Good morning, folks! I'm thankful I woke up a tiempo, on time, this morning, especially since Jenifer had fallen asleep as Douglas bounced the colicky baby. She woke up about when I did, but her boys were not up yet, begging their mom for a few more minutes of sleep. Because they were running behind, Jenifer walked me to the corner to meet Paul and Jessica so she could go home and get the kids ready for school. If Paul and I had to have host families a bit further from the central community, at least we could rely on Jenifer and Jessica to take care of us and each other!
I speed-walked (sped-walked?) with Paul and Jessica to Don Martin's house, glad that we were not late to school, learning that there is a loud beep warning to alert everyone they should be in class, and if you are a cuadra, a block, away, run! Otherwise doors close and you would not be able to get in. Jessica noted this used to be a five-minute warning when she was in school, but now it is a less-panic-inducing 15 minute warning, which is beneficial for families whose children have to walk a ways to get to school. Hopefully Jenifer not having to take me to Don Martin's herself gave her enough time to get her boys to Gotitas on time, even if they would not face the dreaded warning bell until they got to primary school.
As our group gathered, it was evident we had all been re-energized from our Sunday Family Day. Whether that meant a little extra sleep, trips to the market, relaxation on the beach, or visits to more evangelical churches than we were accustomed to, we all excitedly shared our stories. A few of our group members even complained that they wanted more days to spend solely with their family, instead of all the delegation stuff! I just wish we had more time for everything. Today would be a good mix of tourist activities, time with our families, and cultural experiences though. And as we have certainly taken many pasos, steps, already on our delegation, from our hike to Talolinga, to time in the market, to sports and walks home with our families, our pasos today would include moonbouncing, a bit of walking, and our Nicaraguan dance steps!
The first half of the day we journeyed about an hour in our microbus to Cerro Negro, literally Black Hill, an active volcano. The road was extremely bumpy, and as we got further outside of León, Meredith warned us that it would only get worse. So even though it was an early morning, it was a little rough to try and sleep. Needless to say, I enjoyed some job advice from Meredith our wonderful coordinadora, as well as staring out the window at the beautiful countryside.
Sugarcane fields.
This farmer is returning with his wife and oxen from collecting wood near the volcano.
This road was actually not wide enough for both the oxcart and our microbus. Somehow we squeezed around each other, and the farmers continued their journey home with our day just beginning.
Jose, our driver, did a wonderful job, given even though many
people flock to this volcano as tourists, there are zero signs and the
route is incredibly complicated. He stopped at a few farms along the way
to make sure he was going the right way, and Meredith commented that
the Nicaraguan government should really start to recognize it needs
improvement in the tourism infrastructure sector. Especially when all
you really need to help bring more people and revenue to Cerro Negro is a
few signs posted in the volcanic ash roads. Cerro Negro even has a welcome lodge with decent bathrooms. But we made it! Once we got to the volcano itself, Meredith grabs a jug to help prepare us for the hike.
Doesn't look so bad, right?
And so the hike begins!
The hiking bunch - Laurie and Paul decided to save their knees and take a walkabout closer to sea level.
Tired before we really even got going, Leif?
Hair already getting whipped by the wind, Meredith, along with PML board member Ruben joining us for the day, educated us on Cerro Negro safety precautions. These included taking note of the wind and leaning into the volcano itself, being aware that the volcanic rocks are basically like pumice stones people use to slough off calluses so don't get scrapes (and umm perhaps take a couple stones home as free pumice stones!), making sure to test each rock you step on before you put your entire weight down in case it was not firmly lodged in the pile of ash.
After we had been thoroughly educated and precautioned, Ruben asked if we wanted a challenge and took off running up the volcano! This is my favorite kind of hiking, whipping up an exhilarating pace and then taking breathers. Oxygen was in shorter supply and [most of us] were dashing up potentially unstable rocks, what a rush! Word to the wise, challenge yourself, but don't be stupid. Here Jennifer, Luci, and Meredith navigate trickier passes.
Whoo! We made it to the top ridge and we are still smiling!
Nature forcibly rearranging Leif and Cody's hairstyles for the moment.
Meredith fighting winds from both the side of the volcano and up from the crater.
See that squiggly line down there? That is the path we began on. And the group of little multicolored dots along the path? (Click the picture to see it larger if you need to). That is Paul, Laurie, and Francisco waving to us while we trudged against the wind on the ridge!
At one point I turned around and found Luci, Jennifer, and Meredith just doubled over in a mixture of laughter and tears, trying not to fall over or panic. We all conquered some fears today!
Up here was purely volcanic sand held together by force, with the crater here sloping off to the right as we walked around it to get to the other crater.
Looking into this crater was simply spectacular.
Wind is not often something you can see. But there is proof of it here with so much biting force coming off that ridge.
Another group photo at the end of our ridge hike.
Testing how far they could lean into the wind.
We had to backtrack slightly, but we found the "running route." While some tourists opt for toboggan-like sleds to glide down, our vote was to "moonbounce," as Meredith would describe it. You just take off running, and as your momentum picks up, the mounds of volcanic ash have just enough give to trampoline you down the rest of the way.
Meredith took off first to show us how it's done, and a couple of the kids took off after her, with about ten seconds of leeway in between. I paused about halfway down to grab pictures, and it was also rather convenient that it was about that point where I had gotten so excited bounding through the sinking sand that I had let my momentum get the best of me and took a spill... And perhaps a second one later... I was hugging my bag as I ran down so I was not really ready to steady myself when I got going too fast, so I slid a few feet on my bum when I wiped out. But really, I just got some pumiced knees and a little more dusty than I anticipated, but no regrets!
The rest of the crew making their way down behind me.
Somehow, with all of the bounding through montones of volcanic ash (I love that the Spanish equivalent for saying "tons of ___" is "mountains of ___"!), I managed to get some black sand in my shoes. We all dumped out our shoes and socks, and I must admit I was proud admiring how the ash made its mark. Then again, I could not see my own face until we got back to the welcome center, but thankfully I think Jennifer pointed out the ash had turned my teeth black too so I could scrub them on our drive back to the center. That was a little gross.
We all got to wash up a bit and relax for a few minutes as we collected ourselves. Luci and Laurie found this double hammock the center had both gorgeous and comfortable, and they were hoping to make an offer to buy it, but the price proposed by the center was a bit steep. A few of us were still in the market for hammocks, so we were keeping our eyes peeled and making mental notes of prices we heard wherever we went.
Another thing that was cool about the center was they randomly had a large pen of iguanas out back! We learned the natural population of iguanas is far below where it should be, so Cerro Negro is breeding iguanas and releasing them into the wild. Cool animals.
Though we had been filled by our incredible experience of traipsing up a volcano and bouncing (and tumbling...) down, our bellies were quite empty. Meredith and Francisco had the usual stash of crackers on the bus for us, but today's lunch was a special occasion in that we got to go home to eat with our families in the middle of the day.
Unos pasos más, a few steps more, and Jenifer had lunch waiting for me at home, while Jessica had also prepared food for her and Paul that she left with Jenifer when she came to pick us up. Jenifer's house was closer than Jessica's, so it was convenient and nice to hang out together. Jessica had made Paul fish and rice and brought unaa gaseosa, a soda, while my mom made me her favorite meal: arroz a la valenciana, Valencian rice. It is a version of chicken and rice that she typically eats with bread, but since I cannot eat wheat, she got tortillas for me so I could make taquitos with the rice. All to be washed down with dragonfruit fresco!
I was thankful my house was the closer one so I could excuse myself to shower quickly because let's face it, volcano-running is awesome, but I was pretty gross. After a nice meal and a refreshing bucket bath, which was I think my first time in the daylight because I am a night showerer, Jessica and Jenifer walked Paul and me back to Don Martin's house. Joy and Chris were talking about enjoying spending time with their families, but it was hard not really being able to converse with them, so they would typically go to bed when the kids did. I remarked to Jenifer that I truly felt lucky that I can understand and speak enough that I can talk with her after the kids go to bed. The host family experience is a challenge for everybody, becoming accustomed to rituals, cultural practices, and just being in someone else's home, but language is another beast completely. You can of course communicate a great deal through body language and just commonality of being human, but communicating more on a language level really brings in another dimension to the experience. Jenifer gave me a hug and played with my hair, such a sweet host mama even though she is my age! I still cannot believe that sometimes. We all said goodbye to our families, but then we learned there was something wrong with the bus, so we hung around for a few minutes.
We peered over to see Ruben, Francisco (smiling), and Jose all working on it and giving their own assessments of what the problem was.
Two young girls saw me snap the photo of the guys working on our microbus and came over to ask if they could see the pictures I had taken. They especially wanted to see photos from our Cerro Negro climb, leaning in and pointing out who was who from our delegation. They also asked me what time we would get back and if I wanted to play with them, which was super sweet. That was one of the moments I wished my host family did not live so far from the main cluster of houses because I would have to head home with my family for dinner.
Our expert crew got the bus working well enough to at least get us to the PML office, where we arrived a little late but Jose could then take the bus into a shop to get it fixed. Carolina was ready to show us the second half to piñata-making, and Papa had left me with a decent shape for our tomato. She showed the clown-face teams the basics of decorating theirs with different colors of tissue paper and then the tomato teams the strategy to encircle the tomato with mainly red fringe. Francisco helped cut the fringe so I could the tissue paper down inch by inch with the yucca glue and try to not let any white show through.
It was a tedious task, which most teams were devoted to, and I am not going to name any names, but a couple were more interested in getting done quickly so they could get a few minutes at the cyber down the street. Here's my tomato progress with Francisco's help!
Ruben eyes Leif and Cody's creative ninja clown.
Don and Laurie work on their final touches.
Still have the green top to put on the tomato, but here you go!
And we even finished with enough time for me to hop on the PML office computer to check emails and make sure my dad had gotten back to the U.S. alive and well. Next up: dance class! Francisco was now my partner since Dad left, so we had a grand time
especially as he did the moves taking his pretend hat on and off. We finally finished all of our routine and tried to rehearse for the show, but we can't quite do it without counting along as musical elements repeat, but we had to remember choreography changes after eight counts and sometimes four counts. Our final practice would be our dress rehearsal on Thursday night, just before we would perform for our host families. Ahh!
I believe it was Jose's diagnosis of the bus issue that was spot-on, so he picked us up after our lessons and proudly drove us home.
Here are few of the girls from the community, with the two on the left being the ones who looked through my photos with me earlier.
Axel, Chris's host brother, helped us take this picture!
After the fourth and final leg between Don Martin's casa and my host family's, I apparently still had more energy to be spent because the boys were rambunctious and begged to play "monitos" until dinner. Enoc, Jenifer's cousin, came over to hang out a bit too, and Jenifer made us all repochetas, which are similar to what we would know as cheese quesadillas, except Nica tortillas are thicker and their cheese is more pungent. Plus, because they are thicker, you do not cut them into pieces but pick up the folded, melty, fried tortilla and just bite into it. She saved a couple for Douglas that inevitably got semi-munched on by her kids before he got home, but she also filled us with gallo pinto (beans and rice with spices, Nica-style), bananos fritos (fried bananas), and homemade limonada (lemonade).
While I was washing the dishes, aided by the boys and learning more about parenting, it started to sprinkle. Jenifer ran out in the middle of cleaning up the kitchen from dinner and picked up the puppies from behind the shed, one by one, to effectively make a puppy pile under the tin roof. They still have not opened their eyes yet, so we just watched in adoration as they all floundered and flopped over their siblings.
Aww.
Tonight Douglas got home a while before the boys had to go to bed, and Jenifer said, "You don't have any pictures of Douglas!" Oh, you're right! I in fact have not really talked with him much at all because he is always exhausted when he gets home from work and I want to give him time to hang out with Jenifer too, but it is nice to see him home before 9, play with his kids, and get a family photo!
After such a full day, I was pretty dead by 10 and I think Jenifer and I both fell asleep in our chairs for a second or two. But we both woke up and kept talking after our brief naps, and she asked me about steps a Nicaraguan would have to take to get a visa to the U.S. and what other kinds of documents she would need if she could come visit me someday. She first would have to recorrer dinero, save some money, to get a passport in Managua, but that would allow her also to visit her mom in Costa Rica and me whenever she could. Her mom always visits them for the month of December, but the wheels were spinning in Jenifer's head, thinking of the possibility of taking the boys to go visit Costa Rica this year instead. With other conversation topics we had I further made connections of why many poor Nicas migrate to Costa Rica for work. As the clima (climate) in the northern region of Nicaragua is más fresco (more fresh, or cooler) than the southern region, so people are able to produce more fruit and milk and make more money, so poor southern Nicas either try their hand moving north within their country or just go further south where they find more work opportunities as migrant labor in their neighbor country to the south. While Jenifer's mom falls into that second category, Jenifer herself may very well fall into the first in a couple year's time after she completes her law degree and searches for work in the more prosperous north.
After a long and fruitful day of walking, running, climbing, falling, dancing, and horseplaying, my brain is spent. ¡Buenas noches!
No comments:
Post a Comment