Feliz Ano Nuevo

It is 2009, but I do not believe it. My typical New Year's eve involves great old friends and -30 below temperatures. My typical New Year's day is typically spent next to the fire watching bowl games with my dad and eating mom's Swedish meatballs(I miss the meatballs more than the football). This New Year's eve was great but very different. It was about 120 degrees warmer than I am used to, there were no great old friends, no football, and definitely none of mom's Swedish meatballs. There was still a fire, but this time it was in the street instead of in dad and mom's fireplace. There were friends, but they were very new friends. I missed my friends and family but had an amazing time. We hosted a party for all the volunteers at our house. It ended up being about 2/3's volunteers and 1/3 locals. We hung out in the street in front of our house most of the time, but I was inside for a little while as I introduced Nicaragua to flip-cup(Flanders domination continues). The street was a blast. It seemed that everyone was outside. There was a big bonfire just down the road in the middle of the street and people talking, drinking, laughing, and celebrating everywhere. We were lucky enough to get a private show from a number of local fire-dancers. One of the volunteers in our house is dating a local named Franklin who performs for tourists with some of his friends. They came over just after midnight and gave us a great show. Loud fireworks go off at all hours of the day whether it is a holiday or not, but they really go nuts for New Year's. There were constant fireworks all night and an extreme barrage of blasts at midnight. Shortly after midnight we headed to the bars/clubs. At this point our large group began to split up. I ended up at a pretty chill bar called Imagine, named after John Lennon's famous song, with 8-10 other volunteers. We had a few drinks and a lot of good conversation before heading home.

We picked up an interesting tag-along on the way home. Our new friend was a native Nicaraguan that had apparently traveled all over the U.S. and Europe. I am not sure how he managed this, as it seems Nicaraguans often have a hard time getting a passport and into other countries. But, he talked in great detail about U.S. and European cities, so we were convinced he was telling the truth. What makes this harder to believe, is the fact that this skinny dude was pretty messed up on something. I would guess that he was probably huffing something very toxic. His eyeballs were just about popping out of his head, and he was extremely fidgety. The crew was worried about how we would get rid of him, so I stayed outside our house and BS'ed with him for awhile. I eventually convinced him that the real party was down by the lake, as if I really knew, and he was on his way. He was pretty harmless but not the kind of guy you want hanging around the house.

Once home, I cooked some of Milan's homemade french fries for those still awake. I lit the spatula on fire in the process, but the spuds were a big hit once done. Overall it was a great night. I drank pretty casually and was one of the more sober at the end of the night. I was surprised to find that it was nearly 5AM when I crawled into bed.

I was up by 10 on New Year's day and out for a run by 11. It was damn hot for a run, but it always is here. The heat certainly did not help my already pathetic cardiovascular condition and neither did the 5 hours of sleep and the beer and whiskey from the night before. Somehow I managed to enjoy a roughly 4-mile run by the lake anyway. There is a lot to see while traveling, and I have always believed running may be the best way to see the sights. I get a lot of strange looks and comments as I run down the road. My Spanish is nowhere near good enough to understand what the Nicas are saying, but I hear "gringo" thrown in the mix from time to time. I am sure they are calling me a crazy whitey. I do not blame. The other volunteers also seem to think I am a bit crazy, and I must look funny thumping along read faced and coverd in gooey sweat. There are also a lot of locals who simply point and laugh.

Running along the lakefront and the "beach" was wild. Being New Year's day, there were a ton of people there. You are supposed to have to pay to get into this area(about 25 cents), but I was told you are often able to get away without paying if you explain that you are a volunteer. I, of course do not speak much Spanish yet, but was able to get in free of charge. I was able to let them know that I was a volunteer and had nothing, as I was only wearing my running shorts. I am not sure why there is a charge in the first place, as it is a public road with businesses and houses along the way. The lake is unfortunately filthy and the beach is even more filthy. There are lots of beautiful buildings, stonework, lamps, gazebos, and other structures, but all of it is dirty and almost all of it is in a state of disrepair. It is still beautiful and unique in its own way, though. I was worn out and burning up by the end of the run, but it was well worth it.

Running an especially great way to explore a place like Granada. It is not always the safest city, but I have nothing to take when I am running. I plan on running through some of the lower class areas once I am more familiar with them. I would like to see more of them and I think this may be the only reasonably safe way to do so. Muggings of tourists are not terribly uncommon here. It is commonplace for men to hoot, holler, and generally verbally harrass women here. Apparently two female volunteers were walking to the lake with a male volunteer and were jeered at by a couple of Nicaraguan guys last week. The two girls, who are from Chile and speak fluent Spanish, told the guys to f**k off. This prompted one of the guys to grab one of the Chilean girls, put a gun to her head, and take everything that the three volunteers had on them. The police took the volunteers on a "raid" of a house where they suspected the burglars were from. Nothing came of it, and the Chilean girls were very mad about how the police were handling the situation. They got in a big fight with the police, and ended up heading back to Chile the next day. The male with them is named Nick and is one of the Minnesotans. He seems to have taken it in stride. He is mildly annoyed but has no intentions of leaving. Much of this type of trouble can be avoided by being smart. It is a good idea to carry things in plastic bags rather than backpacks. Would be thieves are not too interested in stealing groceries, and they know that many tourists have things like iPods, cameras, computers, and money in their backpacks. Thinking about where you are going and when you are going there is also very important. I think it is also important to try to look like you know where you are going, are confident, not too wide-eyed, not staring, and generally trying not to look like a stupid American tourist. And, of course, it is always a bad idea to talk smack to shady characters who make menacing comments to you.

Mom will be happy to know that I have been informed by volunteers and locals that I probably will not be messed with since I am "big." It appears that by Nicaraguan standards, I am slightly on the bigger side. In general, people here are shorter and much skinnier. They look healthy, but they would have one hell of a time putting together an offensive line. It also may be true that thieves may look to slightly easier targets, but I do not imagine that a person with a gun cares at all. I think it is much more important to think about the things I mentioned above. I would say there is a decent chance that I will be robbed at some point down here. But, I try not to carry too much of great importance whenever possible and it seems that they do not usually harm the people that are robbed. If they get your stuff they usually take it and leave. As long as I am not hurt, I will look at it as an annoyance rather than a tragedy.

My tutoring lessons were fun but the least eventful so far. My tutors were tired and possibly a bit hungover as well. I cannot blame them, as they were at work at 8AM on New Year's day. Two days ago, Helen asked for a New Year's kiss on the cheek. I gave her a little kiss, she smiled, and took off down the stairs. Yesterday, at the end of our lesson, Helen held out her hand and said, "mi beso," which means "my kiss." I asked her if she wanted me to kiss her hand. She said "no" and pointed to her cheek. Again, I gave her a quick kiss and she took off down the stairs-funny girl.(Two days ago, I said she called me beso. She actually called me bonito. I mix these things up still.) I cancelled my lessons today, as I was planning on traveling to Leon with a few others. We postponed our trip for a number of reasons, which is alright with me. It seems there are people travelling every weekend that I will be able to head out with, and I am happy to stay put here for my first weekend. It has also allowed me to get a number of tasks done today.

A pettite cute Aussie girl named Erin lives in our house. I really enjoy talking with her, and she helps me with a lot of things. She is a member of a gym only a couple of blocks from our house. I asked if she could take me there and show me around the place. She did and I signed up for a 3-month membership. The gym is nice but the equipment is pretty weak, but I am able to do most of the things I want to anyway. It is not cheap compared to most things here, but I know it will help keep me happy and feeling good. I worked out for the first time today and met a couple of guys from Philadelphia. One of them was wearing a Phillies hat and I asked him if he knew Eric. They both knew him and had good things to say about him. They are the type of guys that grunt unnecessarily loudly when they lift and drop f-bombs at weird times during conversation.

According to the scale in the gym, I have lost 15 pounds since last Friday when I hit my all-time high of 170 pounds. This may be slightly off, but I do feel I have lost a lot already. Hopefully getting back in the gym will bring some of this back. After working out, I went for another run. I showered when I got home. Our bathroom is very small and there are not a lot of places to hang things up. I put my shorts on top of a bunch of stuff on a shelf above the toilet. When I got out, they were fully submerged in the toilet-damn it!

I saw the first cloud in the sky since I have been here today. It was mostly sunny and over 90 degrees...quite a shitty day. It will be dark here soon so I think I will head back to the hostel. I am certain to have more adventures to report from the weekend soon.