And we´re back online!!

A day later than expected, but back safely from the coast, which is all that matters, right?

There is so much to write about – I will try to keep it somewhat short while giving everyone all the fabulous details of my last week. Deal? Deal.

Last weekend before the coast, eight of us met at 5:45AM to catch the 6:20AM bus to Granada, one of the colonial cities of Nicaragua. For most of its history, Granada has been known as the conservative capital of the country, and is now one of the most popular tourist destinations in Nicaragua. This was obvious after living in Managua for five and a half weeks because everything was so much more expensive, though by American standards, it was ridiculously cheap.

We arrived at about 7:30AM got breakfast (banana chocolate chip pancakes!) and saw some of the beautiful churches and other sights of Granada. Afterwards, we checked into our hostel and at 1:30 we were picked up to drive for 45 minutes up the rocky roads into the cloud forest for a canopy tour, which was one of the most exciting things I have ever done. It consisted of 12 zip lines and eight platforms throughout the jungle, and at the end, we had to repel down from a platform to the ground. It was super extreme!

That night, we went out for dinner, then joined the rest of Granada in the center square to watch a big boxing match on a giant screen featuring Mayorga, the infamous Nicaraguan boxer. Mayorga ended up getting knocked out in the 12^th round, all of Nicaragua celebrated, and we went back to the hostel to sleep. The next morning we went to breakfast (strawberry chocolate chip pancakes!) and caught the bus back to Managua.

Below is one of my favorite things that we found at the bar in our hostel…who thinks of these ridiculous things?

Costs:

One hour bus ride to Granada: $1
Banana chocolate chip pancakes: $4.25
Hostel with free internet, tea, and coffee: $8
Canopy tour for three hours near Volcán Mombacho: $28
Too much food for dinner: $4
Strawberry chocolate chip pancakes: $3.75
Bus back to Managua: $1

Total spent for a weekend trip to Granada (besides priceless): $50

…which is still less than the price of a one way trip for the 40 minute ride from Portland to Lewiston with the Mermaid Transportation. Wonderful.

On Tuesday, we left for our week in the autonomous coastal region of Nicaragua. On the coast, we had two groups – one in Pearl Lagoon and one in Orinoco. Traveling there was absolutely horrendous – the coast is so isolated! We met at the study center at 5:30AM and left on the bus at 6AM, then drove to Juigalpa where we stopped at 9AM for a bathroom/snack break. We then got back on the bus to Rama, where we arrived at 1PM, then piled on two small motorboats for the two hour journey down the Río Escondido to Bluefields in the Southern Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS) of the coast. We spent one night there, then got back on the boats for another hour ride to Pearl Lagoon, and for those in Orinoco, another hour further north from Pearl Lagoon.

Pearl Lagoon was pretty fabulous – we stayed in a guest house and had two meetings every day with community leaders and local groups. My favorite meeting was with Acción Médica Cristiana (AMC) which is an NGO that is working on HIV prevention in Pearl Lagoon. After that meeting, four of us decided to visit the Ministry of Health (MINSA) to learn about the services they provide and had a tour of the entire facility. What surprised me most about all of these medical services is that there were no psychologists in Pearl Lagoon – if someone needed counseling after a positive HIV test, they would have to travel to Bluefields which is quite expensive for the locals. A few of us also decided to visit the Moravian church during their revival campaign, which was definitely a new experience for me.

The coast itself is an absolutely crazy mixture of cultures with a unique and interesting history. Most everyone spoke Creole/English, and we ate fresh seafood and coconut bread every day. AND, for all of you baseball fans out there, here is a link to another interesting fact about Pearl Lagoon… (Thanks to Lila!)

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2762971

On Saturday, we returned to Bluefields for the night and had a dance presentation from a native group on the coast called the Garifuna. These people were originally slaves from Ghana whose ship landed on St. Vincent in the Antilles, and mixed with the locals from the island to create this new ethnic group. As a result of colonization, they ended up coming to Mesoamerica and today, this ethnic group only exists in three places in the world, one of which is the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua.

Their dancing was absolutely incredible – I couldn’t believe the ways in which they could move. I even got to hear a “shofar” when they played the conch! A video example is taking way too long to upload, so you will all have to settle with the fact that it was mindblowing, and I hope to upload one for all of you soon!!

After, they invited all of us to join them in a circle to dance. Each of us had to step into the circle individually and attempt the Garifuna dance which was both exciting and hilarious at the same time. Once we each had our turn, they invited us to perform a traditional two person dance and at the end, I was the last person in the circle dancing with one of the Garifuna men. It was amazing – though I am a dancer, it is always uncomfortable trying to do a dance you don’t know in front of an entire restaurant; however, it was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life thus far.

The next day at 8AM, we left on boats back to Rama, then back on the bus towards Managua. We stopped again in Juigalpa and at about 5:30PM we were stuck in traffic about an hour and a half from Managua. We learned that they were doing construction on the bridge and due to the excessive rain, the detour was underwater. We were banking on getting back to the Gua at 1 or 2 in the morning at this rate if at all, so we turned around and went to Boaco for the night and stayed in the only option for 20 people: a dirty little hotel without much running water. We left the next morning at 8AM, and finally got back to Máximo at 9:30AM. What a trip!

Now we are back in the Gua for a week and a half before we head off to El Salvador to compare the two countries. As Aynn told us, “Get ready to turn yourself inside out one more time!”

Pictures might take a while to get up and for this I am sorry, but thank you to all for reading this extremely long update – I hope you all enjoyed your week and look forward to hearing from you!

Lastly, to all my Jewish friends, Shanah Tovah and may you all have an easy fast this Thursday!

Love,
Nicole