More from Ometepe and my adventure home

We were not exactly sure what we wanted to on our second day on Ometepe. There is a waterfall that a lot of people hike to and a number of nice places to swim and explore. We thought about getting bikes and checking out one or more of these places, but we decided that we would first visit an eco-lodge nearby. A friend of a friend of Daisy's was running this eco-lodge, and she was told to go visit it. So, we headed off to check it out. As the crow flies, it was not far away. But, it is fairly out of the way, and we had to make a big horshoe-like loop to get there. The lodge sits slightly up the side of Volcan Maderas and has amazing views in all directions. Rising up behind the lodge, is Volcan Maderas. Volcan Concepcion, with its cloud cap, stands to the north of the lodge. The positioning of the lodge also gives its guests a nice view of the small strip of land connecting the north and south parts of the island, as well as views of the lake on both sides of the island. It is really an amazingly beautiful spot. I do not think many women would complain about spending all or part of their honeymoon there. The project is not complete, but the lodges first guests are currently staying there. When finished, there will be 5 guest cabins and a large lodge with a bar and restaurant. Everything is underway, but only two of the cabins are completed. There is also an organic farm at the base of the hill where volunteers grow a large number of plants. A couple small cottages for the founders and permanent workers also sit tucked away on the hillside. We sat and enjoyed a beer with a couple of the people working on the place and then headed out.

When we got to the main road, we just kind of started walking. We were sort of headed toward an area known for its nice beaches. On the way, we bumped into a Sunday afternoon baseball game. We stopped to watch for a few innings. It was very entertaining. The players were wearing uniforms, but they were all different. I do not know if it was just a pick-up game, or it was some kind of local all-star game. The field was dry, dusty, and bumpy. Chickens, dogs, and pigs wandered aimlessly in the outfield, and a drunk heckler/motivator/consoler paced up and down the third baseline, hollering constantly. It seemed this guy was sort of part of the game. When a hitter would take a big cut, miss, and step out of the batter's box, he would head over to them, put his arm around them, and give them some words of advice and encouragement. He yelled and waved his arms wildly in the direction of the baserunners when the ball was in play. The only time anyone seemed to really take note of him, was when he wandered into play. The third base coach would quietly put his hands on the drunkerd's shoulders and guide back to foul territory without the game stopping(the heckler is on the very right side of one of the photos wearing all white and raising his arms). I really enjoyed the couple innings we watched. I could have stayed for the whole game, but we were with a couple of girls that were not too familiar with baseball. So, we headed on down the road. We ate lunch at a restaurant right on the lake as a fairly hard rain came down. It was the first time in 5 weeks that I had seen anything more than a sprinkle. We headed to the small beach town when the rain stopped(I cannot remember the name of the village at the moment). The lake was really high, and the beaches were covered. We had seen that this was not the case a little back down the road, so we backtracked to a nice strip of beach. The sand is soft and black because it is volcanic. We sat for awhile and enjoyed the beauty. I could not resist getting in and soon Daisy, Nick, and myself were all battling the waves. Lake Nicaragua is one of the biggest freshwater lakes in the world, and the waves can be almost like ocean waves. It was fairly shallow for about 100 meters, so Nick and I headed out and crashed into wave after wave. Though we still had a good walk home, we swam until it was almost dark. I agreed with Nick when he said, "I feel like a kid who does not want to go home." We enjoyed a nice walk back to the hostel. The streets were full of people talking, biking, and listening to music.

That night, we joined 2 Dutch girls and 1 German girl for supper. We had a good meal, and good conversation late into the night. Nick and Daisy wanted to catch a bus at the crack of dawn, so they went to bed before I did. I decided I would rather sleep a little longer and have a solo adventure home. The next morning I got up at about 9AM, had some breakfast, paid my bill, and headed out on foot. I knew there was a bus that was supposed to come at 11 and would have to pass me on the road. I figured I would take this bus, but wanted to walk as far as I could in order to avoid the hot, bumpy, crowded bus as much as possible. My goal was to make it to Altagracia by 2PM to catch a ferry straight to Granada. It was a very hot day. I walked and walked, sweated and sweated. The bus never came, so I ended up walking all the way to Altagracia. It took me almost 4 hours to get there. I think I must have walked about 12 miles, maybe more. I got there at 1:25PM and did not know where the ferry left from. I found a woman who spoke English and asked her. She said it was a ways outside of town and would probably take an hour to walk. So, I tried to find a taxi that would be cheap, but they tried to screw me. They wanted 15 U.S. dollars, which is a ton for a short drive here. I thought about trying to run, but wondered if I would make it or even find the right place. So, I ended up taking a bus to another town with a dock, taking a small boat back to the mainland, and taking a shuttle from there to the Rivas bus stop only to find out that I had just missed the last bus to Granada. It was only about 4:30PM. I talked to a few taxi drivers, but they were asking 20-30 U.S. dollars. I knew I could probably stay in a hostel for $5-6 dollars, so I turned them down. I also gave some serious thought to trying to hitch-hike back. I thought this could be really fun but also that the sun would set in less than an hour, and I would be less likely to be picked up. I would have been ok with sleeping in the ditch, (it would have been a good story) but I was worried my poor Spanish could land me far away from Granada. So, I stayed in Rivas. I took the bus home early the next morning and my trip was over. Overall, it was a slightly frustrating, but fun little journey. You never really know what will happen when travelling, but it can be fun as long as you have the right attitude.

Dedicated to Stijn

We finished our summer activity group last Wednesday with our trip to the zoo and had almost a week before the regular school year started. I definitely wanted to head out somewhere for this break and had a number of options. A group of girls were heading to the beach at San Juan Del Sur, a small beach/party town on the Pacific Ocean. I was very tempted to head down with them, but there were a few problems. I decided to move from one volunteer house to another and wanted to do this on Thursday, when the girls were leaving. I also wanted to go somewhere that I could do a little Spanish studying and thought there might be too many distractions in San Juan Del Sur. A few others were talking about heading to Ometepe, which is an island in Lake Nicaragua that was formed by two volcanoes, Concepcion and Maderas. I also thought about heading to a quiet beach on the Pacific that was highly recommended by Aleta. I ended up moving Thursday and missing the trip to San Juan Del Sur. I decided that I would head to Ometepe with Tiia, Nick, and Daisy and would head to the ocean sometime in the next couple of weeks.

Tiia decided that she could not come Thursday night, due to necessary preperation for a job interview in Managua on Monday. Nick showed up at 7:30, somewhat ready to head out. Daisy and I were not ready to roll. I had developed a cold a number of days earlier and was not feeling too well. Nick had been at a going away party the night before and was quite tired. When Nick heard that I did not really want to climb Volcan Maderas because I was sick, he informed me that he did not really want to go if we were not going to climb it. So, we started to think that we would not go. But, Stijn came to the rescue. He overheard our conversation and challenged my manhood. He basically asked me what kind of *wuss I was. My competitive nature has dwindled drastically over the last 6 years, but apparently I still have enough to take this challenge head on. Nick took a nap, I got ready, and we headed out a few hours later than planned.

The trip to Ometepe was a bit exhausting. We took an hour and a half bus ride to Rivas and I stood most of the way. It does not seem to be common practice to give up one's seat for a woman and even less so for a child. But, when I have a seat and see an old lady standing in the aisle, I remember mom teaching me to open and hold the door for others at the grocery store. I also look at their weathered skin and feet and think about how they have and will spend much more of their life on their feet than I ever will. So, I give my seat up. On this ride, I gave it up, got it back, and gave it up again multiple times as we dropped off and picked up more passengers. I ended up standing nearly all the way to Rivas. This was not too bad at all, but the trip was just beginning. We took a small shuttle from the "bus station" in Rivas to the dock, bought a ferry ticket, had some lunch, and headed out. The ride on the ferry took about an hour and was very enjoyable, with great views in all directions. Volcan Concepcion grew larger and larger as we creeped up on it. When we were about 50 meters from the landing dock, a shirtless Nicaraguan jumped off the ferry and swam quickly to the dock with a large rope in tow. We were soon pulled in and unloaded. We boarded a full bus and then shuffled around as they crammed 20 more people and their bags aboard. They would say through the windows from outside in Spanish, "move forward, move forward!" And then, minutes later yell, "move back, move back!" I have been on a lot of crammed buses, but I think this one took the cake. Ometepe seems to draw some interesting characters, and the bus was full of them. In the back, a shirtless guy with a surfboard tried hard to look as much like a stereotypical surfer as he could. Next to him, stood a light-skinned white guy wearing a wool-knit beanie, while I soaked my clothes with sweat just a few feet in front of him(it turns out this guy has been traveling for months and just lays down a sleeping bag and sleeps on the side of the road). Also scattered throughout the bus were a number of dread-locked hippie looking types that seem to flock to the island. All-in-all very interesting, but I wish there had been about 30 less people on the bus. It was a long, bumpy, hot, dusty, uncomfortable ride with a lot of stops. About 3 and a half hours later, we reached our destination. It was well after dark and we had to hike about 20 minutes up the side of Volcan Maderas to get to our hostel. Nick informed us that while riding the bus, he was reading his guide book. It said when heading to Finca Magdalena, our hostel, be sure to arrive before dark. We had a good laugh, pulled out our flashlights, and headed up the hill. It was actually a fun little hike. I think we were all happy to be off the bus. An English guy was walking behind us and asked if we knew where we were going. We told him we thought so, but were not totally sure. He told us his name was Ollie, and that he had missed his stop and had just hopped off with us. The four of us chatted about the stars and the beauty of the night until I saw something moving on the gravel road in front of us. I shined my flashlight in its direction. What we saw amazed us. The biggest toad any of us had ever seen was hopping quickly away from us. It was about the size of a small bunny or a really fat hampster.

We made it safely to the hostel, which used to be the center of a coffee and fruit plantation. A woman guided us to the dorm and unfolded some cots made of a plastic tarp like material. This would be our home for 3 nights at a whopping $2.50 a night. We had a late supper, arranged for a guide in the morning, and headed to bed.

At 8AM Nick, Ollie, and I headed up Volcan Maderas with our guide. Our guide was very friendly and pointed out birds, monkeys, petroglyphs, and plants on the easier beginning of the hike. He also explained a little history of the island and told us that Ometepe is a Nahuatl word which means two mountains. The Nahuatl's were the islands native inhabitants.

The climb got steeper and muddier with every step we took. We soon realized that the views would not be very good as we entered the clouds. It got to be extremely sloppy. We were basically walking up the bed of a small very steep stream and the soil was a very slippery orangish clay. It was not uncommon to have to get down on all fours on the climb. We climbed the way I like the most, at a good and steady pace. We only made a few very short stops on the way up. After reaching the peak, we took a few pictures. I dedicate the John Randle esque picture of myself with mud on my face to Stijn. We then took a sharp descent to the lagoon. Since we were in the clouds, we were only able to see the edge of the lagoon but enjoyed our sandwiches next to it. At the top, we met a family of Nicaraguans who had hiked up the other side. There were two young children with the family. I would estimate their ages to be about 6 and 8. I was amazed that they were able to make the hike and even more amazed to see that they did it in flip-flops!

The hike down consisted of a lot of slipping, sliding, and splashing. The clouds started to clear and when we were about 2/3's of the way down, we came out of them. The view was stunning, even though we were only about 1/3 of the way up the volcano. I can only imagine what the view from the top is like on a rare clear day(most volcanoes have a clouded cap even on completely clear days). I think our guide liked us, as we kept a good pace up and down the mountain and laughed and joked our way through the muck and slop.

I have a lot more to say about Ometepe and my journey back, but it will have to wait.

The Zoo

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Stijn and Marlies raised some money from Stijn's place of employment before they came here. They decided that they would try to do something special with some of it, so they planned a trip to the zoo to finish our summer activity group. We took a pretty big group there last Wednesday. My favorite part was the bus ride to the zoo. In true Nicaraguan fashion, we crammed a ton of students, volunteers, ayudantes, and parents on one bus. Many of the kids sat 4 or 5 to a seat, and most of the volunteers were standing. The school we work at, Juan Diego, is about 20 minutes outside of Granada and sits at the base of Volcan Mombacho a couple miles off the highway. Many of the students have not been far from home. So, going to Managua was a big deal. As the bus began rolling down the road, the children were pasted to the windows. They got even more excited when we hit the four lane freeway. Xavier got them all riled up each time we passed another vehicle. Xavier and all the children would howl "whooooo" every time we made a pass.

We had sandwiches and juice before heading into the zoo. All of the children were broken into groups with 3 or 4 volunteers to a group. Mara, Dietrich, and myself presided over the hipo group. We had the youngest kids, mostly 6 year-olds. The zoo itself was pretty fun, though I spent most of my time trying to keep the group together. We had a guide from the zoo for each group. He would tell the kids a little something about each animal we saw. But, it seemed the main goal of the young ones was to be the first to see whatever was next before the other children. It did not matter if they were face to face with a lion two feet away, they would try to see the donkey because it was next. Of course, this was also kind of funny. It is really something to see such youth and curiousity at work.

The bus ride home was filled with just as many "whoooo's." I sat in a seat with four young boys. One would not think that I would fit in a bus seat with 4 boys no matter how small they are. But, they all piled on top of each other and pressed their faces against the window, leaving me a comfortable seat next to the aisle. Overall, the trip was a huge success and went off without any major problems. Stijn and Marlies did an excellent job of putting the whole thing together.

Nicaraguan Buses

Nicaragua has a very interesting public transportation system. It consists of a large fleet of very old pimped-out American school buses. I have not yet figured out just exactly whether these buses are privately or publicly run. But, it sort of seems to be some kind of combination. I think the buses might be privately operated, but have some kind of contract or agreement with the government or each other. Here is what I do know about the way they are run. There are almost always 3 workers on a bus. The 3 workers include a driver and two guys that get everyone on the bus as quickly as possible, load bikes and other goods on the roof, and collect the money. The money collectors are an interesting breed. Collection does not usually start until the bus is pretty full. The collectors are often young guys, and I get the feeling that most of them think fairly highly of themselves. They walk down the aisle with a stack of bills folded around their fingers and shake the coins they have in their hand. I get the feeling that most of them try to put off a kind of cool indifferent attitude. They are very efficient and good at what they do, though. Sometimes they are not able to make correct change for a number of the people on the bus. They continue collecting money while remembering who they owe and how much. When they are finished collecting, they come back and give the correct change to those waiting. The bus continues to pick up passengers after the collection has taken place. The collectors do not always get the money from the new passengers right away, but they almost never forget. I ride buses every day, and I have only seen one person that they missed. They are kind of like really good waitresses who do not need to write down customers orders. Besides getting people on and off the bus quickly and collecting money, the bus workers are also in charge of loading and unloading goods on and off of the top of the bus. Bikes are the most common item, but a person can bring just about anything on the buses. I see a lot of goods being brought to the market and furniture. When the workers know they will be unloading something soon, one of them climbs up on the roof while the bus is still barreling down the road. As soon as the bus stops, the guy on top of the bus is handing the goods to the other worker below.

In the U.S., many jobs that were traditionally all male or all female jobs are starting to be integrated. This does not seem to be the case in Nicaragua. It really seems that there are a lot of jobs that are either for males or for females. This is true of the bus workers. They are all male.

And now for the buses... I have been in some pretty old school buses at home. But, I think if they brought the oldest bus I have been on at home down here, it may be the newest bus in Nicaragua. All of these buses are both tricked-out and most are pimped-out. They trick them out by adding a door in the back, large steel racks on top, and adding handles on both the inside and outside of the bus. These things are done for a number of reasons. They want to get people on quickly and get moving. This is the reason for the extra door. Some buses do not add an additional door with steps in the back. When one of these buses pulls up, one of the workers hops out the back emergency exit before the bus has even stopped. Another young man comes out the front door. Both of them holler a lot and seem to be in a huge hurry. They attempt to split the group. One shoving people into the front of the bus, and the other grabbing people's arms and ushering them to the back of the bus while jabbering constantly. The railings on the inside of the bus are for people to hold while they are standing. It does not matter how many people are on the bus. If another person wants to get on, they will find a way to fit them. The rack top of the bus is for carrying just about anything one can imagine.

When I say these buses are pimped out, I mean it. Few of them are still yellow. Most have bright and wild paint schemes. Some have streamers or other decorations hanging from the outside of the bus. A lot of the buses have horns that both look and sound fancy. Sometimes there will be a name or other decorations in the front window of the bus as well. Most of the buses have loud speakers that were added. These speakers are typically working hard blaring out Reggaeton music, but we occasionally hear an odd American song. All of the buses have stickers on the inside of the bus. Many of these seem fairly contradictory(see above picture for example). At some point, I will get around to taking more pictures of these pimped-out beauties and try to post them.

I have been thinking for some time that I needed to write about the buses here, but I think that about a lot of things. What inspired me to get to it today, was another true Nicaraguan experience that I had on Monday. As I said, they will not turn down a passenger even if they will only get a few cords from them(maybe between 5 and 15 cents). This makes for some extremely crowded buses at times. While heading home from school, I was ushered into the back of the bus with Tiia(a new volunteer and housemate from Finland). The bus was already quite crowded, with people lining the whole aisle. In the back, there was a bike wedged across the aisle. There were already a couple people crammed behind the bike when Tiia and I got in. We were very squished and could not move much. Then, the bus stopped, the door swung open, and the young bus worker pushed a big-butted Nicaraguan woman in the back with us. He then ran around and got in the front, leaving me to try to shut the door. I made an attempt but was blocked by the woman's butt. She either did not notice or could not move. So, I got on the step that had been welded to the back of the bus, grabbed the emergency handle of the door in one hand, and a handle on the back of the bus, which had also been added, in the other. I cruised down the road, hanging out the back of the bus, feeling quite cool and comfortable until a couple people got out. I then had to rejoin the hot crowded herd on the bus. As I was hanging out the back of the bus, which was rolling down the road at about 50mph, I thought what I often think here, "This would never fly at home."

A Short Salute to Erin

This was written on Tuesday while I was offline, so I am posting it today.

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More important than what any place alone has to offer, are the people that you experience a place with. I walked Erin to the shuttle that took her to the airport at 3:30 this morning. As I walked slowly down Granada's empty streets, I stopped often to think and take in the scene. A nice breeze, cool by Nicaraguan standards, rolled off the lake. The main street leading to the lake was well-lit, but uncharacteristically quiet. I was able to take my time and let my mind wander. I realized that with Erin, went a big part of my Nicaragua.

The first time I met Erin, I thought she was a very beautiful girl. As I got to know her, I found that she had a personality and heart that matched her beauty. She is quiet but very sociable, tame but very fun, and in control but very adventurous. Meeting an individual with this combination of traits is very rare, and it makes for a very interesting person.

I would say that Erin is the "type" of girl that I am looking for. But, to say type would cheapen her uniqueness. Instead, I will say that if I had met her under different circumstances, I would have pursued a relationship with her. In many ways, I really wish she was staying here longer. But, I also realize that I may have just got much more attached to her, which would make it even harder to see her go.

I will miss her Australian accent, the way she almost sings when she speaks, the way she uses her head to express herself when talking, our quality conversations, her smile, and her adventurous spirit. As I sat on our patio at 4 in the morning, I found it strange to think that a good friend had been there just moments earlier but was gone, and there is a chance that I will never see her again. This is a sensation that I am not very familiar with. Most of my closest friends are close to home, and I am fairly certain that I will see most of those who are not. For now, I will just be thankful that I was able to meet such a quality individual and hope that our paths might cross again one day.

Eventful Week

This past week was a little wild. Between birthday parties and going away parties, we had something going on every night of the week. I took it pretty easy Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, as we have to be up pretty early. Thursday I went out a little harder. I went to the creatively named "El Club" for the first time. On Thursday nights, they charge a cover but then offer free drinks until midnight. This is obviously a dangerous situation, especially when we had been drinking before we got there. We all took full advantage of the open bar and had a fun time. After midnight, we were going to head to a karaoke bar but stopped at a bar/club called Cafe Nuit instead. I had a couple beers, did a little dancing, and almost got in a little scuffle with four European guys. One of them gave me a good two handed push for an unknown reason. I turned around and asked him what his problem was, we argued a little, and 3 of his friends showed up. I kind of laughed at them. These were not your local Nicaraguan tough guys. They were trying to act intimidating and failing miserably. I told them what I thought. Luckily, Tiia pulled me aside at this point and asked what was going on. I realized immediately that I was wasting my time arguing with these guys and that it was time to go home.


I was in bed by about 1:30. This is not exremely late, but I was still pretty tired when I woke up Friday morning. I headed to school feeling very tired and slightly hungover thinking that it was going to be a long day. But, it ended up being a really great day. It was fun from the moment I left our house until I went to bed. While walking to the bus, I saw two women carrying a big black garbage bag with something in it down the street. I did not think much of this until I saw the bag start to thrash about and bark. The two women sat the bag down and pulled out an average sized dog. They did not seem to be tying to hurt the dog, but I was unable to think of a good reason that they would have it in a black plastic garbage bag. It was one of those moments where I just smile, shake my head, and think, "only in Nicaragua." When I got on the bus, there was an old wrinkly guy who sells ice cream sitting in the back of the bus with his cart full of treats. A younger man in the front of the bus was yipping and whooping, and the old man would respond with a high pitched yip or whoop. It was entertaining everyone on the bus. When we got to our stop and hopped off the bus, the old man got off as well. He crossed the road with us, pushing his cart in front of him. The little old guy smiled as he mumbled a constant string of gibberish. I decided I had to get some ice cream from this guy. As a couple of us picked out our treats, a much younger man came up on his bike. He started speaking to me in pretty decent English. We got our treats from the old man, as he continued to yip and act goofy(I have a video of him that I will attempt to post of Facebook at some point), and then headed down the road with the younger man on his bike. He told us his name was Tony and that he had lived in the U.S. for something like 10 years. We learned that he had come back to run his family farm, which is called "Ranch of Love." I had noticed this ranch when we were on the bus to Mombacho. The ranch is painted in all red and white and says ranch of love in Spanish on the house. Tony told us that he grows coffee beans and fruit and that he has dairy cows. We had a fun conversation. I eventually asked him if we could come visit his farm sometime. He said that we definitely could and that he even rents a room out for $6 a night, if we wanted to stay over. I am not sure if I will stay there, but I will definitely go check his farm out. I recently got a cell phone, so I was able to exchange numbers with him. I look forward to a tour of his farm.


I was still feeling pretty tired when I got to school. I was worried that it could be a long day, but the morning's adventures put me in a good mood. It turned out to be my favorite day with the kids so far. They were well behaved all day and in good spirits. I just played and had fun with them all morning. A few of them were really in the wrestling mood. Two of the older girls, who are probably 5, kept jumping on my back. It seemed like one or both of them was on my back most of the morning. I got so used to one of them hanging from my neck, that I would sometimes be playing with another kid and forget one of the little buggers was back there. It was a really fun day, but also Erin's last day at school. She will be missed at the school.

After school, I lifted, showered, and headed to one of Granada's cathedrals with Erin to take in the views and watch the sun set from the bell tower. It was a perfect evening to watch the sun set. Below us, were the typical sights and sounds of Granada. Cars honked and rumbled down the streets, street vendors called out there products and prices, and two boys kicked a soccer ball back and forth on the large church patio below. Above us, were scattered clouds which turned a number of shades of orange, yellow, purple, and white. Each direction offered a different amazing view. To the east, we could see Granada's main cathedral, central park, and the lake. To the south, Mombacho sat with a cloud scraping its highest points. And, to the west we could see the sun setting behind smaller volcanic hills. The interesting architecture of Granada could be seen in all directions. At first, the clouds grew more and more colorful and beautiful and then began to fade. At this point, two young male Nicaraguans came up, rang the bells, and ushered us down. It was a great experience, and I was glad to be able to share it with a cool girl.



I took it easy Friday night. I was not in the mood for going out, so Erin and I took on Steijn and Marleis in a couple games of 500. We got great cards and won both games. Marleis is very competitive so it was kind of funny to see her get frustrated as we got such good hands. But, I also felt kind of bad. After our games, I walked Erin to her host family's house and headed to bed. I was happy to have a day with a lot of fun memories.

On Saturday, I headed to the lagoon with the volunteers who worked the summer program at Juan Diego and the 3 young locals who work with us. It was another nice sunny day. The lagoon is beautiful and always very enjoyable to visit. It feels great to jump in the water after many days of heat and dust. We swam, chatted, threw a frisbee around, and had a pot-luck lunch.

There is an Italian bakery that makes great hearty breads near the market in Granada. They also make lasagna supper for groups who make reservations. We headed there Saturday night for a good-bye dinner for Dorinne. I was not feeling too well, but enjoyed the great homemade lasagna anyway. We headed to a karaoke bar after supper. Nick and I sang Sweet Caroline and Piano Man. We all had a few drinks, but took it pretty easy. I was home by 1AM and had a much needed good night's sleep.

O-BA-MA!

Leading up to inauguration day, I did not think too much about it. It seemed kind of anti-climactic. I continued to feel this way even during the first part of inauguration day. I was busy with school just realized that I would miss his speech. I did not think much more about it until I got home. Then I turned to CNN to try to catch a replay of his speech. I did not get a replay, but I did see him walking down the streets with everyone cheering. I suddenly felt goosebumps on my arms. Bush is gone! We no longer have an idiot for a president! We now have an amazing motivator and a great first family in the White House. We have elected a person of African descent. It was a beautiful moment, sitting there and letting these things sink in. I kind of wished that I could have been home to celebrate and feel the energy and excitment in the air. But, it was interesting to experience it here too. It is not all the talk here, as I am sure it is at home, but it is big news here too. It was all over the front page of both of Granada´s papers. That goes to show just how important this election was. The people here seem to be very happy about Obama´s being elected, even if they are not as excited as many of us back home. All of the volunteers that I have met are liberal except Nick. And, even he seems to be at least alright about having Obama in the White House.

As I watched Barack and Michelle walk down the orderly and clean streets of Washington D.C., I was reminded just how different the world I am living is from home. I have been here long enough to start getting used to things. The busy streets and the filth have become what I know. I am no longer as wide-eyed and amazed. But, there are still one or two things each day that I see and say, ¨What the heck is that? I have definitely never seen that before.¨I think I will try to take note of these little stories and record them in my blog. I will start with a couple from today. One such event just occurred a few moments ago. I was looking out the open double doors of the internet cafe and thought, ¨The scene I am looking at could almost be from home or Europe if I did not know better.¨I could see a new Ford hatchback, the street, and the buildings across it. I thought it seemed like a pretty familiar view. Then, a barefooted man walked by pushing a large cart filled with stuff and raising about 10-12 feet from the street. On top of the pile of stuff were 4 barefoot children. I thought, ¨Nope, not home. Definitely in Nicaragua.¨

My second story also happened very recently. On my way to the internet cafe, I walked by a man sitting against his grated door. He was listening to the soundtrack from Titanic and belting out all the words right along with Celine Dion. ¨...Near, far, wherever you are...I´m here and my heart will go on...¨It really cracked me up. He was singing in a woman´s voice and holding nothing back.

The last occurred this morning on the way to school. While riding the bus, I noticed a funny shadow on top of the bus. I thought it looked like a large bed-frame, but thought it might just be the luggage rack. When we got out, I saw that it was a very large bed-frame. This is actually the second bedrame that I have seen on the bus, but this one was much bigger. I have seen a lot of crazy things carried on the buses. It is pretty funny to me. No one would think of bringing a large assembled bed frame on the metro buses at home, but it is commonplace here. I once saw a very elderly lady who took 7 large homemade rocking chairs on the bus. Only in Nicaragua.

I would like to write more, but I am starving. I will eat at a Comedor that is near our house. These are small ¨fast-food¨operations that people usually run out of there house. They set up on the sidewalk with lots of pots full of goodies with a grill sitting next to it cooking meat. I will probably eat fried platanos(which are similar to nice homemade potato chips but a little better), some kind of meat, salad(which is kind of like slightly spicy coleslaw), and of course rice and beans-gallo pinto. She also always has some kind of fried taco looking things with different tasty fillings. I might snag a couple of these, though I imagine they are highly unhealthy.