathing while eating our sandwiches. By late afternoon my cheeks were rosy and hands were prune-y, and everyone was perfectly content. We wandered back through Corinto, and I acted as a bit of a tour guide for the others, showing off my quaint little beach town to the big city dwellers.
Monday was parents day, but I think mine forgot, because they were a few thousand miles away. However, there were 3 extra parents here in Corinto! The parents of Kelsey, the Peace Corps volunteer that live next to Corinto, and the father of Jan, the German volunteer here, were visting, which was quite exciting. Kelsey´s parents were here for the previous week on vacation for Kelsey but were visiting Corinto for their final day in Nicaragua, and Jan´s dad had just arrived on Saturday. It was a lot of fun seeing other volunteers with their parents, and I definitely saw them from a different perspective when they were together. I also went to Chinandega on Monday to retrieve my phone, which I left there on Sunday morning, and on the bus ride I met a man who went to high school in Wellesley, MA! He told me that he is originally from Ecuador, went to high school in Wellesley, currently lives in Florida, and is visiting a friend in Chinandega- quite the traveler! He was very friendly, but not in an overly probing way which I appreciated, and even paid for my bus ticket!
Right now this weekend is looking like a fairly standard Saturday- can´t wait for my salsa lessons!- and on Sunday my agency is planning a surprise birthday party for Jan´s dad, who´s birthday is that day, as well as some time at the beach and at the local carnival that is set up for a week here. Looking forward to it!
I know some of my friends back home are very stressed with the college load, so sending them all muchisimo paz y amor (there´s a bakery in Leon called Pan y Paz- Bread and Peace, two perfect things that I could always use more of!)
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